I love looking back at the past year. It makes me happy to look back on all the memories and the changes that happened over the year. Things happen in life as you are muddling through day by day and I don't think we stop to appreciate things enough. By looking back over the year I can really appreciate all we got up to, how much the children have grown and I can see what an amazing year we had.

So I'm sharing with you today our 2016...be warned, it's photo heavy!

January

At the very beginning of the year we went to a family wedding which was fabulous. It was so lovely to see the whole family at this festive time and we stayed in the most gorgeous hotel and treated ourselves to a day in Bath afterwards. It was such a lovely weekend. It's always nice to get the chance to dress up too!

Later in the month one of my best friends gave birth to her much wanted and loved baby boy...he is such a sweetheart and it feels like he has always been here. My lot adore him too!

February

Well this month marks the month that we moved into our current house. It was a long time coming and the lead up to it was very stressful but we are so glad that we took the plunge and that it all went through. We had a lot of work to do to the house at this point, but we were just so glad to have the opportunity to do it, and excited at all the options that we had! This is a photo of us outside our old house and then this is the view from our new house and the first of many stunning sunsets and sunrises we have seen since we have been here.

Of course February brings a birthday to our house, and Little Miss J turned 5! She celebrated with a party with all her friends and a trip to Bristol Zoo!

March

March brings another birthday and this time Bean was 9. This is a scary one because this year it will be double figures! We had a girly shopping day instead of a party which we both loved!

Little Miss J also started Rainbows!

April

April was quite a quiet month. We spent a lot of time outdoors having fun. We saw Disney on Ice. We celebrated a big birthday for Nana and I went on a photography course that literally changed my life (well my photos anyway!).

May

So much went on in May! We finished decorating the children's bedrooms and playroom and work on the bathroom started.

We took part and completed the Rainbow Run for Ty Hafan.

We also had a wonderful family holiday to Bluestone.

Little Boy started nursery!

June

June was relatively quiet. The work carried on at home. The bathroom was finished and the double glazing and new front door fitted. We did squeeze in a lovely little holiday away with all our church friends which was wonderful and just what the doctor ordered.

July

July was funny month, full of the promises of summer. Little Boy turned 2, we went to London to see Bean perform in the Theatre Royal and we spent a lot of time at the beach!

August

August was a weird but great month for our little family. We moved out of our house temporarily while two walls were knocked through downstairs to make a big kitchen / diner. The kids did so well in a month of upheaval, living between hotels and a rented house. We also fitted in a camping trip in between! We had also had a bit of a worrying few months about Little Boy's health which was resolved in August which was a great relief to us all.

September

September was lots of fun with lots of nice weather still, and we were happy to be in our new kitchen! We loved Cardiff's City of the Unexpected in honour of Roald Dahl and I had lots of chances to meet up with some local blogging friends which was really nice.

October

October saw these gorgeous girls getting their ballet medal test certificates. They did so well and we were really proud!

I also took a huge step outside of my comfort zone and Bean and I went gorge walking and stand up paddle boarding! It was the best experience ever and I'm so glad I did it. We ended October with our traditional Halloween celebration with some of our best friends.

November

In November I spent a lot of time working. Blog business got really serious and I was absolutely loving it. We also completely finished the kitchen, and although I haven't taken any 'pretty' pictures yet, these show what a great family space it is. It honestly makes me so happy whenever I walk into it, I can't believe how lucky I am to have this amazing space.

December

December was absolutely jam packed as you would expect. It was our first Christmas in our new house which was really special. We also finished the last of the work for the year by painting and decorating the hallway and fitting carpet on the stairs and landing.

Bean was absolutely amazing and sang her first solo with the school choir, I was so proud of her.

Christmas was as lovely as ever, even if it did have it's moments of drama, as we ended up in the hospital with Little Boy. Thankfully he was able to come home for the afternoon to be with the rest of his family on Christmas Day.