FEBRUARY

Hello, February!  February = FUN.

We continued with our family tradition of celebrating Chinese New Year, and this year, it was in February.  Part of our CNY traditions involve getting fresh new haircuts...... LOOK AT HER HAIR.  I love it.  The boys in my house were upset with me, I remember, because they all want her to have long hair, but I just could not resist a little sassy cut on this sassy thing.  

Here's Miss Sassy in her silks that we bought in China..... all dressed up for Chinese New Year!

Red Chinese New Year decorations?  CHECK!  Tons of food from Mr. Chen's?  CHECK!  Red table silks from China?  CHECK!  Red envelopes for the kids?  CHECK!

Let the Chinese New Year Celebrations begin!

If she entered a noodle-slurping contest, she would totally win.

Max is just making sure the food is safe for the rest of us.

Squirt is a natural with the chopsticks.

Well, kinda.....

Okay.  Forget the chopsticks.  THIS is the way we eat our noodles around here.

Happy Valentine's Day!  

Just after this picture was taken, we realized that we'd hit a milestone with our girl.

In February of 2015, Mary had been PART OF A FAMILY longer than she'd been without one.

I love her.

Jack continued to lead in worship at church......

Jack also participated in the All-State orchestra.

February:  To be continued......

(CAUSE THE WALT DISNEY WORLD HALF MARATHON GETS ITS OWN POST!)

JANUARY

Okay.  So apparently, not much happened around here in January.  This was 366 days ago and my memory is NOT SO GOOD, but according to our family stockpile of pictures, there isn't much to tell here.  (I've been through my camera card, Facebook, Instagram, and two different phone camera rolls and January's got NOTHING.)

Blogging the events of 2015 is off to a slow start.

What I DO remember is that Mary had pneumonia.  That was fun.

According to the following two pictures, we painted her nails..... can't remember if this was the first time we'd ever painted her nails, but let's pretend it was..... cause that would be good blog fodder.

And YES, it was January and she's still wearing her "Daddy's Little Pumpkin" shirt.

Perhaps THIS is why I didn't blog last year.

Oh!  Jack went to the winter formal at his high school with gal pal, Riley.  That boy sure does clean up good!

K.  That was January.  

Good, huh?

Moving right along.......

A Year in Review: 2015

Time flies, doesn't it?  The days come and go.... the seasons change..... there are to-do lists and activities and work stuff and fun stuff and places to go and things to do and meals to get on the table and homework and activities and practices and rehearsals and projects and LIFE TO DO.  Before you know it, another year has come and gone..... AND YOU HAVE NOT BLOGGED ONE BIT ABOUT IT.

My last blog post was December 31, 2014.  That was one year ago YESTERDAY.  Today is the first day of 2016 and like any good planner person, I'm gearing up for a brand new empty year.  My planner is fresh and vacant, my pencils are sharp, my pens are new and I'm ready to set in motion the year ahead.  And, like any good planner, I enjoy looking back on the things I've done before I think about the things that are to come...... so I opened up the blog and started looking..... AT NOTHING.

Life is busy, and this year, documenting our memories took a back seat.  Or had no seat.  Or something.  SOOOO..... before I move another step into 2016, I'm gonna spend THE REST OF THIS DAY documenting 2015.  So, move backwards to move forwards.  This is how life is sometimes.

The Lord has been incredibly precious, patient, powerful, and present to the Powells this year...... Here.  Let me show you.