2017 Year in Review

Well, I just found this post. I wrote it a year ago and never posted it. It's now 2019. February already. Levi is 2 and sang me "Jesus Loves Me" today after he climbed onto the kitchen island and plopped down in the middle of it. I loved every word.

It's 2018. Did y'all get the memo? Life is marching on. I'm going to try to remember 2017 because it went super fast. Here goes.

Levi changed SO MUCH this year! He started 2017 as an itty bitty baby and ended the year walking, climbing, hollering mama and dada, and loving his brother and sisters more than I can even say. His hobby is making messes. He's had a lot of practice, does it every waking moment and is quite skilled at this hobby. He also loves to take the tops off of markers and pens (generally permanent ones) and scribble on anything he can reach. You know, normal 1-year-old behavior.

Mary Beth turned 9 and finished 3rd grade. Wow. She loves Little House on the Prairie and she and I have almost finished reading the entire series. It's taken us several years and has been so fun!

Anna Leigh finished first grade in May and brought home two chicks that her class hatched. They were so cute! And noisy. The kids loved them. They're about as messy as a 1-year-old.

The most exciting thing we did this summer was raise a baby deer. The kids named her Pippen (have you read the kids' story Kate & Pippen, a real story of a dog and a fawn? So cute.) and we got her when she was a week old. Oh my, she was darling. The kids adored her. And I'm pretty sure she loved all of us too...even Teddy! She was so fun.

We had a MASSIVE yield from our apple & pear trees! I made apple butter in the CrockPot (um, yum), pear butter, apple sauce, pear sauce, canned pears in syrup and a few other pear & apple things that I can't remember.

Oh! We made apple cider with my dad. Livin' off the land, I tell you. (Ha!) Yes, cider-making was a hit. Pick the apples, grind the apples into chunks, press the apples, drink the cider. Repeat. We can't wait to do that again.

Stephen turned 5 in August and he gave up his passie on his 5th birthday (not his choice, just so ya know). Judge me if you need to, I don't care. Because a 5-year-old sucking a pacifier is so cute! We decided that he was ready for preschool in January, so he just started preschool on Tuesdays & Thursdays. He loves it so much. And the girls love having him at school with him.

And Sarah Kate. She is so independent and bossy and sure of herself. She has a pretty good spot in the family with a big brother and a little brother. She LOVED Pippen this summer!