Well...is it going to be March 1st on Sunday and I'm finally giving up on my plans to send out my Christmas 2008 cards & letter. I had the photos printed mid December and the letter was written, but when I went to print them the night before we headed to Indiana hoping to mail them out that day - we ran out of ink after the 2nd letter. 2 sick kids and packing still to do, I didn't get them done and in the mail.2008 is already over? I have been struggling with writing our Christmas letter for 2008. Although it seems like we put our lives on hold this year, the kids didn’t stop growing and we still enjoyed special memories with our family & friends.
In January, we sold our house and broke ground the first week in February on our new home. The building process was fun, stressful, exciting, nerve-wracking, enjoyable all wrapped together and we finally moved in mid-October. After 9 months of picking
the kids up from school , working at the “property” until dark and spending every weekend in Lowe’s, we were so excited to call it our home. This is our family home – the home we look forward to sharing many wonderful memories raising our children.
Trista is about to turn 4 years old. I was ok with 3, but 4 seems too close to kindergarten. She is really becoming her own person and turning into our little drama queen. Her vocabulary has blossomed and some of her favorites include: forever, estrday (yesterday), when I was a baby, actually, I’m serious, last year. Trista is still the most amazing big sister – she is always making Trace laugh and does a great job of playing & sharing with him. Trista enjoys riding her bike, driving her JEEP all over the property, coloring, writing lists, swimming, and dancing.
Trace is the sweetest little guy. He is 17 months old and his first & favorite word describes him perfectly: “GO”. Trace is always on the go – running, climbing, playing, dancing, even swimming. Trace loves to be outside playing on his 4-wheeler, wagon, tractor, & bikes. Although he has never been much of a cuddler because he doesn’t sit still, he loves to give bear hugs around your neck and race up to you and wrap himself around your legs. Trace loves to swing a bat and a golf club or anything that can pretend to be one of those. He has enjoyed our empty living room and knows how to turn on the speakers to play the music so he can dance, spin in circles trying to get dizzy, and even “raise the roof” (thanks to his uncle Paul)
Just a few highlights from the year:
- In February, my parents came to visit us and we enjoyed our usual fried chicken dinner at Monte Inn and then had some fun at the bowling alley.
- In April, the inaugural season opened for the Arkansas Naturals, a new minor league baseball team. The beautiful new stadium is only 20 minutes from our house, so we enjoyed many nights eating hotdogs at the park watching baseball and playing on the playground just beyond the outfield.
- In May, Ryan’s mom, my parents, and my sister Kaylynn all came out for Trace’s Dedication at church. We had a wonderful weekend that included a baseball game, a picnic lunch at the park, and Trace’s 1st haircut. We also enjoyed our annual weekend in Branson with the Greth family. With 5 kids between our families, the adults are now outnumbered, but we had a fun time at Silver Dollar City.
- Another tradition continued when Ryan’s mom drove out with Autumn & Haley in June. The girls & Trace had another week of non-stop fun – filled with the traditional water day, a baseball game, fun at jump zone, and many visits to the local parks.
- Just before Trace’s 1st birthday in July, my sister Kaylynn came to visit us for a week and she was a life saver – helping me plan for a big lula birthday bash for Trace in Indiana. We drove to Indiana for the 4th of July weekend and had the most wonderful birthday celebration for Trace at my parent’s cabin. It was exactly what we hoped – to spend the day celebrating with our family.
- In August, Trace joined Trista for her traditional visit to Indiana for 2 weeks. We really missed them both, but we know they had so much fun bonding with their grandparents and their cousins – especially meeting their new cousin Mitchell Lee, who was born on July 23rd to Kevan & Ang. Ryan & I had the opportunity to vacation at Pebble Beach – we had an incredible week and Ryan enjoyed playing the historic course.
- In September, Ryan’s dad drove out for a “weekend project” – installing our new fence around our large backyard. It turned into 3 days of extremely hard work that looks wonderful.
- We had a house full for Thanksgiving when Ryan’s mom, his grandma, Paul, Dena, Autumn, & Haley all came to visit. Although the weekend went too fast, we enjoyed lots of wonderful food, decorating for Christmas, and playing outside.
God has been so faithful to us this year and continues to bless our family – take time to enjoy your blessing this holiday season. We can’t wait to see our families and meet our new niece, Kaia Lynn, born Sept 30th to Kris & Kristen when we are home for the Holidays. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!
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