2023- A Year in Review

To say we have been blessed this year would be an understatement. Looking back on all we have done and experienced this year, both good and bad, I have a hard time finding only a few things to highlight. So bare with me, this may end up much longer than originally planned!

Family

• We decided to start the journey to more sustainable living. We weren't completely sure what exactly this would look like at the time but knew it was something we really wanted to work toward.

• We got meat chickens! That was quite an adventure and we learned so much along the way. It was an awesome learning experience for our children as well as ourselves. We eat alot of chicken meals and loved the idea of knowing exactly where it came from and what it was fed. This is something we definitely plan to do again.

• We started planning a garden for next spring. Mitchell has plans drawn up for raised flower beds and a green house. We are mapping out how, where and what we want to plant.

• We started freeze drying and turned it into a small business! We decided we wanted to start doing our own freeze drying since our girls snack almost exclusively on freeze dried fruits. Alysha was spending obnoxious amounts of money on freeze dried fruits every week at the grocery store and it wouldn't last more than 3 days because of how much they eat. We figured why not do it ourselves on a larger quantity level. We started freeze drying all the things- fruits, veggies and candies!

• The quest to find a home church has been a long one. We have visited a number of church in the area over the last year and a half. We found a few we liked but decided to give one more a try before deciding which one we wanted to stay at. That's when we visited Victory Family. We have been attending for a few months now and are looking forward to getting more involved.

• Back in August we started talking about the possibility of getting a puppy and raising it to be a guard dog for our girls. We had a couple different breeds we decided we would be okay with and just started looking around to see what was out there. Originally we had planned for a puppy for Christmas but then we found exactly what we wanted and decided not to wait. Also.. we ended up with puppies instead of puppy. We welcome Storm and Titan to our family and though having two large puppies(and two older dogs) in the house is not always easy, it sure has been fun. They are almost 6 months old and weigh in at 80 and almost 70 pounds.

Mitchell -

• Mitchell decided to finish up his Masters degree. He is only a couple classes away from being done and has maintained his 4.0 throughout.

• After many years of waiting for the right officer spot to open up, Mitchell has also picked up a commission and is awaiting dates to attend Officer Training.

• In September, just 4 weeks after Alysha has surgery, Mitchell went in for his own surgery finally get his shoulder fixed and cleaned up. The first few days afterwards were rough but he overcame and ended up being able to get out of his sling and be done with physical therapy much sooner than anticipated.

• Over the summer the long awaited project of a playset/jungle gym came to life! We used to have one of the store bought playsets and honestly they are just not made well or made to last. Mitchell designed one for the girls and with the help of his brothers and a couple friends they built one that will last well into the girls' teenage years and probably beyond. We still have plans to add little things here and there to it but overall it has been finished and is quite a conversation starter. That wasn't the only thing Mitchell built this year. He also built the coop for the meat chickens. Again this was also completely designed by him. The coop allowed us to be able to move the chickens and provide fresh grass/clover for them to graze on as well as a clean area to fertilize.

Alysha

• Early in the year we got word that we would be losing our childcare come May. Because we didn't feel comfortable with putting the two youngest in daycare it was decided that Alysha would become a stay-at-home mom. This was something that has always been in the plan, just not quite this soon. We thought we had another year to year and a half before making that move. At the end of April, Alysha left a nursing job she loved after a decade in the field to stay at home full time with our girls. This was exciting but also challenging and almost a little daunting. Alysha has always been a working mom so not only did she have to adjust to an entirely new schedule and routine, we all had to adjust to becoming a one income household. While she says she misses having that extra paycheck, having the time with our children is so worth it. She got to be there for Ellisyn's first steps and the girls get to do more extra-curricular activities with her home.

• While staying home, Alysha started a cookie business. She started learning the ins and outs of decorating with royal icing around this time last year. She enjoyed it and kept playing with it. With some urging from family and friends she decided to go for it. Now she enjoys getting to create cookies for all kinds of events for friends, family, and clients!

