The year 2010 seemed to go by faster than any before. I don't think I would be able to recall everything we did, so thankfully I kept notes in my planner and took lots of pictures!
There is nothing more important to us than family and we have been so fortunate to see them a lot this year. In fact, in February, we added a new member to our family in the form of a puppy. Mojo is a mini-poodle/schnauzer mix. He will be one year old on December 15th. The veterinarian claims he is among one of the smartest breeds, but he has proven to be stubborn and energetic. Thankfully he is also loving and perfect with our girls, who have since then warmed up to animals of all kinds.
Rebecca is still in love with bunnies and even got to pet live miniature bunnies on Easter. Becca has always been a happy child, but when that little 3-year-old face lights up so easily it always warms my heart. You would never know that she has been struggling with Asthma all year. In August she had a horrible Asthma attack, which lead us to start her on a preventative daily treatment. We are proud to say she hasn't had an attack in 3 months! Just last week we changed from using the Nebulizer (breathing machine) at night to an inhaler (our little girl is growing up too fast). She can still outgrow the Asthma, just as she outgrew her toddler classes at daycare; Becca is now in Early Preschool.
She loves the color pink, cold weather, painting and coloring, candy of any kind, being read to, sung to and danced with, watching Backyardigans and Cinderella, playing dress-up and pretty much anything else when someone will play with her. She wakes up every morning around 6am and doesn’t know what an inside voice is… yet.
The girls love their school (as do we). From the field trips, pajama days, show-and-tell, weekly trips to the library, swim lessons, fitness classes and structured curriculum...the girls love their teachers and have many friends.
It was a surprise to me that everyone at the school knows Elizabeth as Lizzie, and she loves it. Our little drama mama has been the star throughout the year, beginning with "running" the Bloomsday marathon with Matt in May, to performing a tap dance as a little Bumblebee in June. She is now trying out gymnastics (as is Becca), and has already moved up classes by several levels. While I love when she is brave and courageous, she has no fear in gymnastics just as she did during swim lessons. Fortunately, she didn’t lose any teeth at the pool, because watching her knock her front tooth out while jumping off the high beam at the gym was a nightmare. After the pain (and blood) vanished, Elizabeth was left with a souvenir and a story, which she loves sharing; Plus she got a visit from the tooth fairy.
Elizabeth loves dressing up, shopping, learning: including reading and writing, to dance, to talk, playing pretend and one-on-one attention. At school they say she is a leader (I think this is another way of saying she is bossy). She is always up for playing with other kids and doesn’t quite understand when one doesn’t want to play with her or the group. Although she loves to talk and tell stories, she is still a shy bug and has some stage fright.
While we won’t be seeing another ballet costume soon, we did see two cute Halloween costumes. We had planned on Becca being Pebbles from the Flintstones (she would have looked adorable with the little bone on top of her head), but she insisted that she was Cinderella and after hearing her tell everyone that is what she was dressing up as, we gave up and got her a Cinderella dress. She was an adorable princess and beamed when she found out her Daddy was a King. And while adorable isn’t the word I would use to describe most punk-rockers, there really isn’t a better word to use to describe how Elizabeth looked with her temporary tattoos, teased and colored hair, black nails, and clothes. We all had a great time at the theatre’s costume party this year! The girls danced and Elizabeth has a mean air guitar! After they were home in bed, we were able to go back and dance and play games with the other adults. It was good to see Matt relax and have a good time!
There have been quite a few other theatre events that we’ve had fun with this year, too. In February Matt performed in the play Check Please, which I directed. It was a blast working with all the adults on the comedy about two people going on several horribly funny blind dates (Matt being one of them). In July we dressed up for the farmer’s market Theatre Festival to promote some of the summer performances. Matt was Troy Bolton from High School Musical and I was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Those were two characters we never would have predicted us dressing as, but it was a lot of fun! Also in July I started producing an Improv comedy troupe. It’s not a lot of work for me and I love that we have made it possible for the group to perform locally. Lastly, I had been working since early August on the musical, BurgerTown. This may come as a shock to some, as I cannot hold a tune to save my life, but I was lucky to find a great cast that can! We performed the first two weekends of December, raised a fair amount of money and got a lot of great feedback about the show. While I am still proud and inspired by theatre and our community program, I am thrilled to have some time away to spend with my family.
It is amazing how much I miss my girls now that I am working full time. I have been at Banner Marketing since last September as a Web Developer. Although I would still love to travel more, I do love my job and several of my co-workers. I am eager to learn more about CSS and HTML coding, as well as get more graphic design experience.
Matt is still working at McKinstry and was promoted to Senior Energy Engineer! He has been working especially hard because of the large amount of energy project grant funds available this year. Matt plans to take the Professional Engineer exam in April of 2011.
A few more highlights of our year:
In June we spent two weekends visiting with Granma and Papa while they were in Pasco. We spent most of the time in the backyard with the kids in their swimsuits and kiddie-pool, but we also got to see my brother-in-law, David, graduate with his Masters. He started working this summer and is undoubtedly one of the greatest teachers ever!
Before leaving for law school in Chicago Dan, my other brother-in-law, was able to stay with us for a few weeks. Not only was it great for the girls to play with him, but we also enjoyed seeing him and miss having him around.
Fortunately we weren’t around too much, as we spent a week in Lincoln City, OR with my parents and Jessica, David and Cooper. The water was cold, but that didn’t stop us from playing in the sand. We also flew kites, made bon fires, found an awesome playground, and spent a lot of time together. I would definitely say it was worth the 8+ hour drive, although Jessica might disagree with me as while in Oregon, she shared with us that she is expecting! YAY! She is due in February with another boy and we cannot wait to meet him. Other than being car-sick for a while, she has had another easy pregnancy.
We didn’t drive when we went to southern California in September and the girls loved flying! The water was still cold, but we still jumped waves at the beach. At least Elizabeth did, Becca was perfectly content playing in the sand, especially when Matt buried her legs and made her a mermaid. Washing the sand off of her was not fun. Thankfully there was no sand at Lego Land, which was the perfect place to take the girls! My Granma has always been a blast to go on rides with and I couldn’t have asked for a better person to have join us at the theme park! Elizabeth went on several rollercoasters and still remembers Granma laughing, probably the same as how I remember her when I was her age. My mom is an amazing woman, and it isn’t hard to see why. I could have stayed up all night talking and listening to my Granma, but we had such full days we both retired at midnight. I hope we can have more nights like that and I look forward to when they are living closer to us in Washington!
Other than us, Washington has a lot to offer. Not only is it beautiful, but we have great seasonal weather! Our summer was filled with kiddie-pools and sandboxes and our winter has been full of snowmen and winter clothes. Throughout all the seasons our girls are happy and we couldn't ask for much more than that. We hope that your year was also filled with joy!
