I am addicted to
Christmas Letters.
Seriously, folks
I have a problem. Writing a Christmas letter wasn’t even on my mind, until I
got my first card this week. And I just couldn’t resist. I love Christmas
cards; I love savoring the news that each Christmas letter brings. I love all
your little faces scrubbed bright for the camera. Yes, we all have Facebook and
Instagram, but I really do love the tradition of writing the letters & sealing
the cards. That said…here is my little
news update for you all.
First of all we
have a new member to our family. Midas was born in October and is keeping us up
at night every so often, but all together the perfect addition for us all. Brown eyes and blond hair, this little 12 lb
is a nugget of happiness to us all…when he is asleep. He is quite rambunctious as
Labradors tend to be, and has the little ones squealing as he nips at their
heels, swinging skirts, or gym shorts.
He is still learning but I have high hopes for him!
Anna Banana (3) is a
little pistol. She is full of
personality and at the stage where she just says the funniest things. She
started preschool 2 days a week and proudly announces (almost) everyday that “I
didn’t get in time out even ONE time
today”. We have high standards apparently and this is her measurement of
success for the few hours of schooling each week. I love my time alone with her during the week
and am cherishing this special time. She is currently on her way to mastering the art of staying in bed once we tuck her in each night. We bribe her with promises of TV the next morning.
Gracie Face (7) had a
busy fall finishing up her first gymnastic experience and moving on to dance,
getting glasses, and starting speech therapy.
She has decided to grow out her hair and wear only the red uniform
shirts to school. She is reading (the glasses
are helping quite a bit there) alone now fairly proficiently and finding that
she rather enjoys Spanish and Math.
Apparently she doesn’t take after her mother academically as she excels
in my trouble spots!
JR (9) is
having an awesome year in school. He is
still playing soccer with his club team and is excited to travel to Tucson for
a tournament soon. It will be the first traveling he does with the team and it
should be fun for both he and “coach” dad. He pretty much lives for soccer. He is having a GREAT year in school which is making up for all the character building he experienced last year.
Anthony (12) has hit
a great place academically and we are hoping it holds steady all year. He played for both his club and school teams
this year and found that with all the soccer he really had to keep his school
stuff straight right from the start. He is growing so fast now and although he
is not yet taller than me, his feet are much bigger! He is well into the struggles that come with adolescence (or rather his parents are!) but we are making our way through with lots of prayers and wine. More about that click here... or here...
The Hubs & I are
doing pretty well ourselves. We took our first serious trip away from the kids
and went to London for a week (more here). It was
amazing. I think I finally relaxed (for the first time in 12 years) on Day 3. That was seriously the highlight of our year.
Most recently though, I had surgery at the beginning of the month, parting ways
with my uterus which served me so well (more later on that).
The hysterectomy was required to resolve some issues with endometriosis,
uterine fibroids, and pelvic congestion syndrome. It was a bit more involved than expected but my recovery is going well. Friends & family have rallied
to help with the household while I recover and The Dad has stepped up even more
adding my duties to his regular career responsibilities, soccer coaching, and
normal dad stuff. Lucky for us all, He made a switch this past year within the same company but in a totally different department.
It means no more relocation stays out of state stays, schedule flexibility, and more
reasonable work-life balance. Blog post ideas have started simmering in my mind lately so I think I will soon be on the way to resuming normal schedules and writing again!
Merry Christmas to you all. We pray you each find the love of Christ
burning bright in your hearts this year!
Thanks for stopping by!
