New Year's Eve

Well, enough of the material side of Christmas. All in all it has been a good year. But, excepting our trip to Vienna in the spring (see photo at right and blog archive), we feel like we are ending it on a high note. The house is "almost" done (which means it is more done than last year), and Ed the contractor's list of things to do is officially done. That is no small miracle! The plumber's list, however, will present new challenges for the New Year, but that's a topic for another day. We are just grateful that this year presented no backflow from the cesspool.


Sara's year has been full of projects--usually too many at once, but that's nothing new. She has avoided housework by playing co-class mom for Megan's kindergarten class, Brownie leader for Hannah's brownie troop, piano teacher to Megan (and sometimes Hannah), and library chaufeur for Ali's "Libee class." She did have a brief domestic moment which involved hanging curtains in the kitchen, but fortunately it didn't last long. She is now preparing for the newest project to keep her swamped--an after-school club called "School Yard Explorers." Kids will spend 6 Friday afternoons learning what's in the school yard in addition to the slides and swings. This will happen in January and February so please pray that there will actually be something interesting out there beside dirt and dead grass.


Jeff's year has been filled with projects around the house, staring at his computer at work, finishing projects on the house, working on research on his computer at work, tinking around the house, and making progress on research projects at work. You can see him at right mailing postcards home from Vienna. This year brought a job title change, which is code for promotion. Yea! He is no longer a lowly postdoctoral research associate. Instead, he is a "Research Scientist." Congrats! He is anticipating a deluge of publications this coming year as several projects have just finished or are about to wrap up. This bodes well for employment changes in the future, so we are all crossing our fingers as we anxiously await the coming year. Jeff is also really looking forward to the return of the blue crabs to the south shore of Long Island this summer, as he has now perfected (according to Sara) several techniques for cooking and eating them. Yumm yumm! He and a friend caught 50+ one morning last year, so if you like blue crabs e-mail Jeff.


Hannah has had a wonderfully productive year at school. She was declared by her 2nd grade teacher to be "really good" at math, which, of course, makes her mother proud. She is reading the Harry Potter books again and is in the middle of the 4th one today for the 3rd time. She was very proud when she had passed her mother up on how many times she had read them. She is really into sewing right now, and said recently that she liked sewing even more than Harry Potter, so this must be a huge deal. She also enjoys other crafts--she made a gorgeous set of paper dolls for Megan for Christmas with a house and clothes and a stand for the doll--and she is still doing Brownies, playing soccer, and she enjoys playing the piano occassionally. She is very much looking forward to being baptized in April or May after she turns 8, and she feel very grown up about it.


Megan is passionate about gymnastics, drawing, and playing the piano. She has accompanied the primary several times during primary on Sundays and she thoroughly enjoys the attention. She has adjusted suprisingly well to kindergarten considering she had already taught herself to read and her teacher was out on maternity leave so they started the year with a newbie teacher with no kindergarten experience. The substitute did a phenomenal job and Megan misses her now that the regular teacher is back, but she and the substitute still see each other in the halls at school since she is in another classroom in the building now. And after being a tag-along Brownie all last year, she is thoroughly enjoying being a Daisy Girl Scout in her own right.


Ali has had a 100% adorable year. She is our official cutie. She loves to go to her library classes and enjoys seeing friends there, and playing with puzzles and blocks and glue. She loves nursery at church, and has a special bond with her nursery leader whose name is also Allison. She prefers wearing dresses to pants, drinking juice to milk, and eating candy to vegetables, so we are confident that she is developing well. She has mastered repeating the phrase "I don't like it" when offered anything resembling something nutritious, and we find great peace and comfort in knowing that this is only a phase.


We hope that you have all had a wonderful year. We are so grateful for all the dear friends we have here on Long Island, but also for so many of you in so many other places. Thanks for your love and encouragement and laughs along the way. We are especially grateful for our Savior and our Heavenly Father--our eternal friends--who stand by us in all seasons. May it be a happy New Year for you all!