As you know, kids say hilarious things. Hilarious. Things.
Here are some of the funny ones from the kids that I've written down recently (in no particular order):
VACATION IDEAS
Megan: Let's talk about what fun trip we could take next year! What do you guys think about another trip to Washington, D.C.?
Kaitlyn: D.C. is kind of boring. How about Turks and Caicos?
CANDLE IDEAS
Megan (just got back from running outside, sitting in scrapbook room): Does it smell bad in here Kaitlyn?
Kaitlyn: It just kind of circulates.
Megan: Does it smell bad?
Kaitlyn: Well...I wouldn't make it into a candle.
CONSULTANT'S DAUGHTER
Ava (yelling from her room after being tucked into bed approximately 5 times already): Dad! I can't sleep, for 3 reasons...
DINNER
Megan: All I've had to eat today has been donuts...well, that and the cheesecake Kate made me eat.
WHO'S IN CHARGE
Olivia (at bedtime, trying to explain why she needs to be awake still): Dad, you're not the boss. Giants are in charge because they're huge! And there's no giants here, so there's no bosses...
DIETARY RESTRICTIONS
Kaitlyn: Do we have any animal crackers that are just elephants?
WISDOM
Alison (talking to siblings that are bickering over something inconsequential in the car): Dudes, be awesome.
FASHION ADVICE
Kaitlyn (one morning during basketball season): Dad, you have girls. You know just the right things to say about outfits. You don't say "Bro, that shirt is like, amaze-balls."
THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY
Dad (to the kids in the car on the way to school): Grandpa had to sit on a phone book to see over the steering wheel when he first started driving.
Max: Were phone books really thick or something?
WHAT'S THAT CALLED AGAIN?
Dad (at soccer game with a chilly wind): Olivia, put on your jacket.
Olivia: I can't! My whole thing is freezing.
(I guess she couldn't think of the word for "body" and just went with the universally applicable, "thing".)
WHAT YOU GET OUT OF CHURCH
Speaker at church: And my dad couldn't sit still. He literally spent every moment of the day doing something productive.
Max (whispering in my ear): That is the complete opposite of me.
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Missing Christmas Letters
So...as you can see I'm missing some Christmas Letters. Specifically: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2014.
Maybe they're on another computer somewhere. Or perhaps one of our back-up drives somewhere. If you have one of these letters in your files (I'm sure you've kept them all and filed them in a place where you can easily reference them), please feel free to type them up in a cut-and-paste ready Word document and send along so we can fill in the missing gaps. (What? Me? Lazy?)
I hear Megan turning on some sort of dance-related reality TV show in the other room, so I'm going to wrap this up for the night, and put a stop to that. I think we may need to drown our BYU Football-related sorrows from last night by beginning Season 4 of "24".
But, before I do, let's re-cap. I started the evening down 23 blog posts vs. YTD plan. I've now closed that gap by almost 40% bringing the current gap to a well-within-reach 14 posts easily addressable with the remaining past Christmas Letters as well as copies of my random "Friday Thoughts" that I used to send my team at work.
Drop the mic. I'm out.
Maybe they're on another computer somewhere. Or perhaps one of our back-up drives somewhere. If you have one of these letters in your files (I'm sure you've kept them all and filed them in a place where you can easily reference them), please feel free to type them up in a cut-and-paste ready Word document and send along so we can fill in the missing gaps. (What? Me? Lazy?)
I hear Megan turning on some sort of dance-related reality TV show in the other room, so I'm going to wrap this up for the night, and put a stop to that. I think we may need to drown our BYU Football-related sorrows from last night by beginning Season 4 of "24".
But, before I do, let's re-cap. I started the evening down 23 blog posts vs. YTD plan. I've now closed that gap by almost 40% bringing the current gap to a well-within-reach 14 posts easily addressable with the remaining past Christmas Letters as well as copies of my random "Friday Thoughts" that I used to send my team at work.
Drop the mic. I'm out.
Merry Christmas 2015
December 2015
Dear Family, Friends, Acquaintances and People Who Casually Picked Up This Letter—
My wife told me I can’t make jokes about my lack of Facebook activity, the continual downward trend in my number of blog posts, or how they have the internet on computer now. Thus ends a three-year tradition. I have noticed, however, that as our 5 kids get older that I’m having a harder time keeping everyone straight, calling them by their correct names, and keeping up with what they’re doing in general. (Again, that’s because they are getting older, not me.) So, this year, I thought I’d let you know how I feel.
Our kids are: Alison, Kaitlyn, Maxwell, Avery and Olivia. Here’s some stuff these people did this year. See if you can figure out who did what. (If you do, please contact me. I need the help!)
Our 5th child turned older this year and speaks her own, incredibly cute, version of English wherein every letter “c” is replaced with a “t” and every “g” is replaced with a “d”. So, she might say, “I want a tup of water and then I want to tuddle with drampa.” On top of that, she loves setting up her bright pink plastic serving ware to play “tea party.” How am I supposed to tell her to stop coming into our room to sleep on my face in the middle of the night when she’s that cute? She also started pre-school this year and, as a result, feels incredibly grown up. (And also, as a result, I think Megan has gotten a taste of what it’s like to actually have a few productive hours in the morning a couple of times a week).
