Christmas letter

Christmas 2010

Early in November I remember thinking I need to get my Christmas list together so I can get my Christmas cards out this year. Well…..that didn’t happen, as usual. December rolls around and I am still trying to figure out when I am going to get to the store to buy Christmas cards or to have a few peaceful minutes to sit down at the computer and order picture cards. I even had the pictures taken this year. They look great hanging on my parent’s wall, but alas they did not make it to Christmas cards.

No worries! There are faster and cheaper ways of send out Christmas cards and that will be the excuse I am using this year.

Our family has had a pretty interesting year.

Jacob just turned 16 last week and now has his driver’s license. Although it has only been a week so far he has been a huge help with the family, especially running errands when needed. He is still looking for a job but he continues to put out applications and in the mean time he works for Dane. He has decided that since he is home all day he needed to find a sport to keep him busy. Snowboarding is the new passion and since mom sprung for the season pass to Heavenly, most Wednesday and weekends he spends in Tahoe. He will be starting at the community college in January taking some Sports Medicine classes and will be checking out BYU next week and BYU-I in August when he attends EFY.

Jared is looking forward to being able to attend school at home in January. He will miss his friends at school but he will get to see them at Seminary and other activities. His phone never stops ringing so I doubt he will miss too much of what goes on at the school. He will get frequent updates from all the girls on a minute by minute basis I am sure. Although, Jared loved playing high school football the concussion set him back quite a bit and he was out for awhile. Jared is finding an interest in teaching/helping special education kids. He spent the last part of 8th grade helping in the special education classes at the middle school and this year he has been helping a family with a few special education kids. Over the last few years he has helped a number of the special education boys in his Boy Scout troop work on advancement. The first of the boys earned his Eagle Scout award this last summer with Jared’s assistance.

Jordan loves to be anywhere his brothers are and loves to tell his sister what to do. He enjoys showing her how to find things on the computer and loves to let her play video games with him. Usually we can find Jordan in the backyard inventing some new tool, weapon, tree house design, or some other contraption. I have found many of his contraptions and wonder where he gets the insight to design and create such things. He loves being outside helping in the garden or collecting the eggs from the chickens. He is just as comfortable inside playing video games, on the computer or reading a book.

Jessica is growing like a weed as usual. She will be turning 5 in February and is looking forward to her birthday. She has already instructed her daddy and I on what she wants for her birthday as well as the cake and decorations that she would like. It will be a princess theme as usual or just about anything pink we can find. She loves her dresses and shoes (can’t forget the shoes) but she doesn’t mind going out back and playing in the dirt and mud in her dress either. This last year the boys had her running around the backyard collecting worms to feed the chickens. They tried to convince her to eat one of the worms, yuck. Mom had to step in and explain she could collect the worms but only the chickens were allowed to eat them. She is excited to start school in the Fall and has already asked that her brother drive her every day.

Dane and I have been busy with business and work. Dane still has his landscaping business as well as spending time managing contractors working in the Orinda and Moraga area for the Contra Costa Times, the New York Times, and Wall Street Journal as well as many other publications. He continues to fly planes when he gets a chance. It is really nice to be able to say I want to go to Tahoe or Monterey for breakfast and not have to worry about traffic or how long it will take to get there. We have had some amazing lunches that way!

I continue to work at the Sheriff’s office and enjoy spending time with the kids. I had to travel a little bit this year and learned early on that I needed more than a phone to appease the kids. I always travel with my laptop so Skype has been our new best friend. I can parent from states away and still make sure their homework is done. They love that.

Our family has enjoyed seeing pictures of your families, reading your letters, and receiving your cards. Hopefully, we will be better next year and get out our own cards. In the mean time, we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

What happened to Summer!

It doesn't even seem like we had a summer here in the Bay Area. The sun was out every day, but there were very few days where it got above 90 degrees. It was actually kinda pleasant. However, it never really felt like we had a summer and Halloween is tomorrow. The summer actually reminded me of the summer I was pregnant with Jordan (now 10 yoa). I was blessed with a very mild summer, especially since I was 8-9 months pregnant.

Where are we now?

School is in full swing again. We have kids at 3 different school again. The drop off and pick up schedule can be a little tricky on certain days.

Jake is homeschooled right now. He was given the option to go to regular high school or to be homeschooled and he chose staying home. It was been a great experience for us. I do not have to do too much and he is responsible for his work and assignments. He currently has a B average and loves the fact that if he doesn't feel like working on anything until the evening he doesn't have to. There are, however, some draw backs. He can't play sports. Our school district doesn't allow him to play any sports or attend any of the activities at school. He will probably go back to the regular high school next year as he wants to play football again. He finished out the season at Waterworld and is just waiting out the last month and a half so he can get his drivers license and get a job.

Jared is a Freshman at the high school and was playing football but had to drop to concentrate more on his academics. As his favorite coaches likes to say "notice your called a student-athlete, there is a reason the student comes first in the title!" He is looking forward to working next summer. Jared will probably join his brother in homeschooling in January and is definately counting down the days until he can get his driver's permit in May.

Jordan is a 5th grader this year and is spending his last year at the elementary school. He will be a big 6th grader next year. He seems to small to be going to such a big school next year :( I know he isn't but it seems that way. He spend his first week away from home when he went to Outdoor Education at the beginning of October. He said he loved every minute of it but was a little homesick at first. I would have thought he would have enjoyed being away from his older brothers trying to beat up on him all the time.

Jessica is driving me crazy with the new stuff she learns each day. She won't start school until September of next year and she already asks me to do math, writing and reading with her. She went through all of the IXL math for pre-school on her own. I guess I should start her on the Kindergarten stuff but I don't want her to be bored next year. She is learning about letters and writing. We just started reading so I am sure she will pick that up pretty quickly as well. She told me the other day while playing tickle monster that I was not a monster I was a human. When I asked her what a human was she said "you have bones and blood mom". It made me laugh a little bit.

Everyday I count down the time until they start leaving the house as adults. Not because I want them to be gone but because I want to cherish the moments I do have with them. It will be gone sooner then later.