Christmas Letter 2009

Okay, here goes. I hope that this letter finds you all well. I know that this year has continued to be rough for many with all the economic woes and all the health issues, but I rejoice in knowing that God has everything under control.

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding; in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

So usually in my letter, I organize it by person and discuss what each member of the family has been up to over the year. This year, I am going to organize it by month and what went on for the whole family month by month throughout the year.

So we started off with a bang in January with a little New Year's Eve get together with our good friends, the Goves. All 6 kids made it until midnight and were still going strong. The month continued with Justin's 6th birthday on the 9th and a Star Wars themed birthday party complete with an R2D2 cake made by moi'. Hannah's 8th birhtday was on the 23rd, and she had a makeover party where Annaliese and our hairdresser friend, Heather, came over to assist in doing hair and we painted nails. Hannah has actually become quite obsessed with hair, makeup and nails and has converted her room into a salon/spa. First, she did it in our master bathroom, but when we realized that the fad wasn't fading anytime soon, we made her move it into her room. She actually does very well painting nails and giving massages.

February was a pretty low-key month. We would've made our annual trip to the Downs' cabin in Snoqualmie Pass to play in the snow, but due to the huge amount of snow that there was this year, they experienced a flood in the cabin, which they discovered right before our trip, so sadly it was cancelled. The kids were very upset, but we will be going up there this coming President's Day weekend barring any more floods or other disasters. Other than Valentine's Day, not much else went on in February.

In March, we had a visit from Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Harold, which the kids always love. This was the last Spring Break for Grandma Sharon before she retired in June, so from now on, their visits aren't dictated by her school vacations. The following week, when we were on Spring Break, we took a short trip to Cannon Beach, OR. We had expected it to rain the entire time like it often does this time of year, especially on the coast, but our string of having good luck with weather on the coast continued, and we had lots of sunshine, although it was very cold. That didn't stop Hannah and Justin from running in the icy cold waves though. Owen preferred to stick to the sand.

April brought Dale's birthday and Easter in the same weekend. Honestly, neither Dale nor I can remember if we did anything specific for his birthday and there is no pictorial evidence of anything, so I can't say for certain what we did on his birthday. The kids did have a great time dying eggs on his birthday and then hunting them Easter morning and finding their baskets. We went out to Grandpa Mike's and Grandma Carol's that afternoon, and the highlight of the day was holding the new baby chicks that they had. They have actually over the year developed quite the menagerie at the farm with 3 cows and their calves with more calves on the way this spring and a henhouse full of chickens and a rooster. Owen is still holding out for sheep and horses.

In May, we celebrated Mother's Day at my sister, Marcie's house. It was a nice beautiful day and the kids were just able to run around outside while we relaxed. Then for Memorial Day weekend, we took a couple short road trips. One day, we drove east up the Gorge to Bonneville Dam and checked out the fish ladders and the fish hatchery. The kids liked feeding all the trout in the hatchery ponds and seeing the HUGE sturgeon. The next day, we drove north, toward Mt. St. Helens and the Johnston Ridge Visitor's Center. I hadn't realized that in 13 years of living here, Dale had never been up there. The kids weren't entirely thrilled with learning all about the mountain's eruption, but it was a good family outing on a beautiful (although windy) day up there.

June is a very popular month with the kids because it brings the end of the school year. Hannah finished up her 2nd grade year and despite a rather emotionally rocky start to the year, she did great. Her teacher commented that she wish she had a whole classroom full of students just like Hannah. Justin finished up his Kindergarten year and also did very well. He is always so well liked and has tons of friends. Before finishing up the year, Hannah's grade put on a program where she had some speaking parts and a part in a dance she did with a few other girls. She has become quite the performer. In addition to that, she had her first hip hop recital with Groove Nation Dance. It was quite the show, and her class and she did great. It's definitely a departure from the ballet we're used to seeing her in but is something she really enjoys right now.

July is the first full-fledged month of summer, and it was a good one weather wise. We celebrated the 4th of July over at Grandma Judi's with Aunt Sara, Uncle Gary, and cousins Katelyn and Ashley. The kids had a great time playing in Grandma's hot tub and then of course doing fireworks--well except for Owen. He really was not thrilled with all the fireworks. The noise was just too much for him and he was very upset at the prospect of having to light the helicopter he picked out at the fireworks stand on fire. Once we lit all our fireworks, we just watched everyone else's money go up into flames and watched the Washougal show from Grandma's deck. We also took a trip to Newport, OR in mid-July to visit the Oregon Aquarium and hang out on the beach. We actually didn't spend much time on the beach because our luck ran out with the good weather at the coast and the kids would rather just spend time at the hotel pool. We did take one long walk along the beach, though, and go to the Yaquina Head lighthouse and tidepools, although that actually wasn't all that pleasant that day because we were being swarmed by big kelp flies. The end of July, we celebrated Owen's 3rd birthday. Since he LOVES animals, I made him an elephant cake and we just had a bbq. It's so nice to have a birthday that we can celebrate outside. The kids played in the pool and on the slip n' slide. Owen really had a great time and loved all his gifts. Everyone he opened up, he would say, "That's amazing!"

