Christmas Letter 2009

December 2009
Dearest Family & Friends,

Despite the best of intentions in regards to personalizing the Christmas letter this year, I finally had to admit (with Nutcracker rehearsals looming) that it wasn’t going to happen. Translation: Noelle is happy, but busy (as always)!

Leia & Annie are two sisters who had a whirlwind summer complete with a week-long Disney trip (Annie’s first), an experience at Pine Crest Day Camp (nostalgic for Mamma), a visit with family up in Buffalo, NY, Amish friends in New Hope, OH, and BOTH Godmommies in Chapel Hill, a very patriotic and special visit to Lake Murray over the 4th, and a new pet rabbit (a Holland Lop named “Peri” short for “Periwinkle Macaroni”). Further, there was an October full of birthdays (with a Strawberry Shortcake & Star Wars party in the mix, with a very special birthday/Halloween visit from Leia’s friend, Shenan), a full six performances of the professional production of The Nutcraker through The Asheville Ballet (for which Leia played a lollipop and Annie played a gumdrop), with the highlights of the year being the news of a new cousin to arrive this summer (congratulations Aunt Cassie and Uncle Alan!), the grand experience of being the flower girls at Auntie April’s and Uncle Ben’s wedding, and the long wait for prayers finally answered: Oma & Papa sold their house in FL and moved to their dream home in NC! This of course neglects to mention the girls enjoying all the joys that each season brings in the Western NC mountains.

Leia Rose continues to enjoy her “job” of attending Immaculata Catholic School (where I am thrilled that she lives and works around the Capuchin Friars, daily getting a glimpse into true religious life of the Roman Catholic Church). This year Leia was a class winner for the Read-A-Thon , joined the cheerleading squad, has a true “boyfriend” named Logan Scott (whom we all adore), and continues to cite Religion as her very favorite subject (just below “lunch” and “recess”). On the negative side, Leia has also had her first experience with a class bully who challenges her to constantly ask “What would Jesus do?” and still has her usual issue with respect for her elders, . . . that’s our little independent Leia. If you ask Leia Rose what she wants to be when she grows up, . . . if she really thinks about it, she says something like this: “Well, I like to mix little powders and liquids together to make different things. . . . What job is that?” Hmmmm, do we see a future Organic Chemist in the making?  Leia’s favorite hobby continues to be making her famous “paper projects” (my favorite one being the “bunny house” that she made for Peri this year) followed by ballet as a close second (she danced ballet to “Once Upon a Dream” and tap to “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” in her recital).

Don’t get me wrong, though, Annie’s days are full, too! Every day we have “Learning is Fun” time (just like I used to with Leia) where Annie shows great expertise with numbers, shapes, & colors. I’ll admit that she’s just beginning to “get” the letters and still refers to all elements of time as “next year.” Just recently, Annie has begun drawing pictures that are truly distinguishable and has become fully potty/poopie-trained! Her favorite time of the week is her Tuesday playdate with her best friend Aubrie followed by her beloved Library Storytime. Meanwhile, Annie still is a kid who needs a lot of sleep and will take a multiple-hour nap when possible. And when it’s not possible, there is often a full-blown tantrum involved that cannot be extinguished unless she is left completely alone. Annie is now looking forward to finally leaving her crib for good this winter and beginning ballet class (because she was hooked by The Nutcracker).

Brian continues to enjoy both the work and the camaraderie associated with PharmAgra, a small organic chemistry lab. Business is booming, even in the midst of recession, so much so that Pharmagra has been able to hire many additional chemists. As for me, my girls are my life, . . . and I get no greater joy than parenting them as a stay-at-home Mom. When the girls are asleep, I am still teaching online (working with students all over the world) and, thanks to an absolutely fabulous promotion, have an added responsibility of being a managing editor (which basically means I am responsible for reviewing other teachers’ interactions with students and revoke or award pay bonuses as necessary). Ah, the power! 

In short, our Lord has blessed us with good friends and good family this year, . . . and we thank Him for all His abundant blessings! Especially, we’d like to thank Goddaddy Greg for his service to our country in Afghanistan this year, . . . and for all of our servicemen and women. God bless you all this Christmas!

