2017 Year In Review

Looking back on the year 2017- it was so fast!  Kids are growing and changing quicker than I can keep up with.  While we didn't have many huge monumental life changes this year (which I'm thankful for), this year was full of little daily memories and milestones to remember. 

January  

Andrew and Kate are officially walking!

Ryan and I did our first and hopefully last Whole30.  This may not seem like a big deal to some people but if you know how we eat then you know it was a huge deal for us! 

We took our first family bike ride.  More than a bike ride this signified us slowly moving to the stage where we can all do fun things together. 

February 

We had a super rough season of sickness, especially Andrew and his poor lungs. 

RSV, Croup, Pneumonia, Double Ear Infections, Double Eye Infections, and the Stomach Virus.  All in a couple of weeks time.  

At the height of the sickness Ryan and I escaped to Grand Cayman for quite possibly the most relaxing and most needed vacation ever.

March 

It was just a flurry but Andrew and Kate saw their first snow

Ryan and James made their commercial debut and even now months later I frequently hear "hey! I think I saw your husband on tv!" Lol.  

April 

We got our first pets! ROYGBIV and Harrison came to join the family.  Despite being told these fish should last awhile I have lost count of how many replacement ones we have ended up with.

I needed a vacation from the vacation of spring break at the beach. 

May

Harrison gave himself a hair cut

The boys got bunk beds and Harrison finally got a big boy bed. 

Andrew and Kate started speech therapy twice a week

June

Harrison turned 4!

We began a summer of beach fun 

Andrew and Kate got to go to their first "preschool camp" which meant I had a week of time ALONE in the house. :) 

July

We celebrated the 4th 

And tried to find ways to stay cool and busy. 

August 

We had a fun weekend of cousin/family time 

James turned 7!

Andrew and Kate are out of diapers!!!

First day of 1st grade for James 

September

First day for Harrison in the 4 year old room

First day of preschool for Andrew and Kate 

Andrew and Kate turn 2!

October 

Sweet Vivienne Rae joins the family 

We had the best Halloween yet. 

November

Welcome Margaret Adele to the family!

December

Kate got her first hair cut.  Andrew is still waiting on his :) 

We had a crazy but amazing Christmas season together! 

Dec Misc Part 2

Part 2 of our many December iPhone memories  

At my suggestion my parents gave the kids one big gift to share as part of their Christmas. I had been wanting something for outside in hopes that we can spend more time out there. Well Ryan opened the box and let's just say he was not very happy with me when he saw all the pieces...

Several hours in!

James and H were in Greenville to see the Nutcracker so we decided to take A and K to see the Christmas lights.  For some reason they think it is amazing to ride in Ryan's car.  They also LOVED the lights.  "Lights! Mama lights! Balls! More balls! More lights!"  Kate kept saying "We can't touch them."  I think she got that from us saying it so many times in regards to the Christmas tree. 

The hard work was worth it-  we had two very excited boys when they came home. 

One great thing about having several extra kids around is that there is always someone willing to swing with you on the swing 

What is it with boys and sticks? Here was James trying to start a fire...

Poor baby had an ear infection and a bad cough that turned into wheezing, breathing treatments, etc.  We narrowly escaped a visit to the emergency room.  One of our wonderful pediatricians actually made a house call to help us out.   The aftermath of this was a child who lost his mind while on steroids which caused me to lose my mind. Not our greatest week. 

Decorating our Christmas presents for the Grandparents 

We made a trip downtown to see James's gingerbread house on display 

We went for a drive to see the Canterbury lights and I noticed Harrison had gotten really quiet. It's never a good thing to fall asleep at 6:00 at night!  As we say "The beast was unleashed" when I had to wake him up. 

Hot chocolate and Rudolph!  

Quick visit with Daddy while A and K are in speech 

Cookie making time!

A lot of love, effort and sprinkles went into these

We had a quick visit one morning from these two sweeties.  Greer came and we just sat on the couch and watched the kids played and talked. It was wonderful!

James's design for Pappy. To Pappy Love REJHAK (our first initials lol) 

Late night chess game 

While I was at my parents' house I found this picture from a Christmas past. Ryan gave an early gift of coming to Greenville one night early to see a friend and to get some extra sleep after a very long week with Andrew being sick. 

He texted me the next morning- all up and prepared for breakfast by 6:30 a.m. Isn't he amazing? :) 

James has loved his light up chess set 

I was so surprised to find him napping one afternoon (he hasn't napped in forever). I thought to myself "Christmas finally caught up with him.  Well, that afternoon he started throwing up.  By the grace of God no one else in our immediate family caught it but definitely no fun. 

Harrison gave James a pack of glow sticks which he graciously shared

I tried to escape and hide to drink an afternoon cup of coffee when I suddenly heard little feet...

We are close to being done with the pacifier for Andrew. I couldn't believe it when one of his broke in half like this!  We now only have one left and he just uses it at night and we have already told him when it breaks no more pacifier!

We turned A and K around to the front and I worked hard and got all three of these guys across the third row. It was a tight squeeze! New family rule:  until you ride quietly you ride in the back!

Working some more on their fossil digs 

"Horsey daddy horsey!" 

New Year's Eve ice cream sundae celebration.  When we talked about resolutions James said "Mine is to eat more desserts and Andrew's can be to give up his paci.  Harrison's can be to be nice."  Looks like we have an eventful year coming up!