I am finding extra pockets of free time during our holidays, and I thought I would use a little of it to put together a list of my favorite memories from this past year. We live an ordinary life, but it’s been a good year. I am thankful that we are all healthy, and we’re able to keep homeschooling.

The most time consuming adventure has been my son’s Three Years of Piano. He has come so far in such a little time, and we’re so proud of his hard work. This summer we took the time to interview teachers and chose a new one, and earlier in the year we started his YouTube channel. You can see his most recent performances there. I’m sure some people think we’re tiger parents, but I truly don’t think a child could do this unless he wanted to do it, and I know my son does.

I’ve also truly enjoyed being with my younger son as he takes cello lessons and practices almost everyday. I feel like I’m learning so much about the music world through both my boys, and we love attending local classical concerts at the university too.

For my younger son It’s Still Birds, and he has turned us all into birders. We had an exciting moment when two wood ducks landed in the trees in our front yard. I also loved visiting the Audubon Center near Biloxi, MS, and then we had the most exciting adventure when we visited the Sandhill Crane Wildlife Refuge (and part of that adventure had to do with the carnivorous plants too). Then, of course, my favorite part of our visit to Ormond Beach over Thanksgiving was the birdwatching too.

On dreary winter days, it can sometimes feel like we’re always stuck in the house, but keeping this blog is a remedy for that. Because it reminds me of all the places we took the boys this year, including the Museum of Aviation, Noah’s Ark, Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, Mobile Museum of Art, USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, Michael C. Carlos Museum, Booth Western Art Museum, Tellus Science Museum, North Georgia Zoo & Petting Farm, Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta Botanical Garden, and the Atlanta Botanical Garden at Gainesville, which I never wrote about. We also went on nature hikes a few times too.

This blog also reminds me of those wonderful nature experiences we had this summer, including raising black swallowtail butterflies and then giant swallowtail butterflies. Speaking of bugs, the boys had a great time in their bug camp too.

This is the year the boys and I had fun re-creating the tiny trail that winds through our wooded backyard, and my eldest son also became interested in trees. We’re trying to identify and label all the trees and plants that grow naturally in our yard. I haven’t written about that yet.

And what an accomplishment to finish up the 5th and 2nd grade and move on to 6th grade and 3rd grade.

Wow. Time flies.

I wish you all a very Happy New Year. What have been your highlights of 2018? I would love to hear about them.