Holiday Greeting

The holidays are a busy time for everyone and it's no exception with our family. I've been able to send out a few Christmas cards to friends and family who live out of town, but I don't think there are enough hours in the day to allow me to send one to everyone as I would like. I hope those of you who read my annual holiday update here (with a few minor edits) instead of on paper will chalk it up as a contribution to "go green" and save trees...

Greetings From Our Family!

Our family has been blessed this year with good health and fortune on both the home and job fronts. Dave has continued to be very busily employed with BASF, and although we’d all like to reduce the amount of time he has to spend on work, we are very happy he continues to have a great job he enjoys. I am still very much involved with our children as a stay-at-home-mom, and our first full year as parents of two little ones has been both a challenge and a delight.

Lauren has gone from a 13lb baby last Christmas to a 22lb, 14-month-old toddler this Christmas. We celebrated her baptism in March and her 1st birthday in October. She began walking at 10 months (and can really move now), has 8 teeth (and loves to eat – especially cheese), and has begun to say a few words (especially “Dada”, but not “Mama” nearly enough). She loves music, books, Mickey Mouse, being outside, and playing with her big brother. It’s so wonderful to see the two of them interact so well together.

In April, Mason turned 3, stopped taking naps, and completed potty training all at the same time. He has really become our little engineer. He loves watching “New Yankee Workshop” on PBS and “How It’s Made” on the Science Channel. He constantly wants to know how things work or where they come from and can spend hours working with tools and building forts out of the sofa cushions. He’s really enjoying going to preschool three days a week and will start going four days with the beginning of the new year. I’m constantly amazed at how much he knows. Vocabulary, reading, math – he’s definitely one smart kid.

Although traveling with two kids has proven to be quite an undertaking, we’ve made a few trips this year. We joined my family at a cabin in Pigeon Forge, TN early this year, made a couple more trips to visit both Dave’s and my parents in Florida, and met my parents in North Myrtle Beach twice. We also made a couple weekend vacations as a family of four to Raleigh and Lake Lure, NC. For the first time, we celebrated a quiet Thanksgiving at home this year, but will join all of our family for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

We’ve certainly had a wonderful year, and we hope your home has been as blessed as ours. We wish you a joyous holiday season and a happy new year.

With Love,
Karen, David, Mason, and Lauren