Our highlights and a few low-lights (because life happens) from the year:
January
We rang in 2018 with an old friend of Jay's who had moved to Minnesota with his family.
February
We celebrated Chinese New Year and welcomed the Year of the Dog. Sure is fitting in our house with 3 doggos!
March
March was a nice quiet month. Perhaps God knew the rest of our year would only get us busier and busier! The biggest [pun intended] thing that happened was taking down 2 dead trees in our back woods. There are many more that need to come down in years to come!
April
We wrapped up our 6th year of homeschool for the boys. Super C finished his freshman year of high school and Super E said good bye to elementary school. At the end of the month Super E turned 11 years old! We celebrated quietly at home with a dinner of appetizers and snack food and a cookies and cream cake that the birthday boy helped to make.
May
Jay and I got away for a week of relaxation in Riviera Maya, Mexico! We highly recommend Sandos Caracol Eco Resort for your next affordable all-inclusive vacation! It's a great place for families too! When we came home it was the 6th Gotcha Day anniversary for Quiet Tiger. We didn't celebrate too much since it tends to be more of a trigger for bad behavior.
June
Quiet Tiger finished 1st grade at the local elementary school. It would be the last time we set foot in that building. Later that month, Jay went through some health issues that landed him in the hospital for 3 days with surgery (2 abscesses) and new diagnosis (Type 2 Diabetes). We were grateful for the care and prayer we received at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids. Sadly, because of recovery, we missed Jay's Summer Regional event for work. We stayed home, recuperated and went to doctor's offices every 2 days for post operative care. It was exhausting for all of us!
July
We spent the 4th of July at Jay's mom's cabin in Hayward, Wisconsin. Later that month, we went to Chicago for a week to visit my mom and a handful of friends. The boys both got sick on the trip and they missed out on their highlight of spending a day at Six Flags with friends. During that week Quiet Tiger turned 8 years old and we celebrated with Grammie & Rand.
August
We enjoyed a fun barbecue with Edward Jones friends one afternoon where we had fun trap shooting once again. On the 18th, Jay and I celebrated 17 years of marriage. At the end of the month, the boys and I began a new small business of dog sitting through Rover.com. Very quickly, we found ourselves with 2 regular clients that needed help with their new puppies a couple days per week. At the end of the month, we attended an open house event at Quiet Tiger's new school, a charter school in a neighboring town. The girl was not happy that she would be going to a new school, but we have hopes that this will be a better fit for her needs.
September
September was a whirlwind month! It started with the beginning of the school year. Super C began 10th grade (homeschool), Super E began 6th grade (homeschool) and Quiet Tiger began 2nd grade at the local charter school. Youth group activities began for both boys and the amount of driving mom does to and from church increased greatly! Mid-month, Jay had a second surgery of exploratory nature, this one thankfully just out-patient. Super C turned 15 and celebrated with his friends at an overnighter at our house, his favorite activity. And just 1 week after his birthday, Super C's braces came off! We were all thrilled for him and we love his new smile!
October
We attended our beloved Cranberry Festival in Stone Lake, WI again this year. Fresh berries, kettle corn and turkey legs are always a highlight! At the end of the month, Jay turned 46 and I turned 44 and we celebrated at Portillo's for a heavenly taste of Chicagoland. For Halloween, we had fun with friends up the street. Super C reused his werewolf costume from last year, Super E was Master Chief from Halo and Quiet Tiger was a unicorn.
November
The boys and I managed to balance school work with daily dog sitting duties. We have 4 regular clients nearly every weekday and that's about all we can manage during the school year. Super C attended his first youth group weekend retreat and had a blast. Miss Quiet Tiger got new glasses this year with some dollars we had left in our HSA to use. Sadly, she hasn't worn them to school yet thanks to some behaviors we are dealing with at home. Thanksgiving was spent at home with Brooke's brother Todd, niece Emme and the family of Jay's work associate new to Minnesota. We had much to be thankful for, particularly for the hard work Jay had done to lower his A1C to normal levels, basically sending his new Type 2 Diabetes into remission. Jay did a lot of traveling in November too. He spent 2 days in Indiana with a product partner and then a whole week at the Edward Jones Home Office in St. Louis as part of a team managing the Client Solutions Desk. While he was gone, I painted the laundry room and enjoyed a week off of homeschool with the boys.
December
Once again, I coordinated the Edward Jones Region 303 Christmas party for all the local offices. Following that successful event, Jay had another (and hopefully final) out-patient surgery and weekend recovery. No time to spare during the holidays, we dove right into Jay's office's Holiday Open House. It was another wonderful evening. Mid-month, we celebrated with Jay's BOA (Branch Office Administrator) and her husband with a night out to celebrate Jay reaching Level 6, and his first partnership offering with Edward Jones! We appreciate Amy's hard work to support Jay and and to run that office as smoothly as she does, especially as Jay had been out so much with health issues! Incredible job! And I am immensely proud of my husband for building the business and providing for our family! Surprisingly, Super E found himself picking out a pair of glasses just this week. The big reveal will come in January. Christmas will find us enjoying a quiet holiday at home and thinking of the adventures that await us in 2019.
We wish you a blessed Christmas! This season may all of us draw closer to our Savior!