Our next youngest child turned older this year. She just barely missed the government-mandated cutoff (based on birthday not competence) for elementary school so it’s been one more year of pre-school for her. Her new skills include reading (where she frequently asks “does this word follow the rules?” when trying to sound it out), riding her non-training wheel princess bike (which she learned to ride with the help of Child #2), pilfering Megan’s phone to call me at work in the middle of the day just to chat, and epic, dramatic poutiness each night about the injustice of asking someone else in the family to have a turn saying family prayer or be the first to read a verse from the scriptures.
It was a very special year for Child #3. He turned older and was thus able to be baptized into the church. He also started Cub Scouts and has been enjoying that—especially the cool uniform and special belt that he wants to wear with every pair of pants, shorts or swimsuit he owns. In addition to excelling at finding anything electronics-related from boxes in the garage and hoarding knick-knacks of all kinds in general, he’s also been working on his piano skills as well as his gymnastics maneuvers. He is doing well at school and is known for helping his fellow classmates when they need a hand.
Our second oldest turns eleven in a few weeks and is surging in academics. She finished the last school year with the highest grades in her entire grade (and possibly the world, probably), and is now in “AIG” math and reading. (What does “AIG” stand for? I don’t know. I think the “G” is either for “gifted” or “grandmotherly”.) She has also been developing her non-school talents. In gymnastics, she has been working on her back hand spring, and plays the piano all the time, including recently accompanying our neighbors on the violin at the school talent show and in the church children’s Primary Program. She also said to mention that she has blue eyes.
Our oldest child turned older this year. After years of hard work and obsessing about the sport of basketball, she finally made the middle school girls basketball team this year and is enjoying all of its associated apparel-related benefits. She is primarily playing forward, which has been a bit of an adjustment since she’s a guard at heart. At school she is in “Math 2” which is two grade levels ahead—high school sophomore-level math—so soon I will be asking her to help me with my homework. This summer she ran a “Kids Camp” babysitting event and found out that moms with kids out of school for the summer are like Black Friday door-busting shoppers climbing over each other to give her money to entertain their little ones for a few hours a day over two weeks.
Megan remains as busy as ever driving kids #2 and #3 to school, then driving kids #4 and #5 to pre-school, then picking up kids #4 and #5 from pre-school, then driving kids #2 and #3 to gymnastics while calling me and reminding me that I should have left work already to pick up kid #1 from basketball practice on time. Somehow she still finds time to serve in her church responsibilities in the women’s Relief Society organization, and uses her Stampin’ Up products to papercraft anything in the house that can have a glue dot or adhesive attached to it to be made Pinterest-y.
In addition to trying to call my children by their correct names, I’ve been busy with other things too: I just took a new role at Bank of America which was bittersweet as I enjoyed the people I was working with in my old role, but was ready for the challenge of something new. I’m continuing to serve as the organist at church and am also serving in the stake where I’m getting lots of practice giving talks each month in the various LDS congregations around South Charlotte. When I have a spare moment I think about what I can do to play guitar and record music more often.
We love you all and are grateful for this time of year when we can reflect on the things we did this year as well as the things that really matter most to us—our family, our friends, and our faith in Jesus Christ. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2016.
Dear Family, Friends, Acquaintances and People Who Casually Picked Up This Letter—
My wife told me I can’t make jokes about my lack of Facebook activity, the continual downward trend in my number of blog posts, or how they have the internet on computer now. Thus ends a three-year tradition. I have noticed, however, that as our 5 kids get older that I’m having a harder time keeping everyone straight, calling them by their correct names, and keeping up with what they’re doing in general. (Again, that’s because they are getting older, not me.) So, this year, I thought I’d let you know how I feel.
Our kids are: Alison, Kaitlyn, Maxwell, Avery and Olivia. Here’s some stuff these people did this year. See if you can figure out who did what. (If you do, please contact me. I need the help!)
Our 5th child turned older this year and speaks her own, incredibly cute, version of English wherein every letter “c” is replaced with a “t” and every “g” is replaced with a “d”. So, she might say, “I want a tup of water and then I want to tuddle with drampa.” On top of that, she loves setting up her bright pink plastic serving ware to play “tea party.” How am I supposed to tell her to stop coming into our room to sleep on my face in the middle of the night when she’s that cute? She also started pre-school this year and, as a result, feels incredibly grown up. (And also, as a result, I think Megan has gotten a taste of what it’s like to actually have a few productive hours in the morning a couple of times a week).
Our next youngest child turned older this year. She just barely missed the government-mandated cutoff (based on birthday not competence) for elementary school so it’s been one more year of pre-school for her. Her new skills include reading (where she frequently asks “does this word follow the rules?” when trying to sound it out), riding her non-training wheel princess bike (which she learned to ride with the help of Child #2), pilfering Megan’s phone to call me at work in the middle of the day just to chat, and epic, dramatic poutiness each night about the injustice of asking someone else in the family to have a turn saying family prayer or be the first to read a verse from the scriptures.
It was a very special year for Child #3. He turned older and was thus able to be baptized into the church. He also started Cub Scouts and has been enjoying that—especially the cool uniform and special belt that he wants to wear with every pair of pants, shorts or swimsuit he owns. In addition to excelling at finding anything electronics-related from boxes in the garage and hoarding knick-knacks of all kinds in general, he’s also been working on his piano skills as well as his gymnastics maneuvers. He is doing well at school and is known for helping his fellow classmates when they need a hand.
