Beginning of the year/end of the year photos

As I've reviewed our year I realize that it has been a great year!  I was so incredibly nervous about homeschooling.  I worried and cried about the decision.  But here we are, one year down and it was a really positive experience for me.  The boys are happy and Piper loves having the boys home.  In fact, I really feel like her relationship with them has grown so much.  I have discovered that even though it's not always easy to have the kids around all the time, I really love having my kids around, if that makes sense.  I wondered if I would feel ragged and just want to send them back but I truly enjoy them and appreciate the time they are in my home.  This year has been cushy as far as Mike and his schedule.  He has been busy but flexible.  He has been home for a lot of studying and therefore, when I need to run somewhere he is available to help with the kids if they need to knock on his door and ask a question.  This coming year will be harder, he won't have the flexibility to work from home and I will have to get used to taking the kids everywhere but at least I had this one year where I could figure things out with a little help from him.  I asked the kids if they wanted to go back to school and they each said no so we will carry on this way again for another year and reassess things when we move and are in another school district.  There are many, many things I need to do better and differently this coming year and I hope to be able to tweak things to make our experience even better but I feel satisfied that even with all my weaknesses and shortcomings, I still feel like it was a better year than last year when they were in the school and I feel like overall, it was a success.  (P.S.  They were so little when school started!  I can't believe how much they are growing and starting to look so old now)