Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!!!!

Had we sent a letter out in cards this year, here's what it would have said...

Seasons Greetings 2011!

We can’t believe the New Year is just about upon us! With two little guys in the house, time just seem to keep going by faster & faster!

Eli is almost 21 months and our resident monkey! In true toddler fashion, he is into everything and tries to do everything that his big brother can. This has resulted in his fair share of “owies” and even a quick trip to the ER in May! He loves music & dancing, playing with his big brother, is super inquisitive, and very expressive (even though his speech is bit delayed). He certainly provides never-ending excitement to our days and we’re looking forward to the new developments that will occur as he approaches 2!

Andrew is 4 and ½, which we still find hard to believe! This school year, he started preschool two mornings a week at Joy Christian school not far from our house. It’s been a great situation for us & he loves going! We still can’t believe Kindergarten is next year and are a bit nervous in deciding where he will go! Tough decisions! At 4, Andrew is SO eager to learn about everything around him and asks us what seems like thousands of questions a day about any number of topics! He is still so observant, inquisitive, a bit shy at times, and has quite a little artistic side too.

Brian is still in his Post-Doctoral Research position at ASU, doing work in chemical biology and the human genome project. He has been working hard at getting a big paper published and there is a possible patent pending on one of his projects as well. We’re hoping & praying that both of those things go through soon, giving him the opportunity to either move up at ASU or move on to another job. Basically, we’re just hoping that the “post-doc” label goes away soon!

Sara— This has been my second year away from teaching & staying/working at home instead! It’s been such a wonderful blessing to have more time with the boys, but yet still bring in some money.  In addition to doing some curriculum writing for an on-line company, a little over a year ago, I launched the site, Mom Endeavors. It’s been a dream job for me, turning a hobby into an actual money-making venture and affording us some really cool opportunities—including a special event at Disneyland this summer!! Between taking care of the boys, keeping up the blog, and doing fun playdates/outings with friends (it has been so great that a few good friends here are also staying at home right now), I certainly have been keeping busy!

We had a great 2011—enjoying time with family & friends and some great trips to California, Colorado for a Wellensiek Family Reunion, and Nebraska! And, we’re looking forward to ending the year with a visit from Brian’s family—including his brother, Tyler, who is back from Australia for the first time in over 4 years!

Wishing you a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year!  We hope 2012 is full of blessings and happiness for you and your family!