2018?!

How is it 2018 already?!

Obviously, 2017 was a busy year for me.  As evidenced by my absence here (and many other places), my family life was even crazier than usual.

I'm not sure that I can even accurately sum up all of the changes that occurred last year.

For starters, one huge change was our move across the country.  After 3 years in Georgia we are now back in the Pacific northwest!  Anyone who has moved can understand how much work it is just to move across town, let alone move across the continent.  We drove from GA to WA with the kids, the dog, and our camper.  We stopped at some great National Parks (Yellowstone, Badlands, etc.) and really enjoyed our trip.  Once we arrived in WA, we moved into our new house that we purchased sight unseen while we were still in Georgia.  That was an adventure!  Then we had the usual relocation recovery (perfectly summed up here by another military spouse).

Before leaving Georgia, I finally realized my dream of becoming a midwife.  I graduated from college (summa cum laude!) and completed the necessary exams to become a midwife and IBCLC.  I obtained a midwifery license and officially attended one birth as a midwife, no longer a student.  It was an exciting and stressful time for my entire family.  I wasn't sure I would have time to finish everything before we moved again.

The kids have really been busy.  Matthew is starting to drive (!?!) and he is playing baseball for our local high school.  We still homeschool but he's there for the sports.  Josh has his first job as a babysitter for a local family and is learning computer programming.  Leila and Sarah, my sweet twins who were just babies when I started this blog, are totally tweens now.  They've started to shift away from the childhood dolls and toys and toward talking with friends and listening to music.  Nathan and Ryan will be 10 soon and they are just as wild as ever.  Seven (Amelia) is 5 now and still my precocious little girl.  Violet is 3 and still very much the baby of the family.

I have so much more to write about and so many things that I want to preserve here.  I have a terrible memory and this blog has always helped me remember the craziness that has been my life.  I probably have 500,000 photos to share.  If you follow me on instagram, you have seen some of them.

My goal this year is to get back to blogging!  I am getting ready to have surgery next month and I plan to use my time recovering in bed to update my blog.  In the meantime, I'll share some photos.

Moving Day 2017 (Yes, Matthew is as tall as me now!)

Last morning in Georgia

Early morning coffee stop on the way out of town

Wisconsin

South Dakota

Wyoming

Yellowstone NP

Old Faithful

Mt. Rainier (with my dad, Granddad With No Hair)

First days in our new home

Midwife Heather (that's me doing what I love)

Summer 2016

Here's a brief recap of our summer.  I was in school and on call all summer so there were no fun vacations or trips but we have still had fun hanging around close to home.

These guys have lost some teeth, made some new friends, and spent days riding bikes around our new neighborhood before it became unbearably hot.

These girls have spent countless hours creating and being imaginative.  They've made new friends with our new neighbors and played a lot of four square.

Emmett has been with us for almost 1.5 years now.  He's been such a welcome addition to our family.  The 4th of July marked 2 years since Delmar died and it's still hard to believe he's gone.  Emmett has fit right in and has a similarly sweet demeanor.  He loves to play, go camping, and ride in the van.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Violet is a handful.  She's got the same spunk and stubborn streak as Amelia.  Plus, she's the baby of the family so she uses that to her advantage too.  She is still my squishy baby, just less squishy and more squirmy now.

We had another awesome week at VBS this year.  We will really miss our church when we move again.  This year Matthew and Josh were both VBS volunteers.  Matthew dressed up as a taco for Taco Tuesday and was the center of attention. On the last day of VBS, Matthew's adult teachers were both absent so Matthew and the other youth volunteer led their VBS class of fifteen 3rd graders by themselves.  He has moments of incredible maturity. Rare, fleeting moments...

I think I have written before about how both sets of twins become "twinny" sometimes.  That's what we call it when they get silly and only interact with each other, ignoring everyone else.  It is impossible to communicate with them during this time and they get really loud and crazy.  They do it in the van a lot and at bedtime.  This picture shows what it looks like when they're being "twinny."

Two sets of twins in one towel.  

The kids love our neighborhood pool.  If it wasn't so exhausting for me to take all of them there by myself, we'd be in that pool every single day.

Jason and I celebrated our anniversary in June and had a rare night out together.  We went to an amazing local restaurant and enjoyed a delicious dinner.  We also went to the military ball this summer.  Actually, that has been one wonderful thing about living here and having a teenager.  We have been able to go out on several dates since being back in Georgia.  We've been on more dates in the last year than in the previous 13 years combined.  We are also able to run to the gym together.  It's great!

This is what happens when I take Leila and Sarah to Costco.  Every single time we walk through those doors, they stop to stare at the jewelry.  Heaven help the men that marry these girls.  They have expensive taste already and they're only ten.

Here are some pictures of everyday life right now...

Counting Down

We are all alive and well and counting down the months until we move.  Again.

Our time back in Georgia has been consumed with so many things... my schoolwork, the kids' schoolwork, Jason's training assignments, and my work as a student midwife.  We moved across town in January and there are still boxes waiting to be unpacked in most rooms of the new house.  I haven't been able to come up for air yet.  However, I have 3 semesters left until I graduate and I'm in the final stretch of my clinical work.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We move again next summer and we anticipate an adventurous road trip in an RV.

What is going on right now?

Matthew turned 13 and is growing like a weed.  He has been playing baseball and reading obsessively.  This picture was taken last fall and he has grown several inches since then and now has started shaving.

Joshua turned 12 and is my awesome babysitter/helper.  He is so great with little kids and has such a kind heart.  In fact, it is difficult to find a picture of Josh without a toddler in his arms.

Leila and Sarah turned 10 and are still inseparable.  They are so sweet and smart.  They get along so well with everyone and love to include Nathan and Ryan in almost everything they do right now.

Nathan and Ryan are about to turn eight.  They love to play Minecraft and they're pretty funny kids.  They are both comedians and love to entertain us.

Amelia is almost four now.  She is bossy, sassy, extremely intelligent, and bossy.  Did I mention that she's bossy?

Violet is about to turn two.  She is very sensitive and serious.  She might also be a bit spoiled.  She has an epic pout face.

Last fall, Jason had to fly to Hawaii for a training assignment.  It was a last-minute trip and, by some miracle, my dad was willing to come and stay with the kids.  I flew out with Violet and I was away from the seven older kids for the first time in 13 years.  Violet was great and loved traveling.  Now I I have been to 49 states.  You can guess what we're planning next... road trip to Alaska!

(Violet on my back at breakfast in Honolulu)

We don't exactly know where we are headed next, though all signs point west.  I have waited to share details but it's going to be exciting.  I should have done a better job at blogging the last 2 years.  It has been such an incredible learning experience as a student midwife.  I have to pinch my myself sometimes to believe that this is my life.