December 2006

It’s been a whole year and a half since we’ve updated this web site. Now its the end of 2006 and we thought that a holiday/end of the year update to the web site is the right thing to do! Take a look at some pix from last year here

A lot has happened since the last update! Dave turned 40 this last March – can you believe it? – He couldn’t! Dave keeps saying something about 40 being the new 30 – the more he says it, the more he’ll believe – its all in the mind anyway.

It was a great birthday two weeks – first the four of us went out to dinner on the actual date where the kids got to listen to some jazz music and eat a lot of new and interesting food. Then Dave’s parents threw a huge dinner in his honor on Saturday night with aunts and uncles and cousins and in-laws in attendance – this was great! But then Dave was a little disappointed – What, no huge party with all of our friends? - he was whining and not very nice to Wendy about it. Not to fear, for Wendy had a surprise – a surprise party that is!!! And boy was Dave surprised!

It was very well planned, so well in fact that Dave didn’t suspect anything at all up until the moment he walked into the kitchen and almost lost it in his shock at all the people in the house yelling “SURPRISE!!!”. Everybody was in on it – the moms who made a lot of the food for the party, neighbors who faked an invitation to a cocktail party, friends who faked interest in taking Dave and kids out bowling Saturday afternoon ;-), and everybody else who didn’t spill a word – what a great job everybody!!! Dave says THANK YOU!!!

Well, enough about Dave, lets talk about Wendy, who has not yet turned 40 and has a long way to go. She loves her current job of taking care of the kids – they’re such angels! She also had a vegetable garden again this summer. But what a garden, not just pots of carrots and dill, but a whole plot which took almost a quarter of the back yard! Wendy dug it out all by herself, researched what she wanted to plant and planted it. And what do you know? – We had fresh veggies all summer long. Dave could not believe that Wendy had any farmer genes at all, but she proved him wrong!

Wendy has also picked up a new winter hobby – sewing. At first Dave was dubious, but when actual articles of clothing started to appear he slowly started to change his mind. So far Emily and Dave received a pair of lounging fleece pants each and Emily’s doll has gotten a poncho. Sasha might be the next recipient of “Made by Mommy” products.

What about Sasha and Emily? Well, they are almost 7 and 4 ^1/2 now, practically grown up. Sasha will turn 7 in January and Emily 5 in March.

Sasha has been attending 1^st grade at the local elementary school and is doing great. He is reading really well now and more importantly he seems to like it. Spelling and writing are also a big emphasis this year. We have been surprised at the math that 1^st graders are doing nowadays and Sasha is keeping up with it as well. He’s also learning lots of other interesting things - that his parents only get to find out at teacher conferences 2 times a year ;-)

Sasha is skiing this Winter with the Blizzard ski school! It is a 7 week program – 3

Saturdays in December and 4 Saturdays in January. The ski school bus picks the kids up and delivers them to different local ski areas every Saturday. So far its been a snowless winter here, but the slopes make fake snow, which is surprisingly good. Sasha says he likes skiing a lot and can now do “french fries” more than “pizza slices”, which is a good improvement over last year.

Sasha has also been taking swimming lessons. He improved a lot over the summer with both lake and outdoor pool swimming. He also likes Legos very much and is in an after school “Extreme Legos” program.

Emily is in pre-K this year and will be in Kindergarten next year. She loves school and likes to tell us what she did in class that day. Her teachers love her and so do kids in her class. She is very much a chatter box – quite the opposite of her brother ;-)

Emily is also in a swimming class and has been improving steadily. Last summer she began diving on her own. She’s also in a dance class and will have a recital in June, to which her parents and grandparents are looking forward. She started gymnastics this year as well and seems to be a natural at it. Now she can’t decide what she like better – dance or gymnastics.

Both kids got a lot of presents for Hanukah and are busy playing with them. What they seem to gravitate to most however is the GameCube with Mario Cart Double Dash racing game. Come to think of it, its not just the kids that like this game, Dave and Wendy have now spent a few “quality” hours racing each other as well ;-)

Well, another year has come to an end and we’re looking forward to what the new year will bring. We hope it’s a happy and a healthy one for all of you! See you here soon - hopefully the updates will come faster than last time!