Our second oldest turns eleven in a few weeks and is surging in academics. She finished the last school year with the highest grades in her entire grade (and possibly the world, probably), and is now in “AIG” math and reading. (What does “AIG” stand for? I don’t know. I think the “G” is either for “gifted” or “grandmotherly”.) She has also been developing her non-school talents. In gymnastics, she has been working on her back hand spring, and plays the piano all the time, including recently accompanying our neighbors on the violin at the school talent show and in the church children’s Primary Program. She also said to mention that she has blue eyes.
Our oldest child turned older this year. After years of hard work and obsessing about the sport of basketball, she finally made the middle school girls basketball team this year and is enjoying all of its associated apparel-related benefits. She is primarily playing forward, which has been a bit of an adjustment since she’s a guard at heart. At school she is in “Math 2” which is two grade levels ahead—high school sophomore-level math—so soon I will be asking her to help me with my homework. This summer she ran a “Kids Camp” babysitting event and found out that moms with kids out of school for the summer are like Black Friday door-busting shoppers climbing over each other to give her money to entertain their little ones for a few hours a day over two weeks.
Megan remains as busy as ever driving kids #2 and #3 to school, then driving kids #4 and #5 to pre-school, then picking up kids #4 and #5 from pre-school, then driving kids #2 and #3 to gymnastics while calling me and reminding me that I should have left work already to pick up kid #1 from basketball practice on time. Somehow she still finds time to serve in her church responsibilities in the women’s Relief Society organization, and uses her Stampin’ Up products to papercraft anything in the house that can have a glue dot or adhesive attached to it to be made Pinterest-y.
In addition to trying to call my children by their correct names, I’ve been busy with other things too: I just took a new role at Bank of America which was bittersweet as I enjoyed the people I was working with in my old role, but was ready for the challenge of something new. I’m continuing to serve as the organist at church and am also serving in the stake where I’m getting lots of practice giving talks each month in the various LDS congregations around South Charlotte. When I have a spare moment I think about what I can do to play guitar and record music more often.
We love you all and are grateful for this time of year when we can reflect on the things we did this year as well as the things that really matter most to us—our family, our friends, and our faith in Jesus Christ. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2016.
Merry Christmas 2013
December 2013
Dear Family, Friends, Acquaintances and People Who Casually Picked Up This Letter—
We debated whether or not we should even include a letter this year—after all, isn’t the point of Facebook to provide real-time updates on the events of the family to everyone close to us? So, I went ahead and checked my Facebook account, and it looks like my most recent entry was dated 11/10/12 and said: “San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl sounds pretty prestigious.” So, dead end there. You’ll remember from past years’ letters that we have our family blog at www.nathanandmegan.blogspot.com, so I turned there next. Unfortunately, my blog posts ran out in April. Another dead end. So, we concluded that you most likely have no idea what we’ve been up to this year, and a quick little letter would, thus, be warranted. Here’s our update:
Olivia turned older and has learned how to walk—which resembles the walk of a man who recently rode a horse for 4 hours. She’s learned some important words like “D-a-a-a-d-y” and “M-a-a-a-a” (which either means “mom” or “milk” or “more food now”). Though she’d become an excellent sleeper at night, she’s re-learning how to do that all over again now that she’s begun sharing a room with Ava.
Speaking of Ava, she turned older this year and is quite the little talker—especially at bedtime when Olivia (and everyone else in the house) is trying to sleep. She has also become obsessed with the iPhone or iPad. She texts me sweet little phrases several times a day such as “DjO jU” (which I received this past Thursday at 6:34 p.m., for example). She also Facetime’s her grandparents almost every morning as soon as she wakes up. We pre-apologize for her yelling in the background if you try to call us, as she insists on saying “hello” to everyone that calls. Her iObsession notwithstanding, she is so sweet to her little sister and said “I am so happy” when they started sharing a room. She loves playing at the YMCA, and even took a little ballet dance class there this year. She had her first recital last week and may become quite the performer!
Max turned older this year and started kindergarten. After confessing “I’m so scared” on his first day of school, he quickly came to thoroughly enjoy it and is reading, writing and drawing like a champ. He loves walking to class in the morning with his big sister, Kaitlyn, and riding the bus home. He feels so big. He’s also discovered a love of Lego’s and has become an expert at building various “ships” (spaceships), piggybanks, and weapony-looking things of all kinds. He is still missing his front tooth and with that and his glasses, he is definitely in the running for most adorable little boy ever (according to us at least).
Kaitlyn (turning older in a few weeks) is now the oldest sibling at the elementary school and has stepped into that role well. Additionally, she has enjoyed taking gymnastics classes over the course of the year, and is now physically incapable of going from point A to point B without doing a cartwheel, or back walkover, or walking on all fours upside down while in the bridge position. She continues to work on her piano skills, and has also discovered that she has a very witty sense of humor. (For example, during a Target visit, she found a miniature version of the Eiffel Tower, held it up to me and said, “I kind of expected the Eiffel Tower to be a little bit…bigger.”)
