Good bye 2012

I have been reflecting over the last day or so on exactly what to blog about for this post.  2012 was a big mixed bag of emotions for me.  It started by spending New Years eve with our great friends Pat and Charlene and their kids.  We had supper at our house and then had a quiet New Year's eve at home.  It was just as we had over the last 4 years.  We were planning on our trip to Nova Scotia in the summer, and were excited to drive there (little did WE know).  We enrolled Joe in hockey and he thrived in it.

I planned on getting more connected with my god daughter Adelle and twin neices, and for the most part I did.  We welcomed people into our lives that unfortunately ended up not being the people we thought they were.  At times I think we are just too nice and trusting, which unfortunately in this case was our downfall.  Winter turned into spring, and we had a great time just spending time together.  Spring turned into summer, and we changed our summer vacation plans.  We decided to take a family only trip, and we booked a beautiful cabin in the woods at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta.  The 4 of us talked at length on what we wanted to do when we were there, and planned side trips to see friends. 

And then, well, we all know what happened in July.  We packed up what we could, said goodbye to the only home that Joe knew, and moved back to Nova Scotia.  We were down, but we were together and we certainly were not out.  Rob decided to change careers, a move I totally supported.  Retail just wasn't where we wanted to be and after what had happend with the Northwest Company, we were not doing that again.  I started looking for preschool jobs, but they are very hard to find here.  I had many interviews at daycares.  We decided we would take the summer to enjoy ourselves with the boys, which we did.  We took them to Maine to spend a weekend with Adam and Genevieve, and we were able to make new friends and spend a great deal of time with Adelle and Jamie.  We laughed and tried to find our new normal. 

We were just beginning to feel like we were going to be ok when we got the news that my Uncle Clar was dying.  He had been battling the same lung disease as my dad, but none of us expected he would go as fast as he did.  Again, our world tipped a little sideways and we were a bit lost.  Uncle Clar was an amazing man, he stepped in as my surrogate dad when Rob and I lived in Newfoundland, and was an all around amazing man.  The world was a little dimmer the day he died.

This picture is from when we visited there in July.  Joe was only 2 months old and he was in full blown colic.  I was ready to trade him for a gold fish.  Uncle Clar was the only one who could get him to stop crying by just holding  him.

We were in a state of shock but again, we are a strong unit.  We perseverved.  Nothing else could go wrong, right?  The universe wasn't really that cruel, was it?

Less than a month later we lost Uncle Jim Grant.  Talk about not having a moment to catch our breath.  Jim fought and lost his battle with cancer in less than 4 months.  Jim was my birthday buddy and I plan on doing something that day just for him.  We joked when he was in the hospital that he would have to get better because now that I was back we were going to celebrate together.  We still will.

Along came September and even more changes.  We were settled somewhat into our new life.  Family members on both sides kept saying with all the negative in our lives with losing loved ones they were glad we were back to support.  As were we.  The boys were thriving being around so many family members again.  Joe was quickly adapting from being a "kid from the north" to being "a kid from the park".  They both loved to be outside.  One of the funniest things I can remember is both boys trying to navigate how to go down hills on their bikes.  Saskatchewan kids don't have to deal with hills, there are none. Joe pretty well wore out the back tire on his bike driving down the hill and "power sliding" around the corners.  Only a few scraped knees and wipe outs, but many squeals of joy.  They both settled into school quickly, and for the first time in many years so did Rob.  He went back to school and changed careers.

Now here we are at the end of the year.  Was it all bad?  Hell no.  Like everything else, it was a learning experience for us.  We learned how to adapt and survive as a family unit.  I am very proud of who we are and what we can over come. 

We have all become closer as a family, and are just as crazy as ever.  I love that I have all these crazy people back in my life.

These 4 have been spending a lot of time together.  The girls and Joe are all getting to know each other, and Colby is rekindling the friendship he had with the girls before we left. 

Christmas morning was amazing.  We spent it with all our family.  We had a family breakfast on my side of the family, which was amazing.  And of course what is Christmas without a family picture of us at our finest?

Kassie decided to bring an apron for Rob to wear while cooking breakfast.  Another Christmas tradition in the making maybe?

My brother even got in on the fun.

I had to take this picture. I have the same picture of Colby and BJ from when Colby was 3.

Then we packed up and had Christmas dinner with the other side of the family. We actually forgot to do our traditional crazy picture as we were all tired and cranky.

2013 will be a new year for us in all terms of the word.  What we have learned from this past year will last us a life time.  But honestly, I won't change a thing.  Happy New Year to you and yours.

This is my favorite picture.  This was taken in July just after we got back here.  Even though we had just been through hell and back, we came out together, still smiling.