Love, Noelle, Brian, Leia, & Annie

P.S. As always, the joys and challenges of parenting are accompanied nicely with a heck of a lot of laughter. Allow these laughs to be our Christmas gift to you:

• Leia (upon entering a cool café with an awesome metal sculpture): “I NEED to go and touch that metal thing!!!” Ha!
• Annie (with a cold): “My nose all spickley!” and later in the year “Mamma, my nose gots crumbles.”
• Leia: “No Mamma, it’s not a picture of a fence! It’s villi, you know, from our small intestine!” Ha!
• Leia (as she gets up from her chair at dinner again): “Mamma, I love you more than my food!”
• Annie: Calling the Disney princess Sleeping Beauty, “Sleeping Blue-dee.”
• Leia: “Mamma, I have something in my head, and I need you to tell me where I got it from. Ready? . . . Horizon wireless.” Ha!
• Annie: We did a “dinner game” that involved answering this question: “What is your favorite place to be?” We all agreed that it didn’t matter, as long as we were together. And then we asked, “Annie, where is your favorite place to be?’ Her answer, “I love you!”
• Annie: Watching the new president on TV, I asked, “Annie, do you know who that is?” Annie shook her head. “It’s our new president. It’s Barack Obama. Can you say ‘Barack Obama’?” Annie nodded and said, “Happy Mamma!” Ha! How ironic!
• Annie (while watching the “Lullaby League” from The Wizard of Oz): “Oh Mamma! Look at the mousies!” Ha!
• Leia (upon hearing me ask about her Valentine gifts): “Yes, I saw the Valentine candy Mamma, . . . and it’s a SAD amount!” Ha!
• Annie (upon requesting a stuffed animal to take to bed): “Mamma, I want to pick a FING!”
• Leia (after drawing a heart on Cael’s valentine): “Mamma, Cael is one of those rare boys who knows how to get a girl’s attention without being annoying.” Ha!
• Annie (upon realizing that Mamma didn’t have as much milk as she used to): “Can’t tip it up like a sippy cup, get more out.” Ha!
• Leia: “Mamma your nose smells so FRESH! And your breath smells like beans!”
• Leia Rose said, “I know! Let’s watch Aladdin!” Annie replied, “Watch a ladder! Yay!” Ha!
• Annie (upon singing the alphabet song): “A-B-C-D-E-‘S’-G H-‘R-A-A’-EN-EM-EN-O-P Q-R-S-‘D’-U-‘P’ W-‘S’-Y and ‘C.’”
• Annie (upon looking up at me during one of the last nursings before nap): “Mmmmmm, . . . FRESH!” Ha!
• Leia (upon hearing the expression “rumor has it”): “Who’s ‘Rumor’?” Ha!
• Annie (upon being forced to eat her first bite of cheesecake): “Want PLATE!” Ha!
• Annie (upon misunderstanding the concept of Mother’s Day): “Happy Murf’s Day, Mamma! I love you!”
• Annie (upon meeting our cousin Eric for the first time): “Eric, you look just like a chocolate bunny!” Ha!
• Annie (upon sucking on a strawberry): “Mamma! I suck!” Ha!
• Annie (upon being asked to give April and Ben some advice before marriage): “Buy chocolate!” Ha!
• Annie (upon wandering off at the playground): “Mamma, I’m just checkin’ out the boys.” Ha!
• Leia: “Watching Aladdin and Jasmine get married makes me daydream about Logan. I LOVE Logan! . . . but he’ll get more appetized about that kind of stuff when he gets older.” Ha!
• Leia (upon hearing Mrs. Canning ask for words that begin with “F”): “I know! ‘F’ is for . . . filament!”
• Leia: “Mmmm, I love the smell in the house right now. What is that smell? MEAT! The smell is MEAT! I LOVE the smell of meat! I'm going to be a doggy at dinner because doggies like meat!”
• Annie: “Mamma, why is Strawberry Shortcake’s snail friend ‘Escargot’? He pulls a cart, so why ‘Yes, Car, . . . GO!’?”
• Leia: When asked who was older, Leia replied, “Daddy must be older than Mamma because people who are older sleep more.” Ha!