The Mulder Family: 2008 Recap

What a year it has been! I just took down the 2008 calendar and thought I'd give you a quick recap of some of the year's exciting events:

January: Dave and I attended a Super Bowl party with friends from church. Eli Manning's Giants won. We didn't know then that "Eli" was going to become a very popular name at our house.

February: Pregnant! Dave and I had fun keeping our news a secret for a few weeks. The trickiest time came when we went in for our first prenatal appointment. Since my doctor works with Dave and they even share an office, we knew we'd have to do some pretty fancy footwork to keep the beans from spilling. I'm not sure we did a great job... but all of Dave's coworkers were so excited for us!

March: We introduced the "Ultimate October Challenge" to our families. Rebekah and teammate Tristan ended up winning this guess the baby game.

April: Dave and I visited my brother's family in North Carolina over Easter. The weather was great and we loved going to the NC Zoo.

May: Dave completed a 100 mile bike ride MS fundraiser and Christel took on a leadership role with BSF. Busy! Busy! Busy!

June: This marked Christel's final days as a public school teacher. I'll miss the opportunity to influence so many different children from so many different backgrounds. I've really loved helping kids become better readers, writers, and thinkers. I'm sure God's going to continue using those skills in my life some way! June was the month of our Southwest Adventure and the 9th marked our first wedding anniversary. What a month!

July: Lots of pool time in the backyard. We enjoyed sharing time with friends, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and parents throughout the month.

August: The month began with a journey to Huntington, IN for a baby shower and ended with a journey back for a house closing. Praise the Lord! Dave completed the second annual Sanford and Sun Triathlon.

September: "The Final Month" We kept busy! Dave did another triathlon in Tawas and I walked and walked and walked.

October: Dave and I welcomed little Eli James on the 17th. Before the 17th, I was big. After the 17th, I was tired (and thrilled!).

November: Dave prepped the pool to become an ice rink and we had many visitors come meet Eli.

December: Lots and lots of snow! The pool/rink has been a huge success. We've enjoyed a month of watching our little guy smile and grow. It was fun to introduce Eli to cousin Micah, born on the 2nd.

It has been a wonderful year. We feel blessed to be part of a fun family, loving church, and-most importantly-children of an awesome God. Happy New Year! (Our last one sure was...)

A few pictures from the holidays...