Nine photos to wrap up my year in 2024

I can’t believe another year has rolled around and it’s already time to write my end-of-year post.

This year, we accomplished many home renos items including:  renovating the basement (on my wishlist last year), repairing our backyard fence, redoing our roof, installing new tracks on our garage doors, replacing the old furnace pipes, and finally upgrading our thermostat to a smart one.  It was a lot of expenses in one year, one after another, but I’m glad that these things are done and we shouldn’t have to worry about them for a good couple of years.  The next home improvement item to tackle in 2025 are:  our bedroom closet system, getting a bunk bed system for the kids, organizing our belongings in our basement (and always continued decluttering — to sell and give away more unused items as I have done since 2020).

This year, I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old.  We faced challenges with the 4 year old’s transition in separating from us at an EarlyON Journey to Kindergarten program which affected her from March until June.  In September, she began her full day kindergarten program!  I was able to enjoy focused attention on the secondborn while the eldest child was in school and I realized how much I love time with them at these early childhood play-based centres.

The 4 year old has gradually started to be more comfortable with kids and adults ever since starting school but still has more steps to take in order to be fully comfortable with expressing herself and playing freely.  The 2 year old exploded in her language capabilities in the last two months of the year and it’s such a joy to watch her speak and string words together.  She is so silly and fun to watch.  The two kids have started to actually play with each other more too — so much joy in watching them play and interact together.  (I exclusively breastfed the secondborn for 19 months in total, stopping around August.)

In April of this year, we went on a cruise as an entire family for the first time.  We drove down to New York where we boarded the Anthem of the Seas cruise ship and spent 7 days at sea and the Bahamas.

This year, we saw my mother-in-law’s and mom’s health decline in their own ways and it is an added pressure as someone now in the “sandwich generation”.

This year, I saved so much money on groceries from using Flashfood!  It is such an immense joy to check the app daily for deals and choose the items we want.  It’s contrasted with the Too Good To Go app where the surprise bags don’t always contain foods that we want to eat.  Further, we dove (pun intended) into DD this year in June.  What a fun and fulfilling trip that has been.

More particularly, we enjoyed visits to the zoo, CN Tower, an 80-plus people family reunion, birthday parties at play gyms, backyards, and carousels, day trip to downtown for my foodie media tour, many mother-daughter meals, and countless EarlyON sessions.

Towards the latter couple months of the year, I resumed my 10,000 steps per day routine.  I felt invigorated by being able to walk and watch YouTube videos in order to reach my daily step count.  Adding weights would be a next step and I’ll see if I can achieve that next year.  My goal is to eat enough protein as per my body size, ample fiber, and calcium to maintain good health (I continue to track calories which provides me with much gratification to know what I need more of).

I was able to enjoy a few solo meals this year which re-inspired me to take more of in order to nourish my soul.  I aim to have more dine-out solo meals in 2025.

Speaking of which, in March or so, the husband and I began having monthly date nights.  It has been a wonderful routine for us to recharge and catch up with each other without having to take care of anyone else.

Next year, we await new adventures and experiences as a growing family.  I’m hoping that my children continue to grow comfortable in their own skin and express themselves freely.  I wish all of my loved ones good health, peace, self-satisfaction, and happiness, and especially improved physical health for our mothers who are facing challenges.

Until next year!  Hoping everyone had a wonderful 2024! ☺  Wishing you all the best your heart desires in 2025! ♥