Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

to all our family and friends. I know that I should have had this done when I sent the Christmas cards out, and hopefully you didn’t come here earlier to find there was no Christmas letter, but per my usual MO, I am late. This year, Christmas seems like it has come especially fast. Anyway, I am glad you’ve found this letter, and we wish you all peace and joy during this season that we celebrate our Savior’s birth. We also wish you many blessings in the New Year.

As usual, our year has been full, and it has flown by. One piece of news that we do NOT have is that we either learned we were expecting or had a baby in the past year. I realized the other night that 2007 and 2004 were the only two years since 1999 that one of those has not been true.

Our big news for this year is that we moved. For over 3 years, we had been looking on and off for a home that we could see ourselves raising our kids in until they left home. Since I am extremely picky, and it wasn’t necessary we move, no one house had everything we were looking for. But after having Owen, our interest in moving was renewed, and in January we finally found something we could see ourselves in for the long haul. It’s in a wonderful neighborhood and the elementary school (which is one of the best in the district) is right behind our back fence. With us having to make a contingent offer and sell our house first, we didn’t actually close on the house until June. Right after moving in, we tore the kitchen out and gave it a complete overhaul with new cabinets, countertops and appliances. There are photos of the remodel on my blog (click here and scrolld down for the pics). We were entirely without a kitchen for about a month except for a microwave and toaster oven, which was a real pain, but it was all worth it. There are still a few boxes around and we’re still trying to get rid of stuff and get the garage in order, but for the most part, we are settled and feel at home.

Hannah will turn 7 in January and is in first grade at the school behind us. We can actually see the door to her classroom from our kitchen sliding door. She has been doing extremely well academically and has made lots of friends. She is a very popular little girl and whenever I pick her up from school, all you here is “bye Hannah, bye Hannah, bye Hannah…” from all her classmates. She has had a bit of a rough time ever since a boy in her class got hurt on the playground only a couple weeks into school. It wasn’t serious, but it was traumatic enough to her to cause quite a bit of distress. For a few weeks, going to school was very difficult and there were many tears from her and from me. She came out of that for the most part, although she is still very fearful of anyone getting hurt. We just pray that in time, she will not worry about such things. She is still doing ballet and was in her 3rd recital in June. She also played soccer again this fall. She was on an all-girl team called Mia’s Angels (as in Mia Hamm) and had lots of fun. She took swimming lessons and really blossomed over the two sessions. She had been afraid to even put her face in the water, but this summer, she was entirely underwater all the time.

Justin will turn 5 in January and is in Pre-K. He is learning a lot and has many friends. He is our boy of 100 questions. If you are alone with him in the car, he talks non-stop asking tons of questions that I usually cannot answer. He also played soccer again this fall and did great. He really improved over last year. Justin took swimming lessons this summer and, like Hannah, became much more comfortable in the water. He keeps asking when we’re going to do lessons again.

Owen is almost 18 months old and has changed tremendously over the year as all toddlers do. He is walking and running all over the place trying to keep up with Hannah and Justin. He is also quite the little climber. He is a very active little boy and keeps us on our toes all day long. He has had a few words like kick (when kicking a ball like his siblings did during soccer) and thank you. He loves, balls, balloons, his bath (splashing like a madman) and just being included in any activity going on at the time. Sometimes this is a cause of anguish for his siblings. Especially Hannah who has to keep the door to her room shut at all times because there are way too many little things for him to destroy or eat. For the most part though, Hannah and Justin adore their baby brother and it is a joy to see them interact with him.

I am still teaching fitness classes as a way to keep in shape, earn a little money, and get a little break from home, although two of the classes are at 5:30 A.M., so the break I am getting is from the sleep I would otherwise be enjoying. Oh well. I also started a new business this year selling Uppercase Living (http://www.uppercaseliving.com/) vinyl expressions (fancy stickers) that go on the wall or tiles and plaques for home décor. I’ve been selling since October and so far it has been very successful, so we’ll see where it goes. It’s been fun, and I love putting the stuff up in my home, which was my main reason for starting to sell it. I also still try to find as much time as possible to scrapbook. Last year in the letter, I said that I was going to have two of my layouts published in an idea book. That was supposed to be out this fall, but unfortunately, was delayed until after Christmas. So hopefully soon, that book will be out. I will definitely put it on my blog when it is. Before then though, I am going to be published in an online magazine. I am actually going to have 4 of my layouts and an article on me put in the January issue of ScrapStreet magazine (shh!!!!! It’s supposed to be a secret until then). I will provide the link to that in January when it comes out.

Dale continues to work at Brown and Caldwell and enjoys his job, although the commute to Portland can be a bear at times. He is managing one project that keeps him closer to home, which makes the commute easier some days. He has once again joined an indoor soccer team and is really enjoying the chance to get some physical activity despite the aches and pains for a couple days after. He also was a soccer mom this fall getting all the kids ready and to Hannah and Justin’s soccer games on Saturday mornings when I taught aerobics.

Now that Owen is a little bigger we got the chance to get out of the house a few times. In the spring, we headed over to Cannon Beach, one of our favorite places in the world for a couple of days with Dale’s parents. Later, during the summer, we rented a house in Sunriver for a long weekend with some friends and had a great time. We determined on the first day that a weekend is not long enough and are looking at a week next time.

Also during the summer, we attended the McDonald family reunion at dad’s place in Washougal. The family got to spend their first night in a tent and boy was it cold! Owen and I spent the second night on the couch in the house. I was good to get together with family and there was a lot to do. Dad stocked the pond with trout and all the kids pulled out 54 fish in about an hour. Together, Hannah and Justin caught 7.

We spent Thanksgiving in Indiana with Dale’s family. Owen did surprisingly well for his first time on a plane and we had a good time. One highlight was seeing a couple of bald eagles in a field while we were taking a drive through the countryside.

Well I should wrap this up. I am also going to add a slideshow of pictures throughout the year. We love hearing from you all so please email or even send a real card or letter when you get a chance. I put our new address in with our Christmas card, but if you missed that tiny slip of paper, email me to get our new address.