The year that was 2017

A staggering amount of time has passed since my last post on this website – more than two years on the calendar, and seemingly much more than that in terms of the life we’ve lived and the changes that have occurred in that time.

First, a relatively quick highlight reel of some of our fondest memories of 2017.

If you’re a more dedicated follower (hi grandparents!), please read on and watch the overly-indulgent 10-minute video at the end of this post.

I’m writing this message on the first day of 2018 from London, England – our home for nearly a year and a half now. We’re well established in London now, thanks in large part to the friends and connections we’ve built through James’s school, through our church and at work for Michele and I. We’ve been fortunate enough to do a few family trips this year. Early in the year, we went to the sunny south coast of Portugal, we had a quick and highly memorable day trip to Oxford (ask us about that one over drinks), a fun trip to Brighton on England’s south coast, and just recently spent Christmas in Lucerne, Switzerland.

2017 was an especially important and amazing year for our little boys. Luke has long since perfected walking and is now constantly running and jumping. He’s fallen in love with Peppa Pig and loves to jump in muddy puddles. He is singing, dancing and speaking constantly. We love him to bits and it’s always fun to hear his emerging British accent.

James is a very bright (and tall) young man. He’ll be six in March. While he hasn’t had his first loose tooth yet, he has recently mastered reading and is gaining more confidence in his skills by the day. He’s become quite a big fan of (non-American) football; he’s joined a local club and happily takes part in the 90-minute practice sessions every Saturday morning. He’s a witty, funny and sensitive fella – we can’t imagine life without him.

The early days of this blog were filled with many of our first memories of James – I’ll forever regret not keeping up with my writing to record Luke’s early years to the same extent. But fortunately I’m still regularly shooting photos and videos of both, so we’ve got a significant digital archive to sift through to remind ourselves of how precious they are. Those old photos and videos are constant reminders of how much these boys have grown and changed, something we can easily lose sight of during the long days and nights of parenting.

Still here? Why not check out yet another video, this time from the snowy sledding slopes of Switzerland. (Sorry, I can’t embed that video here.)