Virtual Holiday Letter 2012

We're so glad you've stopped by to get a longer update. When Lucy was born, and for the first 4-5 years of her life, we maintained a blog that we updated frequently (especially during her first two years)! Poor second-born Clara. Facebook has kind of taken the place of blogging, to be sure. But we also just have let this fall through the cracks. As you can see if you scroll down the blog, the last entry was our 2011 update!

We also realized that we've never redesigned the blog, so I'm experimenting a bit.  Between a new design and blogger's new format, the blog is a little rough around the edges this year. I never seem to be able to get the pictures in the right place. Here's a little tip, though. If all you really want to see are pictures, click on one to get to an album that you can just click through. We know that most people get their social media fix on Facebook, but there are also people in our life who don't do Facebook and have depended on the blog over the years to keep in touch. If you are out there, please comment and let us know if this is true for you.

So, we'll start with now and then go back to the beginning of the year. After a warmer than average fall and early December, we FINALLY got some snow and even had a snow day last week! We all had lots of fun playing in the snow and sledding and Nathan was reminded why winter can be fun. Here's our favorite snow day shot.
















We've already celebrated an early Christmas with Sheri's parents and are settling in for a cozy Christmas with our family of 4.

Clara was clearly pleased with her new chair from Grandma and Grandpa! She crawled right on it immediately and has returned to it many times since she received it this past weekend.





And Lucy was over the moon about her first American Girl doll, who she has named Lucille. Lucille looks just like Lucy and even wears glasses. Grandma knew just which doll she wanted and I'm sure those two will enjoy taking Lucille to tea at the American Girl store next time we're in Minnesota.

 

 

So, back to the rest of the year...

Lots of growth and change this year, and not all just with the kids! Sheri's back at Creighton full time after sabbatical and then maternity leave, which was somewhat of a difficult adjustment, but is also quite fulfilling. She continues to enjoy her colleagues at Creighton and seems to be settling in for the long haul. Nathan has started a new job  as the Director of The Big Garden Project within United Methodist Ministries. It truly is his dream job and it took him by surprise when the Director of UMM called to talk to him about it in March. He wasn't at all looking to leave the library, but now he's glad he took a leap of faith to try something new. He's enjoying getting his hands dirty in community gardens from May to September, and then spends the rest of the year planning, evaluating programs, getting involved in community food justice issues, and grantwriting.

 

Lucy

Ms. Lucy finished up kindergarten this year, turned 6 in the summer, and started 1st grade in the fall. In January, we figured out that she needed glasses, which look darn cute on her.

Lucy loves school and is a pretty advanced reader and writer for her age. She also enjoys math and science. At the end of her kindergarten year, she did her first big report and had to deliver a speech about her chosen topic--Lobsters. Sheri and a colleague went to school to help the kindergarteners get ready for public speaking, which was fun. Lucy was quite proud of her poster and her teacher said she did a great job.

This summer, Lucy turned 6 (finally! It's rough being one of the youngest in the class) and had a Harry Potter themed birthday at a bouncy place.  She started 1st grade in August, and seems to enjoy this year as much as the last. The other big news of the year is that Lucy is finally losing teeth, which has been a much awaited happening. She's growing her hair out and now prefers to wear it straight (or as straight as we can get it without being willing to spend a lot of time. She's really starting to seem more grown up lately--listening to pop music, reading chapter books, doing art projects, and being a caring and responsible big sister (at least most of the time). She was excited to get to visit with Santa this year and share her typed out list that she had worked on for months and saved to the ipad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clara

Speaking of Lucy growing up and being a big sister. . .wow, has this been a year of growing for Clara. You know they grow fast, but this past year that spanned age 2 months to 14 months was probably about the fastest there is!


It hardly seems believable now that this year she went from being this little butterball baby to being this busy toddler:

In mid February, Clara had a wonderful baptism celebration at First United Methodist Church. We feel so very grateful that both of our girls will grow up in this loving and nurturing community where the theology is thoughtful and life-giving for us. We're looking forward to the Christmas Eve service tonight, where Lucy will be in the play with the other children.

During the spring semester, Clara was cared for at home by a fantastic nanny part time and by Sheri the rest of the time. Mallory, the nanny, also cared for both kids during the summer. They LOVED her, and we loved the convenience of having someone in our own home. We miss having her around every day, but she's a senior nursing student with a tight schedule and Sheri had to go back to work full-time in the fall, so we had to find another situation.

In August, Clara started daycare fulltime. Just like her big sister, Clara loves her school, teachers, and friends. We do, too, but we don't love her constant illnesses. She takes it all in stride and is really an easy going baby.

She turned 1 in mid October and we tried to have a nice little party, but she got a stomach bug and we had to cancel the in town guests. Grandma and Grandpa and Dave and Susie and Allison were already here, though, so we went ahead. Turns out that a little stomach bug didn't prevent Clara from enjoying her smash cake!

She is currently very busy and babbling all the time. She likes to explore, play with Sissy, and eat any kind of fruit, cheese, or cracker. She knows around a dozen words that we can recognize and seemingly many more that we don't. She's enjoying singing with her friends at school and reading books at home. We think it's particularly adorable when she "reads" a book to herself, which she does quite frequently these days. This Christmas, she has really enjoyed looking for the Elf on the Shelf with Lucy. Lucy is her favorite playmate, and her face really lights up when Lucy walks into the room.

Sisters 

One of the most wonderful benefits of being the parents of two is watching Lucy and Clara develop their relationship with one another. When Clara was tiny, Lucy declared, "there's nothing better than snuggling a baby." Now that Clara's not as willing to just lie around and snuggle, they still have lots of fun. Clara likes to play peek-a-boo, kissy Sissy, and grab Lucy's nose. Lucy loves to read books to Clara, to help her with all sorts of things, and to teach her new things all the time. Watching Clara grow up and learn new things is a constant source of joy for all three of us, and we're constantly all cracking up at her antics.

And Etc
We traveled just a little this year to spend time with family and friends, and had some great visits at our house with cousins and friends. Our Goddaughter and niece, Allison, turned 1 at the end of July and it was a wonderful occasion to get all of Sheri's family together in Minnesota. We had a great roadtrip to Alabama in June, where the girls spent lots of time soaking up Nanny time and also visiting the beach with cousin Emily and the woods with Will, Laura, and Walter. We're looking forward to leaving for another trip to Alabama in a few days so Nanny can experience the walking/talking version of Clara.

We are tired and busy, but happy with life in Omaha. In an attempt to get the girls their own rooms and to move within walking distance to Lucy's school, we put our house on the market this summer. After 3 months hard work and roller coaster emotions, a buyer who broke a contract, and several others who just couldn't make the their financing work, we decided to stay put for a little while longer. We feel okay about that decision, and plan to try again in a year or two. Meanwhile, we're happy in our cute and cozy house and making it work for us. If anything, looking at dozens of houses in a higher price range made us realize that all houses have their problems and our house has lots of good features.

We are hopeful about the future of our country and are enjoying getting more involved in our community and state. We pray that you are well and happy and would really love to see you in 2013. Omaha is on the way to lots of places!! Happy happy holidays.