Don't get me wrong. There were some wonderful things that happened in 2013 and I am gladly and happily going to share the highlights with you in this totally "catch-up-year-end-holy-smokes-that-flew right-by-me" post. There were also things that happened that made this a year I'll be glad never to repeat.
Where do we begin? January? How novel.
In January it snowed. The girlys thought that was the best thing ever.
My grandma had surgery and had a softball sized mass removed from her abdomen... creepy, but a total blessing that it was completely benign. We rocked med school. Alice had 4 teeth. Lily embraced a deepseated fondness for her little sister who was finally crawling and a lot more interactive. I learned to make caramels and subsequently my nextdoor neighbor and I became caramel tasting experts.
February brought Little Miss Lucy into our lives. It also held Alice's first birthday and all the celebration that came along with that. There was cake. There were friends. There was, dare I say, much rejoicing througout the land. Lily-bear thought it was a total gas. Gan and Pop even came to visit... Pretty sure we went to AR too... hmmm Funny how that works out sometimes.
March was... Remarkable in that Alice finally decided she'd start walking! Woohoo, Alice! Lily was impressed as well... Can't you tell? Josh took a little jaunt up to Washington, D.C. for DO Day On The Hill, and the weather warmed up enough that we could wear our frillies without freezing our tushies. Yeah. I said frillies and tushies. What? Do you know me? I also made some balloon animals... don't judge.
April was outdoorsy. We rocked our first Potter-Party-Of-Four camping trip. It was epic. Lily slept... not at all. Lily slept not at all. It was hilarious! We went to the zoo a couple of times with our besties. We have freaking awesome besties by the way. We went to lots of parks and lots of playgrounds. As for my itty bitty sweetie puppy... Not so itty bitty anymore. She was well on her way to becoming a big ole beastie.
In May we played in our water table a lot. Any excuse to be outside is a good one after all. We took some baths in the kitchen sink, just because we could. We rocked out Lily's third birthday and sat in awe of how awesome a three year old she was. We did some exploring of ASU's museum while we were visiting the folks and found a rock-tastic children's area that we totally took advantage of, too.
June... June was absolutely amazing until it became mind numbingly horrible. In June we found out that we were expecting Potter Baby number 3. We were ecstatic. Potter-Party-Of-Five, here we come. Two days later we found out that my brother had been killed in a motorcycle accident. The rest of the month blurred. We went home to Arkansas for the funeral, and I don't really remember much else of the month.
July was a "pretend to be normal" month. We hid out at the lake for a while and the girls had a blast "swimming." More accurately they put their feet in the water and then wanted someone to hold them the entire time they were anywhere near it. Seriously, we had a lot of fun. We moved into a different house with a very large fenced in yard for Lucy. We also got to see our little Cranberry's heartbeat which was, and continues to be, strong and healthy! We also had the priviledge of celebrating the birth of a dear friend's twin boys. They are still keeping us on our toes, as they were born conjoined and have since been successfully separated. Miles to go still, but miles behind as well!
August. I hated August. We went to the zoo. We ate some watermelon. Those things were fine. Then we unexpectedly had to say goodbye to one of the best men I have ever known. My grandfather passed away, and I am still not quite sure what we are all doing without him. He developed a very aggressive form of cancer, and was only in the hospital long enough to say good bye. I miss that man every. single. day. I don't understand why he hasn't called, and I don't know what to tell my baby when she asks if we are going to see Papa George. Aaaand apparently I can't write any more about this either. All that matters? I loved that man, and he loved me. Big. Mostly... He loved my babies to the moon and back a million times.
September came. We rocked a petting zoo... We found out our little Cranberry is a BOY! His name will be Samuel, after my grandpa. We went to the zoo with some friends... a lot. We went to the zoo a lot. The girls rode their fist carnival rides at the Craighead County fair in Jonesboro. They loved every minute of it. And Josh... Not a lot of pictures of Josh. Here's two! The girls and I spent a lot of time in Arkansas without him due to one thing or another, but we got lots and lots of quality time while we were all in the same state.
October we spent with ALL.OUR.FRIENDS!!!! Seriously. If there was a festival, we did it. If there was a pumpkin patch, we did it. If there was an opportunity to eat out, we took it. We channeled all of our energy into spending time with awesome people, making memories. October... it did not suck. Halloween was awesome. Alice went as a "whoo-whoo" and Lily decided back in August that she was going to be a fox. What does a fox say? Glad you asked. In our house foxes say, "oodelaly." That is all.
In November we hung out with friends watching movies and going out to eat. We also took a quick trip to Arkansas where we got to see Nea and play some piano. We sure were still very aware of how empty our Papaw's chair is without him. In November, the Hubbs, ever super amazing, took the girls to Arkansas and Texas for Thanksgiving. That's right folks... I had 8 entire days of a house all to myself. I honestly can't remember such a vacation. It was MARVELOUS. During my eight days I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner and got to share it with a couple of my very favorite people and also completely rocked out my 30th birthday. By rocked out I mean that one of my dearest friends came over, we ate french fries and ice cream, and watched White Christmas. Does it get better? Doubt it. It was pretty freaking great.
December was... Christmasy. We had breakfast with Santa. We took pictures in front of the big tree down town. Lily was very excited to see Santa this year and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. What did she want? A candy cane. Are we the luckiest parents ever? Yes. We are. No need to ask again. Alice got some awesome things for her babies and they both got rockin' hand made stick horses from their Julie. Yes. Alice is using hers as a broom. Shh. Christmas was very, very good for the Potter tribe.
There you have the year 2013 in a nutshell. It's a big, long nutshell with lots of pictures, but still fairly Reader's Digest worthy, I think.
Maybe I'll update sooner next time. Honestly though, I'm having another baby in less than a month. I might update sometime before he graduates high school. If I manage that, I am really going to feel like I am on top of my game.
I hope you all had a wonderful 2013. I hope your 2014 is even better, though!
Sweet dreams!
Wear your seat belts!
-Katie Jo
I love getting to read about your family. If I have to wait for an end-of-the-year recap, so be it. Love you guys and cannot wait to see the new little man!
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