Well 2017, it’s been real. Thanks for the memories. We are settling into a very quiet New Year’s Eve at home and getting ready to say goodbye to the old year and ring in the new.

But first, and better late than never, here’s a recap of our year. (PS – These are not in chronological order.)

17 Things From 2017

17. 2017 birthdays: Henry turned 4, Calvin turned 5! And James and I turned 30-something-its-not-important 😉.

16. We went camping on the New River. It was a big group camping trip with other families from our church. James and Calvin went tubing down the river.

15. We visited Fort Fisher and went to the beach and one of the NC aquariums.

14. We went on a big family camping trip with James brothers and sisters and their families at Lake Joccassee.

LOVED this lake. Gorgeous clear water.

13. Um… I got Lyme disease. And subsequently, Bell’s Palsy. 

Yeeeaaahhh. I must have gotten the tick bite that caused it during our camping trip to New River. I did not find the tick on my body. I didn’t even know that I had been bitten until James saw the bullseye mark on my back while we were on a different camping trip a few weeks later. I was really really sick for a few days but recovered after a gnarly, long round of antibiotics. Well, I had recovered except for a little facial paralysis known as Bell’s Palsy. Bell’s Palsy can last months, even years. For me it only lasted a few weeks. In the picture, the right side of my face was just starting to go numb. This was the day I first noticed the numbness and went to urgent care. It was really scary. I had no way of knowing how long it would last, how much worse it would get, or whether it might leave effects for the rest of my life. I only told my immediate family and very close friends until it was all over. I’m very thankful that the whole thing was over in about two months. I know some people have effects from Lyme disease and Bell’s Palsy for much longer.

12. I grew out my pixie cut. 

It has been an exercise in patience. 😉

11. “Camp Granny and Danpa” happened so that James and I could go on vacation to the Outer Banks this summer. I’m so thankful that my mom and dad are so helpful with our kids! 

10. James and I went on vacation to the Outer Banks this summer for our anniversary. It was awesome. We had never taken a trip without the kids before. It was a long time to be away from them, but we knew they were well taken care of. 

9. I sang with the Common Woman Chorus for the fall season. This is a local community women’s chorus. We did a beautiful show on the theme No One is Alone and I even saying the “Brave” solo in a mash-up of Sara Bareilles’ Brave and Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors.

8. Our Halloween costume theme was Winnie the Pooh. Calvin usually decides the family thing. He was Winnie the Pooh, Henry was Christopher Robin, and James and I kind of phoned it in as Tigger and Piglet. 😉

7. Calvin graduated from from pre-k and started Kindergarten. 

6.Henry  changed schools and we love his new school and his new teachers.

 5. The eclipse!! So cool. We got to see it in totality from James’s parents home in North Georgia.

4. James’s sister had a big wedding on Hilton Head Island and we got to stay with James his family in a big, beautiful beach house where we could watch the sun rise during breakfast.

3. Calvin was the ring bearer. 

Poor kid was sick with a cold and a fever that we can. We tried to time his medicine so that he would be feeling better when it was time to walk down the aisle but he was still not up for it and he cried the whole way! His dad walked with him. It was all I could do to get him to stop crying before it was time for James’s sister, the bride, to make her entrance! By the end of the ceremony he was feeling better and he made his exit with his cousin the flower girl. He had parked up a little bit by the beginning of the reception, but took a turn for the worst before the end of the night. Oh well. He’s still look super cute in his tiny tux!

2. My grandmother passed away.

And for the first time in my life the holiday season happened without her. We kept some of her favorite traditions. And we created some new ones. We miss her. But we’re relieved that she’s no longer suffering.

1. James and I celebrated our 10th anniversary!

This was the highlight of the year for me. I love us. I love our marriage. I love our family. Even the things that can be difficult about being human married to a human. I still love those things because they are real, amd they are who we are. I’m proud of us, and I hope we have many more perfectly imperfect, surprisingly special years to come.

Did you have any family milestones this year? How are you sending out 2017?