A few fun pics

A won a tree from the Festival of Trees - the picture doesn't do it justice, but its really beautiful and even came with some presents!

Family fun night activity: Gingerbread house decorating!

This is our new baby Christmas kitten: Star
He is a fun little furball!

Time Flies!

Wow...so much for keeping up with the blogging. Once school got going my schedule was full and then some! Here is a posting of our holiday letter which offers somewhat of an update...

Dear Ones,

We wish you the best this holiday season! We are so thankful for all the goodness in our lives- and especially for YOU, our friends and family who support us and love us all through the year! As is our custom, we would like to share with you some of the things we’ve been doing. We hope you will share your stories with us too!

One of the biggest changes to our lives this year was that Cody and I became licensed foster parents in August. Shortly after, our lovely foster daughter joined our family. This has been an amazing experience for all of us and one that we will cherish forever. In order to protect her identity, I won’t be using her name in this letter. She is two weeks older than A.J. and they are both in 4th grade. We are so proud of both A.J. and ***, who have been kind and patient as they’ve adjusted to life together. Both kids are doing well in school, and enjoy participating on the same Destination Imagination team. Over the course of the school year the team practices problem-solving, critical thinking, and teamwork skills as they come up with a solution to a team challenge. This year their team will be completing the “structural” challenge in which they will build a structure out of balsa wood, foil, and glue. They will participate in a competition in March where they will perform a skit and also test the amount of weight that their structure can hold. It will be an exciting day and will be fun to see all their hard work pay off! They have also both been taking gymnastics once a week and are gaining strength and flexibility. A.J. joined his school choir this year and will be performing for the first time at the school’s holiday concert. We are really looking forward to seeing our boy on stage! *** recently started taking guitar lessons from one of our very generous and talented neighbors. It is exciting to see both the kids growing, changing and developing new talents and skills.

One of Cody’s big achievements this year was earning his green belt in karate. He is only one belt away from black now! Last spring he competed in his first karate tournament. He really enjoyed it and it was a lot of fun to watch. He has taken up a new hobby recently. I like to tease him about it and say that he is just tinkering, but really he is repairing and reselling broken PS3s (gaming consoles). He may even be able to make a little money off of his successful re-sales. (We hope!) Cody is in his 8th year with Data West Corporation and continues to enjoy his work for the most part. He does a lot with the kids and is hugely supportive of me - making it possible for me to have the time I need to complete my school work.

I will be finishing up my second to last year of college this spring. I’ll graduate in the spring of 2012 with my Bachelors degree in Interdisciplinary Studies: Teacher Education. When I’m done I’ll be licensed to teach Preschool- 6th grade. During the term that will begin in January, I will be beginning “Immersion 1” of the Teacher Ed. Program. During the semester I will be in exclusively teacher education “methods” classes in which I’ll be learning specific techniques and skills needed to teach various subjects. I’ll also have 90 hour of field study during which time I will be putting into practice the things I’ll be learning in class. I’ m looking forward to being in the elementary classrooms more and to gaining a lot of hands on experience. In my “free time” I still enjoy scrapbooking and reading. I’m also one of the kids Destination Imagination Team Managers.

As always, we are grateful that we live close to my parents and much of Cody’s family, as we thoroughly enjoy the time we get to spend with them. We’ve been on one trip up to the Boulder/Arvada area this year and will be going to Portales, NM in the spring to attend Cody’s brother’s college graduation ceremony. We are very proud of him and are excited to see what his future will hold.

Once again we’d like to extend our warmest wishes to each of you and hope that the New Year treats you well!