Merry Christmas 2015

December 2015


Dear Family, Friends, Acquaintances and People Who Casually Picked Up This Letter—

My wife told me I can’t make jokes about my lack of Facebook activity, the continual downward trend in my number of blog posts, or how they have the internet on computer now. Thus ends a three-year tradition. I have noticed, however, that as our 5 kids get older that I’m having a harder time keeping everyone straight, calling them by their correct names, and keeping up with what they’re doing in general. (Again, that’s because they are getting older, not me.) So, this year, I thought I’d let you know how I feel. 

Our kids are: Alison, Kaitlyn, Maxwell, Avery and Olivia. Here’s some stuff these people did this year. See if you can figure out who did what. (If you do, please contact me. I need the help!)

Our 5th child turned older this year and speaks her own, incredibly cute, version of English wherein every letter “c” is replaced with a “t” and every “g” is replaced with a “d”. So, she might say, “I want a tup of water and then I want to tuddle with drampa.” On top of that, she loves setting up her bright pink plastic serving ware to play “tea party.” How am I supposed to tell her to stop coming into our room to sleep on my face in the middle of the night when she’s that cute? She also started pre-school this year and, as a result, feels incredibly grown up. (And also, as a result, I think Megan has gotten a taste of what it’s like to actually have a few productive hours in the morning a couple of times a week).

Our next youngest child turned older this year. She just barely missed the government-mandated cutoff (based on birthday not competence) for elementary school so it’s been one more year of pre-school for her. Her new skills include reading (where she frequently asks “does this word follow the rules?” when trying to sound it out), riding her non-training wheel princess bike (which she learned to ride with the help of Child #2), pilfering Megan’s phone to call me at work in the middle of the day just to chat, and epic, dramatic poutiness each night about the injustice of asking someone else in the family to have a turn saying family prayer or be the first to read a verse from the scriptures.

It was a very special year for Child #3. He turned older and was thus able to be baptized into the church. He also started Cub Scouts and has been enjoying that—especially the cool uniform and special belt that he wants to wear with every pair of pants, shorts or swimsuit he owns. In addition to excelling at finding anything electronics-related from boxes in the garage and hoarding knick-knacks of all kinds in general, he’s also been working on his piano skills as well as his gymnastics maneuvers. He is doing well at school and is known for helping his fellow classmates when they need a hand.

Our second oldest turns eleven in a few weeks and is surging in academics. She finished the last school year with the highest grades in her entire grade (and possibly the world, probably), and is now in “AIG” math and reading. (What does “AIG” stand for? I don’t know. I think the “G” is either for “gifted” or “grandmotherly”.) She has also been developing her non-school talents. In gymnastics, she has been working on her back hand spring, and plays the piano all the time, including recently accompanying our neighbors on the violin at the school talent show and in the church children’s Primary Program. She also said to mention that she has blue eyes.

Our oldest child turned older this year.  After years of hard work and obsessing about the sport of basketball, she finally made the middle school girls basketball team this year and is enjoying all of its associated apparel-related benefits. She is primarily playing forward, which has been a bit of an adjustment since she’s a guard at heart. At school she is in “Math 2” which is two grade levels ahead—high school sophomore-level math—so soon I will be asking her to help me with my homework. This summer she ran a “Kids Camp” babysitting event and found out that moms with kids out of school for the summer are like Black Friday door-busting shoppers climbing over each other to give her money to entertain their little ones for a few hours a day over two weeks.

Megan remains as busy as ever driving kids #2 and #3 to school, then driving kids #4 and #5 to pre-school, then picking up kids #4 and #5 from pre-school, then driving kids #2 and #3 to gymnastics while calling me and reminding me that I should have left work already to pick up kid #1 from basketball practice on time. Somehow she still finds time to serve in her church responsibilities in the women’s Relief Society organization, and uses her Stampin’ Up products to papercraft anything in the house that can have a glue dot or adhesive attached to it to be made Pinterest-y.

In addition to trying to call my children by their correct names, I’ve been busy with other things too: I just took a new role at Bank of America which was bittersweet as I enjoyed the people I was working with in my old role, but was ready for the challenge of something new. I’m continuing to serve as the organist at church and am also serving in the stake where I’m getting lots of practice giving talks each month in the various LDS congregations around South Charlotte. When I have a spare moment I think about what I can do to play guitar and record music more often.

We love you all and are grateful for this time of year when we can reflect on the things we did this year as well as the things that really matter most to us—our family, our friends, and our faith in Jesus Christ. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2016.