by Dear Family and Friends:
Another year has raced by, leaving us in a breathless rush as we begin the last mad dash of the holiday season! This note will undoubtedly be tardy as we are eagerly awaiting the delivery of a new family portrait to be included herein.
As you can see, Mitchell’s impishness is always evident – and that’s the closest he comes to what the rest of us would call a smile when the camera’s pointed at him!
Mitch is a born treasure hunter – he finds trinkets everywhere!
His good humor is nearly always in evidence, too – unless a well-meaning cashier gives him change for his Daddy-O’s $20. The getting he likes, the giving back he doesn’t!
Jake’s still relatively quiet, but the pre-school he and Mitch have been in for a year and a half has really opened him up.
He doesn’t like to go to bed (where would he get that from?), but he’s a big helper with little tasks. I’ve started him feeding the dogs for spare change; like Mitch, Jake is down with getting the green stuff, but not with giving it away. That makes him mad!
I can’t wait until he hears about the IRS!
Unlike years past, there weren’t any dramatic and/or humorous episodes of childhood drama in 1998, thank goodness!
No trips to the hospital or intense creek-side rescues this year. But both of the mighty now 5 year olds played YMCA soccer, teeball, and soccer again in the 3 & 4 year old leagues.
Outside of school, they spent most of their time protecting their turf from the diminutive, dynamic daredevil David…
The poor little boy…pampered in every way…the angel baby…also commonly known as “Boop-E-Doop†now and for the foreseeable future. We’ve all got something we had do live down – for David it’s his Mom’s dual-edged penchants for Betty Boop and nicknames!
He’ll manage somehow, probably by scrambling so hard to keep up with the big boys that he won’t even notice his moniker. No matter what they’re doing, David’s hot on their heels!
This year’s only vacation getaway was a trip to Pleasant Lake, IN over the 4th of July. Highlights included Matt and Ben Armey’s fireworks show and the twin’s trip in Dad’s airplane. There was a side note about Mitch falling out of a speeding golf cart driven by Jake at the airport, but I’ve put that one out of my mind! The picture of the twins a couple of paragraphs back was taken at Franke Park zoo in Fort Wayne.
Monica has continued to take classes at Tomball College in pursuit of her Accounting degree. Her attainment of said diploma promises to fulfill my dreams of a life of leisure, so I’m all for it!
For some reason or three, the role of domestic goddess also makes up a significant portion of the reasons why she’s frazzled out when I get home!
She’s made me a lucky man, much better than I deserve, of course!
In a move that was long overdue, I took a job with a mid-sized consulting firm called the Akili Systems Group (OK, technically I was asked by FERA not to come back and then cheated out of the bonus money they owed me, but what’s a few thousand $$$ between mortal enemies???) that’s HQ’ed in Dallas. They’re a pretty solid group that has a promising future, so I’m pleased to be there.
Here’s a picture of Mon and me from the company Christmas party in Big D.
I’ll close by simply saying Merry Christmas! Have a most excellent holiday season as well. We hope to see you all soon!
Love,
Marc, Monica, Mitch, Jake, and David