Alison (turned older this year) is literally counting down the days until she turns older and can enter the Young Women’s program at church. As a middle schooler, she is becoming uncomfortably independent (am I really old enough to have a child in middle school?) and enjoys being able to stay after school to watch the 7th / 8th grade girls basketball team play home games (a team that she aspires to join next year). She loves watching Studio C, a sketch comedy program on BYUTV, and getting together with her friends. Fortunately, we’ve been able to nurture her unhealthy obsession with BYU, so she fits right in with her parents on game day.
Megan remains as busy as ever with 2 kids at home and 3 kids at school who need lunches during the day and guidance on homework at night. Somehow she still finds time to serve in her church responsibilities in the children’s Primary organization, workout at the YMCA frequently, and use her Stampin’ Up products to papercraft anything in the house that can have a glue dot or adhesive attached to it.
I’m enjoying my job at Bank of America, serving as the organist and youth Sunday School teacher at church, and trying to find time to play guitar and record music whenever I can (which, with the aforementioned 5 kids in the house, ends up being at around midnight for 10 minutes at a time, every other month).
We love you all and are grateful for this time of year when we can reflect on the things we did this year as well as the things that really matter most—our family, our friends, and our faith in Jesus Christ. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy 2014.
Dear Family, Friends, Acquaintances and People Who Casually Picked Up This Letter—
We debated whether or not we should even include a letter this year—after all, isn’t the point of Facebook to provide real-time updates on the events of the family to everyone close to us? So, I went ahead and checked my Facebook account, and it looks like my most recent entry was dated 11/10/12 and said: “San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl sounds pretty prestigious.” So, dead end there. You’ll remember from past years’ letters that we have our family blog at www.nathanandmegan.blogspot.com, so I turned there next. Unfortunately, my blog posts ran out in April. Another dead end. So, we concluded that you most likely have no idea what we’ve been up to this year, and a quick little letter would, thus, be warranted. Here’s our update:
Olivia turned older and has learned how to walk—which resembles the walk of a man who recently rode a horse for 4 hours. She’s learned some important words like “D-a-a-a-d-y” and “M-a-a-a-a” (which either means “mom” or “milk” or “more food now”). Though she’d become an excellent sleeper at night, she’s re-learning how to do that all over again now that she’s begun sharing a room with Ava.
Speaking of Ava, she turned older this year and is quite the little talker—especially at bedtime when Olivia (and everyone else in the house) is trying to sleep. She has also become obsessed with the iPhone or iPad. She texts me sweet little phrases several times a day such as “DjO jU” (which I received this past Thursday at 6:34 p.m., for example). She also Facetime’s her grandparents almost every morning as soon as she wakes up. We pre-apologize for her yelling in the background if you try to call us, as she insists on saying “hello” to everyone that calls. Her iObsession notwithstanding, she is so sweet to her little sister and said “I am so happy” when they started sharing a room. She loves playing at the YMCA, and even took a little ballet dance class there this year. She had her first recital last week and may become quite the performer!
Max turned older this year and started kindergarten. After confessing “I’m so scared” on his first day of school, he quickly came to thoroughly enjoy it and is reading, writing and drawing like a champ. He loves walking to class in the morning with his big sister, Kaitlyn, and riding the bus home. He feels so big. He’s also discovered a love of Lego’s and has become an expert at building various “ships” (spaceships), piggybanks, and weapony-looking things of all kinds. He is still missing his front tooth and with that and his glasses, he is definitely in the running for most adorable little boy ever (according to us at least).
Kaitlyn (turning older in a few weeks) is now the oldest sibling at the elementary school and has stepped into that role well. Additionally, she has enjoyed taking gymnastics classes over the course of the year, and is now physically incapable of going from point A to point B without doing a cartwheel, or back walkover, or walking on all fours upside down while in the bridge position. She continues to work on her piano skills, and has also discovered that she has a very witty sense of humor. (For example, during a Target visit, she found a miniature version of the Eiffel Tower, held it up to me and said, “I kind of expected the Eiffel Tower to be a little bit…bigger.”)
Alison (turned older this year) is literally counting down the days until she turns older and can enter the Young Women’s program at church. As a middle schooler, she is becoming uncomfortably independent (am I really old enough to have a child in middle school?) and enjoys being able to stay after school to watch the 7th / 8th grade girls basketball team play home games (a team that she aspires to join next year). She loves watching Studio C, a sketch comedy program on BYUTV, and getting together with her friends. Fortunately, we’ve been able to nurture her unhealthy obsession with BYU, so she fits right in with her parents on game day.
Megan remains as busy as ever with 2 kids at home and 3 kids at school who need lunches during the day and guidance on homework at night. Somehow she still finds time to serve in her church responsibilities in the children’s Primary organization, workout at the YMCA frequently, and use her Stampin’ Up products to papercraft anything in the house that can have a glue dot or adhesive attached to it.
I’m enjoying my job at Bank of America, serving as the organist and youth Sunday School teacher at church, and trying to find time to play guitar and record music whenever I can (which, with the aforementioned 5 kids in the house, ends up being at around midnight for 10 minutes at a time, every other month).
We love you all and are grateful for this time of year when we can reflect on the things we did this year as well as the things that really matter most—our family, our friends, and our faith in Jesus Christ. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy 2014.
