Becca

Some indications that my baby girl is growing up:

Deodorant
Facial cleansing products
Body spray
The need for more frequent showering
So many outgrown clothes
A definite opinion about what she wants to wear
A budding interest in boys
Periodic requests for a cell phone

Some indications that my big girl is still my baby:

Playing dress up
Playing with dolls
Lots of snuggles and kisses at bedtime

Nine years has passed so quickly!

Here are some of my favorite pix of Becca over the years:

3 months old


14 months old


2 years old with Isak


3 years old - I have several pictures of her crashed mid-play


4 years old - at her first dance class


4 years old - another hard day of play


5 years old - at Disney World


6 years old - with our dear friend and kindergarten teacher


7 years old - at her fashion show birthday party


almost 8 years old - in Hawaii


8 years old - giving a report on Elizabeth Blackwell


What a sweet, bright and silly girl! I can't believe she's 9.

Holiday Letter

Isak
I am 7. I am in 1st grade. My favorite subject is math. I was born on Tuesday, November 11, 2004 (no, it wasn’t actually a Tuesday, it was a Thursday). I do taekwondo. I am a blue belt. I go to Guion Creek Elementary. My teacher’s name is Mrs. Carol Crider. I do choir in room 113 (this is the room his choir meets in at a local university. He and Becca are both in the Indianapolis Children’s Choir). In school I am in room 1. My favorite thing to do is read. My favorite food is spaghetti.

Becca
I turned 8 in January. I’ve met lots of new friends, like Hannah (I have no idea who Hannah is, but apparently she is important enough to mention in the holiday letter). When I turned 8 I got baptized at my church. After that I went home and got gifts, cake and play time. (Since Becca didn’t share much about herself, I’ll add just a bit. She is in 3rd grade this year and loves her teacher and classmates. She is still taking dance lessons and this year is participating in her dance studio’s production of The Nutcracker. Between school work, choir, dance, church activities, and a couple of extra-curricular clubs at school – scrabble and quilting – she is a busy girl. We frequently talk about cutting back, but she is just like her mama and wants to do EVERYTHING!)

Tricia
I continue to stay busy keeping the family on track. I am amazed at how much more time I have with both of the kids in school all day. I enjoy the flexibility in my schedule and the uninterrupted time to get things done, but I’m always happy when 3:30 rolls around and the kids walk through the door. I have thought frequently over the past few months that my life has the perfect balance of calm and crazy.
I have been serving at church as the Primary president, which I thoroughly enjoy. I have been teaching a scripture study class for women for the past year and a half, and it has been such a blessing to me. I love preparing the lessons and I enjoy the discussions we have in class.
I have become more active in the PTO at the kids’ school, serving this year as treasurer and also assigned to a couple of special projects. Volunteering at the school is so rewarding! It is an honor to work with the children and to get to know the adults who have such an impact on the lives of my kids.

Jeremy
This has been a fun and busy year. Most notably, I have been accepted into the AEGD (Advanced Education in General Dentistry) of the US Air Force and report to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in August. It adds a year commitment to what I already owe the Air Force, but it will be great from a practice standpoint, because it will introduce me to many specialties and allow me to become a more independent dentist. I am working hard to complete the graduation requirements of Dental school and anticipate gradating in May. I am constantly amazed at how awesome my wife and children are. (If you have time, I have many stories I can share.) We are hoping to have an addition to our family soon, but the waiting process for adopting within the US is very long and slow. We’ve been approved for adoption, but have yet to be selected.

We have received many blessings throughout the year and count ourselves lucky to have you in our lives. We wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year!

I'm back!

So, a month after my last post, I'm back! The last week before the Matis reunion got a little crazy. For those of you who don't know, Jeremy and I were in charge of plannng a reunion for his family. We held the reunion for a week over Christmas, and all 25 members of his family were able to be there. We had a lot of fun planning and being at the reunion, but WOW! It was a lot of work! Preparing for Christmas, the reunion and a trip all in one was a challenge. Everything went smoothly, but I worked hard to prepare and it will take me a while to feel caught up again.

We tried to get letters out to as many people as possible, but with all of the planning and preparations going on here, we didn't have time to track down addresses for those who have moved that we wanted to send letters to. If you have moved and did not receive a letter from us, would you please send me an email with your address? I love to send and receive holiday letters!

For those of you who did not receive our letter, I will post it here. I decided to have everyone write their own part of the letter this year (partially because I thought it would be fun to see what the kids would write about and partially to save myself time!), so I will post each of our sections under our names.

I truly hope that everyone had a beautiful Christmas and that the New Year has gotten off to a great start!