Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!


What a year it has been.


In September, we found out I (Christy) had a small carcinoid tumour. After an excision,
extensive testing and another excision, it was determined that we caught it early and it has been completely removed. I feel healthy and extremely lucky, and will have regular screenings from this point on. I still love, love, love being a stay-at-home mom. Our days are filled with play and learning, as well as plenty of messes. We are both just so joyful being together each day.


Rob has made a lot of great music this year. As I write, he is wearing an Onion shirt that says "I am in a promising local band." It really should be plural. He played bass and guitar with quite a few different rock bands in town (and totally kept up with the youngsters, I might add!), and is already fostering Kathryn's love of music. He loves being a daddy, and handles Kathryn's bedtime routine every night, including lots and lots of stories with voices only he could create. He still works at UNC doing I.T. support.

Kathryn is our little social butterfly. She also loves stories, even making up her own. They always start with "once upon a time", end with "and they lived happily ever after", and what happens between usually involves Tinkerbell going to the pumpkin patch and picking out the tiniest little pumpkin. Kathryn is so tenderhearted, and funny. She loves taking care of her baby dolls, playing with Moon Sand, singing, and pulling out anything recently put away in drawers or boxes. She knows all of her letters and numbers and has told us she wants to learn how to read. I wish I had a slow-motion button I could press, but she is growing before our eyes. She is also showing an interest in horticulture, as two of her favorite outings this year were to pick tomatoes, and then to pick out a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch (you see from where she draws her story inspiration!).

In November, we sold our house and bought a newish one across town. We have already settled
in pretty well, and Rob even had a chance to put up some lovely Christmas lights. Maybe
we will be the next "Greeley Griswolds". The new place has a lot more space, requires less
maintenance and is in a really cute little neighborhood. Our hope is that we will have
friends and family over a lot at the new place, so come and see us!

We hope this letter finds you and yours enjoying a restful and peaceful season. Thank you for being a part of our lives!

Much love,

Rob, Christine and Kathryn

Christmas Photos (Letter soon...)

Oh yes, and the duck. Once she saw that duck, she insisted it needed to be in every photo.
What can you do?

Our very good friends are moving back home to Iowa. It is so bittersweet.

We decided to honor them, with (what else?) an over-the-top Christmas sweater party.

I didn't get as many photos as I wanted, but you get the idea.

We will miss you guys terribly.

...along with your willingness to attend our ridiculously silly theme parties!












(Thanks, A. for the pictures I swiped and for letting the kids borrow your "moose" antlers!)

Dress like Olivia day- Why not?

Just for fun, Kathryn dressed up as one of her favorite literary heroines: Olivia the Piglet

The joy of baking

These are long, but so cute. Christmas is going to be a lot of fun this year.

Twinkle Twinkle...

Why I love fall

(Thanks, H.)

Happy Birthdayween!

Thanks for the pics. I ripped from your blog, A., and thanks again, Mom for making my favorite costume ever!!!

We got to visit with Great Grandma, Uncle Rex, and our friend Jeff...

We were all quiet, civilized, and not at all rowdy, loud or out of control.

Either that, or I'm worried that this blog could be used against me in a court of law. You be the judge.

The great pumpkin...

Actually, it was more like A Charlie Brown Christmas... she ended up picking the tiniest pumpkin there (not pictured)!

As you can imagine, it was so exciting for her that it was a little tricky getting her to sit still for photos...

She still talks about going to the pumpkin patch to this day.