Category: General News

Dec. 23: Thanks so much to everyone who gave me feedback on this year’s photo for my holiday cards.  I was pretty happy with split-screen result.  Life is just too chaotic to depict it as serene:)
What follows is my 2008 Christmas card letter.  Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas 2008

I hope this note finds you well both in health and in heart.  Having two little kids fills our days to the brim!

Andrew, our darling, thoughtful, inquisitive three-year-old has jumped right in to our Christmas traditions.  He can’t wait to open his advent calendar each morning, and he loves to help me bake Christmas cookies – especially when he gets to lick the bowl.  Andrew has been going to preschool two mornings each week, and he frolics about with anticipation.  He’s such a neat kid!  Animals continue to be his favorite topic, and he’s developing an encyclopedic knowledge of the world’s creatures.

Sylvia is 10-months-old this December.  Our baby girl’s first Christmas!   She has lit up our lives like a Roman candle, and my heart is held captive by her impish, toothy grin.  Sylvia abounds in energy and determination.  She is already starting to walk by pushing around chairs, and she loves to climb. Just the other day, she said her first non-babbling word…“uuhhp!”  It’s a lot of work to keep up with her beloved older brother, but she’s up for the challenge.  Andrew recently suggested that we rename Sylvie “Sugar” because she’s “tho thweet!”

Bryan and I mostly chase and tend to the children, but when he’s not doing that, Bryan is a software engineer at the biotech company OpGen.  He’s taken quite an interest in chess and enjoys quiet evenings playing on chess.com online.  If you’re ever looking for a chess partner, I’m sure he’d be game!

I am approaching the one-year anniversary of being a full-time mom.  It’s been great!  I enjoy spending so much time with my kiddos, and while there certainly are challenging times, I’ve been really happy.  It makes a big difference to have friends who are also at home!  I feel very lucky.

Our families are doing well.  This January, Bryan’s parents are celebrating their 35^th wedding anniversary!  Bryan’s dad gives speeches all around Texas (and increasingly elsewhere), so they’re well-seasoned travelers.  Ben and Melanie have recently moved to a new place in Dallas, and we have really enjoyed getting to see them several times this summer and fall.

My family is moving forward and doing fun things…despite the lack of our sweet Mommy to guide and comfort us all.  Michael got a new job at Lands End, and he and Lisa have wedding plans for October of ’09. Maretta and Kyle got married last May, and they have a sweet little nest together in St. Paul.  Joe is a junior at Bowdoin, and in January he’ll be traveling to Sri Lanka for the semester.  Oh, how I wish I could join him!  Dad has been busy, busy, busy with his political work, and we see him pretty regularly: Andrew loves having lunch with his grandpa.

I report on our family’s activities in my blog: dotzourfamily.com.  It’s an easy way to keep in touch!

Amidst this frantically-paced time of year, I hope you find time to settle into a soft chair with a warm drink and perhaps a cozy cat to take a moment to reflect, appreciate, and dream.  Best wishes for 2009.

~Althea

Dec. 22: Last week, Andrew packed up some of his animals in his lunchbox and requested that Bryan take them with him to work. To our delight, we got a report mid-day on how Andrew’s animals were enjoying work at OpGen. It seems that all got straight to business. See photos here!

Dec. 22: We’ve been doing a lot of fun things to get ready for Christmas.  Our refrigerator is covered with containers of cookies and candies.  The tree is filling our living room with pretty lights.  Last week we had our neighbors over for our annual cookie exchange.  A couple weeks ago, we went to Olbrich Gardens with my dad to see the holiday trains.  On Sunday, my dad took me and Andrew to A Christmas Carol.  It was Andrew’s first play (or movie for that matter), and he did wonderfully.  He wore his tie and looked adorable.  What a fun afternoon we all had! Photos of some of our holiday preparations are in the gallery!

Dec. 21: I’ve gotten behind on taking and uploading photos.  I blame Christmas.  And reading Eragon.  And Syliva not sleeping so well.
However, I believe that the situation has been rectified.  There are now many photos in the gallery for perusal.  Lots of playing in the snow pics.  Lots of Sylvia-being-cute pics.  Even a couple friendly dog pics.  Enjoy!

Dec. 21: We’ve had a lot of snow here the last several days.  Our sweet neighbors again dug us out on Friday.  Bryan’s office closed due to the storm, so we had a long weekend home together.
Joe was supposed to fly home tonight, but unfortunately, the weather out East has been terrible.  His flight was canceled, and he won’t be able to get home until Tuesday.  Instead of flying from Portland to Madison, he’ll be flying Boston to Milwaukee.  We’re sad that he’ll be away from home for a couple extra days.  We were all looking forward to seeing our dear Uncle Joe.
Today, Andrew learned how to read -2 degrees on our thermometer.  And it’s windy too!  Check out a video of Andrew, Alivia, and Sylvia for some fun in the snow.

