The annual Christmas letter

how many of you do these? I love getting them in the mail. This year I struggled to write ours and almost omitted them from the envelope but I got it done and folded and sent....

so, here it is!!


Here we go again! The end of another year is almost upon us. As we get older it seems the years pass quicker and I don’t think I like it. As I sit and try to think of the “best of from 2010” I find myself struggling. How can that be with 5 kids? Yes, I did say 5.

This year we added the 5th and final child to our clan. Ryleigh Grace was born on July 15th, via c-section. I guess she wanted to make sure that I remembered her birth over the others. She came into this world on a very special date, what would have been my Nanny and Papa’s wedding anniversary. Ryleigh has stolen the hearts of her two oldest brothers but not so much the heart of her older sister.

Kennedi is now 2 (Aug). She loves her baby sister to pieces, or maybe it’s that she wants her sister to be in pieces. It only took Kennedi about 3 weeks to pick Ryleigh up while I was making dinner and drop her on the ground. No need to call DFACS, we tried but they brought her back. Ok, I am just kidding about the DFACS part. Kennedi is great to her baby sister most days and even shares with her. Just a few weeks ago I saw that Ryleigh had a lot of black crumbs on her mouth. It looked like she enjoyed part of Kennedi’s Oreo cookie! Kennedi goes to a Children’s Morning Out program 2 times a week for 4 hours and loves it. Hard to believe that she will be in Pre-K 3 next year! Hopefully in next year’s letter I will be able to talk about her 1st soccer experience.

Dakota is now 7 and in the 1st grade. This past spring he played t-ball and now he is giving boy scouts a shot. Being 3 hours away it’s hard for Chris to make it to all of his games but he does get down to see a few games during each season. Chris recently watched Dakota climb the ropes at one of his Boy Scout events. Seems like scouting is taking up a lot of his time and he sounds like he is enjoying all the camping.

Avery is now in his last year in middle school! We can’t wait for him to be done and move onto high school. It will be wonderful having both boys in the same school once again. Avery does great in school when he put his mind to it. I just wish he would do that all the time. One place where his head is always where it should be is on the lacrosse field. The kid is a beast! He is still on the small side but that doesn’t matter to him. He is proof that size really doesn’t matter in sports. He is looking forward to the possibility of playing on the high schools JV team in the spring (as an 8th grader). He has also taken an interest in hunting and recently passed his Hunter Safety test. Chris loves that but I am still not sure. I don’t think I am ready to replace the meet in my freezer with deer, turkey, squirrel or whatever else is available to shoot.

Conner is in 10th grade and turned 16 in November. I now feel VERY short standing next to him. He is about 6 feet tall and loves to stand next to some of his cousins. The little kid is now taller than a few of them. School is starting to get a little tougher for him. This year he is taking his 1st two AP classes. He likes the idea of having all 11th grade classes this coming spring. Conner recently got his driver’s license and a car. Now that he has both of those, he is never home. I love that he can get himself home from practice but do not like that idea of him being gone all the time. I only have 2 more years of before he goes to college, you would think that he would want to be home every waking minute until then. Conner is back to having his sweet smile. He is scheduled to get his braces off in early December. He has been looking forward to this day for about 2 ½ years and is thrilled that is has finally arrived. This past spring he played baseball on the 9th grade team. He is now getting back into the swing of things with baseball conditioning.

Chris and I are doing well. Chris is still working all the time and we can’t wait until he can cut back a little. Maybe then all the items on the “honey-do” list will get done or maybe just get longer. I am still at home with the kids and most days it’s great. I still stay very busy driving the kids everywhere they need to go and look forward to bedtime when I get a chance to relax.

I think that wraps up most of the big things for 2010. We hope that you all have had a wonderful 2010 and hope your family has a happy and healthy 2011.

ahh the quiet!!

This is wonderful.... it is now quiet, well except for the coos of a very cute 2 days away from being 5 months old little girl! She is on the floor playing on her mat. Yes, she should be sleeping but she is not. As for the big one, she is upstairs, probably also not sleeping but should be. That is ok, she is quiet.

So now I see how long it has been since I have really had a chance to sit and blog about the life of these little, and not so little people that live under our roof.

Lets see.... I wrote on how Conner turned 16, and yes that was back in the middle of November. He had gotten his license, is able to take himself everywhere and I realize how wonderful it is! Well at least until I catch wind on facebook or some other source that there is an accident on one of the roads he takes to school when he is at his dads house. And then I realize how scary it is when I can not get a hold of him or his little brother (also in the car) on the cell phones that I pay for and therefore they should answer whenever I need them too (even when the battery is dead). And then when I find out that it was two gray cars. And then the relier that I get when I find out both boys are sitting safely at school. I now see the downside of having a child that drives. I think I will continue to focus on the good list.

In early December Conner also got his braces off!! What an exciting day that was for him. Let me tell you, he is one great looking kid!! Not that he wasnt before but it is amazing how great he looks without his braces. I guess the braces were just a part of him and then when they were not there.... darn!!

Avery is up next.... let's see in the past week we have sat through the last Christmas, oh excuse me, Holiday concert that he will have. I have to admit that I do dread these. He has taken strings (guitar) for 3 years and they still pluck the songs. He did tell me that he wants to take private lessons after this year. Maybe then it will be tolerable to listen to him play. It is such a fun instrument (I took it for a few years after my parents made me stop playing violin but that is another post for another time) and I wish that I had kept it up.

This past weekend Avery decided at the last minute that he wanted to try out for the elite travel lacrosse team. I was thrilled that he decided to try this. I think it would be a great thing for him to play on this team with kids that are very talented. Not sure when we will hear if he did or did not make the team but either way I am proud of him for wanting to try out.

This picture if not of the try out this weekend but it was the last game of the season. Avery has transitioned from being an all defense player to playing defense and middie. He even scored a goal this year (his 2nd in hid life). We were very excited. Avery is one that will take it up and pass it off so that he has the assist but getting him to shoot has taken awhile. I guess being in a defense frame of mind for many years shooting is not an issue.

Kennedi has been Kennedi. She keeps us on our toes ALL THE TIME!!

Ryleigh was Baptized at church a few weeks ago. We had many of my family come to help us celebrate. Of course after it we had a party to celebrate with a wonderful cake!

The girls recently sat on Santa's lap where Kennedi told him that she wanted presents under the tree. When I asked what she wanted in the presents she said, Cheese. Hmmmm ok!

I think that catches us up on most of the major events of the fall. Whew, hopefully I can get to where I post an update at least once a week if not more.