It’s always an awkward thing to look back on a year that includes a family separation, but you can’t delete life events from your real timeline as easy as you can delete them from your Facebook timeline.
Anyway, this year I’m doing my Year in Review Instagram-style. (Click on a photo and the gallery will pop up so you can click through the larger photos.)
Some of my favorite or most memorable moments from 2012 include now-former members of my family, and that’s okay. We were still a family when we made these memories, and even though things have changed, they still made 2012 what it was.
The last quarter of the year brought change, but the year as a whole was joyful and good and full of living. I know 2013 will bring more of the same.
-
- The great shower-tiling project began on New Year’s Day. I hate tiling. It sucks. Especially if you have really crooked, jacked-up walls.
-
- Connect Four was a huge hit with the little girls. They played it for months.
-
- Our friend was ordained to the deaconate in January at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Memphis
-
- Tried our best to eat healthy. Didn’t always happen.
-
- Loved spending time in my deep bathtub with tea and a great book.
-
- Dreary image from nearby the kids’ school.
-
- Jaylen and the dogs like to cuddle with my dad.
-
- The year of the sock bun!
-
- Jenna just before hitting the stage at her first pageant.
-
- We spent Valentine’s Day at a Grizzlies game. As always, they won when I was in attendance.
-
- Breakfast at McDonald’s in Little Rock over Jenna’s birthday weekend. We traveled there for the Little Rock Half Marathon.
-
- I was obsessed with pinning my hair back like this. It was the best growing-it-out style.
-
- One of the many lunch dates with the kiddos.
-
- I loved these tulips.
-
- A Day in the Life post – geneaology, Jenna reading The Cat in the Hat Comes Back (a favorite) to the Build-A-Bear she made for her birthday, chipotle shrimp tacos, self-portrait.
-
- Jenna & Darin playing in bed on a Saturday morning.
-
- The sun setting over the ball field.
-
- Horses in Gilt Edge.
-
- An interesting geneaology find: a distant cousin, who represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, knew a judge from the county where I now live.
-
- My kittehs. Bella is now gone. The verdict is out on Roxy.
-
- I was without kids for a week in the spring and spent a couple of hours browsing different things at an art store. I love this shot and used it as my lock screen picture for about eight months.
-
- Embroidered a doodle for Jaylen while redecorating his room.
-
- Jaylen writing on the new chalkboard wall in his room.
-
- We got chicks for Easter. This is Jonah.
-
- Me & Robbie Kay on Easter Sunday.
-
- My little ball players! It was a busy spring.
-
- Leaving a late night ball game. Jaiden got hit with the ball this day and Darin carried her to the truck on his shoulders.
-
- Jaiden & I at her end of the year awards assembly. She got high honor roll and was ranked in the top ten in the fourth grade.
-
- My three smarties: Jaiden was in the top ten in fourth grade, Jenna was in the top ten in kindergarten and Jaylen was first in the second grade.
-
- Bella-boo.
-
- Jaiden and some friends doing cheers after church one Sunday.
-
- Mother’s Day dinner at IHOP. Jenna was mad because she couldn’t sit next to me.
-
- Jaylen at bat.
-
- The kids and Darin playing in the inflatable pool in the side yard.
-
- The start of summer.
-
- Swimming in Grammy & Grampy’s pool.
-
- Hiking in Shelby Forest. I found a big snake and made Darin get rid of it. He went into the hospital later this day.
-
- The price of freedom: a veteran waiting to be wheeled back into the VA hospital in Memphis. Darin spent almost a week in ICU.
-
- I found a tick on me a week after we’d gone hiking. I thought I had Lyme Disease, but it turned out to be a Vitamin D deficiency. I still take 50,000 iu supplements every week.
-
- Sand art hexagons during our church’s first VBS, which I helped lead. A local girl with cancer was experiencing a setback at this time and we prayed for her.
-
- Tess, our black silkie who was later killed.
-
- Delicious anniversary dinner at Automatic Slim’s.
