2016 in Review
The past two years (2015 and 2014) I've ended the year with a "year in review" post and 2016 is no different! I want to continue the tradition and highlight my top 10 favorites from 2016. So many debbie downers lately are hatin' on 2016 but honestly, it was a pretty freakin' fantastic year for yours truly and the fam bam. I'm really excited for what 2017 holds in store, and a year from now what my year in review post will look like. But, to conclude 2016, and without further adieu, here ya go friends!
10. Picture Takin' (Pics & Paws Photography)
This year brought so many new things for Pics & Paws Photography and I love it SO. We did 6 weddings and I finally got into doing birth photography which has been one of my most favorite things to snap! If you click HERE you can see my favorite snaps from 2016 in an album or click HERE and watch the above slideshow...I had a really hard time picking just a few, sooooo, there's A LOT there! Although you've probably already read and seen these slideshows from my blog post a couple weeks ago here... :) I absolutely love taking pictures and cannot wait to see what the future holds for my photog business and myself as a photographer! I sure hope this guy is in my near future too! I hope 2017 is filled with oodles more shoots, births, weddings, mini-sessions, and so much more for Pics & Paws!
9. 366 Project
As I'm sure you've read from my post HERE (or you can check out the full album of all of my 366 snaps HERE), this project was a year long undertaking for 2016 and it went swimmingly well. I absolutely love looking back on these snaps and watching the kids grow throughout the year and see all of the black and white snaps that have highlighted 2016. I'm still on the fence about doing one for 2017 (I KNOW!! I need to decide like NOW!) but looking back I am so glad I did one for 2016 and have all of these memories. Now what to do with them...coffee table book? Print?! Gah! The options are endless!
8. Documenting the Bump {Again}
We all know I love to document things 'round these parts, and pregnancy #3 has been no different. Documenting the bump this go'round has been oodles of fun (34 weeks strong for 2016!) and I love looking back on my posts and growing bump! It's no secret from my weekly posts I love including bump snaps and comparisons, and I have no shortage of mirror selfies in my phone to show for this! #Mooney3Preggo on Instagram is a good (over) documentation of this too :) I don't know if this is going to be my last pregnancy or not, so as much as I feel like I'm over-documenting it I don't care because it may be my last! Anyways, I've loved that for 6+ months of 2016 was spent documenting #3's growth. I cannot wait to find out what he/she is and looks like in ONE MONTH!!!
7. Favorite Blog Posts
This is pretty self-explanatory: these are my favorite blog posts from 2016! Some are more popular/hot topic-ed than others, but regardless these are my favorite writings and musings of 2016. And it was hard to narrow it down to just these few for this year in review post, I picked these because these were just my favorites (and highlights!!) of 2016. I cannot wait to see what 2017 brings to my blogging world. I am so glad I've rehatched my blog again after the hiatus I had a few years ago -- can you say digital baby book?! Ohhhhhh, when these kids can read, I'm sure they'll LOVE reading their mama's musings. Haha!
6. Mooney Vacays
I did a really good job this year creating a special hashtag for our big vacays (#moonpepvacay2 for our Alaska cruise and #mooneyPCB16 for our Panama City Beach vacay) to help document them, and that came in extra handy right now as I needed to pull a few pics from them for this post! Haha! We had 2 big vacations in 2016 (one without kids - Alaska - and one with kids - Panama City Beach) and both were so much fun. I was newly pregnant and oh-so-sick with morning sickness for both of them, but putting that aside we really did have a blast! Traveling with kids is NO JOKE -- it's fun, exhausting, exciting, tiring, and everything in between. But looking back now at our naps from our vacay with kiddos I wouldn't have had it any other way! Such great memories were made! I cannot wait to see where 2017 takes us with the kiddos (3 in tow!) and the memories (and snaps!) that are made then! Stay tuned!
5. Scooter
I feel like as the years and our family grows Scoots gets more and more shoved under the rug and outshined by human children. As much as I hate to admit this, it kinda is happening. So! I've been trying to be better about posting more Scoots pics on his (and my own!) social media feeds and highlighting the awesomeness which is our dog. Scooter is somewhere between 11-13 years old and has had some health issues this year (he's on year 2 of having diabetes where we have to check his sugar twice a day and give him insulin shots twice a day as well and he's had a few seizures too) and I'm trying not to take our time with him for granted because as much as I'd like for him to be, I know he's not going to be around forever. Anyways, I thought I'd show some of my favorite 2016 snaps of Scooter and appreciate how freaking awesome of a dog he is and is hands-down the most cooperative pooch (in my completely non-biased opinion!) on the planet!
