Merry Merry Christmas!

Well, we are late in mailing out our Christmas cards, but we do have quite a few addressed and ready to go. I thought I would post our Christmas letter for everyone to enjoy. Hope the holidays bring you much joy!!

2009 has brought many changes to our home. Our littlest one, Sean, celebrated his first birthday this October. Ira, 5, has begun kindergarten. Emma, 3, is still our little princess and comedian.

Sean is a delight and a little handful! He enjoys playing patty-cake and peek-a-boo. He recently has perfected his “bye-bye” wave. He also loves to ride on Ira’s lap while Ira drives his motorized play tractor. No steering wheel goes untouched by Sean. We sometimes have to pry those little fingers away, much to his dismay!

Emma is our little doll. She loves to be goofy and silly. You never know what she will say next. Recently, she and Ira attended a winter activity at Ira’s school in which a “Santa” appeared to talk with the children. When she came home, I asked her if she met Santa. She looked up at me with her big, blue eyes and said, “That wasn’t really Santa, it was a teacher.” I asked her how she knew it was not Santa and innocently, she replied, “He didn’t say HO-HO-HO!” Currently, Emma’s favorite things are stickers and purses. And she never tires of crafts.

Ira has begun kindergarten. The first two weeks were difficult. The excitement was over by the first day or two and he was ready to stay home. Thankfully he is now fully enjoying kindergarten. Much of the credit has to go to his amazing kindergarten teacher Mrs. L*. He often comes home singing and dancing. He has learned so much in such a short period of time!

In fact, he loves kindergarten so much he says that when he “grows up to be a daddy” he wants to be a teacher and teach 5 year olds all the fun things his teacher is teaching him! Ira still has a crazy, amazing imagination and is always inventing new games and stories. He eagerly listens to Magic Tree House and Magic School Bus books as they are read to him. He also looks forward to continuing with school so he can learn how to build robots! His current favorite toy is Bakugan Brawlers—little balls that when rolled onto a magnetic card transform into robotic forms.

We have enjoyed our experience in the high desert and in our (relatively) new home. It's hard to believe it has been just over 2 years since we moved! We have lots of room to play (and lots of toys to fill up the room).

We hope that you and yours look forward to a bright New Year! Merry Christmas!!