Every year we send out a letter in our Christmas cards.
This year we opted out of sending Christmas cards (and put the money we would have spent on cards to purchase gifts for one of the boys at The Children's Home) but we wanted to do a Christmas letter anyway.
Hang onto your hats....
2009 was a whirlwind for us.
I have no idea what we actually did but I was always tired!
Bill continues to work at the Cat plant in Morton.
He was promoted to supervisor with 65 folks under him.
Although we went through a 3 week rolling layoff during the summer months,
we are thankful that he has a job.
He continues to ride his bike in the basement (he peddles and peddles but never gets anywhere!) and do strength training to stay in shape.
Yes! He is feeling his age and wishes he could get out to run again.
Not going to happen :}
I am still working at Coldstone Creamery decorating cakes.
They have added pies and cupcakes (and ice cream sandwiches come February) to my "to do" list each week. Yes! I still enjoy coming home smelling like chocolate and ice cream :}
I continue to work with the 6-12 month old babies in Mops on Fridays and take my Precept Bible study on Tuesdays. Combine that with running the girls to their various activities and I have a 40+ hour a week part time job!
Gabby is a sophomore this year. She is taking the typical sophomore classes including but not limited to "How to make your parents crazy in 10 minutes or less" (to which she is currently getting 100%).
She enjoyed playing softball in Morton at the 14U travel level during the summer along with volleyball open gyms
AND taking behind the wheel drivers ed.
That's right folks! Gabby is driving!! I have to say that the guy walking his dog through the school parking lot the first day of her driving will never forget it. Poor guy was just walking his dog.....
She will get her license in March.
The highlight of her year was making the varsity softball team
as a freshman last spring.
She was also involved in the flag corp for marching band and playing on the sophomore volleyball team. Of course,
driving should be thrown in there somewhere!
Abby is a freshman this year.
She fulfilled her goal of playing every sport she could in her 8th grade year.
This year she played with Gabby on the Morton 14U Travel softball team and made the freshman volleyball team. She is still playing her violin and would like to play in the church Christmas orchestra next year. She has decided that she would like to do something in the medical field "when she grows up". We were not surprised by this as we have never been able to read her handwriting. Sorry, Mrs. Smalley, her handwriting from kindergarten has not improved!
Abby's highlight of the year was playing 5 softball games in one day to place 3rd in the state tournament. She got the game winning
hit to keep them in the tourney.
The coming year will bring her drivers ed training and I have to say it isn't fair to the parents to have to do drivers training two years in a row! I certainly hope the same guy isn't out walking his dog.....
Last but not least is our adopted daughter.
Edris.
She is our foreign exchange student from Madrid Spain.
She falls right between our girls in age so she is a sophomore with Gabby.
She enjoyed swimming on the swim team and
has a few ribbons to prove her ability.
She did not enjoy the two a day practices but misses it now that it is over.
She also plays the piano and guitar.
She will be returning to Spain in June - two days after her 16th birthday.
Yes!
She will get to start dating two days before she leaves for home.
That is what I call perfect timing :}
She is not allowed to drive while she is in the states so we are granted a reprieve while she is in the country.
As a whole, we are enjoying life.
We moved back to attending Bethany Baptist Church in early August (due to the drive time) and miss the folks at Bethany Community dearly. We still keep up with them through Facebook and such.
We are blessed to have a wonderful church family
in addition to our fabulous family!
My side of the family continues to grow and my parents are happy to say they have 15 grandchildren. Bill's side is holding with
1 grandson and 6 granddaughters.
We are so thankful for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
He is the reason for CHRISTmas after all!!
Merry Christmas
and
Blessings to you all!
ps - for those of you that follow the dog/pool drama. We continue to be dog and pool free at our house. Much to Bill's dismay!
This year we opted out of sending Christmas cards (and put the money we would have spent on cards to purchase gifts for one of the boys at The Children's Home) but we wanted to do a Christmas letter anyway.
Hang onto your hats....
2009 was a whirlwind for us.
I have no idea what we actually did but I was always tired!
Bill continues to work at the Cat plant in Morton.
He was promoted to supervisor with 65 folks under him.
Although we went through a 3 week rolling layoff during the summer months,
we are thankful that he has a job.
He continues to ride his bike in the basement (he peddles and peddles but never gets anywhere!) and do strength training to stay in shape.
Yes! He is feeling his age and wishes he could get out to run again.
Not going to happen :}
I am still working at Coldstone Creamery decorating cakes.
They have added pies and cupcakes (and ice cream sandwiches come February) to my "to do" list each week. Yes! I still enjoy coming home smelling like chocolate and ice cream :}
I continue to work with the 6-12 month old babies in Mops on Fridays and take my Precept Bible study on Tuesdays. Combine that with running the girls to their various activities and I have a 40+ hour a week part time job!
Gabby is a sophomore this year. She is taking the typical sophomore classes including but not limited to "How to make your parents crazy in 10 minutes or less" (to which she is currently getting 100%).
She enjoyed playing softball in Morton at the 14U travel level during the summer along with volleyball open gyms
AND taking behind the wheel drivers ed.
That's right folks! Gabby is driving!! I have to say that the guy walking his dog through the school parking lot the first day of her driving will never forget it. Poor guy was just walking his dog.....
She will get her license in March.
The highlight of her year was making the varsity softball team
as a freshman last spring.
She was also involved in the flag corp for marching band and playing on the sophomore volleyball team. Of course,
driving should be thrown in there somewhere!
Abby is a freshman this year.
She fulfilled her goal of playing every sport she could in her 8th grade year.
This year she played with Gabby on the Morton 14U Travel softball team and made the freshman volleyball team. She is still playing her violin and would like to play in the church Christmas orchestra next year. She has decided that she would like to do something in the medical field "when she grows up". We were not surprised by this as we have never been able to read her handwriting. Sorry, Mrs. Smalley, her handwriting from kindergarten has not improved!
Abby's highlight of the year was playing 5 softball games in one day to place 3rd in the state tournament. She got the game winning
hit to keep them in the tourney.
The coming year will bring her drivers ed training and I have to say it isn't fair to the parents to have to do drivers training two years in a row! I certainly hope the same guy isn't out walking his dog.....
Last but not least is our adopted daughter.
Edris.
She is our foreign exchange student from Madrid Spain.
She falls right between our girls in age so she is a sophomore with Gabby.
She enjoyed swimming on the swim team and
has a few ribbons to prove her ability.
She did not enjoy the two a day practices but misses it now that it is over.
She also plays the piano and guitar.
She will be returning to Spain in June - two days after her 16th birthday.
Yes!
She will get to start dating two days before she leaves for home.
That is what I call perfect timing :}
She is not allowed to drive while she is in the states so we are granted a reprieve while she is in the country.
As a whole, we are enjoying life.
We moved back to attending Bethany Baptist Church in early August (due to the drive time) and miss the folks at Bethany Community dearly. We still keep up with them through Facebook and such.
We are blessed to have a wonderful church family
in addition to our fabulous family!
My side of the family continues to grow and my parents are happy to say they have 15 grandchildren. Bill's side is holding with
1 grandson and 6 granddaughters.
We are so thankful for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
He is the reason for CHRISTmas after all!!
Merry Christmas
and
Blessings to you all!
ps - for those of you that follow the dog/pool drama. We continue to be dog and pool free at our house. Much to Bill's dismay!
