Christmas letter 2010

Hi family and friends!

If you've stumbled on this page you're either 1) a recepient of our Christmas card which had our blog addy on it, 2) a regular reader of our blog, or 3) a combination of both (Hi, Melody and Kathy!).  Whichever you are, welcome!  This blog started as a way to keep family and friends posted our our Love Shack progress, but when progress came in small clumps with years in between, well... I found other things to write about.  Now, I post our Christmas letter here because I'm too lazy to write it out, copy it, fold and stuff it into 72 envelopes going green.  (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!).

Ok, quick recap of our year:

D. is still working for himself.  He's going on 7 1/2 years now.  He still has yet to advertise.  All work he has is by word of mouth.  I cannot tell you how proud of him I am!  He has built our house with his own hands (with help from a few others). He's also plowing, again, this winter and serves our church as an elder.  In his spare time, he loves taking the boys on hikes through the woods, playing catch with footballs and baseballs, and shoots hoops with A. in the driveway.  Now that the boys are older, they're identifying more and more with their dad (read: not so much the mama's boys anymore), and its so fun to watch them blossom under his guidance.  He really is a great dad to them.  (Which makes me love him all the more).

I am still working out of the house as an auditor.  I'm enjoying it, and the adult interaction it gives me, but its quite a challenge to balance everything.  I also serve on my MOPS steering team (crafts!), and am the PTL president for A's school.  I'm also the coordinator of the SCRIP program there.  I gave up the Wedding Coordinator position in October to make a little room on my overflowing plate.  This year, I was asked to be a blog contributor for a local website, and love doing that.  I'm figuring out that I'm much more right-brained than left, so anything that gets my creative side going really rejuvinates me.  The boys are my little helpers, and they still love cuddling with me while we read books and watch movies.  I love that!

A. is in first grade this year.  He's LOVING school.  He's achieved the top reading group and is excelling in math as well.  I was shocked pleasantly surprised to see straight A's on his report card this fall.  He played on a Jr. Basketball league last winter (D coached), and took swimming lessons over the summer.  He really enjoyed both, so we're going to continue those throughout 2011.  He just received the Flat Stanley books and U.S. map for his birthday, so if you live far away from us, be prepared to see an envelope in your mailbox in the coming months.  Stanley has lots of traveling to do!

C. started three year old preschool this year.  It's really used as a day care to give me some uninterrupted work time, but he's LOVING it.  He's learning all kinds of social things that I don't think to teach him, and making all kinds of new friends in the process.  He follows his big brother everywhere, and wants to do all the things A. can do.  C. is, by far, the biggest mama's boy of the two, but growing out of it faster than I'm willing to admit.

We have a huge update on our house!  As of September 21, 2010, we received four APPROVED stickers for our final inspections.  All of our inspectors made comments on how they admired D's work, and loved that we were doing it debt free.  They all also said that they admired my patience (every single one said their wives would NEVER go for that).  I simply replied that, "I'm not a patient person, by nature, but I do believe in my husband and his ability to finish anything he starts.  That's what got me through."  So, we moved into our addition shortly after.  It's been so much fun to decorate and make the space ours.  The boys are loving their new shared room complete with bunkbeds.  We have more room to move and aren't on top of each other all the time.  The kitchen hasn't moved over yet, but will by the end of 2011.  Now, we get to save and save and save more before we're able to tear the existing Love Shack down and rebuild in its place.  Stay tuned for updates on that saga in the next four years.

Well, that's it for our little corner of the world.  Merry Christmas!