4. Preschool Patrick
Patrick started 3s preschool this fall and is absolutely LOVING it. He only goes 3 days a week and absolutely LOVES when it's a school day! I love that his teachers have a blog for their classroom and tweet and send pics -- it's so nice to get a peek into his school life and have bait to ask him about what's going on while he's at school. He has learned so much already and made so many new friends I know he is just living the best year EVER. He's got to have his daddy come in and talk about being a community helper, had his first ever school picture taken, sang at his first Christmas concert, and so much more! I cannot wait to see what his second half of 3s preschool holds and what he'll do in 4s preschool next year! I hope his love for school is always like this throughout the rest of his schooling days (wishful thinking much Alex?! ;-)
3. Tech Teachin'
I'm in year 3 of my educational technology specialist/teaching job and I love it SO MUCH. I don't have a ton to share about this other than how much I really love my job, the things I get to create (this year I've been big about building an online tech training arsenal for my co-workers!), and the students and teachers I get to work with. I feel so fortunate to be in such an awesome job at such a wonderful school. I cannot wait to see what 2017 brings in this regard! I hope to present at some tech conferences, make some new connections, and find new tech tools for both students and teachers to use at UA. If the past few years have been any indication as to how 2017 is going to go, I know it's going to be GREAT!
2. Favorite Videos
I take a lot of short little videos on my iPhone and try and remember to upload them to YouTube every now and again so I can share them here! Well, I've picked my favorite videos of 2016 (some are short and sweet, some are a bit longer!) and I just love so much how they showcase our family and our adorable and crazy kiddos!
1. The Mooney Fam Bam
I'm 110% biased, I know, but dang, I am one lucky girl: I think I've got the best family EVER. I have the most supportive wonderful husband who works tirelessly in a mostly thankless police job, I have 2 (almost 3!) of the world's greatest kiddos, and hands-down the world's most patient dog. They're opinionated, sassy, passionate, loving, joyful, and everything else in between! I am so thankful for them each and every day and as our family grows my love for my family and those in it grows even more! These are the only full family snaps I got of us in 2016 (I'm really going to try and get more full family snaps in 2017 of all of us -- but hot dang, is it hard!) and I love them all so much! I hope 2017 is just as wonderful for our family as 2016 (and years past!) have been!
--
BONUS! Just like I did in 2015 I want to include my favorite Mooney snaps of 2016. Yeah, big photo dump here for ya, so if you'd rather not relive my favorite pics of 2016, just scrollllll past and you're done with this post! 2016 was the best year yet...I literally cannot wait to see what 2017 has in store! Happy New Year friends!
10. Picture Takin' (Pics & Paws Photography)
This year brought so many new things for Pics & Paws Photography and I love it SO. We did 6 weddings and I finally got into doing birth photography which has been one of my most favorite things to snap! If you click HERE you can see my favorite snaps from 2016 in an album or click HERE and watch the above slideshow...I had a really hard time picking just a few, sooooo, there's A LOT there! Although you've probably already read and seen these slideshows from my blog post a couple weeks ago here... :) I absolutely love taking pictures and cannot wait to see what the future holds for my photog business and myself as a photographer! I sure hope this guy is in my near future too! I hope 2017 is filled with oodles more shoots, births, weddings, mini-sessions, and so much more for Pics & Paws!
9. 366 Project
As I'm sure you've read from my post HERE (or you can check out the full album of all of my 366 snaps HERE), this project was a year long undertaking for 2016 and it went swimmingly well. I absolutely love looking back on these snaps and watching the kids grow throughout the year and see all of the black and white snaps that have highlighted 2016. I'm still on the fence about doing one for 2017 (I KNOW!! I need to decide like NOW!) but looking back I am so glad I did one for 2016 and have all of these memories. Now what to do with them...coffee table book? Print?! Gah! The options are endless!
8. Documenting the Bump {Again}
We all know I love to document things 'round these parts, and pregnancy #3 has been no different. Documenting the bump this go'round has been oodles of fun (34 weeks strong for 2016!) and I love looking back on my posts and growing bump! It's no secret from my weekly posts I love including bump snaps and comparisons, and I have no shortage of mirror selfies in my phone to show for this! #Mooney3Preggo on Instagram is a good (over) documentation of this too :) I don't know if this is going to be my last pregnancy or not, so as much as I feel like I'm over-documenting it I don't care because it may be my last! Anyways, I've loved that for 6+ months of 2016 was spent documenting #3's growth. I cannot wait to find out what he/she is and looks like in ONE MONTH!!!
