Simply Serendipitous: Thankful for Us.. A Raad family update!

As 2016 comes to a close I can't help but want to write about how thankful I am for our little unit. each one of them. Also how I am thankful for friends who are family. And many other things.

This year has been an exciting and exhausting year for the Raads. We started off the year learning how to parent two little people at once. The most challenging and rewarding experience of our lives. I think we have to brag a little and note how much easier our kiddos made it for us!

We took a trip to San Diego with Nick while he was attending a conference. Then we drove up to Anaheim to spend a few days at Disneyland and ended the trip with a stop in LA to spend time with Nick's Uncle and cousins which was an amazing time!

A. having fun with Daddy in the pool In San Diego!

Trying to get two sleepy kids to smile at Disneyland!

A giving some love to MM.. Too cute not to share ;)

The kiddos and their cousins <3

We decided that I needed a long vacation with my Mom and that Nick would join us for a month at the end of our trip. He was fortunate enough to have some baby bonding time left :) (thank you California). The kids and I packed up and headed to MA for the summer! We were able to spend some wonderful quality time with Mimi <3 and Bibi. Although we were chomping at the bit for Daddy to arrive!

As most of you know our vacation home resulted in us returning home for good! The rest of the year becomes a whirlwind. We returned to CA for 2 weeks determined to take one last little mini vacation before we departed. We also had to organize the move back! Yikes! So we head to Tahoe for a long weekend. What a beautiful place <3

Sand Harbor, Lake Tahoe. Amazing!

To finish off our stay in CA Nick was sworn in as a US citizen! Just in time! Eeeeek!

N Naturalization day!

While we were all super excited to be returning home we were also sad to say goodbye to our CA family. Friends who quickly became family <3 We still miss them everyday! Our Mentors Sandy and Bob, my sister from another mister and my brother from another mother - Olivia and Jimmy (and Mason too!) our friends Mary and Brian, our amazing neighbors and many other friends we met on this journey.

Fast forward to today. I am so thankful for this year (in our personal lives)! I am so thankful for a Husband who works tirelessly for our family and who brought us back home! I am thankful to be close again to our very little family! I am thankful for a much shorter plane ride for Nicks parents! I am thankful for Nick's family as I love them more than I ever thought possible. I get tears every time I think about Jido meeting Sammi IRL for the first time (which is happening soon)! I am thankful for friends who are family! I am thankful for once again having an amazing set of neighbors (they were amazing in CA too!) and last but not even close to least I am thankful for Amelia and Sammi. They are two of the most amazing kiddos (I know we are biased). They are so smart and wow us every day with something new. Amelia is starting to talk up a storm and Sammi is smart as a whip that one! They love each other so much it's unreal (don't worry they fight too!). They weathered the changes like pros!

Even though Nick's time off from work has been with everyone sick at home, I am thankful for this time. I am thankful for us <3