Joy to All

Friends, Family, and Blog lurkers,

If this is your first visit to the blog, welcome! Sit back, kick off your shoes (and socks, at Anna's insistence) and feel free to delve into our lives the past year. As I write our Christmas card genre entry, I am debating with myself whether this really counts as a Christmas Card. So I have justified my use of my blog as a yuletide greeting for three reasons:

1. If you have been waiting on the edge of your seats to know how we are read it all here.

2. We have been blessed (I am still trying to fully convert myself to this) to have many family events in December, all that you can read about here, and all that complicate the printing, finding addresses, addressing, stamping and mailing of cards. We know that you know our deep care and concern for you even with out a trivial piece of paper, right?

3. Environmental concerns, which Harris reminds us of every day, that we are doing the earth a service by having a cyber-savvy card.

If those reasons don't do it for you, just look at this pic of Anna to make you feel a bit more in the giving mood. You could have missed out on that. She really did kiss Santa. I think she has a crush on him. So, now that I feel justified, on to the more important things.

We started of 2008 glad to be in the same house with no moving in front of us or recently behind us. Fhew! The only big change to our daily routine is that Harris has gone to Hogwarts (Gifted and Talented program). It was a surprise to us to that he had wizard prowess. Luckily, he sleeps in his own bed every night and hasn't once tried to turn Anna into a toad.In fact, the only magic he seems to have mastered is a super growth potion and some sort of unliftable sleep spell. The spell somehow will only break when 10 attempts have been made at waking him up. Alarms have no affect on the spell. He also has found use for those long limbs in basketball. We have loved being spectators and his own personal cheering section at his games. It looks like he is only a half a head taller than other players this year.

On to number two who is now two! The biggest news is thatAnna is now a proud owner of spectacles. I spent all of November posting about my thankfuls but, this one has just surfaced: she actually is keeping them on! I don't know if it is because we dote on her vanity telling her momentarily how pretty she is or if it is just her angel nature. Now we all know better than this or that. Needless to say, my heart overflows daily with the joy I have been given by my children.

Moi? Other than trying to somehow relearn bits and pieces of the six years of French I took, I have been busy with the above two entries. I think I partly understand how laundry can not get done, the day can seem like 5 seconds long, and why my mom got in the habit of going to bed at 9:30. To be fair, I must divide those sentiments by four. Some how amongst all this I have found time to blog, write, sew dresses for Anna, and run a half marathon.

Save the best for last? Of course! We were all glad when Aaron switched from 4 ten hour shifts to five days nine to five, no Saturdays and no late nights. He now gladly participates in Anna's welcome home hugs, reading with Harris, and reading in his hammock. You might think he now has a life of leisure but, he still some how stays booked. Between being a dutiful ward mission leader and being the reliable enrichment night nursery guy(thanks hon!), he seems to have little time to take full advantage of his new found time. I think his wish for the New Year is more time to fish. Hopefully, we can make that happen in 2009.

Well, there you have it. We hope that all of you find joy in the season and peace in the year to come.