An Experiment...

Well, the holidays have come and gone and life is slowly getting back to normal. We still have some Christmas cards trickling in which gave me an idea. I used to handmake my Christmas cards each year and then, when I got pregnant with Gus I realized I was too tired to do that anymore. So, I started ordering those very-generic but oh-so-easy photo cards. I told myself this year that I would also include a family update letter, but things got crazy and well, that didn't happen. I started thinking today as I was reading a friend's Christmas letter that I wished there was a way to write my letter in advance, before all the craziness of Christmas began. That lead me to thinking how interesting it would be (at least to me...maybe I'm alone in this) if I wrote my 2008 Christmas letter now and then looked back at it to see how accurate I was. So here it goes...maybe you'll see this come December, or maybe I'll be way off.

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Dear Friends,

Merry Christmas! It's hard to believe another Christmas season is already upon us. 2008 has been a wonderful year for our family. We hope it has been the same for you.

Mark is still with Nintendo and is enjoying his job as a Forecast Analyst. He was grateful for the addition of another analyst to his department which has lightened his work load a bit. He took a couple trips to Minneapolis to visit with accounts and has seen pretty much the whole of the Mall of America! When he's not working, Mark continues to be Max and Gus' hero and does "research" for work quite often, whether testing new Wii products or trying out the competition's offerings here at home.

Max finally decided to potty train and is loving preschool. He is particularly fond of the monthly field trips they take, which means he gets to ride a Metro bus. Very exciting for a 4-year old. In addition to preschool, Max took a 10-week painting class during which he moved from painting mainly lines to experimenting with circles. He continues to be a very curious boy who constantly wants to know "Why?" I have had to get pretty creative with some of my answers to keep him satisfied!

Gus has grown up so much over the past year. He's walking--well, running--everywhere. I have to keep my eye on him all the time as he's really fast! He routinely delights us with a new word, which he seems to be picking up more and more every day. He follows his brother around like a shadow, causing Max to often turn to me and say "Mommy, can you please tell Gus to go away?" For the most part though, the boys are good friends and it's been so fun to watch them interact together.

I took on the task of finally learning how to sew and have taken a few courses through North Seattle Community College. I still have much to learn, but I have really loved taking some time to work on a few small projects. The boys keep me busy and continue to challenge me to come up with creative ways to spend our days. It's a blessing to be home with them and to watch them grow up.

Mark and I celebrated our 7th anniversary in April and took a trip to New York City in May. We had to catch a game at Yankee Stadium before they closed it down. We planned it so that we caught a Mariners game and were thrilled when they won, although we were careful not to celebrate too loudly! It had been ages since Mark and I traveled without kids and was definitely a trip we'll remember for years to come.

Well, that about wraps it up for our family. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy 2009!

Love,
The Kaetzel Family