I don’t know about you, but it is hard for me to believe that 2021 has come and gone. Like most people, I think that I am still trying to catch my breath from 2020 and somehow I looked up and the year is already over. Thankfully, doing this recap really helps me remember the highs and lows of the past year! Remember that this is mostly a highlight reel (although I do include some of the lows), so don’t compare it to your current feelings about your year. I am arriving at the end of this year just as weary and exhausted as I was last year, and while I do not feel like I am struggling with my mental health, I do just feel a bit…let down…about it all. But doing these recaps really helps me to see and acknowledge that we did have SO MANY wonderful blessings this year, and I truly have much to be thankful for!
JANUARY
The highlight of January was the weekend that I got to spend entirely alone at home while Theo took the kids Up North to his parents house. While he was gone, I spent about 15 hours finishing writing my book and worked on getting it self-published! That was a BIG DEAL to me as I had been working on it for years and years.
FEBRUARY
February was a cold month and we had a lot of snow days off school. It’s always around February that we really start to go a bit stir crazy. Thankfully, we also had the Hines Winter Retreat to look forward to! We spent a weekend in Michigan with all of the Hines Family- we spend as much time outside in the snow as we can stand! We even did a polar bear plunge!
MARCH
In March, Theo turned 30 and the weather finally warmed up enough for us to get outside as much as possible! We really got serious about our 51 Parks Challenge- trying to visit all 51 Parks in Centerville in the year 2021. I went on a ladies weekend trip with some friends to Columbus.
APRIL
The beginning of April saw us on our Spring Break trip to Gatlinburg, TN. We made a lot of fantastic family memories and loved being outside in the beautiful mountains! I also attended the gospel coalition concert, and we opened our Airbnb! We got to see my parents for the first time in 2 years and Theo got to attend a shooting course. April did end on a low note of us testing positive for COVID.
MAY
In May, we spent most of the month still exhausted and recovering from our bout of COVID. I also turned 30 and we did all the end of the school year things like field day, final celebrations, dying our hair on the first day of our summer break and getting our house packed up and ready to move. We also continued to run our Airbnb full-time. We celebrated 9 years of marriage!
JUNE
June was the CRAZIEST month as we bought a house, flipped/remodeled it in 10 days, all while packing up our house and moving in. It was exhausting! We spent as much time outside as possible, and we visited a lot of parks on our 51 parks challenge. I also went on a ladies retreat with a bunch of other women from school. I dealt with a lot of challenging long-haul covid symptoms as well.
JULY
We started July off with a camping trip with some of the Hines family! We also went to a Dayton Dragons game, hosted a baby shower, hosted an Olympics party and kept ourselves busy visiting tons of parks! I met up with a friend from high school for a few days, and we had Theo’s brother and fam come and visit us. We ended the month with our annual Hines family reunion!
AUGUST
In August, we finished our 51 parks challenge, visited the zoo and the waterpark, had several visitors stay at our house, attended a wedding and went back to school! Tera also turned 7 in August. Ezra struggled with his asthma and spent one night in the hospital at the end of the month (thanks, back to school germs)
SEPTEMBER
September was a calmer month for us, as we got back into the swing of school. Tera and Kiah both started playing soccer, and we took a trip Up North for cousin Jamie’s 5th birthday!
OCTOBER
October 1st was a highlight of my life- my parents moved here after living overseas for most of my adult life! They now live across the street from us, and you certainly won’t hear any complaining from me! Kiah also turned 5 in October and we took a quick overnight family trip to Great Wolf Lodge. We also began realizing that our kids were getting sick…a lot. Starting in late September/early October, we have mostly had at least one kid sick each week up until now.
NOVEMBER
In November, the weather started to cool down and we added more school events to our calendar. Ezra turned 3 and also had a wonderful Thanksgiving break with a trip to Hocking Hills and a lot of relaxing at home, snuggled under blankets. We also dealt with more illnesses- just normal viruses, but still SO not fun.
DECEMBER
Believe it or not, December was actually one of our slowest months of the year! We did have several Christmas parties, but otherwise the calendar was mostly clear up until Christmas week. We also spent most of December miserably sick with a long-lasting tummy bug and did end up having to miss the better part of the last two weeks of school. Still, we managed to turn it around and had the most lovely visit from Theo’s parents and visited Carillon Park on a cold and rainy night! We celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my parents and enjoyed ice skating as a family and getting as much outside time as possible since it has been a warm December.
And that is a wrap on our 2021!