2015 Highlights: Our Year End Review

Today is the last day of 2015!
That just seems so crazy to me. I can vividly remember 1.31.14 like it was just last week. Last year I did an end of the year review and absolutely loved looking back on a year of our life. So naturally I thought making it an annual post seemed like a great idea.   2015 Highlights!
January
Russ turned 35

I chopped my hair off

I wrote my #1 Pinterest post.

February
I announced my girl Mom Series

Emily turned 4!

March   The blog celebrated it's first birthday.

Our Church closed its doors.

Marissa worked on her first ever project fair project.

April   Russ ran his first ever 5K.


I talked about sharing our faith with our kids.

I ran the OKC half marathon and visited the OKC Memorial

May   Ran half marathon #4

Finished Homeschool year #2!


Took a trip to IKEA.

June
Redecorated the dining room!


Marissa turned 7!


We took a vacation to St. Louis.

July
We celebrated the 4th of July.

Marissa ran her first solo race.

We finished turning our bonus room into a school room.  
August

We went back to school.

Celebrated 8 years of marriage.

September
We had the best summer ever. This was a recap post.

  I shared my heart in a raw post.


October   Had family photos taken.

Ran the 2015 Pumpkin Run.


Celebrated Halloween.

November
  Shared about my newest hobby.

Had a great Thanksgiving.

December
Went on a get away.

Made an exciting blog announcement.


Shared our Holiday home in a tour.


2015 was the first solid year that I documented through blogging. A year of growth, challenges, and surprises. It is the year that I finally felt like I am figuring out this thing called "being a blogger".
I can't wait to see what is in store for 2016!

Happy New Year friends!  

Being Creative With AtmosFlare

Marissa and I had so much fun creating with AtmosFlare, who hired me to try out their product and share it with you, my readers. All opinions are my own.
There are a several things that I LOVE about living the life of a blogger. High on that list is what I refer to as "blogger perks". One of the best blogger perks is getting to try out and share about exciting new products. Recently I was invited to try out a brand new product and today I want to tell you all about it.

I received this product straight from the production line so I don't have any fancy packaging to show you. But this is it, the AtmosFlare 3D Drawing Pen

At first glance this pen may look rather simple but I assure you there is so much more to it than meets the eye. I believe Marissa's exact words the first time I demonstrated it for her were "Woah", "Wow", "Oh my goodness", "I want to try", and "That is so cool"!
I have to admit I kind of just wanted to keep it for myself. Anyone else ever have those moments. Like the art kit you want to put together or the puzzle you'd like to do... alone?
Just me? Yes? No?
So as soon as I (reluctantly) put it down she took charge and I breathed a little sigh knowing she likely wouldn't put it down any time soon.


The AtmosFlare 3D pen allows you to free-handedly draw, write, and create... In 3D!!! Just let your imagination run completely wild. Dream it up and go for it.
The pen uses a special 3D ink combined with a special light to cure the in as you create. It is amazing and SO much fun to watch, but even more fun to use. 

She started out by making simple lines then her imagination took over and she started thinking of all of the things she could create from them. Trees, flowers, castles, houses, people. It only took a few minutes before she realized that she could make whatever she wanted. 

This was her first attempt at a flower. There is definitely a bit of a learning curve with this 3D pen, but I know in no time at all she will have it down and be creating amazing things.
I absolutely love it when a child feels free and empowered to create. She definitely had that glow in her eye as she made her imagination come to life.


Thank you AtmosFlare for letting us try out this exciting new product.

To learn more about AtmosFlare you can find them on the follow social media platforms: Facebook // Twitter // Instagram
You can also check out and pre-order on the AtmosFlare website.
What would you create?  

Tuesday Talk: Christmas Recap {2015}

Anyone else feeling the craziness that is the holiday season? Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, my birthday and now we are just 2 days away from welcoming 2016?! This week of the year is always so bizarre for me. Before I know it the holidays are over, I'm a year older and its a brand new year *sigh*.
So, before it all blurs I thought I would take today to do a little Christmas recap post and fill you in on all the random details that made our Christmas great.

We spent Christmas Eve lying around the house doing a whole lot of nothing. I think the girls and I watched White Christmas and The Santa Claus putting our Christmas movie watching at an all time high this year.

Later that evening we headed to church for a Christmas Eve service followed by a Mexican fiesta at Russ' parents to celebrate Christmas with them. I really should have made a Feliz Navidad joke that night.

We arrived home pretty late, sat out cookies for Santa and put the girls to bed. After that I made my typical late night batch of cinnamon rolls and played Santa. It's a tough job but someone has to do it.

The next morning the girls woke up about 7:30 (love those kids) and started playing with their toys they got the night before, they didn't even ask to open presents (really love those kids). 

We had our traditional Christmas breakfast, this years cinnamon rolls were especially tasty. 

Snapped a family photo.

And then they opened presents.
Speaking of presents Marissa gave me this. Note in the to she put Beth instead of Mom.

This is the very first present she has ever bought for me (with her own money). She remembered the fuzzy socks I was swooning over at Academy. Such a sweet little girl. She bought Russ & Emily presents this year too.
Next up was cousin time at my parents house.

More presents.

And playing outside, because it was like 60 degrees out. 

It was another great Christmas at the Newman house. It seems like every year we are able to do a little more with the girls making each season more magical than the years before. I couldn't ask for anything more than that.

What was your Christmas highlight?   Tuesday Talk

Now it's your turn to grab the button in my side bar and link up for this weeks Tuesday Talk!

Beth - Our Pretty Little Girls ~ Michelle - Grammie Time

Keri - Living In This Season  ~ Christina - Waltzing In Beauty
Lauren - Simply Elliot ~  Becky - BYBMG
Jess and Katie - Sweet Little Ones ~ Whitney - Polka Dotty Place
Laura - Life Is Beautiful ~ Elizabeth - All Kinds Of Things
Sarah - Abiding In Grace ~ Stephanie - Wife Mommy Me
Emily - Morning Motivated Mom

An InLinkz Link-up