My Own Favorite Posts of 2014

Earlier this month I posted my most popular posts of 2014, but those aren't necessarily my own favorite ones. My own favorite posts are invariably the ones that tug at my heart, the ones that capture our family doing life. These are the ones I write so that I can remember—and so my kids can, too.

 Like the time we had Southern Snow Magic in February: "And finally, my children know the pure beauty of a perfect snow night, when everything is quiet and the glow of the streetlights makes the world seem unblemished."

First spring hike: "Give me sunshine, something beautiful, a spacious place, and my family, and I'm good either way."

And I absolutely adore the pictures in the post In Just Spring. (I'm beginning to see a theme here.) "My backyard is like a fairy land, bursting with purples and pinks with a few dashes of yellow and white, all smothered in green. It's hard to resist the urge to join the dog rolling around in the grass."

 And this is just a Weekly Wrap-up, but it's the one in which our oldest graduates from college. From college. "I don't know how my child, my child— the one who used to insist on wearing gloves all the time for his "protection suit," the one who used to say, "You and Daddy are my best friends"—I don't know how he is on this list of graduates."


What Made Me Cry Today: This post is all about cleaning out my dresser drawer, and what I found in one that made me all weepy. (And it wasn't the baby teeth!)

 Summer: This is just a midsummer wrap-up of events, but I like to go back and remember all the things that were going on. We really filled last summer to the brim.


Moving Out: In which our oldest son, recently graduated from college, moves into his own apartment across town. "This is what we do. We raise them up and we send them off into the world, or at least across town, with our cast-off silverware and the old plates we got when we were first married and a stack of mismatched towels—the ones that are kinda stained and frayed."


Firsts and Lasts:  First day of high school, last year of high school… and more firsts and lasts in our own SmallWorld.

17: Thoughts on my daughter turning 17. "At 17, you're on the brink of the end of childhood—there is no denying that. At 17 you are thinking about the big things, about college and love and who you are and who you are going to be. You know by now there are some things you are just going to have to take a deep breath and do. But at 17 you're also just a kid, and you're thinking about shopping and having fun and ice cream flavors and about how confusing life is."

How To Do Life: Reflections on a perfect day in the mountains with my parents. "How will I navigate a world without being able to reach out and hold my mother's sweet, crooked hand and smooth down her beautifully soft hair? And how will I ever, ever, ever go the rest of my life without my father's gentle smile and his freckled knees?"

Stars and Stripes: This was a really, really big event—Laurel's American Heritage Girls Stars and Stripes award. Phew. 

In nine years of blogging, 2014 was by far my least productive with only 38 posts (compared to my usual 150-200). But I am glad, so very glad, for the moments I did record in our life—and determined to do better in 2015.

Check out what other iHomeschool Network bloggers loved the most on their own blogs!