-
- I gave in to my longing to paint.
-
- My parents adopted a Blue Tick Coon Hound. My dad named her Lady Blu.
-
- A new addition: we adopted a pit bull mix in July.
-
- Over the summer I got a little nuts and painted our doors teal.
-
- Jenna was sweet enough to care for Jaylen one day while he had a migraine while we were at Walmart.
-
- We won several first place awards at this year’s state press awards contest.
-
- We took a trip to Hot Springs in July and had dinner at a cozy little cajun restaurant that used to be all sorts of things.
-
- Our cute little town.
-
- Crossing the bridge back into Memphis from our Hot Springs trip.
-
- On our road trip the other kids watched movies but Jenna, well, she read.
-
- Tilly, our bantam cochin! She has also been killed.
-
- Roxy was ready to go back to school. I went back in August and earned a 4.0 for the first time.
-
- Gizmo ready to go on a ride with me to pick up dinner.
-
- Sylvia, a silver-laced wyandotte.
-
- A new Japanese restaurant opened and I fell in love with their signature roll.
-
- Jaiden and Jaylen having breakfast at the coffee shop on the square before Jesus Storybook Storytime in August.
-
- The kids started fifth, third and first grades in August.
-
- Chickies free-ranging in the yard.
-
- Roxy and Bella snoozing on my new yellow chair.
-
- A candid shot with my daughters the day before things changed.
-
- A symbol of hope for our future in the midst of a divorce.
-
- Packing up to move.
-
- My last bath in the house. The bathtub was one of the selling points for me and I miss it.
-
- Sitting in “our” pew alone made me lose it at church.
-
- My parents had an in-ground pool put in and the kids all enjoyed the big dirt mounds.
-
- Grandbabies eating breakfast after a sleepover at Grammy & Grampy’s.
-
- I did a lot of research for class this semester. Bleh.
-
- Jaylen, Caleb and Blu playing in the dirt. Caleb and Caiden follow Jaylen around and love him so much; it makes me so happy to see how much they love him.
-
- A carnival came to town.
-
- We’re on the hunt for a new home. The kids and I fell in love with a house but, sadly, we were outbid.
-
- Blu does a fair amount of snoozing on the couch. She’s so adorable when she sleeps. When she’s awake she’s kind of a pain, but we love her anyway.
-
- Jaiden started playing the flute in August. If I never hear Hot Cross Buns again it will be too soon.
-
- Rocking that 4.0! I still always lose points in MLA formatting.
-
- One of the last Jesus Storybook Storytime sessions of 2012.
-
- Standing in a pile of leaves at the house we bid on.
-
- Halloween.
-
- I’ve claimed a favorite coffee cup at my parents’ house. They’re going to miss it when I leave. lol.
-
- Our lovely little church.
-
- Kids and I before our family photo.
-
- Omelets for breakfast. We are obsessed.
-
- Hanging with Hanson on election day. We worked until almost midnight, then had to log tape and file photos after that.
-
- Attended my first church convention in November.
-
- Another snap before our family photos. I love these kids.
-
- Decorating for Christmas.
-
- Going out with my family and friends for a birthday dinner. Bring on 32!
-
- The kids made me a birthday cake because my parents were out of the country.
-
- The kids playing with their cousins. I love living near family.
-
- We went to the Dickens Christmas event on the square. It was cold and rainy, but I’m glad we did.
-
- My most favorite pizza from Lil Milanos.
-
- The girls playing cards with my grandmother. I’m so happy, and so lucky, to still have her around.
-
- Jaylen playing the electric guitar he got for his birthday.
-
- My sister-in-law Katie playing with our nephew Liam.
-
- We closed out the year with a new addition, our new Bugg puppy, Bo. He got his name after the first dog, Bo Obama, because he was born on Election Day.
Related posts:
I'm Echo, a 30-something single mother of three, student and news editor. I have been blogging since 2001 about my trials and triumphs with life, love and motherhood. 
What happened to your cats?