The Lindahls: Our Christmas Letter

I toyed with the idea of including a Christmas letter with our cards this year, but I thought "No, I'll just put something on the blog!" Now here it is 13 days before Christmas, I sent out our first cards 2 weeks ago, and I'm just getting around to writing the Christmas letter! Haha! I think that sums up my year! [And then I left it in "Edit" mode and now on January 17th I'm getting it ready to post... hahaha!!]

We have had a very busy year! Avery was born last November, so the first of the year was a bit of a blur!

January we enjoyed a snow day or two. Evelyn really loved the snow. Avery didn't care for his full-body suit much! :) I went back to work after a short maternity leave, but only for two days before having another 2 weeks off! The joys of working every other weekend!!

Sleepy Boy! - January

Evelyn pigging out - moved from a high chair to a booster!! January

February we celebrated Avery's baptism!!

March we celebrated Evelyn's 2nd birthday with our family. She had such a good time blowing out her candles, she still asks to do that at EVERYONE'S birthday! Also in March, Carl left his job at RTI to try something new at Windstream. The last week in March, we celebrated both my Papa's 80th Birthday and Carl's 31st birthday.

In April, Carl quickly realized that Windstream wasn't for him, but he tried to work through it. On a happy note, we celebrated cousin Alaina's first birthday with our family.

In May, Carl found a new job, but wanted to tie up things at Windstream before jumping ship. :) Evelyn finished her first year of "preschool". It was only one day a week, but she loved it so much and she learned a ton!!

In June, Carl and I celebrated his last day at Windstream and our Fifth Anniversary with dinner at 18 Seaboard in Raleigh. He started at MCNC soon thereafter. He is a network engineer. The company provides high speed internet to school systems, colleges and universities, hospitals and healthcare systems, and other rural areas. While his job is based in RTP (across the street from RTI!), he travels within the state a fair amount. Luckily it is mostly during working hours and doesn't have to do overnight trips often. He has really had an NC geography lesson. Even 6 months into the job, Carl comes home at least once a week (and usually more than that) and says "I really love my job!!" Also in June, Evelyn started 3-half-day-a-week preschool summer camp. I thought 3 days a week was alot for her age, but she enjoyed having fun with her friends, and Avery and I enjoyed one-on-one time together. My dearest friend, Angela, also visited in June. We had a wonderful visit, and I wish she could have stayed longer!! (FYI Ang (or Dave or Mary!!), that house in my neighborhood is still for sale!!!!)

In July, we celebrated my 29th birthday! The weekend before my birthday, we went down to my grandparent's house on the coast for a quick trip. It was especially special because it was the first time we had been in 2 years, since Hurricane Irene destroyed the house. The last two years have been a stressful time of rebuilding for my grandparents and family, and we were so excited to get back to the beautifully rebuilt house!!

In August, we took our summer "vacation" to Charlotte. With Carl starting a new job, we decided it wasn't the time for a big trip. We spent a long weekend in Charlotte. We visited with my brother, Michael, spent a night at Great Wolf Lodge and enjoyed the water park, checked out Discovery Place (still as cool as I remember as a kid!), and spent a day at Carowinds. Evelyn loved the theme park and asks to go back frequently! Also in August, we put an offer in on a house, and after a little back and forth, it was accepted!! We had been "unofficially" looking for a new house for a long time. The more stuff we got, and the bigger the kids got, the more squished we (I) were feeling in the old house. We had been doing alot of looking online, but really only walked through 2 houses before finding "the one"!

In September, we closed on the new house and started doing the painting and repairs we wanted done before moving in! Since we were moving to the other side of the county, we decided to start Evelyn at a new preschool at the beginning of the school year. We were very sad to leave the preschool she went to the first year, but Evelyn transitioned very well and we adore her teachers, class, and everyone at Calvary.

In October, we moved to the new house, and started the process of renting out the old house. It took a couple months, but we're happy to have a renter in our old house now! We have been taking our time getting settled in the new house. We had lots of help from our families during the moving process, which made it much easier! The kids transitioned great! Evelyn was so excited to go to the new house every day and sleep there. Even today, she refers to our house as "the new house". She doesn't ask to go back to the old house, and she knows someone else lives there now. Evelyn loves having an "upstairs" house. She tells me "You no come upstairs. Upstairs for me & Avery. Downstairs for mommy." Silly girl! Avery likes it too, he's been crawling up the stairs constantly since we moved in!!

In November we celebrated Avery's FIRST Birthday, then Thanksgiving with our families. Avery started taking a few steps the week of his birthday. A week or two later, he took off! He has been walking up a storm since. We had a great party for his birthday a week or so early. The weather was perfect and we had lots of fun with our friends and family!


Evelyn and Carl ready for a bike ride! January

My little dino

Linus... I mean Avery! I think he was about 8 weeks here.

Evelyn playing in the snow in January

Avery checking out his first snow!

While mommy thought the bear suit was adorable, Avery didn't agree!

2 months old!

Papa's 1st great-grandson!

Grammie's Boy!

Evelyn "Wewaxing"

Carl's got both kiddos!

She decided she wanted to look homeless for bedtime! February

Frozen blueberries - February - Side note, Evelyn had been sick for a week or so prior to this picture. Not an hour after eating a TON of frozen blueberries for the first time, she broke out into a horrible rash and spiked a super high fever. It was the first time she really scared me and I didn't know what do to - mom-wise or medically. Turns out she just had a virus and after a few more days of fever and rash, it went away!