Saturday, January 15, 2011

Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas!! I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas! To friends and family...A card and or letter this year just didn't happen. This past year has been a year of change and stress! The kids are doing well! Three in school. Lilly in Second grade, Brig in Kindergarten, and Sam has Grandma Larsen teaching her Preschool two times a week.

Natasha has had a great year of growth. She has learned how to fight really well and stand up for herself. She has this squinty eye, over smile that we laugh at all the time. She is by far the best dancer of all the kids at this age. She really has moves. She is stubborn, sweet, and a lot of fun! She really thinks she is as old as Lilly! She even keeps up, most of the time!
Samantha had a great year. She continues with her Occupational Therapy and has made great progress! Putting on clothes and getting her hands messy is not a problem much anymore. Now she just has a few things to work on with her audio sensations. Glasses were also a big help for her. She is so cute in them!! Sam loves Preschool with Grandma Larsen and had huge success in writing her S the right way!!! She loves to cuddle with mom, almost to the point it drives me nuts! She is strong, determined and Is Just SAM~
Brigham started Kindergarten this year and loves it...but now he does not like getting up in the morning. He has made friend! He has been invited to a lot of girls houses for play dates. Too funny. He helped a little girl on the bus that was being picked on and from then on she loves Brig. He is a really sweet boy! He found out that he will be the only brother in the family and took it better than mom. As soon as he found out the new baby to come was another sister, he was fine with it. He saw the ultrasound and saw her moving in my belly and then he didn't care.

Lilly is now 8! This was a big great year for her. She has been waiting for this year forever it seems. She was baptised by her dad and had a wonderful day! Now she really has to be careful with her decisions and Choose the Right!! For the most part Lilly is a really great young lady. She makes friends at school easily and is a little missionary on the bus. She asked everyone if they believe in Jesus! She is a wealth of knowledge scripturally. She knows more than I do. She loves to sing and is really into memorization of movies and then acting them out. She will be starting Drama club this next year. It has been a great year for Lilly in growing up! She is quit emotional, which I don't think will get better over the years. She is a delight to have in our family and has been a great example to her siblings!



I have gone back to work part-time, which has been interesting this year. I started in April and I really love it. I am working at Eye Health NW downtown! It was a little strange at first when Natasha would call me Dad and Jon mommy. She is doing a little better now. I have felt bad that I don't get to volunteer at the school as much as I would like but for now it is what has to be. On my days off I am busy. I run errands, have Dr. appointments laundry and everything else that needs to be done.



Jon has had a hard year also but has been a humbling experience along with personal growth. Kathlen Enterprises, Inc. the family business went under in February and Jon has been Mr. mom while trying to work from home starting up the Tour Company, Edelweiss Tours. He had a few tours this year but we have a lot more lined up for next year. Jon got certified as a Swiss expert from Switzerland tourism. He had to pass a lot of tests and he did a great job! He has also started going back to school two nights a week. By the end of next semester he will have finally finished with a Bachelors in Social Science with a minor in Physiology. I am proud of him for making the decision to get it finished.

Jon has also had a publishing co. want to publish one of his children's short story picture books, this coming year. We are excited to find out more as this process goes on.




All in All it has been a great, hard, interesting, year of growth and change! And we couldn't have made it with out the love of our Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father!! Because of them we have been able to keep our faith, know and have peace of mind that all will be OK and we will get through the hard times. We have been blessed in tons of ways! We can see the hand he has in our lives and that he really cares for us and our happiness!!

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