Merry Christmas 2012
December 2012
Dear Family, Friends, Acquaintances and People Who Casually Picked Up This Letter—
Looking back on our 2012, I couldn’t remember all of the noteworthy events that took place during the course of the year, so I turned to our trusty family blog at www.nathanandmegan.blogspot.com for ideas. Unfortunately, 2012 turned out to be worse than last year in terms of blog post production (only 3 posts vs. 15 last year and 51 posts in the peak year). Next I tried my Facebook account but that had even fewer updates. I may have to survey the family to find out what we did this year…
Ok, the survey responses are in and it turns out we had quite an eventful year! For starters, we bought a house here in Charlotte and were able to close just 10 days before we would have been forced to move from our old one—as our landlords did us the favor of selling it while we still lived there.
Olivia thought an important event during 2012 was her birth—debuting at 7:15 a.m. on her birthday and weighing in at 7 lbs. 11 oz., measuring 18.5 inches and sporting huge dimples. She has been a wonderful addition to the family and loves being held by her 3 oldest siblings as well as having a pacifier shoved forcefully into her mouth by Ava while she’s sleeping.
Speaking of Ava, she turned 2 this year, and is becoming a master of language; she’s figured out a way to reduce the number of words she actually has to learn by assigning multiple meanings to the same phonetic sound. For example, “be-dees” can mean any of the following: my two security blankets, breakfast, babies, pizza, scriptures, and a bunch of other things (if also accompanied with pointing). I wonder what other efficiencies she’ll figure out as she gets older. She loves her nursery class at church and playing at the YMCA while Megan works out.
Max (turned older this year) thought, probably, that the significant events of 2012 included his continued participation in pre-school, his developing reading skills, his playing YMCA flag football, his having a dead tooth extracted and his ability to “clean” his room by shoving everything under the bed so he can go outside and ride his scooter. He is also an expert “hugger” and is friends with everyone. Everyone.
Kaitlyn (turns older in a few weeks) reminded me that our moving into a new house meant attending her 3rd different elementary school in 3 years. It’s a good thing that she’s incredibly social and has other girls in her class dressing like her within days. She’s also been involved in dance, gymnastics and piano—including a love of figuring out the melody lines of songs by ear. And, she’s very excited to be getting baptized in a few weeks.
Alison (turned older this year, but is going on even older next year) is also making great strides in piano and has continued to be heavily involved in sports. She took up soccer for the first time this year and fit in great, despite being the only girl on the co-ed team. However, she’s excited to return to her roots and started basketball again this week. She also continues to excel in school (and work on Excel at home with money-making sales ideas of all kinds).
Megan reluctantly pointed out that she turned older this year, but I would point out that that didn’t stop her from being a member of the Stake Champion Weddington Ward Women’s Basketball team, serving in the children’s Primary leadership at church, delivering Olivia, or continuing to turn ordinary things like water bottles into cute and crafty projects with Stampin’ Up products of all kinds.
I’m enjoying my job at Bank of America and try to find time to play guitar whenever I can (which with 5 kids in the house ends up being at around midnight for 10 minutes at a time, every other month).
We love you all and are grateful for this time of year when we can reflect on the things it turns out we did this year as well as the things that really matter most—our family, our friends, and our faith in Jesus Christ. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy 2013.
Dear Family, Friends, Acquaintances and People Who Casually Picked Up This Letter—
Looking back on our 2012, I couldn’t remember all of the noteworthy events that took place during the course of the year, so I turned to our trusty family blog at www.nathanandmegan.blogspot.com for ideas. Unfortunately, 2012 turned out to be worse than last year in terms of blog post production (only 3 posts vs. 15 last year and 51 posts in the peak year). Next I tried my Facebook account but that had even fewer updates. I may have to survey the family to find out what we did this year…
Ok, the survey responses are in and it turns out we had quite an eventful year! For starters, we bought a house here in Charlotte and were able to close just 10 days before we would have been forced to move from our old one—as our landlords did us the favor of selling it while we still lived there.
Olivia thought an important event during 2012 was her birth—debuting at 7:15 a.m. on her birthday and weighing in at 7 lbs. 11 oz., measuring 18.5 inches and sporting huge dimples. She has been a wonderful addition to the family and loves being held by her 3 oldest siblings as well as having a pacifier shoved forcefully into her mouth by Ava while she’s sleeping.
Speaking of Ava, she turned 2 this year, and is becoming a master of language; she’s figured out a way to reduce the number of words she actually has to learn by assigning multiple meanings to the same phonetic sound. For example, “be-dees” can mean any of the following: my two security blankets, breakfast, babies, pizza, scriptures, and a bunch of other things (if also accompanied with pointing). I wonder what other efficiencies she’ll figure out as she gets older. She loves her nursery class at church and playing at the YMCA while Megan works out.
Max (turned older this year) thought, probably, that the significant events of 2012 included his continued participation in pre-school, his developing reading skills, his playing YMCA flag football, his having a dead tooth extracted and his ability to “clean” his room by shoving everything under the bed so he can go outside and ride his scooter. He is also an expert “hugger” and is friends with everyone. Everyone.
