the year in review
Happy New Year!
Having totally failed to write any cards on Solstice this year, and having
never really geared up for the "Christmas newsletter" style cards, I'd
like to try using LJ to post some of our year's news.
This New Year's, for the first time, Steve stayed up until midnight with
us. He played his first Crayon Rail game, British Rails, and beat me by
one turn, delivering pigs to Coventry before I could deliver would have
been my final load, cotton to Ayr. :^) He made good use of the Jute
market, for those of you familiar with the game. :^)
This morning we've been trying to remember 2007.
At the beginning of 2007, we got Frogger as a tadpole from one of Chris'
students. Frogger is now 5 inches long and inhabiting a 10 gallon tank.
:-) She can drag an unsuspecting finger halfway to the bottom.
At the beginning of 2007, I had just started working half days from my
parents' house to try to help, as Dad had been getting increasingly bad
Parkinson's symptoms.
Steve lost 4 teeth this year, bringing him up to 7 teeth lost total so
far. The top front 2 are almost all grown in.
Chris completed his first year teaching, and Steve completed first grade.
We vacationed at Maidstone Lake over the summer, camping out with Aunt
Jen. This year we had the advantage of lean-to sites, due to Chris'
making reservations most of a year ahead. :-) It was Steve's first time
kayaking, and he took to it like a duck to water. Soon we were renting
both kayaks and a canoe to get the whole family around. :-)
At the end of the summer, we visited with Grandma Lois (Chris' Mom) at the
Farm (their family home in Vermont), shortly before she was due to head
back to Arizona. Her doctor in Vermont had felt something strange in her
liver, and wanted her to get more tests. When she got the test results in
Arizona, she called us with the very difficult news that she had cancer.
We visited Arizona early in October (thanks to her best friend Lukky's
warning to "go now") and were planning to come back for Thanksgiving.
Grandma Lois died the week before Thanksgiving, while Chris' sister Beth
was there. We came down and spent Thanksgiving with Beth and her partner
Bill. We did visit the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, and Sabino Canyon,
where the tram road is almost all replaced after the flooding a couple years
ago. Grandma Lois' Memorial Service is scheduled for January 19. She was
a wise and charming woman, and she will be dearly missed.
Second year teaching doesn't seem quite as hard on Chris, although the
curriculum change has still meant long hours doing new lesson plans. In
September, Steven went into Ms. Fisher's second grade class, where he is reading
and multiplying up a storm.
My father went from being wheelchair-bound with some ability to stand and
pivot, to becoming bedridden about four months ago. In December, Mom
finally accepted having a Home Help Care Aide come in twice a week. This
helps, although I'm sorry to say that the other five days a week are still
more work than a full week was this time last year, when Dad still had
some mobility.
Steve continues to grow and amaze us. It's been a pretty amazing trip from
infant to playing rail games. I can't quite say "it goes so fast" -- it does feel
like seven years -- but it's an amazing journey and I look forward to the coming year.
Wishing you all the best for the coming year!
Anne
Having totally failed to write any cards on Solstice this year, and having
never really geared up for the "Christmas newsletter" style cards, I'd
like to try using LJ to post some of our year's news.
This New Year's, for the first time, Steve stayed up until midnight with
us. He played his first Crayon Rail game, British Rails, and beat me by
one turn, delivering pigs to Coventry before I could deliver would have
been my final load, cotton to Ayr. :^) He made good use of the Jute
market, for those of you familiar with the game. :^)
This morning we've been trying to remember 2007.
At the beginning of 2007, we got Frogger as a tadpole from one of Chris'
students. Frogger is now 5 inches long and inhabiting a 10 gallon tank.
:-) She can drag an unsuspecting finger halfway to the bottom.
At the beginning of 2007, I had just started working half days from my
parents' house to try to help, as Dad had been getting increasingly bad
Parkinson's symptoms.
Steve lost 4 teeth this year, bringing him up to 7 teeth lost total so
far. The top front 2 are almost all grown in.
Chris completed his first year teaching, and Steve completed first grade.
We vacationed at Maidstone Lake over the summer, camping out with Aunt
Jen. This year we had the advantage of lean-to sites, due to Chris'
making reservations most of a year ahead. :-) It was Steve's first time
kayaking, and he took to it like a duck to water. Soon we were renting
both kayaks and a canoe to get the whole family around. :-)
At the end of the summer, we visited with Grandma Lois (Chris' Mom) at the
Farm (their family home in Vermont), shortly before she was due to head
back to Arizona. Her doctor in Vermont had felt something strange in her
liver, and wanted her to get more tests. When she got the test results in
Arizona, she called us with the very difficult news that she had cancer.
We visited Arizona early in October (thanks to her best friend Lukky's
warning to "go now") and were planning to come back for Thanksgiving.
Grandma Lois died the week before Thanksgiving, while Chris' sister Beth
was there. We came down and spent Thanksgiving with Beth and her partner
Bill. We did visit the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, and Sabino Canyon,
where the tram road is almost all replaced after the flooding a couple years
ago. Grandma Lois' Memorial Service is scheduled for January 19. She was
a wise and charming woman, and she will be dearly missed.
Second year teaching doesn't seem quite as hard on Chris, although the
curriculum change has still meant long hours doing new lesson plans. In
September, Steven went into Ms. Fisher's second grade class, where he is reading
and multiplying up a storm.
My father went from being wheelchair-bound with some ability to stand and
pivot, to becoming bedridden about four months ago. In December, Mom
finally accepted having a Home Help Care Aide come in twice a week. This
helps, although I'm sorry to say that the other five days a week are still
more work than a full week was this time last year, when Dad still had
some mobility.
Steve continues to grow and amaze us. It's been a pretty amazing trip from
infant to playing rail games. I can't quite say "it goes so fast" -- it does feel
like seven years -- but it's an amazing journey and I look forward to the coming year.
Wishing you all the best for the coming year!
Anne