Twelve in Twelve 2016

Happy New Years! As we look forward to 2017, here's my 2016 in pictures:

January: Went through my first Holy Door for the Year of Mercy (which became nineteen doors in ten states!) all documented with a #holydoorselfie.  This was also around the time I became obsessed with making Saint Peg Dolls. And I got a brand new Bible and started reading/studying with the goal to finish the whole thing in a year.  (More on that later...hint- I didn't meet my goal ;).)

February: No major notable events, but I did have lots of meetings and therefore lots of pretty doodles.  I got a little organized and made a doodle each Sunday corresponding to the Scripture readings for Mass, and have kept it up for over a year.  I posted a summary of all of them here, or you can check out #sundayreadingsscripturedoodle and follow along!

March: Super notable was the birth of my adorable nephew Oliver whom we love to pieces.  I made the two hour drive a whole lot that month (and still do) to snuggle this little one and his big sister.

April: And five weeks later Oliver was followed by second nephew Theodore.  This time I majorly played hooky and flew to Colorado to spend a week with tiny Teddy and his mom & dad. He's the cutest.

May: Wrapped up the school year with our annual Fulton Sheen Field Trip and got my first glimpses of the newly restored St. Mary Cathedral in Peoria.

June: Summer!  First roadtrip of many- A friend and I traveled to the Appalachian Mountains.  We visited the Biltmore in Asheville, NC, hiked, listened to Bluegrass, ate great food, and drove the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway.  Also in June, I also attended the incredible Finding Your Fiat Conference and hosted the Why Make Beautiful Things Series.

July: And a couple weeks later, I was hiking in the Rocky Mountains.  I made two back-to-back roadtrips to Colorado, once with family and once with a friend.  (If you are counting, I spent about 6,000 miles in the car over the course of a month!) My brother-in-law will be restationed to another Army post by next summer, so we spent as much time in Colorado as we could this year.

August: School started again and was a fun milestone year for my top floor teachers and I.  With Mother Teresa's upcoming canonization, I also made tons of coloring pages and activities to celebrate her powerful life.

September: #describeyourselfinthreefictionalcharacters was all the rage, and I decided that even though I want to be Laura, Jo, and Lizzie, really I'm Mary Ingalls, Meg March, and Jane Bennet- the older, predictable, trustworthy sister. Not a bad role, I guess. And I also made a skirt out of curtains, just like Maria VonTrapp.

October: My sister and Teddy made their first trip home to Illinois.  This is my favorite picture from the whole year, especially considering that Violet was 21 mos., Oliver was 7 mos.,  Teddy was 6 mos., and they are all looking at the camera. :)

November: I couldn't pick one, so you get two pics for November. First, I roadtripped to Wisconsin to the Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine and sites around LaCrosse.  And, no big deal, we got to meet Gianna Emmanuela, the daughter of St. Gianna Beretta Molla.  Hearing her talk about her "Saint Mama" and hugging her was like a little piece of heaven.

And, also in November, I cut 14" off my hair to donate to Children with Hair Loss.  This is the shortest my hair has ever been, and I'm still getting used to it!

December: And this month has been filled with lots of good things, including tons of family time.  I'm currently hanging out in my parents' living room, surrounded by all the babies.  This sister pic is of us and our matching purses- earlier in the year I found and splurged on the perfect purse (it's the Fossil Sydney Tote).  It's soooo perfect that by the fall, both of my sisters had individually purchased their own.  We love our matching purses, but we (and their husbands) mix them up all the time, leading to some confusion and laughs.

So there's my 2016 in a picture nutshell.  Wishing you a very blessed 2017!