Seasons' Greetings from Bend, Oregon!
Left to Right
Selah(3), Noah(13), Calvin(11), Anna(3), Michael(9)
At our new house October 2011
In Maui, April 2011
Thank you for taking the time to come over to our blog. Since Adding Anna and Selah to our family, I have not been very good at keeping this blog updated, but, once again, my hope is that I will update more frequently so that I won't have to write such a lengthy Christmas letter to update you all on what is happening with us.
Our biggest news this year is our move to the new neighborhood and new house in NW Crossing! We began the building process the end of Summer 2010. After 6 months of planning, we finally broke ground March of this year and the house was completed before the boys started school in September.
One of the main reasons we chose to build a house in this neighborhood was to simplify our life. We wanted to live in a community where we could walk or bike to school, parks, coffee shops, grocery store, etc. This move has been a very positive thing for our family and we feel like we are adding hours to our day to not have to drive our kids to and from school daily.
The boys probably have had the biggest adjustment with the new school this fall. Noah (8th)(Who has surpassed me in height this year) & Calvin (6th) started going to Cascade Middle School, and Michael(4th) at High Lakes Elementary. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, these schools are within walking and biking distance. Noah & Calvin have been riding their bikes daily to and from school (even in 18 degree weather with the proper gear), and Michael has been walking or biking to school as well. Although it was difficult at first to be the new kids in a new school, the boys (Noah & Calvin, mostly) quickly adjusted to their new environment. Noah & Calvin participated in Cross Country this fall and actually enjoyed it :) (Neither Calvin nor Noah were excited about doing X Country, but I strongly encouraged them to do it). Other than school, Noah & Michael are in their 2nd year taking piano lessons, and Calvin is learning to play the violin through beginning orchestra at school. Noah & Calvin have gone to a couple of Wyld Life (Young Life for middle schoolers) events, and Calvin loves attending his weekly youth group at church. The boys continue to help me any way they can with the girls ~ Noah even babysits now for short periods of time so that Aaron & I can go out for a quick coffee or a bite to eat nearby.
The girls are growing daily :), they keep me very busy with their very ACTIVE personalities. Anna (almost 4 yrs) and Selah(3 yrs) both LOVE doing arts and crafts and any type of writing, cutting, pasting, molding activities. Anna loves writing and has figured out how to write most of the alphabets and has learned the sounds they make. Although I was reluctant to start at first, we have begun a phonics reading book together that we use 15 minutes a day. She loves this time of one on one and calls it her "school". She is an amazing artist, so I have had to purchase reams of paper and have markers and crayons stocked in order to keep her creativity alive. She is amazing and exhausting at the same time. :) Selah is a typical young sibling that seems to absorb everything her big sister is doing. She has learned through Anna, the alphabet and the sounds they make (although, she struggles with most of the consonant sounds due to her speech articulation delay). She has also learned how to write some of the alphabets watching Anna. Selah loves being read to and has great attention span, so I try to read to her (and Anna) every chance I get. She is in speech articulation class once a week, where she works with a licensed speech language pathologist in a pre-school setting to learn how to pronounce many of the consonants she is not producing during regular speech. She is making progress, although progress seems very slow sometimes. Other than that, the girls are doing ballet once a week, which they LOVE. It brings me SO much joy to see them dance in ballet class. They are both great little dancers, but Selah is especially expressive in her imitation of the ballet instructor. Selah has recently had ear tubes placed in both ears due to fluid build-up in her right ear. She has tested for a minor hearing loss in her right ear, so we are hoping this surgery has corrected that problem.
Aaron is in his 9th year at Desert Orthopedics ~ he still daily commutes on his bike and I think has passed on this habit to our 2 older boys so far. I spend my days taking care of my family and running every chance I get. I participated in 3 half-marathons this year, 2 of them with my sisters-in-law. In the next couple of years, I may run a marathon with my sister Sheryl and bro-in-law Howie, who lives in Japan. In January, I will begin homeschooling Michael, our 4th grader. After much prayer and angst :), we have decided that it is in the best interest of Michael to have him finish out his school year at home. I am really excited about it since it has been something I've wanted to do for 8 years now.
Aaron & I love our new neighborhood that gives us freedom to have more spontaneous dates :). We have a goal to live a more simple life of less commitments and more focused time with each other, family, and to use our gifts and talents to serve those who are in need.
We are so grateful to God for all the blessings & challenges of life. I love this time of year, where we get to live through our kids, the wonders of Christmas... the tree, the lights, the presents, candy canes, hot chocolates, ginger bread house ~ but even more than those things, I love sharing the story of Jesus to our kids through the reading of the gospels, Jesse Tree ornaments and devotionals, and singing some great Christmas songs. I pray that those who read this will find Peace this Christmas and that your new year will be filled with hope.
Blessings ~
Pam (and the family that had no part in writing this letter except to simply BE part of me)
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