2012 Highlights

2012 was an incredibly hard year.  

During the first half of the year, we were barely sleeping.  I think, on average, I was sleeping between 3 and 5 hours a night. It was so difficult.  There were times I wondered if I could die from lack of sleep.  Then, slowly, as the weather warmed and the year dragged closer to Summer, Clara's reflux started to subside and she began to sleep a little better.  Still far from ideal but better.  I felt like we were slowly coming back to life.  During this time, Sophie started her very first soccer season...and Clara began to walk...

In early June, Sophie spent her last day at preschool and we had a pizza/cookie cake party to celebrate...

Somehow, in the midst of the crazy first half, I did manage to plan and pull off a belated 40th birthday bash for Alain (and, in usual Audrey fashion, I took a bunch of photos of my prep work but none during the actual party!).

In Spring, Alain had a very large project at work and we didn't see a lot of him. Then, as Summer started, he finished said project and we prepared to leave for a week-long vacation over July 4th to New York City.  

The day before our flight we learned of our dear brother/brother-in-law/uncle's tragic passing.  

Our trip to Switzerland was heart-wrenching, emotional and just plain hard.....but, even in the midst of that, there were some beautiful moments.  We don't get to see Alain's family much so, even in the midst of our pain, we had to do our best to soak up our time together (and to celebrate Yaron's 2nd birthday). It was the first time all five cousins were together in the same place and the joy of the children kept us all going.

A life without Ygal. We're still attempting to come to grips with this, if we ever can. It's been six months now. Therefore, the second half of the year has seen us muddling through.  

As soon as we returned from Switzerland, our baby Clara turned one.  My grand plans for her party were put on the back burner and we had a small, intimate family gathering to celebrate.

{I don't know why this picture is "foggy" but I'm including it because it's one of my favorites!}

The very next day we commemorated what would've been Ygal's 36th birthday by releasing 36 balloons.

In early August, my aunt and uncle invited us on their beach vacation.  It turned out to be just what the doctor ordered.  It was peaceful and relaxing....

A few short weeks later and Sophie started kindergarten. Unbelievable!

After two days of school, we drove down to Hilton Head for a long weekend to celebrate Sophie's 6th birthday. It was a lovely, lovely weekend and that trip included what was probably my favorite moment of the entire year....

As I was going back through all my pictures from the year, I couldn't believe how many nature pictures there were.  Flowers, birds, trees, insects, deer, shells, leaves, my garden, you name it.....I don't even know how my computer can contain them all.  I was surprised but this makes sense to me.....when I'm down, nature is my solace.  And there was a lot of nature in my life this year. For that, I am so thankful.

Hard years also come to an end.

I am looking forward, with a hopeful heart, to 2013!