Whew!  What a wild and wacky ride we had to finish off 2017.  A lot happened for our little family during the last two months of the year.  I left you last time with a brief post about the celebration we had here in St. Louis for little Michael’s first birthday.  That was over two months ago!  Since that day in mid-November, we closed on a new home, traveled to Texas for Thanksgiving and a second celebration of little Michael’s birthday, returned to St. Louis to actually move in to our new house, traveled back to Texas to celebrate Christmas, and finally, returned to St. Louis to begin the new year.  Hence the reasons for my absence from this blog.  Before I get into everything that has happened thus far in 2018, I want to recap some of the big moments that wrapped up the year for us in 2017.

Two days after Michael’s first birthday, we sealed the deal and closed on the house that, with each passing day, is feeling more and more like home for us here in St. Louis.  We signed the paperwork on the morning of November 16, with our Cheerio-loving one year old in tow.

By the afternoon, we were in possession of the keys, our keys, and we ventured into the new house on our own for the first time.  Not only had the previous owners left the house in impeccable condition, they also left us a treasure trove of photos documenting the construction of the house.  I was amazed to find a kitchen drawer full of neatly arranged photographs from when the house was being built in 1987.

To conclude our closing day, we soaked up some fall foliage in our backyard.

Since it was late afternoon in mid-November, the leaves and sunlight put on a beautiful show.

However, it was not time to move in just yet.  Little Michael and I embarked on our drive down to Texas the following morning.  Thanks to Pinterest, I had a fully-loaded bag of tricks (actually a box) to keep my little guy entertained for the entirety of the 13-hour drive.  One of the best ideas I found was a vibrating tooth brush.  I picked one up at Dollar Tree, and it did the trick to quell several bouts of fussiness during the drive.  At one point, the wonderful device turned his tears into a smile, lulled him to sleep, and kept him that way from Tulsa to Oklahoma City!

Our night in a hotel room went by smoothly as well.  Little Michael discovered all sort of things to keep him entertained, including the Gideon Bible.

On the day before Thanksgiving, Michael joined us in Texas to celebrate little Michael’s first birthday with family.

The balloon-loving birthday boy found himself in the company of lots of colorful balloons!

And his fellow balloon-loving cousins!

We enjoyed a very bountiful and tasty Thanksgiving dinner the following day.

After dinner, it was time for a nap!

On Friday, we moved on to Houston for a Thanksgiving visit with Michael’s family.  Little Michael’s Aunt Jenny brought over their toddler swing, and he just loved getting pushed in it.

After visiting with Michael’s family, it was time to head back up to Missouri and get ready for our big move.  Our Thanksgiving trip to Texas would be little Michael’s last visit as a crawler.  He started walking almost as soon as we returned home!