Hi everyone!
We hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend getting ready for Christmas! We celebrated Christmas with Jordan’s family over the weekend since Jordan’s first day back to work from paternity leave will be Christmas Day.
We really appreciated his family being willing to come to us this year, since traveling with a newborn was going to be pretty difficult. We loved seeing everyone, and the kids had a great time opening gifts and playing with the family.
We also took our newborn and family photos on Friday, which was interesting to say the least. Our photographer is a saint, she put up with a lot from the toddlers as they ran around and refused to participate nicely in the photos (although the baby did great!). We’ll be excited to share those in the new year, but they very likely may just be photos of the baby with a few of the toddlers screaming and crying. What can you do?
Finally, we wanted to put a wrap on 2021 by revisiting all of the things we’ve done this year. We definitely have a lot on our plates (more than we started the year with!) so it’s nice to look back and see all of the things we accomplished this year.
1. We survived snowpocalypse
I’m not sure if you heard, but Texas had a gigantic snowstorm this year that resulted in lots of families being without power and water for extended periods of time. We made it through with just power outages for a few days, but it was definitely not something I would like to repeat any time soon!
2. Kate got a tattoo
Our older Ridgeback, Reese, is starting to have a lot of mobility issues and we’re worried about how much longer she is going to be with us. Rather than get a tattoo in memoriam, I wanted to get one well before we have to make any hard decisions. I finally got her galaxy style paw print tattoo this year after planning it for the last few.
3. Kate Completed a Mud Run
This makes the third baby who has run a race with me while pregnant! We hadn’t announced it at the time, but I was about 8 weeks pregnant with Finn when the Kraft ladies completed what we hope will be an annual event.
4. We replaced our roof
All of those winter storms finally caught up with our roof, and we had to get it totally replaced this spring.
5. Charlie turned one!
We threw a big dragon-themed birthday bash for Charlie’s first birthday, including a huge balloon garland, dragon snacks, and an awesome cake.
6. We repainted our front door and the house exterior
Well, most of it. We still have a little more painting to do to get it all ready to go.
7. We announced that we were having a baby
8. We took a day trip to Fossil Rim and Dinosaur Valley
We drove down to Glen Rose to take the kids to the wildlife park and Dinosaur Valley State Park and they LOVED it!
9. We took a family trip to Connecticut
Our first trip since the pandemic, and it went really poorly… everything that could go wrong did go wrong!
10. We finished the bonus room
I know it’s messy in this photo, but the painting is done, curtains are hung, and back doors are refinished!
11. We went to Redwood national park
Our third and final babymoon, we loved our time away. If you missed it, you can read about our trip here.
12. the Krafts went to Yellowstone, Glacier, and Grand Teton
Our second annual Kraft Family Vacation we had such a great time and can’t wait until next year’s gathering! (Beach vacay, anyone?)
13. We bought the property
Probably the biggest news of 2021, we bought our 23 acres and began working on plans for the future. We’ll have lots of updates for you as we head into 2022.
14. Parker turned three!
And we threw him the most ridiculous Octonauts themed party ever, including a homemade Octonauts cake.
15. We finished the kids’ bathroom
This was a labor of love for the kids for sure, as it turned into a MUCH bigger project than we anticipated. If you missed it, the update is here.
16. We Finished the Office/Finn’s Nursery
Okay, so this was an easy project but it was nice to check it off the list. Mostly painting and hanging things, as well as shifting the old baby furniture in from Parker’s room.
16. Finn was born!
We were thrilled to finish out 2021 by welcoming our third baby to the family.
And that’s a wrap for 2021! We’ll share our 2022 project list with you soon!
jordanpluskate 