Every year it never fails we get Christmas cards from family and friends and enclosed is a letter highlighting their year and I love the reflection back on the highlights of their year. We are always late to send holiday cards but I like to try to do a little reminiscing here.

I mean wow, what a year, and it’s not over yet. And considering the latest announcement we shared with you, I’m sure next year is going to be even more jam packed, busy and exciting than 2017 was. But before we get there, let’s highlight a few of my favorite moments from this year.

To be honest I crashed and burned on my resolutions. I stopped practicing piano every day some time in February, we did read A TON of books but since we picked up long 500+ page novels, and I stopped reading as many short stories we weren’t plowing through them as quickly and didn’t hit 365. I’ve still been drinking tons of water but my intake was up and down throughout the year. It’s still a goal that’s been at the forefront though and I guess I could count that as still being a commitment. As for losing 20 pounds… Well that didn’t happen and it’s not happening any time soon.

There were some lows to this year, but honestly I block most out of my memory. Aside from all of us getting the flu last month, most of the other bad news is a distant memory.

And there were so many other surprises and accomplishments we added to our list that make me so proud of 2017.

Rebranded the blog

After eight years I retired the Baby Making Machine name and started anew as Cherish 365. Same mission to make and cherish the memories with our family. I’m hoping to dive even more to this focus next year and grow this to be more than a blog, but a movement. Where we’re sharing ideas to grow closer together as a family and cherish these moments that fly by so very quickly. I’m excited to see where this new shift ultimately takes us.

My first international trip

Work trips took me all over this year and to many new places. Memphis, Detroit, and Walt Disney World were a few but the most life-altering was my trip across the world with Vibe Israel.

My daughter making a competitive cheer squad

It started as an “Ok, yea we’ll see maybe you can try out next year…” to jumping in head first and sitting by watching as my daughter falls in love with her sport. She’s taken off learning tumbling, team routines and going to monthly competitions. I didn’t see myself becoming anything like a cheer mom for many years but here we are!

Big T learned how to ride his bike

It’s funny because both of my kids actually learned how to ride their bikes but my son was the bigger surprise. A friend gave us a hand me down bike with no training wheels and one afternoon on a whim I let him give it a try. Since he’d already used a balance bike for months he had good balance on two wheels it was just a matter of learning how to pedal.

We started a VLOG

Around March I challenged myself to go a video every day on YouTube. It was a fun experiment but definitely nothing I could sustain. I’ve bounced a round from doing videos a few times a week to twice a week, once a month and so on. We seem to have landed on doing a vlog about once a week. Yes we… Meaning my daughter and I. It’s turned into a fun way for us to document her cheer progress and a fun activity for us to do together. She’s even taken up editing so she helps out with production.

Lil’ J completed her first Kids Adventure Games 

Ok so my daughter is awesome but before this I never would have classified her as daring or particularly brave. But our trip to Vail, CO for the Kids Adventure Games made me so incredibly proud of her. Sponsored by CLIF Kid, she and hundreds of other kids ran, biked, zip lined, rafted and went through a dozen obstacles. Without their parents! She was terrified before she began but when she finished… Man she had the biggest smile on her face. I was so incredibly proud of her for facing her fears. It’s an accomplishment will never forget and definitely a highlight of our year. I’m hoping we’ll continue the tradition and maybe do another family 5k next year. CLIF Kid has been a snack brand we’ve loved a long time (we’ve told you time and again how much we love their CLIF Kid Zbar Filled Apple Almond Butter bars) and this year they definitely inspired us to get outdoors and active more this year and I hope to keep that up.

Big T became a budding architect

My son has loved his train tracks for years but this year he learned how to put them together himself and also add blocks and other structures to make them into “bridges” as he calls them, “they’re not tracks!”. He’s my little snuggle bug and I’m always saying I’m trying to figure him out. My daughter is so much like me and my son is a total goofball, but still so sweet and smart. He has known all his letters for years but has picked up all his letter sounds and we’re showing him how to read them when letters are string together. He pays more attention to details than most little kids I know. For instance he is the one who taught me that Destiny from Finding Dory is a whale, not a shark. Like I thought. I’m excited to see all that he learns this next year.

And then of course we can’t forget the biggest change for us this year, though it’s sure to make a bigger impact next year, when the new baby arrives.

2017 was pretty great, and I’m so excited to see what’s next.

I’m passionate about getting my kids outdoors to play, and making meaningful memories together. That’s why I’ve partnered with CLIF Kid for 2017, to share our adventures of being active as a family. CLIF Kid Zbar® Filled is crafted with creamy, delicious nut butter filling and a blend of nutrients for energy to help keep your kids zipping and zooming along. Their products are free of high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors.  You can learn more about this product here. 

Tags: ad, clif kid, year in review