Christmas Update
December 24th, 2008As usual I didn’t get any Christmas cards sent out. I keep thinking I will do it every year, and it keeps never happening.
Kade started kindergarten this year and he absolutely loves it. He has one of the very best teachers on earth. She teaches because she loves it, and I think she spends a good portion of her paycheck on the kids. He is always coming home with books to keep, games she has put together and laminated, etc. We sure love her. Kade continues to love to be Mommy’s buddy and likes to go shopping or do projects around the house with me.
Tayla is now in 2nd grade and is doing great. She loves to read, and help Kade with his reading. She has lost several teeth this year, and loves getting money from the tooth fairy. Although she is tall, Kade is trying to catch up to her pretty quickly. She is quite the little social butterfly and is often found with the other little girls in the neighborhood. Tayla joined a local youth choir this year, and reminds me every Monday that it is choir practice. She is in the prep choir, and thoroughly enjoys it.
Brinn is in 4th grade and is growing up so fast! She has started to learn to do her own hair, for which Mom is very excited. She is turning into an avid reader (Fablehaven books have inspired her the most). She continues to be a big help around the house and is very responsible. She also joined a local youth choir for which she auditioned and made it into the concert choir. Her choir is very talented, they sing in a 3 part harmony. She is an alto, so she is learning to harmonize. It is a bright spot in her week.
Her piano teacher moved, and we haven’t found a new one yet although we need to since we now have a real piano!
Gavin is in 8th grade and is as tall as Mom and Dad! He has been the deacons quorum president for most of the year, and does a great job in his leadership role. He continues to read constantly and work on writing his stories (he has many chapters written). He is a treasure in our family, and I am afraid we take him for granted too often (babysitting, mowing the lawn, etc). He seems to be growing about an inch every month or two. Keeping him in clothing and shoes is a real struggle! Skinny and tall are not a good combination for buying pants apparently!
I have three callings at church at the moment - choir president, ward chorister, and member of the enrichment board. I find myself with free time every afternoon while the kids are all at school. But, I tend to take naps all too often during that time since we are expecting our 5th child (a girl) the middle of March. Yes, I know, that will make 4 of our kids with birthdays in March. What can I say? It is a good month for us.
I love being able to volunteer in the kids classes at least for another few months. I’ve been sewing, sewing, and sewing some more. I started making photography accessories (straps and camera bags) and that keeps me just busy enough to enjoy it without getting too bogged down. I also started quilting this year and have thoroughly enjoyed that.
Eric continues to love his job. We are hoping that they will move his office to a building the church just bought a few miles from our house. But, it will probably be a year or two before that happens. He is serving as the ward Executive Secretary and spends a lot of time in that calling. I think that he is actually busier than the counsellors - seriously! He still has a fairly regular “Geek Night” here at the house when all his geeky friends can get together and do geeky things like hacking XBox’s, fixing assorted computer stuff, and playing games. He continues in his quest to convert all of the kids into geeks as well.
To that end he and Brinn and Gavin have been playing D&D together. He also has them creating their own websites.
Overall it has been a great year, and we are excited for the new year and the new addition to our family. It is driving the kids crazy that we won’t tell them the name of their baby sister. But, that is a secret until she is born (hopefully around March 19th).
We love you all and we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Love, The Wadsworth’s