Kaitlyn (turns older in a few weeks) reminded me that our moving into a new house meant attending her 3rd different elementary school in 3 years. It’s a good thing that she’s incredibly social and has other girls in her class dressing like her within days. She’s also been involved in dance, gymnastics and piano—including a love of figuring out the melody lines of songs by ear. And, she’s very excited to be getting baptized in a few weeks.
Alison (turned older this year, but is going on even older next year) is also making great strides in piano and has continued to be heavily involved in sports. She took up soccer for the first time this year and fit in great, despite being the only girl on the co-ed team. However, she’s excited to return to her roots and started basketball again this week. She also continues to excel in school (and work on Excel at home with money-making sales ideas of all kinds).
Megan reluctantly pointed out that she turned older this year, but I would point out that that didn’t stop her from being a member of the Stake Champion Weddington Ward Women’s Basketball team, serving in the children’s Primary leadership at church, delivering Olivia, or continuing to turn ordinary things like water bottles into cute and crafty projects with Stampin’ Up products of all kinds.
I’m enjoying my job at Bank of America and try to find time to play guitar whenever I can (which with 5 kids in the house ends up being at around midnight for 10 minutes at a time, every other month).
We love you all and are grateful for this time of year when we can reflect on the things it turns out we did this year as well as the things that really matter most—our family, our friends, and our faith in Jesus Christ. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy 2013.
Merry Christmas 2011
December 2011
Dear Family, Friends, Acquaintances and People Who Casually Picked Up This Letter—
Looking back on our 2011, I couldn’t remember all of the noteworthy events that took place during the course of the year, so I turned to our trusty family blog at www.nathanandmegan.blogspot.com for ideas. Unfortunately, 2011 turned out to be the year with the lowest actual blog post production (only 15 vs. 23 posts last year), so clearly I’m going to have to find another source of ideas for this year’s recap since it’s apparent that the slow economy has reached even the blogosphere.
First off, we’ve officially moved to North Carolina. It only took 11 months and 37 showings, but we were finally able to sell our house in Indiana at a loss and relocate to Charlotte to be able to work onsite at Bank of America headquarters for the job I accepted last year.
Shortly after unpacking our things, Megan and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary by using up all of the frequent flier miles and hotel points that I acquired from my consulting days and spent a week in Hawaii—which was the first time either of us had been. Megan’s parents were gracious enough to watch the kids, and they were fortunate that we decided to come back. However, while we were gone, Avery took advantage of the chance to make us feel bad by promptly learning to walk. We saw her first steps via video email only (but luckily those steps are now immortalized…until our hard drive crashes).
[2016 Update: Those first steps actually are lost forever as Max one day decided to pour water on our iPad to see if it would explode.]
Speaking of Ava, she turned older this year and is not only advanced with her walking skills, but she is also advanced with her teeth-growing skills. She had a full 8 teeth by the time she was 7 months old, and so she’s been eating “big kid” food at the table for quite some time now. Despite all this, she remains our petite little baby and loves being spoiled (and run-over) by her older siblings.
Max (turned older this year), does most of the running over. He started pre-school in the fall and absolutely loves it. He’s working on his reading skills. Although he hasn’t quite finished War and Peace yet, he does know most of his alphabet letters as well as some sight words like “the,” “and,” ,”of” and a few others that he’s been able to pick up during our nightly family scripture study. He looks quite scholarly in the glasses that he now wears after we discovered that his going cross-eyed was due to his inability to see rather than his sense of humor. In addition to all of his studies, Max is all boy and loves to run, wrestle, chase and break things.
Kaitlyn (turns older in a few weeks) has continued to work on her fashion skills. I think she got some good ideas when she went to her first concert (to see Taylor Swift) with Megan this year. Now that she is in first grade, she decided to try to get ahead and has been developing her PowerPoint skills in her spare time. So far she has created presentations on donuts, Halloween, Hawaii, her Uncle Michael and his new wife Heather’s wedding, grandparents, friends, and music. She has also been taking gymnastics and can no longer go from the family room to the kitchen without attempting cartwheels and round-offs.
Alison (turned older this year) is working on mastering her basketball skills. For her 9th birthday she invited 6 boys and 0 girls to play basketball at the neighborhood court and then returned to our home for basketball-themed treats and party favors. She joined a new basketball league in North Carolina and is practicing once with her team during the week, and once with another team during the week. She also just ran her very first 5K as a part of the Girls on the Run program. Ali also loves to read—even if it is an hour or two past her bedtime! She recently read 1,452 pages in a week in addition to her regular schoolwork.
Megan has finely perfected her scrapbooking and papercrafting skills, although being a mother of 4 rambunctious children and 1 determined husband doesn’t leave her with as much time to pursue her craft as she might like. Although she certainly misses her family, friends and Sunday School class in Indiana, she’s adjusted well and has quickly made new friends here.
I continue to be fine…except for that knee surgery in December that I needed after tearing my meniscus while playing church basketball in May.
We love you all and are grateful for this time of year when we can reflect on the fun things we’ve done this year as well as the things that really matter most—our family, our friends, and our faith in Jesus Christ. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy 2012.
Dear Family, Friends, Acquaintances and People Who Casually Picked Up This Letter—
Looking back on our 2011, I couldn’t remember all of the noteworthy events that took place during the course of the year, so I turned to our trusty family blog at www.nathanandmegan.blogspot.com for ideas. Unfortunately, 2011 turned out to be the year with the lowest actual blog post production (only 15 vs. 23 posts last year), so clearly I’m going to have to find another source of ideas for this year’s recap since it’s apparent that the slow economy has reached even the blogosphere.
First off, we’ve officially moved to North Carolina. It only took 11 months and 37 showings, but we were finally able to sell our house in Indiana at a loss and relocate to Charlotte to be able to work onsite at Bank of America headquarters for the job I accepted last year.
Shortly after unpacking our things, Megan and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary by using up all of the frequent flier miles and hotel points that I acquired from my consulting days and spent a week in Hawaii—which was the first time either of us had been. Megan’s parents were gracious enough to watch the kids, and they were fortunate that we decided to come back. However, while we were gone, Avery took advantage of the chance to make us feel bad by promptly learning to walk. We saw her first steps via video email only (but luckily those steps are now immortalized…until our hard drive crashes).
[2016 Update: Those first steps actually are lost forever as Max one day decided to pour water on our iPad to see if it would explode.]
Speaking of Ava, she turned older this year and is not only advanced with her walking skills, but she is also advanced with her teeth-growing skills. She had a full 8 teeth by the time she was 7 months old, and so she’s been eating “big kid” food at the table for quite some time now. Despite all this, she remains our petite little baby and loves being spoiled (and run-over) by her older siblings.
Max (turned older this year), does most of the running over. He started pre-school in the fall and absolutely loves it. He’s working on his reading skills. Although he hasn’t quite finished War and Peace yet, he does know most of his alphabet letters as well as some sight words like “the,” “and,” ,”of” and a few others that he’s been able to pick up during our nightly family scripture study. He looks quite scholarly in the glasses that he now wears after we discovered that his going cross-eyed was due to his inability to see rather than his sense of humor. In addition to all of his studies, Max is all boy and loves to run, wrestle, chase and break things.
Kaitlyn (turns older in a few weeks) has continued to work on her fashion skills. I think she got some good ideas when she went to her first concert (to see Taylor Swift) with Megan this year. Now that she is in first grade, she decided to try to get ahead and has been developing her PowerPoint skills in her spare time. So far she has created presentations on donuts, Halloween, Hawaii, her Uncle Michael and his new wife Heather’s wedding, grandparents, friends, and music. She has also been taking gymnastics and can no longer go from the family room to the kitchen without attempting cartwheels and round-offs.
Alison (turned older this year) is working on mastering her basketball skills. For her 9th birthday she invited 6 boys and 0 girls to play basketball at the neighborhood court and then returned to our home for basketball-themed treats and party favors. She joined a new basketball league in North Carolina and is practicing once with her team during the week, and once with another team during the week. She also just ran her very first 5K as a part of the Girls on the Run program. Ali also loves to read—even if it is an hour or two past her bedtime! She recently read 1,452 pages in a week in addition to her regular schoolwork.
Megan has finely perfected her scrapbooking and papercrafting skills, although being a mother of 4 rambunctious children and 1 determined husband doesn’t leave her with as much time to pursue her craft as she might like. Although she certainly misses her family, friends and Sunday School class in Indiana, she’s adjusted well and has quickly made new friends here.
I continue to be fine…except for that knee surgery in December that I needed after tearing my meniscus while playing church basketball in May.
We love you all and are grateful for this time of year when we can reflect on the fun things we’ve done this year as well as the things that really matter most—our family, our friends, and our faith in Jesus Christ. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy 2012.
Merry Christmas 2010
December 2010
Dear Family, Friends, Neighbors, Acquaintances, Colleagues, and Casual Observers who picked up this letter—
We are always grateful for the spirit of this season when people tend to turn their attention to the things that matter most—family, faith and friends. Since you are now officially on our holiday mailing list and there doesn’t appear to be any way to opt out or remove yourself from this list, you now have the (mis)fortune of receiving one of these letters each year for approximately the next 67 years. (I’m planning on writing until I’m 100, but then reserve the right to take a year or two off). In an effort to streamline this process and make it easier for all involved, next year I’m just going to create the perfect fill-in-the-blank letter and then each year a simple “find and replace” in Microsoft Word will solve all of my problems.
After several years as a road warrior with the management consulting firm, Accenture, working on growth strategy and innovation projects, this year I accepted a new position in Market and Competitive Intelligence in Charlotte with Bank of America. We’re excited about the new opportunity even though it entails a move from Indiana to North Carolina. I think the kids are most excited though about the fact that I’ll now be home for bedtime and ball games (instead of just dialing in or trying to connect via webcam). Megan also noted the lifestyle change when she remarked, “We have to increase our food budget since now you actually eat here.”
Speaking of Megan, she spent nine months of the year with a ‘serious’ medical condition called being-pregnant-with-the-fourth-while-still-trying-to-raise-the-other-three. While this condition was happily resolved when we welcomed our beautiful Avery into the family, doctors observed that it has spawned a new condition: lack-of-time-to-spend-papercrafting-with-Stampin’ Up-itis. Fortunately, she’s doing all she can with card parties and crafting get-togethers to address this second issue.
Alison has evolved into a full-blown basketball aficionado. She cleverly repurposed book fair money we sent with her to school to acquire Kobe Bryant and LeBron James posters “so that my room explains me.” She has already attended a couple of Pacers games this year and is playing in the 3rd/4th grade girls basketball league. She has also acquired close to 1,000 basketball cards and is now familiar with basketball legends dating back to Wilt Chamberlain and has become quite proficient at trading them. She also enjoys taking on the third grade boys in her class at basketball during recess.
Kaitlyn, our self-described “fashionista,” is loving kindergarten and riding the bus to school with her older sister. Almost daily she informs me that, “I’m a great person and I have a great personality” or that she’s wearing a certain outfit so that she can be a “diva.” My iPhone is now bogged down with half a dozen Barbie dress-up apps which she tries to play daily. When she’s exhausted her phone time for the day, she loves dancing around the house performing Taylor Swift songs for an imaginary audience of thousands. Not only does Kaitlyn have a “great personality”, but she is also an outstanding reader. All she wants for Christmas is for Taylor Swift to come visit her personally. (Anyone have any connections?)
Max has taught us how boys are innately different than girls—he cries much less and punches, tackles, and wrestles significantly more. One of his new favorite pastimes is studying different types of trucks. He is able to successfully identify excavators, backhoes, cranes, mixers, loaders, and tractors. Additionally, he is developing quite an extensive Matchbox car collection thanks to his older sisters’ lack of knowledge on what else boys like. He is a great big brother to his new little sister and tries to “save” her all the time (even though we’re still not quite sure what that exactly means).
As mentioned above, Avery (but we call her Ava for short), was born and is doing wonderfully. She’s been a joy for all of us and has an infectious and enthusiastic smile which she is just starting to show off. We feel privileged and blessed to have such wonderful friends and family as you. We wish you a very Happy Holidays and a wonderful 2011.
Dear Family, Friends, Neighbors, Acquaintances, Colleagues, and Casual Observers who picked up this letter—
We are always grateful for the spirit of this season when people tend to turn their attention to the things that matter most—family, faith and friends. Since you are now officially on our holiday mailing list and there doesn’t appear to be any way to opt out or remove yourself from this list, you now have the (mis)fortune of receiving one of these letters each year for approximately the next 67 years. (I’m planning on writing until I’m 100, but then reserve the right to take a year or two off). In an effort to streamline this process and make it easier for all involved, next year I’m just going to create the perfect fill-in-the-blank letter and then each year a simple “find and replace” in Microsoft Word will solve all of my problems.
After several years as a road warrior with the management consulting firm, Accenture, working on growth strategy and innovation projects, this year I accepted a new position in Market and Competitive Intelligence in Charlotte with Bank of America. We’re excited about the new opportunity even though it entails a move from Indiana to North Carolina. I think the kids are most excited though about the fact that I’ll now be home for bedtime and ball games (instead of just dialing in or trying to connect via webcam). Megan also noted the lifestyle change when she remarked, “We have to increase our food budget since now you actually eat here.”
Speaking of Megan, she spent nine months of the year with a ‘serious’ medical condition called being-pregnant-with-the-fourth-while-still-trying-to-raise-the-other-three. While this condition was happily resolved when we welcomed our beautiful Avery into the family, doctors observed that it has spawned a new condition: lack-of-time-to-spend-papercrafting-with-Stampin’ Up-itis. Fortunately, she’s doing all she can with card parties and crafting get-togethers to address this second issue.
Alison has evolved into a full-blown basketball aficionado. She cleverly repurposed book fair money we sent with her to school to acquire Kobe Bryant and LeBron James posters “so that my room explains me.” She has already attended a couple of Pacers games this year and is playing in the 3rd/4th grade girls basketball league. She has also acquired close to 1,000 basketball cards and is now familiar with basketball legends dating back to Wilt Chamberlain and has become quite proficient at trading them. She also enjoys taking on the third grade boys in her class at basketball during recess.
Kaitlyn, our self-described “fashionista,” is loving kindergarten and riding the bus to school with her older sister. Almost daily she informs me that, “I’m a great person and I have a great personality” or that she’s wearing a certain outfit so that she can be a “diva.” My iPhone is now bogged down with half a dozen Barbie dress-up apps which she tries to play daily. When she’s exhausted her phone time for the day, she loves dancing around the house performing Taylor Swift songs for an imaginary audience of thousands. Not only does Kaitlyn have a “great personality”, but she is also an outstanding reader. All she wants for Christmas is for Taylor Swift to come visit her personally. (Anyone have any connections?)
Max has taught us how boys are innately different than girls—he cries much less and punches, tackles, and wrestles significantly more. One of his new favorite pastimes is studying different types of trucks. He is able to successfully identify excavators, backhoes, cranes, mixers, loaders, and tractors. Additionally, he is developing quite an extensive Matchbox car collection thanks to his older sisters’ lack of knowledge on what else boys like. He is a great big brother to his new little sister and tries to “save” her all the time (even though we’re still not quite sure what that exactly means).
As mentioned above, Avery (but we call her Ava for short), was born and is doing wonderfully. She’s been a joy for all of us and has an infectious and enthusiastic smile which she is just starting to show off. We feel privileged and blessed to have such wonderful friends and family as you. We wish you a very Happy Holidays and a wonderful 2011.
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