7. Favorite Blog Posts
This is pretty self-explanatory: these are my favorite blog posts from 2016! Some are more popular/hot topic-ed than others, but regardless these are my favorite writings and musings of 2016. And it was hard to narrow it down to just these few for this year in review post, I picked these because these were just my favorites (and highlights!!) of 2016. I cannot wait to see what 2017 brings to my blogging world. I am so glad I've rehatched my blog again after the hiatus I had a few years ago -- can you say digital baby book?! Ohhhhhh, when these kids can read, I'm sure they'll LOVE reading their mama's musings. Haha!
6. Mooney Vacays
I did a really good job this year creating a special hashtag for our big vacays (#moonpepvacay2 for our Alaska cruise and #mooneyPCB16 for our Panama City Beach vacay) to help document them, and that came in extra handy right now as I needed to pull a few pics from them for this post! Haha! We had 2 big vacations in 2016 (one without kids - Alaska - and one with kids - Panama City Beach) and both were so much fun. I was newly pregnant and oh-so-sick with morning sickness for both of them, but putting that aside we really did have a blast! Traveling with kids is NO JOKE -- it's fun, exhausting, exciting, tiring, and everything in between. But looking back now at our naps from our vacay with kiddos I wouldn't have had it any other way! Such great memories were made! I cannot wait to see where 2017 takes us with the kiddos (3 in tow!) and the memories (and snaps!) that are made then! Stay tuned!
5. Scooter
I feel like as the years and our family grows Scoots gets more and more shoved under the rug and outshined by human children. As much as I hate to admit this, it kinda is happening. So! I've been trying to be better about posting more Scoots pics on his (and my own!) social media feeds and highlighting the awesomeness which is our dog. Scooter is somewhere between 11-13 years old and has had some health issues this year (he's on year 2 of having diabetes where we have to check his sugar twice a day and give him insulin shots twice a day as well and he's had a few seizures too) and I'm trying not to take our time with him for granted because as much as I'd like for him to be, I know he's not going to be around forever. Anyways, I thought I'd show some of my favorite 2016 snaps of Scooter and appreciate how freaking awesome of a dog he is and is hands-down the most cooperative pooch (in my completely non-biased opinion!) on the planet!
4. Preschool Patrick
Patrick started 3s preschool this fall and is absolutely LOVING it. He only goes 3 days a week and absolutely LOVES when it's a school day! I love that his teachers have a blog for their classroom and tweet and send pics -- it's so nice to get a peek into his school life and have bait to ask him about what's going on while he's at school. He has learned so much already and made so many new friends I know he is just living the best year EVER. He's got to have his daddy come in and talk about being a community helper, had his first ever school picture taken, sang at his first Christmas concert, and so much more! I cannot wait to see what his second half of 3s preschool holds and what he'll do in 4s preschool next year! I hope his love for school is always like this throughout the rest of his schooling days (wishful thinking much Alex?! ;-)
3. Tech Teachin'
I'm in year 3 of my educational technology specialist/teaching job and I love it SO MUCH. I don't have a ton to share about this other than how much I really love my job, the things I get to create (this year I've been big about building an online tech training arsenal for my co-workers!), and the students and teachers I get to work with. I feel so fortunate to be in such an awesome job at such a wonderful school. I cannot wait to see what 2017 brings in this regard! I hope to present at some tech conferences, make some new connections, and find new tech tools for both students and teachers to use at UA. If the past few years have been any indication as to how 2017 is going to go, I know it's going to be GREAT!
2. Favorite Videos
I take a lot of short little videos on my iPhone and try and remember to upload them to YouTube every now and again so I can share them here! Well, I've picked my favorite videos of 2016 (some are short and sweet, some are a bit longer!) and I just love so much how they showcase our family and our adorable and crazy kiddos!
1. The Mooney Fam Bam
--
BONUS! Just like I did in 2015 I want to include my favorite Mooney snaps of 2016. Yeah, big photo dump here for ya, so if you'd rather not relive my favorite pics of 2016, just scrollllll past and you're done with this post! 2016 was the best year yet...I literally cannot wait to see what 2017 has in store! Happy New Year friends!