Dec. 18: It’s Thursday morning, which means that Andrew is at his preschool.  After putting Sylvia down for her nap and quietly shutting the door, I found myself jamming down the hallway, “Get down today!  Get down today!”  I feel such elation upon anticipating an hour with a sleeping Sylvie and a preschooling Andrew.  Made me dance while I made the bed:)
Just thought I’d share my joy:)
Last night we hosted our annual neighborhood party.  We had around 15 people attend, and I had such a fun time!  Everyone brings a plate of cookies, and then we swap them all around so everyone takes home a variety.  We see lots of our neighbors in the summer, but in the winter, conversations become much shorter.  It feels god to have a house full of happy friends.
Tonight, Dad, Michael, Lisa, and maybe Becky are coming over to celebrate my dad’s birthday.  I’m going to make Mom’s enchilada casserole.  I should be putting it together right now.  But I wanted to play on the computer first:)
I haven’t taken many pictures of the kids in the last couple weeks, but I got the camera out yesterday, so hopefully I’ll have some new ones to share soon.
This morning, Sylvia was having fun with the Christmas tree.

I decided to let her play with one of my Grandma’s cross-stitch ornaments.  She developed a little very cute game for herself.  While sitting in a chair, first she’d pull the ornament off the tree. Then she’d reach over and drop it on the ground.  Then (while I hung on to her ankles), she would dive off the chair and reach down to retrieve the ornament.  She’d pull herself back on the chair, lean over, and set the ornament back in the tree.  After looking at it for a moment, she’d grab the ornament back, and the game would continue.
It was so neat to watch her think through all the steps.  What a cutie!

Syliva has had a temperature and a runny nose for the last couple days.  So far, the rest of us haven’t come down with it.  We’re hoping that sickness stays isolated to the current recipient and that no new viruses come our way!

Happy last week before Christmas!

Dec. 17: My friend Jen just sent me a link to the following video. Her friend Matt traveled and danced all over the world. And by that I mean ALL OVER the world. Andrew loved hearing the names of all the places (and he kept saying, “We haven’t been there yet. We haven’t been there yet. We haven’t been there yet.”)
This is one video that should make you smile.
For an enhanced viewing experience, the clip is available in high definition on YouTube.

Dec. 15: It may seem like small news, but after a day filled with more crying (Sylvia) and meltdowns (Andrew) than I care to experience in a week much less a 12-hour period, the house is in a state of peace.  All three of my loves are asleep.  Kitties are snuggled close to me.  Candles are flickering, the Christmas tree is glowing, the house is <relatively> clean.  I’m sleepy, but I almost don’t want to go to sleep because I don’t want to miss appreciating this stillness.  sigh.

Dec. 14: I’ve been really unhappy to read that a new law, the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act (which is going into effect in February) is going to have a terrible effect on the handmade children’s toys.  The law is a well-intended one, designed to prevent toxins in toys like the ones that have been coming from China.  However, the law is going to require anyone who creates children’s toys and clothes to have their products third-party tested and labeled.  Since undergoing this testing is anticipated to cost four thousand dollars per toy, the natural toy industry – the artists, stay-at-home-moms, and small shops that makes some of the toys I most adore – are going to go out of business – UNLESS the law is ammended to fix this oversight.
Here are some good resources to learn more and some links to quick actions to take:

Cool Mom Picks – Save Handmade
Handmade Toy Alliance

These sites have links to more information, petitions to sign, a Facebook group to join, votes to cast on Change.org, sample letters to send to your representatives, etc.

 

Dec. 14:  Yesterday morning, Bryan, Andrew, Sylvia, and I went to Jung’s Garden Store to pick out our Christmas tree.  We thought about cutting one down, but the idea of keeping things simple seemed more appealing.  The four of us walked into the lot, Andrew ran over to the first tree in the aisle, and said, “I love THIS tree!  I want to get THIS tree!”  It was a fir, which is what I was looking for, and it was a good size.  We asked if he wanted to look at other trees, but he insisted that all his love was devoted to this particular specimen.  So we said, “Easy enough!”  And we walked out with our tree.  Bryan was happy to see that his son has shopping tendencies that mirror his own.
In other news, when I brought Sylvia in to say goodnight to Andrew last night, he kissed her and smiled, saying, “Mommy, she smells like laughter!”  Heart melting.
We’ve got the tree up, the house smells like Christmas, and Sarah and Wes came over yesterday to play, make cookies and toffee, and share sweet Charlie with us:)  It feels like Christmas.