2009 - The ABCs of our year
(I have to give a shout out to my friend Stephanie, who's ABCs of her family I loved so much I had to duplicate)

Animals: we love them (and the Earth) so that's why we stopped eating them.

Ben: our five-year-old information buff is a bundle of joy and affection. He still loves games: electronic, board and mind.  

Camp: boys each went to two different summer camps. They spent three weeks together at one camp and had a blast!  It was really good for them to have this time together, even though they had some time apart being as they were in different "bunks". For the second stint, Ben went back to his preschool for the last two weeks of its summer "camp" and Michael went to tennis camp.

Disneyland: we took just the boys on Michael's 7th birthday - in the rain - and had a great time! Boys rode every ride they could and, as much as we love her, we learned how easy life would be if we only had the two of them - however it was sweet how much the boys talked about Kate throughout the day ("I wonder what Kate is doing now?").  

Education: the boys are at the same Pasadena public school this year. Michael is in third grade, Ben in kinder. In the summer, Kate started preschool two mornings per week at the same preschool the boys attended. Marc and I are both very involved at the elementary school and I still serve on the parent board of the preschool.

Fires: the late summer fires in the San Gabriel Mountains have kept the roads closed that Marc loves to motorcycle ride, so he hasn't been doing much riding the last few months.

Girlie: the name Kate is frequently called. She is a unique character in this house: has preferences(!!), likes to dance, demands pink and dresses, but is also tough as nails, usually the top of the dog pile.

Harry Potter: a new favorite of Michael's --and Haley's -though she's having trouble keeping up with him…

Inmate: Marc continues to represent the same prisoner since law school at her parole hearings. She continually gets granted parole at her hearings with Marc and then the governor always rejects the ruling: injustice and an insane waste of $$$ for our broke state.

Jose & Cece: our former housecleaners. Although they came just once every two weeks, we do so miss them. We had to let them go because of our cutbacks due to "V", below.

Kate: Our girlie has grown so much this year. Speech therapy helped her dramatically, and she has become demanding with her words, rather than just with her grunts. She has a very spunky personality, is social (loves playdates) and is eager to entertain.

Laughter and love: the cornerstones to making this family function!

Michael: our almost 8 year old is an excellent student, loves any sports he attempts (this year: basketball, baseball and tennis) and enjoys playing piano too.  He is generally reserved but is always eager to try new things and enjoys spending time with us - doing something out of the house, ideally.

New Year (2009): began in Incline Village, NV. They boys had a great time learning to ski, playing in the snow and being with friends, with whom we stayed.

O'hare Airport: our limited time there was spent running from one terminal to another in order not to miss our connection to Syracuse at the equivalent of around 4:30 AM Pacific time. The boys were awesome in this task (thankfully Kate was in stroller) and we made the connection, this time.

Perch Island: owned by Haley's cousins and located in the Thousand Islands Region of the St. Lawrence River, is a place we love to visit and have been fortunate enough to go to every other summer. We ALL love the company, the food, the activities, and the locale.  Haley's dad and aunt joined us when we went in July this year.   

Quebec: where we went after five days on Perch - specifically, Montreal -a great city. From there we drove through Vermont, with a rainy stop in Burlington (quaint & beautiful) and New Hampshire, into Massachusetts. We turned in our rental car upon our arrival to Boston and spent a few days touring the historical city on the T.

Running: the activity Haley has taken up this year with modest vigor. 

Sequoia, Sacramento, Sonoma (& Marin), San Diego: places we visited this year.

Three:  (1) Kate is almost three ("hold on to them hats & glasses…"); (2) three kids are beginning to take turns alienating one another - proving Marc's theory that odd numbered groups of people aren't good (but NO we're not having another child); (3) three bedrooms are NOT enough for this family of five (but who knew we'd be in this house so long and when we bought eight years ago, who knew we'd go on to have three kids??!!).

Underwear: as of May, is worn by everyone in the house.

Venture: the biggest move of the year was for Marc to start his own IP law firm, "Karish & Bjorgum" with his new partner, Eric.

Worry: see above posting.

X-ray: (besides necessary dental visits) - none take this year! --nor stitches!!!! --nor urgent care visits (where's the wood to knock on??!!)

Yosemite: in May, Marc camped with just the boys along with a friend who brought his girls, the same ages as ours, to this awesome National Park. Kate and Haley hope to join in this year.

Zzzzs: Haley's sleep has improved dramatically this year (because Kate's has)!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!