2017: Year in Review

Another year has come and gone. It's been a year filled with joy, laughter, tears, and sadness.  In short, it's been a typical year.  So, let's begin.

Highlights of 2017 (no particular order)

• All three kids spending the summer with their grandparents in Idaho
• Finishing the basement
• Traveling to and from the west twice over the summer - once to drop off the kids and the second to pick them up and then visit family in Oregon and California
• Adopting our second dog, Neo
• Becoming fosters for a dog organization - Needy Paws Rescue
• Having Abby (my sister) come live with us for the summer and the school year!
• Adopting 4 (!!) guinea pigs
• Seeing the total solar eclipse

Amelia

Amelia turned the big 5 on July 24.  She graduated preschool and started kindergarten.  In preschool she learned the important skill of playing and taking naps.  The hardest part of transitioning to all day kindergarten is not having naps!

Amelia is now in kindergarten and loving every minute. Her teacher, Mrs. St. John, is an excellent educator.  Under her guidance Amelia has learned her alphabet, numbers, and has started to read.

Amelia loves hanging out with her parents and would rather they follow her everywhere. She's learning how to go on longer walks without needing a stroller. Her favorite books are Gerald & Piggie, Llama Llama, and anything Disney (especially Frozen!).  She loves dressing up in princess clothes and playing with baby dolls.  She loves to play school with her siblings.  Next to her parents, her other favorite people include her siblings and our neighbors.

Amelia enjoying the solar eclipse

After months of asking for a guinea pig, she adopted her very own for Christmas.  Her guinea pig is named Cinderella Darla Millie Turner.  We call her Darla.  Amelia is very responsible (with supervision) by making sure Darla is fed everyday and has her cage cleaned weekly.  Amelia loves to snuggle and play with Darla.

Amelia finished her first season playing soccer.  She persisted even when she wanted to quit (every game) and might have accidentally kicked the ball once!  Her favorite position was goalie.

Andrew

Andrew turned 8 on November 1.  He finished 1st grade with a bang - ending on a 3rd grade reading level.  He continued learning complex shapes and how to add and subtract single and double digit numbers.  At home, we taught him elementary multiplication and division.  His favorite books were all Lego books and those involving weather.  He also found his passion: weather.  Andrew is determined to become a meteorologist - moving to Norman, Oklahoma and attending Oklahoma State University like his idol Reed Timmer.  Andrew and his father attended a class to become certified storm watchers on March 12.  They chased a few tornadoes and storms and even submitted photos documenting storm damage to the local storm center.  I exchanged quite a few emails with his first grade teacher, Mrs. Howard, as Andrew taught his teacher and class the many wonders of storm cells.

Andrew is now halfway through his 2nd grade year with a wonderful teacher Ms. Wilson. He is currently reading at a 5th grade reading level.  His favorite books are those in the I Survived series. His math journey has continued into word problems and money.  We continue working at home on multiplication, division, and a bit of fractions.

Andrew continued playing sports - playing baseball (his favorite) and soccer - both indoor and outdoor.  He is currently finishing out his indoor soccer season.

Andrew also continued with his passion of legos.  His Lego city continues to grow as Andrew adds even more interesting structures that come from existing boxes or those that he creates.

Andrew adopted his guinea pig and named her Amaragh (pronounced uh-mare-uh).  He enjoys snuggling with her and playing with her.

Emily

Emily turned 9 on August 17.  She finished 2nd grade and is now in 3rd grade.  In second grade, her highlights were being featured in an art show for kids selected by their art teachers in the Hazelwood school district and scoring the highest score on a test (SRI test) that her teacher, Mrs. Withington, had ever seen (an 888).  She continued her Galactic classes (the advanced program in our school district) by finishing Math and art courses. Per usual, she is a joy to have in class and Mrs. Withington was sad to say good-bye.  At the same time, she finished her first season of baseball and is looking forward to playing softball next year.  She's quite a power hitter.

Her 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Fischer, appreciates having Emily in her class.  Emily is learning multiplication, 3 digit addition and subtraction, and basic algebra.  She is learning about ancient markets.  In Galactic, she just finished art, junior film, Math mania, and ancient Greece. She is looking forward to taking cooking, Math Mania 2, a language class (hopefully French), and possibly art.  She finished her 2nd season of soccer and showed off her skills as goalie.

She spends most of her time hanging out with her best friend Aniya and doing science experiments. She also loves snuggling with the guinea pig she adopted and named Shye.  She is an excellent caretaker always remembering to give food and water to Shye. 

Amber
I turned 30 on April 28.  I received a promotion at my job, finished 3 more semesters of graduate school - 2 with a 4.0, and then took a position on another team.  I ran 3 races - 2 5ks and 1 10k, and am completing the Frostbite series.  I'm looking forward to another year of constant change and watching my 3 babies thrive.

Ben
Ben turned 33 on December 22.  He started graduate school this fall and ended with a 4.0.  Ben continues to be The Best Father and Husband.  He plays catch, builds legos, explores science, and plays chase with all the kids.  He continues to excel at his job and looks forward to another new year of growth and learning.

Bear
Bear celebrated his first year with his family in February.  He took his first road trip and enjoyed his many firsts: first walk in Yosemite National park, first visit with the Munson clan, and first 20 + hours in the car.  Bear has tolerated sharing his house and family with many foster siblings.  He's enjoyed hours of walks with his mom and snuggling with his family.

Neo
Neo joined the family in September.  He came to us as a stray found abandoned and starving in a state park and graciously picked up and fed by a wonderful animal control officer.  We fostered him for a week and realized we couldn't let him leave.  He loves to lay down next to his humans and play with his new brother, Bear.

Our year has been a fantastic one.  We wish all our friends and family happy holidays and a wonderful new year!