Top 12 of 2012

Some are serious, some are funnier, but all have made my 2012 a little sunnier.

And in no particular order of importance...here goes:
1. Pinterest.  Ahhh....  Have you really only been in my life this past year?  What did we ever do before pinterest?  I'll tell you what I did...make binders.  Binders, upon binders, page protectors upon page protectors.  I had one for the house, one for homeschool, one for parenting, one for recipes...you name it.  And this past week little by little I've been flipping through and realizing there is just no need for all these binders anymore.

2. My blog launch.  Okay, so this one is a bit self-indulgent, but let me explain.  I've been searching for a niche for my writing for oh, eight to twenty years (depending on when you start counting - Cindy the elementary writer or Cindy the get a college degree in Writing, writer).  And finally, here it is.  I struggled with being a fiction writer (which I'm definitely not), a poet (which I love but has absolutely no future for me) and even a freelancer (which I still do some).  And alas, last summer I stumbled into the blog-o-sphere and don't believe I'll ever go back.  I've traded my pen and paper for a laptop and believe my writing has finally found a home.

3. Juicing.  We have not been juicing very long but I already have multiple success stories: colds and flus that never were, the increased energy, the quick recovery from a headache and an overall feeling of, well, just feeling better.  I start to crave it now and it's like my body is thrilled to finally, after years of undiagnosed Celiac Disease, living off cereal and crushed ice and a general lack of nutrition, be taking in real food. 

4. Chai Lattes at Home.  This one needs no further explaination. They're just awesome.

5. Homeschool and falling in love with curriculum researching.  Our real journey began this year - the lesson planning, intentional, buying curriculum kinda homeschool.  The one that went beyond great stuff to do at home with preschoolers (and nevermind that absolute bomb of a try when they were three, three, and two and I attempted a circle time...).  This has been the first year I can say legitimately, "we homeschool" ...and say it with a big fat smile, no less.

6. Learning more about Biomedical Treatment and getting a new Holistic Doc.  We have seen much progress this year on our Autism road to recovery and my healing from Celiac and most of that I can attribute to food.  We turned our kitchen upside down and have been blessed to see the fruits of our labor.  Very hard working teachers and therapists played a big role in the Autism road from the behavior side of things, as well! 

7.Our new home.  We were finally able to move this year and we just love our new home.  I have a feeling after moving seven times in seven years (thank you, United States Marine Corps), we will be settled here for quite some time!

8. Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University

9. Autism Walk 2012

10.Favorite Parenting Reads

11.Favorite Reads for Preschoolers and Kindergartners

12.My Gardening Journey.  Among the many failures, I have lettuce and herbs growing in the window, wood in the garage for my Square Foot Garden in the spring, and a plan.  I also have a fancy new set of garden accessories thanks to a Christmas gift from my M-I-L.  Check out my Favorite Gardening Reads.

Prayers for a Happy New Year for you and yours!!  Thank you for reading and make one of your resolutions for 2013 to become a Follower!