Dearest Friends and Family -

Since there haven't been hoards of changes in our family, the traditional mailed Christmas card has been swapped for a more contemporary solution, a blog post.  Call me a slacker all you want but if you want to wait while I get pictures taken, cards printed, envelopes addressed, notes written, etc - you might be waiting until April!

Mikayla has embraced the joy that is known as being two, she has developed a serious independent streak and an attitude a mile wide.  Thankfully she makes up for it by being super cute.  This year she is finally big enough climb up into fast food playgrounds and just this month got brave enough to slide down the big slides.  She has a huge sweet tooth and knows exactly how to hit up her parents and grandparents to get candy. 

Timmy turns five in January and is in Pre-K this year.  He keeps startling people with his reading skills, which is fun for us. That is when he's not talking and questioning our ears off.  He insists that he is a big kid and can do things that are dangerous because he will be careful.  We have a lot of talks about even though he is getting bigger everyday there are things we will not let him help with. We were recently called to be teachers for his primary class, coincidence? I don't think so.

Jodi decided that this year she would start her writing career.  January 2010 she started a blog focused around fiction writing topics and has written over 200 posts covering everything from authors to grammar.  She currently averages around 1,700 page views a week and has 45 subscribers.  Go check it out: MyLiteraryQuest.  She has also been working on her own works of fiction and has finished the first drafts of two books.

Joe continues to work at Motorola and recently began designing the Jail module of the PremierOne product, a venture that has taken him to visit several different prisons.  He is also still working towards his MBA through the University of Utah and will graduate this coming August.  In the scant fragment of free time left he is also a Webelos den leader.

From all of us to all of you, Merry Christmas!  May you be filled with the spirit of the season and fantastic plans for the coming year.

With love,
Joe, Jodi, Timmy, and Kayla.

After putting it off for so long I am finally posting an update.  Yay me!  To my dismay I can't find hardly any pictures for Christmas and Timmy's Birthday.  Yes, that does make me a slacker mom.  I'm ok with that.
Christmas was a blast this year.  It was our first in the new house and fun to set up all the goodies for the kids.  Tim's big present this year was a big boy bike that he adores.  He's been riding it in the unfinished basement while the weather's been nasty and can't wait to be able to go outside.  Kayla didn't get anything huge but was very happy with her Tinkerbell chair and ball popper.

We loved the snow even though it was too cold to stay outside for long the kiddos had a great time eating it and sledding down the front lawn.  Here's Kayla all bundled up, she makes me think of Maggie on the Simpsons.  I don't think she can put her arms down

Timmy ended up looking like Big Bird from Sesame Street, but hey, he was warm.  It was a fight to the death to get him back inside from playing.

I've broken my rule of getting one post out every month. Oh well, can't beat myself up over it. I'll raid the kids Christmas candy instead... I've gathered up a whole bunch of pictures from the last few months and will let them do most of the talking. These don't include Christmas yet, I still need to gather all those pictures together. One project at a time!

First of all, Timmy started preschool this fall at Miss Launa's Little Learners, which is a fabulous musically oriented preschool. This is going to the first day.
Literally days before preschool started Timmy figured out how to read and is doing it well enough that it scares his teachers. Now if we can just get him to write and color... He earned his alphabet king crown for knowing the whole alphabet and all of the sounds the letters make.
We made it to the Utah State Fair with the kids and Tim got to ride a pony and go down the monster slide. Mikayla really liked the hands on farm for little kids.
Mikayla started nursery in October and is the tiniest one in there. She's in the red jumper dress in the far corner. Most of the time she likes it but lately she's been wanting Mommy or Daddy to stay with her. We hope that with the new schedule she won't be as tired and will be happier.
We went up the canyon for some fall fun in the leaves with the kids. They had a wonderful time but really, really, really, wanted to play in the freezing water.

Which brings us to Halloween. Mikayla thought that the pumpkin patch was a blast.
The cutest little fur balls ever! Neither of them liked the hoods so this is a rare shot. They LOVED trick or treating and thankfully got tired after only an hour.
Trick or Treating in action. Mikayla's outfit was much more insulated than Tim's so he looks like a cat burgler instead of Rintoo the Tiger. Mikayla was so gracious to go along for the ride even when Tim drove like a maniac. As long as she could have some candy she was willing to do anything.
And now the hodgepodge of really random shots in no particular order. I was so thrilled to see them "playing" together that I had to get a picture.
We spent lots of time at the park, here's Tim showing off his skills.
And our new favorite game "nigh nigh" where they snuggle in the bed together for a few minutes until one starts screaming.
The cousins all together, Alexis jumped out of the frame at the last minute or it would be all of them on my side. Kay just wants to be one of the big kids, or a kitty, depending on the day.

Planetarium fun - now you have proof that they are from Mars.

Typical game playing posture, this kid is going to have great abs!
Did I mention that we lived on the edge of a field? They don't mention this when you buy out here. "Oh by the way, in the fall you'll have drifts of tumbleweed up to 8ft high." This is only one of the several weed storms we got to deal with. Thank heavens they pack small into the green waste can!

How in the world did it get to be September already? Timmy started preschool last week and as far as I can tell he really likes it. It's strange for me to have to drop him off somewhere and trust that he'll be ok. I keep waiting for the phone call that they can't find him. We've finally discovered other toys than Thomas and other shows. Currently we are into Ni Hao, Kai Lan and are learning new words in Mandarin. Not that we will ever need them, but it makes the heart happy to hear your preschooler asking for watermelon in Chinese at the grocery store.

Kayla decided to be a walker in the last weeks which has it's perks and its drawbacks. She gets into everything and LOVES to climb. A few weeks ago I had to leave her in her high chair to help Tim go potty and when I returned she had climbed out of the chair, across the counter, an into the kitchen sink, which thankfully was clean and empty of dishes/knives/food funk. I've also found her sitting on the kitchen table, sitting on top of her high chair tray, and three tiers up in the wire toy shelf in the playroom. Joy. She's also talking tons and some of the words are starting to make sense. The cutest is her thank you, the most annoying is "me, me, MEEE" when she wants something. She loves to bother her brother and tries to smack him in the head whenever it's nearby. He's not thrilled.


Joe started his professional MBA program at the U a few weeks back and is really enjoying the classes. We miss him on the nights that he has to go bit have started a few fun traditions like Mommy and Timmy game time on the Wii.


And now what you have all been waiting for - PICS!