Dear Family and Friends It’s our 8th Anniversary (Ok, like three weeks ago now, but hey, we were busy celebrating =) and in honor of that we’re doing our yearly update!
This was a very exciting year for us! Eric found a new job, we bought our first house, and our baby girl turned two years old! Eric’s job is at a company called TradeHelm. There are a lot of great people working there, and he’s enjoying it a lot! A couple of people there have kids too, and we’ve had wonderful playdates with Ben and Susie a few times. He also gets to play racquetball with his boss occasionally, and Frisbee golf a time or two! So it’s a good fit.
The new house has been so much fun! I have enjoyed every minute of decorating, remodeling, and planning. I am my Mother’s daughter, although I don’t think I’ll feel the need to move just because I finish my plans =) I did a few posts about the house projects here and here, but in general we have removed all the popcorn from the ceilings (Thanks Mom!) repainted nearly every surface in the house, built an amazing Secret Room for Serenity (Thanks Dad!!!), built a play structure and raised beds in the backyard, made a daybed sofa out of mattresses, and oh, dozens of other little projects. I just sat down and wrote out a wish list of projects for the next year, including under the stairs storage and new doorknobs and hinges, so we’ll see what we cook up next! I really have to send a special thanks to my Dad here, he has helped on every crazy project I’ve come up with and I think enjoys it as much as I do =) And he mows our yard. Yes, he is amazing. =) He and Mom together got a tornado shelter installed in our basement as well, so we have a very safe place if a tornado hits us. We even got in it once. I took the IPAD and Serenity happily snuggled me and watched SuperWhy. Eric actually fell asleep and had to be nudged (gently…with my foot) when the tornado warning expired. =)
We had great fun making new holiday traditions in our new home, including October’s pumpkin patch visit, Christmas fun with our advent calendar and other decorations, Easter (making a path to her Easter basket) and other holiday fun!
Serenity is growing in to an amazing, funny, sweet, curious little girl. She is still definitely a Mama’s girl and I treasure all the extra snuggles and love that means. Since our last anniversary she’s learned all her letters, colors, basic shapes, and is now learning how to read! She loves puzzles, reading, movies, and tea parties. I wrote extremely detailed stories about Serenity for her second birthday posts, and another update just this week so all I will say is that Eric and I cannot imagine life without her. She is wonderful!
We were fortunate enough to get to do a lot of traveling. We visited California four times, in November around Henry’s birthday, in January for the holidays and Epic Duels, in April for Aidan’s birthday, and again in July for our amazing Tahoe Gathering and Super Fantastico! We also went down to Norman every other month to stay with Gavin and Jennie, and they came to Tulsa the rest of the months. It’s so nice to be close enough to visit our great friends in Norman and OKC! We also had several other visitors to our house already, including Jason, Tiffany, Alex, Alli, Ann, Tina, Ashlee and Joel, Jessie, Summer and the rest of the SYTYCD crew, and my nephews Casey and Barrett spent the night! I love having company and hope to have more visitors and parties next year! We did host a Cookie Party and Game Night at our house around the holidays (near Eric’s birthday but not a birthday party he insists).
Both our cars broke down within 24 hours of each other and so we got to buy a new blue car! Serenity likes the new car although it is mostly because I play her Glee cd in my car and Eric has only a basic radio to offer.
In other activity news, we have dinners with my Dad and Rosario on Wednesdays. He always cooks which makes me feel a little guilty but I just have to make it up to him in the occasional pie =) We also go to Mom’s party house a lot for big family get-togethers and movie nights. She has a crazy playground in the back yard which Serenity of course has no fear of climbing, so that’s fun for all! We were Tulsa Zoo members all this year, which means we went quite often! We’re thinking of doing the aquarium next year, we’ll see. We also joined a music class for Serenity, which is a blast and has led to many entertaining moments of her singing and dancing. (although not necessarily IN class, she performs for us later =) We also see Daddy every Tuesday for lunch either in his office or at the park.
Eric continues to enjoy playing Magic online, and online games with Jack and Eddie. We have recently started trying to play tennis with Jessica and Phillip, who moved back to Tulsa this year! Yay! So far we’ve hit a few excessive heat days, but we just switched to game night. We’re flexible like that. =) Eric helped coach a baseball league with one of his coworkers too.
My activities for the year… that don’t necessarily involve Serenity… hmm. Well, I got Zumba dvds that I try to use for at least 20 minutes every day. I’ve lost nine pounds since I went back on Sonoma maybe six weeks ago. I’ve done lots of sewing projects, including a dress for Serenity, making Serenity’s Book Club tent, felt gardens for all the kids for Christmas, and a baby quilt and blocks for Gavin and Jennie. I have more felt projects planned and several more quilts, but we’ll see how long it takes to get things done as naptime grows shorter =)
We love you all! Have a great year!
Love Chrissie, Eric and Serenity
