"Christmas Letter"

Well, this year we didn't do a Christmas letter for two reasons.

1) We never got around to taking a family picture. Why, you ask? Well, because since September I've been waiting for a moment when all faces were blemish free. Between all the bruises, bumps, scratches, eczema (Utah induced?) and other unfortunate mishaps, that time never came. Lesson learned. Next year, we will take a picture proudly bearing all our glorious wounds. This is the best one so far this year, though Ryan has much more hair these days.


2) We kept thinking that we would be able to send our letter from a new house. As many of you know, we have been leasing the house we're in while figuring out Ryan's job security, the crazy economy and the crashing housing market. Ryan escaped the layoffs at his company (hurray!) and we decided to start looking at homes again. We found a dream home here in Daybreak that was an amazing investment opportunity, but definitely out of our league. We put in an offer and, despite trying not to fall in love, we did. Sadly, we were outbid at the last second with no opportunity to re-bid. We've tried to pick ourselves up and are looking at short sales and bank sales again. so who knows when we'll be in our very own home again. When that time comes, an official "Christmas Letter" may be sent, even if it's Easter.

So, on to a little recap of the year. We'll start with the kids, since we know they are the most important. Throughout the course of the year, Dezi has become quite the boy (vs little boy). He is growing up too fast! Thomas the Tank Engine isn't good enough for him these days now that he knows about Batman, Spiderman, and Star Wars. It's a little sad to see the little boy things go by the wayside. His greatest scholastic accomplishment is that he is turning into quite the reader. I was shocked one day when he read a whole story on Starfall.com. He'd gone through some matching activities with word families and then read a story that had many of those words. He was so proud and I was even prouder. I promptly got some sight word books and flash cards and we read together often. Sometimes he reads the whole book and sometimes he just reads a few words here and there. He's always had a great love and attention span for reading and he'll have a great foundation for kindergarten. Athletically, he had a big year with his first try at soccer and swimming. He liked soccer, but, as most of the kids on his 3-4yr old team, isn't quite ready for the big leagues just yet. With swimming, he started out with a bang. Before even starting lessons, he loved putting my snorkel mask on and 'swimming' around. He was so excited to start, but was a little scared when it came to doing 'log rolls' and some of the other drills. After his first session, I wouldn't let him loose in a pool solo, but he is much more confident, at ease, and willing to experiment and have fun! That's all a mother wants...til next swim season anyhow!

Caetano has gone from baby to full blown toddler, complete with sentences, opinions, and tantrums. He has super shaggy hair because he refuses to let me cut it. I get some quick snips in when I can, but never more than a couple at a time, definitely not enough to get the job done. Though he started using the toilet before the summer (around 18 mo), he now refuses. He still tells me before he goes, but then runs away when I say, "Vamos no pinico" (toilet, in Portuguese). What a monkey! He's capable, but suddenly unwilling. Oh well. His vocabulary is growing every day (in both languages). Some of his favorites are awesome, nopes, shark, diver, scary, witch, monster, candy, Thomas and James (as in the trains) and leite (milk). Speaking of milk, he has decided it is the only thing he ever wants to consume. The child eats so little we actually took him to a food clinic to see if it was really possible to subsist on so few calories. It is, but he's going to be a midget. Oh well. We are calorie packing as much as vegetarians can and I can honestly say that the Vita-Mix blender (like the Jamba Juice ones) was worth every penny because I make at least one or two smoothies and shakes a day. Cai loved Halloween and all the scary things about it. We play monster and zombie games every day. He has also fallen in love with Nemo, one of the only movies we own. He already had a love for everything ocean-related (he and Dezi often wear snorkel masks around the house and spend many happy moments in the tub) so I think Nemo fit right in. The best recent news is that for the last two Sundays, Cai has gone to nursery without crying for even a second. In fact, he even gave me kisses before leaving. He used to say "Casa! Casa!" (house) as we walked to Nursery, but now, when I pick him up he says, "No casa! No casa!" (I love the English/Portuguese mix!) I might even try to daycare at the gym again!

As for Ryan, my sweet provider, it's been a busy year. He had his first full year with his company, Vision Solutions, where he sells Disaster Recovery Software. It's been stressful to be the new guy in the shrinking economy, but he jumped right in and made the right connections to build his knowledge base. He is excited about the professional growth he has experienced and is looking forward to more of it this coming year since he made it past the layoffs (knock on wood!). He is not super excited about the return of the cold and snow, but has shoveled the driveway and taken Dezi sledding regardless.

Last, and final, me. I've enjoyed life a lot here in Daybreak. I love the community center with its gym and exercise classes (even though I haven't gone forever due to Cai's separation anxiety!), the lake with the kayaks and ducks, the river for the boys to splash in, the soccer fields for practice (Dez played soccer for the first time this year), the swimming pool (though the season was too short!), the trails for walking (or cross-country skiing!), the community garden for learning about plants and food, and the neighbors, who have been great. It's been a good year coming up in mid-January. We are still in limbo, but, unlike last year's, it is a calm and assuring limbo.