2024 is in the books, and while I have thoughts on the year, I thought it might be fun to see what my kids thought about what happened in the last 12 months. Or more accurately, the last 3-ish months. Come to find out my children had a really hard time with the concept of time. They defaulted to this school year, or the last two weeks when thinking about things. With some prompting, I was able to help them through it to give a more accurate representation of 2024 as a whole, but there were some definite themes. Also, having known my kids all their lives, I can safely say they are liars. Some of there answers are just plain incorrect.
Favorite Part of the Year
Brooks: Made snowballs when it was winter.
Evie: Decorating the Christmas tree.
Lucy: Disney World.
Clearly, Brooks and Evie are prisoners of the moment. I suppose it could be possible that both of their favorite things they did all year just so happened to occur in the last few weeks, but I doubt it.
Least Favorite Part of the Year:
Lucy: People being sick.
Evie: In the Spring time we were all sick and couldn’t go to Nanna’s house.
Brooks: I didn’t have snow pants.
Starting to get a broader perspective here, at least from the girls. The annual and inescapable plague swept through our house and apparently this year it was very traumatic. When they said it, I honestly didn’t remember it. I can’t say that this year’s version of vomiting children was any more notable than previous years. If you’ve seen your kid covered it their own vomit once, you’ve seen it a thousand times.
Funniest Thing That Happened
Lucy: When Charlee was being funny at Nanna’s house.
Evie: When I brought my water bottle to school one time, it squirted out of my nose.
Brooks: When we got the calendar and I was like *makes a silly face*.
Really all over the board here, and interesting to see each kid’s perspective on humor. Again, Brooks told me the funniest thing he had seen that week and Lucy something that just happened at a Christmas party. Nice to Evie pull out of the memory banks though. I have no doubt that water out of the nose killed it at the lunch table for weeks.
Best Thing You Ate
Lucy: The pineapple orange juice at Chef Mickey’s.
Brooks: All kinds of cake.
Evie: Jesus’s birthday cake.
Are they my kids or what? Also, very pleasantly surprised nobody said some random grilled cheese sandwich off a kids menu.
Best Thing You Watched
Brooks: Dancing with the Stars
Lucy: Dancing with the Stars
Evie: Everything.
Big year for Dancing With the Stars in our house it seems. Emily and I watched maybe half or so of this season, and the kids really liked the Halloween and Disney themed weeks. Very on-brand response from Evie.
Favorite Place We Went
Lucy: Disney World
Brooks: Disney.
Evie: Disney.
This is pretty obvious, but also came as a big relief. We did take other smaller trips too but I was worried they would say something like Aldi. Good to know we got our money’s worth in the memories department.
Favorite Book
Lucy: Baby Sitters’ Club
Brooks: I don’t know.
Evie: Where these two kids have a very water day, and then they splash and play and get in their swimsuits and play in the water because they made a big, big, big, big pool.
Lucy for sure did get into the Baby Sitters’ Club books, which is good to see. So far she has been reading the graphic novel versions and not the actual book versions, but better than nothing. Brooks is a liar, his favorite book this year was “Dream Weaver”, which is an audio book that sings you the song “Dream Weaver.” Yep, his favorite book is a song from the 70’s. Is he my son or what? No idea what Evie is talking about here, must have been something she read in school, but clearly it left an impression.
Favorite Part of School
Lucy: Math
Evie: Recess
Brooks: Going to recess.
Two thirds of my kids are liars here. Lucy says she likes math, and it may very will be her favorite subject at the moment, but helping her with math homework is rough. Also, there is no way she likes math more than music or writing. Evie may have gotten hung up on terminology here. Recess might be her favorite part of school overall, but for sure her favorite class is art. Brooks’s answer checks out.
Favorite Song
Lucy: “Unstoppable” – Sia
Evie: “Material Girl” – Madonna
Brooks: “Dream Weaver” – Gary Wright
Lucy’s answer is spot on for her. Brooks is pretty right, but see above about this being his favorite book. His favorite song was probably “Good Ride Cowboy” by Garth Brooks, or “Cum Feel the Noise” by Quiet Riot…is he my son or what? Feel like Evie pulled this one out of her butt. Does she ask to listen to this on every single long car ride? Yes. Does she ever ask to listen to it under any other circumstance? No. Her real favorite song of the year was probably “Are We There Yeti?” by Emily Arrow.
Most Looking Forward to For the New Year
Lucy: Seeing more family.
Brooks: Seeing our cousins.
Evie: Seeing cousins and family members we don’t get to see any more.
A little short term thinking here, but also pretty eye opening as well. We had just gotten done seeing all the families over the holidays so it was in their mind, but also makes you realize how much they enjoy that time.
For me, 2024 was a year of ups and downs. Such is life. The best book I read was “Die With Zero”, and the best thing I ate was the German chocolate cake my wife made me for my birthday. This year, I’m looking forward to accomplishing a few things before I turn the big 4-0. Going to be a milestone year in our household , might as well have some good times to help mark them. And also watch Dancing With the Stars.
I Think Therefore I Dad 