2017

2017 Highlights:

Finding out we were going to have a boy!

Weird to think I was pregnant exactly 1/2 of the year!

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Our vacation to Arizona

My 29th birthday in Arizona at Bahama Buck's.

Maisie turned 7 on Mother's Day!

8 year anniversary

spent with spicy Indian food and an overly air conditioned movie theatre watching "Wonder Woman" an amazing date while almost 37 weeks pregnant.

Katie came to the rescue before Evan was born.

4th of July (last day of pregnancy and last picture as a family of 4).

Evan arrived safely!

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more here and here

Ellie turned 3!

 more here

Watching the Great American Eclipse smack dab in the path of totality from our backyard.

Austin turned THIRTY 3-0!!

Grandma, Grandpa, Miranda, Andrew, Camille, Emerson, Jane and Arthur visited Labor day weekend.

Nana visited in October

Halloween

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Christmas

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2017 Lowlights: 

Austin's gallbladder surgery. This picture is of Austin's gallbladder function test where he was injected with contrast and with what was affectionately called a "liquid hamburger" to see if his gallbladder produced or excreted bile- it hardly did, so they scheduled to take it out less than a week later.

Austin and Maisie's both had surgeries on their ears. 

Austin had two surgeries in a matter of 4 days.

My high risk pregnancy and delivery because of Evan's cord abnormality:

 Velamentous Cord Insertion (VCI) 

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(Great) Grandpa Sprague's passing.

I am blind as a bat thanks to Evan's pregnancy. 

2017 Honorable mentions:

-Ellie is potty trained, pacifier weaned and sleeping in a "big girl bed".

-Maisie learned how to swim, has her own room and is learning to sew.

-Evan is a big, healthy boy who is super smiley and happy almost 24/7. Oh and he just figured out he is flexible enough to suck on his toes- so there's that!

Outstanding achievment of 2017:
Hitting our out of pocket deductible for medical costs 5 months into the year. 😬 3 surgeries and a high risk pregnancy is crazy expensive!

Christmas 2017

Christmas Eve family photo

Traditional family recipe

Ellie's crossed leg haha!

Santa

Our first real tree since living in Idaho- a Nordman fir.

All lit up

Maisie's Christmas list:

Lava lamp & stuffed swan

Ellie's Christmas list:

Zebra & fake make up

Evan's Christmas list:

anything to chew on or drool on

When I imagined Christmas with our kids I thought it would be stressful because of all the new toys we would have to hunt down not unlike "Tickle me Elmos" "Furbys" or "Hatchimals". But since our kids don't see commercials like ever, they don't even know what the current toys are. Instead they think of something they really want (despite its popularity) and a lot of the time they are the most humble requests. Maisie upped it this year with the request of a lava lamp, but still compared to the things I begged for as a child, it seems so small. We tried to have intention with our gifts this year, we didn't want junky toys that would break or be forgotten within a couple weeks, so we stuck with activities that could be enjoyed by the whole family, or activities the girls could do while cooped up for the winter. Painting/art supplies, board games, Floof, and books. 

For the last couple of months we have been limiting their screen time to about 30 minutes per day, with opportunities to earn screen time throughout the day, by reading a certain amount of books or with extra chores and it has been going pretty well, but now that we are stocked up on new activities I think we will be golden for awhile.

Favorite toys? Maisie loves her lava lamp and swan, but the surprising favorite has been a little sewing kit- she has been loving making little stuffed owls for everyone. Ellie's favorites- oh her love for her makeup kit, she takes it everywhere and does everyone and every things makeup, it's super cute! We also got her packs of Disney Princesses that she adores. Grandma and Grandpa got her a lego set and a Calico Critter cottage which have been huge hits as well.

Austin got me one of a kind art prints from art students at the university and they are amazing, a nursing dress that I have wanted/needed and I love it- so comfy and cute! He also got me new pots and pans and a coupon promising to do the dishes more. 😍 Austin got a few new games and a Playstation plus account- its what he wanted and he seems pretty happy about them. 

It was a low key Christmas spent with friends the rest of the evening. 

Oh and then the day after Christmas we took Maisie to Star Wars episode VIII "The Last Jedi" as a part of a Christmas gift (a new R2D2 shirt). She loved the movie- we all did.