HAPPY 2019! A QUICK LOOK BACK

Hello, friends! I've missed you!

I know it's been several months since we've talked, but life took a turn for the busy a few months back and hasn't shown any signs of slowing. I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday season and your new year is off to a great start.

To ease back into blogging, and kick off 2019 at Woodbank Lane, I thought I would take a quick look back at last year.

At the beginning of the year, I decided to try and keep a record of the things I was thankful for in 2018. I didn't do too bad. You can read the post here.

I dumped out the Mason jar and here are some of the highlights.

This was the very first slip of paper I added to my "thankful for" jar last January.

I work with a great group of dedicated professionals. They make coming to work much easier. We hug each other, we support each other, cry with each other, pray for each other, and appreciate each other.

My youngest child is a little over half way through his senior year. You know what that makes me? OLD--only in number, though! I was lucky enough to tag along as a chaperone on his field trip to New Orleans last year with his AP Language class, and it was definitely a highlight.

In February, an encounter at the grocery store led to an unexpected treat for the blog. I started writing for our local community news paper. Read some of my articles and the story of how that came together here.

Next on my slips of good things of 2018...

My oldest two children have spring birthdays, and celebrating with my kids (and family) will always be my favorite way to spend time. And then in May, not too long after their birthdays, my daughter graduated from the University of Alabama. We had a massive graduation party at our house, more people than I'd ever entertained. It was wonderful! She's teaching first grade now and loving it!

Later on in the summer, in July, we finally managed to get all three kids together (and the boy and girl friends) and take a vacation. I can't tell you how hard it was coordinating all those schedules! But it was so worth the work. When your babies grow up, and they start "adulting", things definitely get harder to figure out when you're trying to wrangle them in for any event.

In August my daughter started her teaching career, I started my twenty-second year of teaching, my youngest started his senior year, and my oldest moved back to our town.

And speaking of moving... also in August, after years of trying to get them here, my in-laws are finally in the same town with us, too. They have a beautiful new home and are only about twenty-five or so minutes away from us now vs. four hours. Let the decorating begin!!

Then before I knew it, it was fall!

I shared my fall-themed table in October, and sadly, I wasn't able to get back to the blog until now.

Lastly, we celebrated the holidays! Several of the slips in my Mason jar were how thankful I am for my family. My parents are in good health and close by, and my kids are turning into pretty good, hard-working, driven adults.

This school year I'm teaching out of a new text book that is set up totally different from the one I've been using for about ten years. That's part of the reason I have not had much time for this hobby I enjoy. In a way it's like starting over. But I'm getting the hang of it now, and I have a student intern (student teacher) from the University of Alabama this semester, so things are calming down just a little. 

I hope to be back to a regular blogging schedule soon!!

Much love,
Kathryn