Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our family and friends!
Since our last holiday letter to you all (two years ago, I know, but at least we’re back on track this year) we have been very busy and very blessed. We have added a new member to our family, been to Disneyland and Yellowstone, changed schools and more. We even tried living on the food in our 72-hour-kit in May and decided we like our normal diet much better. We have also made more effort to do some camping and day hiking as a family this year.
Sarah was born in December of last year. I was induced on her due date so she wouldn’t be too big to deliver, and she still came in at a whopping 9 lbs 14 oz! To this day she still fights against any sort of consistent sleep schedule, so the last year has been a tiring one in that respect. She surprised us by having reddish hair grow in after about a month, and we get comments on it every time we take her anywhere. She is a sweet little thing who crawls all over the place and is working very hard on learning to stand alone. She has learned to call Haley “Lee-lee” and loves to hold the phone up to her ear and say, “Um.”
Danny is 4 ½ now and in preschool this year. He got a new scooter for Christmas and can’t wait to try it out if it will EVER STOP RAINING! He has started taking swimming lessons this year and really enjoys that. He has also begun to read simple words, which is a constant amazement to us as we really haven’t been teaching him. Danny is a Sunbeam this year, and it was a real treat to watch the Primary program this fall as it was his first and Haley’s last. His favorite pastime is playing computer games with his brother Jeff.
Jeff is 7 and in the second grade now. We changed schools this year due to a boundary change, and it has been really wonderful. He has a teacher this year who really enjoys boys, and that has made such a difference as we have watched him flourish. He played soccer in the spring, takes swimming lessons, and occasionally tags along with Tom on scouting campouts. He has also FINALLY begun to lose teeth (the first one came out at last after 2nd grade had already begun).
Megan is 9 years old and in the fourth grade. She is back in braces after about a one-year break, and looking forward to being done sometime in the coming year. Although her best friend did not switch schools with her, Megan is really enjoying the new school and participated in a session of choir after school during the fall. Last summer she was able to take tennis lessons from a young woman in our ward. She also takes swimming lessons despite her occasional protest that they have gotten too hard. ;)
Haley started middle school this year. She is 11 years old now and growing into quite a young lady. She competed in track last spring and would like very much to join the local swim team. She has adjusted beautifully to her new school, even though she ended up in a different middle school than almost all of her previous friends. This year she takes a leadership class in the mornings before the regular school day begins and was very involved in holiday service activities with that group of kids. She also plays the trumpet in band and is getting very good. Her first concert in November was at the Hult Center downtown and was a fun experience.
I (Melissa) feel like I am finally getting my head back above water with this new baby in the house, but it’s been a great year for me too. I teach the lesson in Relief Society meetings once a month and have really enjoyed the chance to associate with grownups for a while. In July, I was able to fly to Ohio with Sarah to visit my parents for a week, and that was a fun break for me as well as for the other kids who got to stay with Tom’s parents. I sprained my ankle in June but am all healed with only the rare twinge at this point, and when I get a spare moment I still occasionally manage to read, work on a logic puzzle, or do a little cross-stitch.
Tom is still employed by the City of Springfield, and it has been a really crazy year in his department. Tom’s boss left in July to attend law school, the other analyst (working at the same level as Tom) left for another organization, and another coworker has been out on disability. With enough work to tax a fully staffed department and all the extra rehiring work, we have been blessed with a real sense of job security in a time when that can be hard to come by. Still, as things begin to normalize we are glad that Tom’s stress level at work can go down to more manageable levels. Tom has also been called as scoutmaster again (this seems to be his life work as far as I can tell) and has enjoyed having a reason to plan at least one weekend of outdoor activity each month. Sometimes he has been able to take Jeff along, which has been really fun.
I included the scoreboard with Haley's time in the 100 freestyle. She was just happy to finish--this is not her favorite stroke.
I think that the calendar year starts on the wrong month. January is great, but if you have kids in school the real beginning of the year is in September, when the kids head back and life settles back into some sort of routine. This year I especially felt chaotic during the summer months and was happy to set some "new year's resolutions" involving better attention to my housework, more one-on-one time with my kids, etc. Hopefully I can even keep up with my blog on a more regular basis.
Sarah really loved the tent. And we spent a lot of time there when we were in camp, because the mosquitos were as thick as I've ever experienced in my life thanks to a late spring!
Grandpa M with some of the kids. If you look really close you can see that Haley is wearing a heavy black walking boot to reinforce that newly healed broken leg. It shows much better below:
Here we are in front of the Pinnacles, which look like giant termite mounds in the side of the hill. We had a great time, except for some griping about mosquito bites. (Yes, I complained loudest. I thought I got the most bites, but now that we're home I've learned that Danny has me beat. Mine swelled up the biggest, though.) Haley even managed to hike a steep 1.5 mile trail down to the lake to take a boat ride. Jeff thought he would die coming back up the hill, but then he did great! All the kids earned their junior ranger patches and are excited to go to more national parks and start a patch collection.
Spring is in full bloom in the trees in my front yard, and I have been working here and there at getting my early spring planting going. Monday was such a nice day, and it hadn't rained for a few days so the ground wasn't too soggy. I just set Sarah down with a baseball and a bucket of sand and she played so happily! Danny puttered around picking dandelions to feed to the chickens, and I was able to get a few lettuces and broccoli starts into the ground. The best moment for me was when I looked over and the two of them were laughing together and balancing little rocks on top of the ball. Those are the times parenting seems worth it.
Here is Danny in his new suit that he chose himself. He does look snazzy, doesn't he? He is especially excited about the sweater vest.
Sarah hung out with Grandma most of the time. They had a great kiddie pool and she even got her nap.
Danny also spent a lot of time in the kiddie pool, although he is really growing up and definitely enjoyed the bigger waterslides as well.
Here are Haley and then Jeff crossing the lily pads. This was a favorite activity.
A look at some of the slides. This was really a fun place.
Tom loved taking videos on the ride down. Here is my favorite:
