Merry Christmas 2009 Family and Friends! Let us begin with the Christmas letter break down of all the good and bad about my lovely kiddos ... ready ... GO!
Brandon . . . He is 17 now! Wow . . . not as WOW as to the fact that January 14th he will turn 18 and on May 22 will graduate from high school! Crazy how time can fly by! He is still an excellent student, and is looking at going to East Tennessee State University in the fall of 2010. The college is located in Johnson City, TN in the eastern part of the state, about 5 hours away from his mama. He is going to be studying Criminal Justice and is looking at becoming a field investigator someday. Too many episodes of CSI in his head, but he knows the reality of it that crimes are not solved that quickly. We are very excited and nervous for all that he will be experiencing in the next year. Please pray for him as he graduates and heads out into the big world!
Dawson . . . our eleven year old ball of all boy mischief. Dawson is in 6th grade and started middle school this year. This means a whole new level of responsibility that we are still adapting to. Dawson gets good grades, but does need the occasional reminder from his mother to bring his homework home, clean up his locker, stay organized . . . you get the idea . . . Mom is kind of crazy. Dawson has focused on soccer as his primary sport. He did try out for the MS team but did not make it. He had a great attitude about it and plans to try out again in Fall2010. He did play rec again this year and his team went undefeated for the season and tourney and were the true champions of their league. Dawson still enjoys building with Legos and Knex as well as wrestling with his sisters and climbing the walls (literally).
Sophia . . . our very smart inquisitive five year old ‘tomboy. Sophia joined the ranks of the big kids this year as she climbs on the school bus each morning to go to Kindergarten at real school. She loves school and is enjoying learning. She loves to read and do math. Sophia played soccer in the spring and fall and had a great time (even though the girls on her team named their team the Princess Ponies – ugh and eye roll from her on that one). She is trying out basketball this year also. So far she hasn’t quite got the hang of it but we are just two games in. Five year old girls are a riot to watch on the basketball court though.
Grace . . . our little mommy and sweet princess is two years old now. Grace is definitely all girl. She loves to play with her babies. You will normally find her with a baby on her hip and a purse on her shoulder talking on a cell phone. She likes to put her babies to bed, and recently she has started potty training her babies (she is still working herself on this skill). She loves to dress up and have bows in her hair; however, with her lack of hair yet this really is just a little ponytail on top of her head. Her latest gained skill is operating Daddy’s I Phone. She has some of her own applications on there that she can find, open, and play without anyones help. She has also accidentally figured out how to delete apps off Daddy’s I Phone – Oops!
Daddy started a new job early this year and is a Program Director for EMids. He gets to travel quite a bit, and even went to India for a few weeks in August. He brought us all back very cool gifts and had a great time seeing the sights of India with his co-workers who live there. Mommy is still working for First Data from home. She is teaching an 8th grade girls Sunday School class, and works with the youth in the church on Wednesday and Sunday nights. We recently figured out we will have at least one child in the youth group for the next 16 years, and once Brandon starts college we will be paying for college for the next 20 years at least. WOW!
We pray that each of you has a very Merry Christmas and a blessed 2010!
Love – Jeff, Terri, Brandon, Dawson, Sophia, and Grace
Brandon . . . He is 17 now! Wow . . . not as WOW as to the fact that January 14th he will turn 18 and on May 22 will graduate from high school! Crazy how time can fly by! He is still an excellent student, and is looking at going to East Tennessee State University in the fall of 2010. The college is located in Johnson City, TN in the eastern part of the state, about 5 hours away from his mama. He is going to be studying Criminal Justice and is looking at becoming a field investigator someday. Too many episodes of CSI in his head, but he knows the reality of it that crimes are not solved that quickly. We are very excited and nervous for all that he will be experiencing in the next year. Please pray for him as he graduates and heads out into the big world!
Dawson . . . our eleven year old ball of all boy mischief. Dawson is in 6th grade and started middle school this year. This means a whole new level of responsibility that we are still adapting to. Dawson gets good grades, but does need the occasional reminder from his mother to bring his homework home, clean up his locker, stay organized . . . you get the idea . . . Mom is kind of crazy. Dawson has focused on soccer as his primary sport. He did try out for the MS team but did not make it. He had a great attitude about it and plans to try out again in Fall2010. He did play rec again this year and his team went undefeated for the season and tourney and were the true champions of their league. Dawson still enjoys building with Legos and Knex as well as wrestling with his sisters and climbing the walls (literally).
Sophia . . . our very smart inquisitive five year old ‘tomboy. Sophia joined the ranks of the big kids this year as she climbs on the school bus each morning to go to Kindergarten at real school. She loves school and is enjoying learning. She loves to read and do math. Sophia played soccer in the spring and fall and had a great time (even though the girls on her team named their team the Princess Ponies – ugh and eye roll from her on that one). She is trying out basketball this year also. So far she hasn’t quite got the hang of it but we are just two games in. Five year old girls are a riot to watch on the basketball court though.
Grace . . . our little mommy and sweet princess is two years old now. Grace is definitely all girl. She loves to play with her babies. You will normally find her with a baby on her hip and a purse on her shoulder talking on a cell phone. She likes to put her babies to bed, and recently she has started potty training her babies (she is still working herself on this skill). She loves to dress up and have bows in her hair; however, with her lack of hair yet this really is just a little ponytail on top of her head. Her latest gained skill is operating Daddy’s I Phone. She has some of her own applications on there that she can find, open, and play without anyones help. She has also accidentally figured out how to delete apps off Daddy’s I Phone – Oops!
Daddy started a new job early this year and is a Program Director for EMids. He gets to travel quite a bit, and even went to India for a few weeks in August. He brought us all back very cool gifts and had a great time seeing the sights of India with his co-workers who live there. Mommy is still working for First Data from home. She is teaching an 8th grade girls Sunday School class, and works with the youth in the church on Wednesday and Sunday nights. We recently figured out we will have at least one child in the youth group for the next 16 years, and once Brandon starts college we will be paying for college for the next 20 years at least. WOW!
We pray that each of you has a very Merry Christmas and a blessed 2010!
Love – Jeff, Terri, Brandon, Dawson, Sophia, and Grace
where the Grinch showed up . . .
Jeff and I attending his Foo-Foo work party . . . the picture really doesn't do us justice on how good we looked! Remember the camera adds like 50 pounds!
