The pictures are from various activities this summer and fall such as camping and the fair.
Below is our yearly Christmas letter.
Dear Family and Friends, December 2011
Usually I am so excited to write the Christmas letter this time of year that I do that before anything else, but this year every time I would sit down to write it, relaxing or going to sleep was more appealing. Maybe that has something to do with keeping up with a part time job, a husband, and 3 kids ages 22 months to 12 ½ yrs!
Miranda is in middle school this year (6th grade). She is busy with percussion and ballet lessons. She was able to start pointe this year and is excited for the recital. Mikayla is in 4th grade and is keeping busy with ballet, piano lessons, ice skating, and basketball. She even scored 2 points in her very 1st BB game! Both girls were able to go to Bible camp last summer and had a fun time.
Megan has had a busy year of growing and talking. She knows many animal sounds and body parts. She can also identify Elmo and Barbie. The best is that she can say “yah” for yes. We figured out how to get her to stay in the nursery so church is much more enjoyable. In September, she figured out how to open the screen door and I unexpectedly found her outside!
Of course keeping up my with my family is my #1 job, but there have been some other changes on the job front for me. There was a retirement and some job changes at the rehab hospital, so a part time position as patient care coordinator came open. I started this 20hrs/wk. job in June. I only work every 4th weekend and have every Monday and Friday off. Due to this change, I am not longer teaching at Northland. I do miss the teaching aspect, but not the paper grading. It’s also nice to have a consistent schedule. Megan continues to go to my friend Markay’s for daycare just like the older 2 did. I am also still AWANA co-secretary and co-leader of a serving group at church.
Brian’s company, AE2S moved into a much larger office building in May. He has more office space and a large window overlooking a golf course. Projects in Great Falls, MT; Crosby and Williston, ND; and Alexandria and St. Louis Park, MN have kept him busy. In July he was able to go to Las Vegas for a professional engineer’s conference. The highlight was a tour of Hoover Dam. He is still on the school board and involved with the NDSPE.
We didn’t take any big vacations this year, but we did go camping a few times. Our 1st outing in June landed Megan in the ER to get 3 stitches after she fell into the corner of a fire pit. It was quite the inauguration to camping! Before school started, Brian took Miranda and Mikayla backpacking in NE MN. Since we have been enjoying camping more frequently, we decided to purchase a used camper. We haven’t been able to use it yet (unless you consider sleeping in it in the driveway) because we got it in Oct. I especially am looking forward to “hard side” camping with refrigeration! In June, the girls, myself, and my mom made our annual trip to my sister’s in NE.
Our only home improvement project for the year was replacing the carpet in our dining room with hardwood floors and replacing the sliding door to the 4 season porch with French doors. We decided to do the sanding, staining, and varnishing ourselves. Not sure that I would recommend that for the floors. The sanding was a lot of work. We still need to paint and put up all the trim.
We can’t wait to hear from all of you this Christmas season. May you have a blessed Christmas and New Year as you remember the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ!
