{Happy New Year!}

WHOA! Can you believe it? 2018!!??!!! Another year has flown by! And man, this has been a full year! We moved twice, took two big roads trips this summer, raised chickens, got a new pup, and began fundraising head on! Phew. Well, in years past we've kept this "memory jar" through out the year... well this year we didn't so well at keeping up with it. We just got super busy, it got put in a not very accessible spot, and well forgotten. So we have memories written down through about march, ha! From there I'll fill in with photos. Which we never have a shortage of. Some will be reposts I'm sure, but man, this year has been a blast! SO many great memories and dear treasured moments we want to cling to and remember.

So to begin, I'll share from our memory jar. Then we will move onto photos.

Jan. 1st - Eddie's baby dedication at CityGate, Star Wars style! lunch with poppy & nanny, dinner, and Rogue One
Jan. 17th - we lost our sweet ZuZu girl and buried her in her favorite yard overlooking the cornfield
Jan. 5th - Play day and dinner at Aunt Tressa's! our favorite!
Jan. 8th - Mason's birthday party - Lego themed! :)
Jan. 21-28 - ENGLAND vision trip for mom and dad! The kids stayed with nanny & poppy. We saw London, Stockton, Birmingham, all the big touristy places, enjoyed great food, met amazing people, saw rolling hills, sheep, and heard from some great ministries! Oh and I found Pepsi there.
Jan. 6-7 - Sleepover at MeeMaw and Papa's, brunch at Cooper Cafe, cleaned out tubs and kids played cars with Papa on the steps.
January was a long month of sickness with RSV, ear infections, jet lag, and tears from our loss.

Feb. 11th - MOVE DAY! from Portage back to our beautiful farm house in Plainwell. We lost part of our swing set on 131, ordered Jets as a payment for our moving crew, and slept well back in the country
Feb. 13-19 - Spring like weather, bonfires, picnics, yard clean up, budded flowers, and outside with no coats!
Feb. 6th - threw out back while packing!! SO painful. Put on low activity, Nanny helped pack most of the week we moved! So grateful for her!
Feb. 5th - spoke at CityGate about our trip to England!
Feb. 28th- playdate and dinner at Aunt Tressa's! Trampoline time, bubble time, yummy food and late night! we love our nights there!
Feb. 25th - Katelyn's bday party in GR - Milo and Norma went with momma while the others were sick.
Feb. 25th - dinner with Mr. Ryan and Miss Jeanine
Feb. 22nd - went to the KNC with poppy & nanny. Enjoyed the warm weather, went to scooter's for lunch, spent the afternoon in their backyard and enjoyed dinner with them
February was a month of appointments! Mom started the chiro and PT, ENT for Eddie, and Norma had awful boils - oh and we had bank account fraud! yikes!

March 14th - play night with our neighbors, The Ridgeways, after dinner :)
March 31st - Surprise Party for Tim's 30th bday! {date night already} Ol'Penisula, fish and chips, after party themed 'The Office", dead of winter game time, and Eddie joined us in the end because of his ear aches
March 18th - Lunch at the Bishop's! Kid's played and adults played Monopoly deal! a favorite!
March 9th - served dinner at the Mission {mom and dad}
March ? - cousin lunch at MeeMaw's., corn dogs, nuggets, mac-n-cheese, ice cream
March 3rd - Pizza with the Strait's and Poppy & Nanny!
March 20th - Eddie's surgery for Tubes. He did great! Was considered a rock star and the nurses favorite! Made a quick comeback
March 8-9th - Lost Power in a crazy wind storm! Had to stay the night at Poppy & Nanny's, and got our NEW PUPPY from a farm in southern MI!! Named him Schafer {German for Shepherd}
March 24th- Beautiful, gorgeous day! 77, outside most of the day, water fun, mud, bugs, and organized the garage!
We started back with our fundraising coach and began progress on our brochure, we got chickens and a new puppy! It was an adventurous month!


April 1st - for daddy's bday Eddie waved and said "Da-Da" for the first time!!
Favorite quote::
Dad: "Milo, what are you doing?"
Milo: " I'm dancing... frantically... like a MAN!"

Well that's as far as we got with our memory jar this year! Kinda sad, But we can fill in with photos from here.

Mother's Day! We had celebration at our place and had an afternoon of fun! It was also our first official day of real fundraising! 

June - Cousin Picnic at the park! :) 

June- Father's day lunch at Poppy & Nanny's with MeeMaw & Papa and Grand Poppy! 

End of June - we went on a family vacation to NJ to see Uncle Jesse & Aunt Debbie and our awesome cousins!
It was so cool to be able to spend Alex's bday with him! 

Our walk through their fields and woods 

All together!! We had a blast! 

July - Eddie's first Bday party! In the park with friends 

July- naps with MeeMaw at Gull Lake 

August - our 9th anniversary we celebrated with a bonfire with MeeMaw & Papa outback 

August - my bday suprise! A trip to Gettysburg with Grand Poppy! Easily THE best memory of the year for me. 

August - by the end of August we were all exhausted and ready for a normal, non-summer, schedule but had some great travel and adventures under our belts. 

September- weekend trips to the beach and nature preserves with best friends!
We love hanging out with the Bishop fam 

September - evening walks to our neighbors for dinner <3 

October - family pictures with Aunt Tressa. Always eventful, and always beautiful! 

Ocotober - cool mornings, warm days of play and the sounds of chickens and kids playing in the yard!
My favorite place to be this year! 

October - TACO Tuesdays with the Potts family! :) 

November - little pup got fixed and micochipped. 

November - the last day of preschool for Mr. Theo! He had a great semester at his little preschool.
He made new friends and adored his teachers and time with them! 

November - brought a lot of good byes and finality. One of the hardest was our last Taco Tuesday at Aunt Tressa's!
We spent the night, had tacos, played games, watched movies, played in the dirt, and just enjoyed being together! <3 

Novemeber - our last morning in our farm house! Bittersweet! 

After nearly 14 hours of travel...we made it to NC! Eddie had a stomach bug and it made a few extra stops for diaper changes, and Daddy fought a sickness the whole way too, but we did it with the help and amazing support of our parents and many friends! 

Decemeber - we began the month by entering our new home!! The place we prayed over and hoped for! It was a great day of excitement !

December- brought a new job, new home, and new routine, but we clung to our tradition of family dinner!
We treasure the time with you guys at the table, even amongst the bad manners and full mouths. haha 

Decemeber - checking out all our new hiking trails, library, and parks 

Decemeber - baking made it feel like home quicker and made the distance a little more doable at such a special time 

Decemeber - we had a last minute Christmas party, and enjoyed a full night of company. 

February - nights spent reading before bed

March - our new puppy! 

March - I realized quickly just how crazy we were! But man, the memories 

March - our sweet little chicks! What a great time we had raising our first bunch of chicks

Well we look forward to another year full of shenanigans and adventures! 2018 should be fun! We made some goals today of things we hope to do this year... it includes seeing fireworks, camping out, playing a football game {adults vs. kids}, apple picking, and visiting 4 new parks or preserves this year!