We were able to get out more as a family and as a couple this year. We had a WONDERFUL family vacation in Sheboygan, we were able to get out on our new bikes with Johanna's pull behind trailer, we visited two zoos with family in friends - Madison and Milwaukee, Tony and I found a cool new Kayak spot by Baraboo, we even had a "just us" weekend in Madison, and went on a train ride in Boone.
We sort of met our goal to not do much on the house this year. The one asterisk was replacing a broken furnace, which was no small investment. But we rewarded ourselves by further updating the kitchen with a new counter-top and sink.
Johanna transitioned to a new room at school - the Green Room with Bonnie and Gwen is a new 2 year old preschool room, she is an excellent speaker and often speaks in complete sentences - instead of saying "yes" or "yeah" she often responds "Yes, I do", she had a couple more ear infections since her tubes fell out but no talk of replacement tubes yet, we see a bit of the terrible twos with her hair trigger cry but Johanna is overall very well behaved understanding and talking about good choices and bad choices, she is an effective negotiator using our own tricks against us like when we ask her to put on her coat she may say something like "Gummy bear FIRST" as she holds her finger up at us.
Tony took on some more responsibility at work and has transitioned to doing a lot of the server work, he has become our primary cook in the house and is doing a great job, he also brewed a special beer for our friend's wedding, he was able to attend an Iowa basketball game this year, and logged 1789 fitbit miles.
Side Note: Johanna has a play kitchen and when she was asked "where's mom's kitchen" she gave a confused look but when I asked "where's daddy's kitchen" she knew exactly where to point!
Michelle brought her old BA and new BA worlds together by setting up a "summit" with the two groups in Madison, but for the first time in forever had no big work trips, I joined the Women's Leadership Network of Dubuque, and I started waking up at 5:15am to walk with 1224 fitbit miles logged - over a 20% increase from last year!
Guster is warming up more to Johanna and has a bedtime routine where he comes in to say good night to her as we were putting her down in her crib.
And the year was captured in a total of 3224 pictures!
Let's not forget Christmas 2014
Looking beautiful.
Announcing pregnancy.
Ganging up on Tony.
Giving the "my toy" face.
Doing her elf dance.
Johanna's favorite present (which happened to be free) that we need to put a blanket over at nap time and bed time to put it to sleep so she will sleep too.