• Concerts! If you know Alysha you know she loves concerts. She got to go to a few of her favorite artists this year. She and her sister drove down to Dallas and Saw Taylor Swift in April. In August Alysha took Mitchell's sister Natylee to her first concert and saw Thomas Rhett. In November, Alysha went to her first comedy show and saw Nurse Blake with her old co workers. She had a great time at the few major outings she did this year.

• This year Alysha decided to take on being a cheer coach for Brooklynn's cheer team! She threw her all into it and really enjoyed coaching the 18 girls they had on their team. She' is already prepping new cheers and a half time dance for next season!

• Right at the beginning of cheer season Alysha had a double hernia repair and still managed to make it to every practice and game and teach the team their half time dance! She isn't the greatest at following "post op rest" guidelines. But all is well and she has healed great.

• Alysha decided to learn to french braid and crochet. As a girl mom she thought french braiding is something she should know how to do but never tried. Once she learned, Mitchell did too! It was fun learning together and getting better at braiding the girls' hair. Learning to crochet has been fun for Alysha. She has made a couple small doll blankets. Her first big project was a blanket for Christmas. It came out great and she was very proud. She is just about finished with another blanket for Brooklynn and a small green one for Sawyer. She has plans to make a few more in the upcoming months.

• Last month Alysha decided to take on babysitting a baby boy on Thursdays and Fridays. This has changed up our routines a little bit but has been great practice at juggling more children since we would like to have more.

Brooklynn

• Brooklynn finished 2nd grade with the most AR points in the grade and then went on to have the most minutes read during the library summer reading program.

• She started 3rd grade and has been challenged to get better in spelling and math. She continues to love school.

• Brooklynn continued cheer for her 3rd year. She both loved and hated having her mom as a coach. It bonded them in some ways but she was also pushed more than she had been pushed before in cheer. This year we added in gymnastics so she could learn tumbling and be more confident in her movements. She started out in a beginners class over the summer but quickly moved up to the next level skill class by the time school started. As soon as cheer was over, we switched gears and went right into Basketball. This is the first time Brooklynn has ever played and she is still a bit lost but we continue to encourage her to get better and learn more about the sport. So far she has enjoyed playing but having her best friend on her team plays a large role in that.

• Brooklynn also wanted to mention that she too had surgery this year. She started her summer break with getting her tonsils and adenoid out. We expected that recovery to be much harder than it was. She did great and was back to her normal self not even two days later.

Sawyer

• Sawyer also started gymnastics this year! We are pretty sure gymnastics day is her favorite day of the week. She looks forward to getting to go to class. She has gained much more balance and confidence. She loves to show anyone who will watch the "tricks" she can do. Her summersault is fantastic and she can do a flip on the bar unassisted. She will tell you that makes her "big and strong."

• Currently we are struggling to get her interested in learning letters and counting. We realize that by 3 she should be able to recognize and name letters and count to at least 10. Somehow she has fallen behind in that and really could not care one bit about learning them. We are looking for ways to get her to try so that we can get her ready for pre-K.

• Sawyer had her first weekends away this year, getting to stay with Nana and Papa. She has decided that is pretty much the coolest and she loves to go hang out with Papa cause he is "her best friend" and takes her fishing.

Ellisyn

• Ellisyn turned 1 this year!

• Unlike her sisters she chose not to walk before she was one. In fact she waited until she was 15 months old before she walked. We are completely convinced that she could walk before then if she had wanted to. She chose to wait until she could do it all- walk forward, backward, side to side, squat down and stand back up without falling, etc. Silly girl does things on her own time and how she wants.

• Like her sisters, Ellisyn did not sleep through the night before one either. She too decided she liked her mid-night milk too much to sleep all night without it. Once we decided we were done with the waking up throughout the night and wanted her to sleep in her bed all night, we spent a couple nights getting her to do just that. While Alysha misses the night cuddles sometimes, it is nice to have our bed back and get a little more sleep.

2023 brought us many great blessings and has set the course for many future blessings. We are so glad to have made it through the year with our family and loved ones. 2024 will hopefully be prosperous. We hope to continue sharing our adventures and what we learn along the way. If you made it this far, Thank you. I know this was a long one. We would love to hear some of your highlights this year. Feel free to share them in the comments.