I wrote a letter to send out with my Christmas cards this year, but never finished editing it, and never got copies made. I did send out Christmas cards though and and Ross' Great Aunt Pat made sure to send a note in her holiday card telling me she missed the letter. She also called me "Amy".
It's all good in the hood.
So, being as it's the end of the year and I never sent the letter, it will serve as the final blog post of 2016, along with my accompanying end of year slide show.
The boys and I discussed it the other day and decided that our song of the year was "Hand clap" by Fitz and the Tantrums.
Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas 2016
As I sit down at my computer and try to figure out the best way to sum up the past year, I sort of draw a blank. It feels like the last year has been a whirlwind of activities, vacations, carpools, practises and games for all the kids sports. But, of course, I’ll give it a try, and I’ve got my instagram feed to remind me of all the highlights.
This year we took a great trip to Seattle in June to watch Argentina (Leo Messi specifically) play Bolivia in the Copa America soccer tournament. We hit all the Seattle sites, drove up to Anacortes to go on a whale watching excursion and ate great food! We went to Disneyland with Annie’s extended family in October to celebrate her parents 40th wedding anniversary and the safe return of Willie (Annie’s brother) from a LDS mission in Lithuania. Ross’ parents also returned from a mission in South Africa and spent the Thanksgiving holiday in our home. We took a couple road trips to and through Las Vegas just so we could eat hamburgers and french fries at Shake Shack. And, the biggest project of the year, we finished our basement over the summer. It was a long 9 weeks, but we are so happy to have the project completed and no, we didn’t do it ourselves.
Ross started a new job in April of this year with a company called Solera. He is just as busy, doing just as many projects as before, all of them technical and finance related, but luckily is working closer to home. He coaches Elliott and Wyatt in basketball, Quinn in soccer, and is a great dugout manager for any of the boys baseball games we are attending. This fall, Ross was released after 5 years as scoutmaster as his church calling and was given a new calling as executive secretary to the bishop, keeping him very busy on Sunday’s in meetings. Oh, and lest we forget, he spends what little free time he has (about five minutes) playing fantasy football and obsessively checking the ESPN and WOOT apps on his phone.
Annie is continuing to be a stay-at-home-mom with the boys and staying busy being their tutor, coach, short order cook, nurse, classroom volunteer and everything else that comes along with keeping three growing boys from starving every day. Some days, she drives back and forth from the elementary school 6 or 8 times. She continues to make and sell tote bags and lots of other stuff at local boutiques and seems to always have one too many projects going on to keep her sane. This spring, Annie switched over to an insulin pump for her Type 1 diabetes and it’s made all the difference in the world. Like Ross, Annie also got a new church calling in the fall switching from a three years tenure teaching primary to a position as the secretary to the young women’s organization working with 12-18 year old girls.
Elliott will be turning 10 in January and is in the 4th grade, in his 4th year of Spanish dual immersion. He is nearly fluent in Spanish speaking and is above grade level in reading and writing en Espanol. He’s growing like a weed, and by next year at this time, may be taller than Ross’ mom. He is turning into a really great kid and a pretty responsible one, too. He’s pretty goofy, but takes his school work, mine craft, ipod, fit bit and Pokemon very seriously. He plays competitive soccer in the Spring and the Fall and basketball in the Winter; regularly helps cook dinner; has become an obsessive reader; plays the trombone in the school band; and mows the lawn.
Wyatt is 7.5 years old and will be turning 8 in May. He is looking forward to getting baptized in the Spring. Wyatt plays soccer, basketball and baseball. He is a really good baseball player. He is fast and smart and has a great time. At the end of this past season, he was chosen to be the “all-star” representing his team Wyatt is in the 2nd grade and also in the Spanish dual immersion program. He is a very talented artist patiently coloring complicated designs and paint by numbers; he loves to listen to music and identify all the instruments being played; he sings and dances, plays nice with his brothers, and is a perfect, straight A student. In fact, his Spanish teacher, Senora Gonzales told us at the most recent parent teacher conference that she LOVES him.
Quinn is 4 years old and the crazy sparkle of our family. He loves Pokemon and dinosaurs and his favorite movie is Jurassic World. He sings and dances and talks all day long. He loves to draw and color and practice writing his letters and numbers. Quinn goes to preschool three days a week, just finished his first season of soccer, where, surprisingly, he was exceptionally aggressive and scored a dozen or so goals. Quinn makes us laugh all day long, is pretty sarcastic for a 4 year old, and would live out on the trampoline, no matter the weather, if we’d let him. Or at Target. The kids loves to go to Target. I can’t complain about that one.
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