August was the busiest month up to that point. The first weekend, I had my 20 year high school reunion. How did that happen?!? It was fun to be able to reconnect with people, even those I haven't seen since we graduated. I still don't believe I'm that old, though. The next weekend, we had the McDonald family reunion down in Lincoln City, OR at a nice campground along a river. The kids had a great time riding their bikes all around and playing with all their cousins in the big grassy area. We also made another trip to the beach for the kids to play in the sand and surf. That day, though, the waves were so huge that we feared one of the children being knocked down and washed out to sea. It was crazy. We also squeezed in our annual trip to the Clark County Fair, although, it was very rainy the day we went, so the kids didn't even want to ride the rides, which is usually their favorite part of it. Dale and Justin went back later to see the Monster Truck Rally and used the ride bracelets that I had purchased. At the end of the month, Grandma and Granpa Lough returned. This was Grandpa's first trip out in the summer since Dale and I were married. It was good to have them both here, and we actually took them with us to Sunriver, OR where we had rented a house for a long weekend. It was the perfect place for us, and they loved it. It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend in one of our favorite places. Sharon is bringing all her sisters to Oregon this coming June, and she decided that they would have to hit the Sunriver/Bend area for a day or two. Grandpa Harold returned home to Indiana after just a week out here, but Grandma Sharon stayed another week.

With Grandma Sharon staying over, Dale and I were able to take a little road trip over Labor Day weekend at the beginning of September. We drove to Central Washington to the Gorge Ampitheater in George, WA to see The Dave Matthews Band. We've been to the ampitheater before, and it is an amazing venue overlooking the Columbia River Gorge in the center of the state. It was a wonderful concert but did end late, and then we had an hour drive to a hotel in Ritzville, WA where we stayed just so we could be a little closer to Pullman, WA where we were going to watch the Cougar football Home Opener against Stanford. Unfortunately, they lost and that was just the beginning of their horrible season, but it was still fun. We always love returning to WSU to see how it's changed and reminisce on those days. After the game, we drove to Spokane to visit our friends, Tim and Michelle Greenwood. We used to see them every year for a game in Pullman, but since having kids, those have dropped off. It was great to see them, and we hope to make a trip out there this summer with the kids. Upon returning home, it was time to get the kids back to school. Hannah started 3rd grade and Justin started 1st. It was weird to have them both in school all day long. I kept thinking I had to go pick Justin up in the middle of the day like I had to when he was in Kindergarten. Hannah again had a bit of a rough start, but is doing well and her teacher has been wonderful. Justin had Hannah's 1st grade teacher who we already knew we loved. Owen also started school this year, which is unbelievable to me. He is in the 3-year old Turtle class at Joyful Learning Preschool where sister and brother went. His first day actually went much better than I expected because his teacher had animals there for him to play with and that kept him distracted for me to leave. We did have a few weeks of him crying when I left, but for the most part, his transition to school has gone very well, and he really seems to enjoy it. You wouldn't be able to tell that, though, from his first school picture where he looks like he's from the Joyful Learning Reform School. Justin started soccer for the 4th year this month. Hannah decided not to play this year and to just chear from the sidelines. He had another great season.

Okay, I realize this is getting really long. Please bear with me. Only a few more months to go. :)

October was actually a great month with some good fall weather, although we did have more rainy soccer games than we've had in the past. Other than soccer practice and games each week, the main event was Halloween. We had our 2nd annual Halloween party, which was another success. Grandpa Robert and Grandma Pom also came down that weekend to take the kids out trick-or-treating for the 2nd year. Hannah dressed as a sassy pirate with a costume that she concocted from things out of her closet. Justin was Snake Eyes from GI Joe and Owen ended up wearing a Power Ranger mask and carrying a sword. He had insisted he wasn't wearing a costume or going trick-or-treating, but at the last minute, he changed his mind and actually was the first one up to the door and saying trick or treat. It was a perfect warm night for trick-or-treating, which isn't normal for around here.

With November came the month of birthdays with my 2 sisters and I all between the 3rd and 13th. Then a niece, brother-in-law and sister-in-law rounded out the month. We also had Thanksgiving in there and this year, we spent it in Indiana with Dale's parents as I just shared in a recent blog post. It was a good trip, but I won't go into all the details again here.

So here we are at December. After returning from Indiana, it took a little while to get motivated to get all the Christmas stuff out and up, but it didn't take long for us to get in the Christmas spirit. It all seems a blur now, though, as I sit finishing this up on Christmas night. It has been a wonderful Christmas season, especially as we watched it through the eyes of our children. We have tried to keep the focus on the true reason for the season--the birth of our Savior, Jesus, and they have seemed to get a pretty good grasp of that--at least Hannah and Justin. For Christmas Eve we went to service at church and then had friends and family over for munchies. Then we hosted the Christmas morning chaos at our house. Gift wrap and toy packaging was flying everywhere. It was a great Christmas as usual and all the kids were spoiled as usual. We finished off the evening at Grandpa Mike and Grandma Carol's for dinner and more presents. It was a great Christmas and a great month. I cannot believe there is only one more week of 2009 and then more great memories to come in 2010. I will wrap this up. I will be working on a 2009 year in review photo slideshow and posting that soon.

Wishing you all many blessings in 2010!!!