Here I am, closing another chapter. And what a sweet year to have to say goodbye to...Micah's first year, filled with baby snuggles, lost sleep, and lots of laundry! Our excitement when he learned something new each month--rolling, crawling, clapping his hands--oh, how can 2014 already be complete?
This was also the year that Gracie transitioned from half to full school days, and Joshy started going to Wacky Wednesdays at preschool with the other 4-year olds this fall. Grace lost her two front teeth; Joshy became a terror on his Hot Wheels (at least down the hill by Kyle's--around the block didn't really happen...). Gracie started basketball and decided she "was made for basketball," while Josh started Soccer Tots in the fall and after scoring a goal in his first practice, didn't want to go again, for fear that he would NOT score a goal at practice #2. The Frozen Soundtrack was played probably hundreds of times this year, and How to Train Your Dragon TWO was seen in the theater and then on DVD. Both kids loved on their baby brother--first laying beside him under the play mat, and by the end of the year pushing him on his Dusty the Crop-hopper plane. (Gracie loves to carry and mother, Joshy loves to get "too close!")
We continued meeting with our Bible Study group, though the Huggins family moved, leaving just the Templin/Harper/Morgan families with us, and they prayed us through Jeff's 2nd half of Nat'l Boards. We left him at home over Spring Break to get a lot of work done (Heidi and Ellie escaping to Auntie Julie's house with six kids!) and celebrated in May when he took his final test and turned in his portfolio. We waited patiently (and not-so-patiently!) to find out in November that Jeff DID IN FACT PASS his boards. We celebrated our hard year by seeing the Decembrists in Portland in May and giving Jeff a Guinness in November.
It's the year I had maternity leave, taught without Melissa at the end of the school year, and then welcomed a "normal" year of teaching with her this fall. Our childcare was filled with a beautiful tapestry of faces--G'ma Colleen, Annie, G'ma Dianne, Linnea, Heather, Heidi, Mimi, and Bridget.
It's the year my two BABY cousins (Levi and Luke) graduated from high school and the first year we lived through without Uncle Tom. We celebrated with Granny as she turned 80 and with Papa LeRoy as he turned 90--and found lollipops in G'ma Trudy's yard on 4/1. Mom and Dad took a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Israel (Did you have fun? Good. Because you're never doing that again!) and our families welcomed THREE new baby cousins: Alexa Largent, Lauren Moser, and Nels Lochhead. It was the year that we almost lost Annie and faced devastating fear. His mercy washed over us in waves and we were left thankful, to our core.
We are so blessed. Help us never to forget! Goodbye 2014 …now off to print the blog-book, the year recorded for all of posterity! (In our family, "posterity" means the moments when kids with icky fingers leaf through the pages of our blog-books, looking for pictures of themselves "when they were little." So sweet.) :)
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