Season's Greetings ~ 2007

This year has passed quickly, spending time with those we love the most.

Todd enjoyed his time supporting the Sales organization and learned more about various roles withing Level 3. Recently, he accepted a position as a Service Director and is now supporting Verizon Wireless. Within two weeks, his dedication to customer satisfaction turned the customer perception around from a previous declaration of not giving any more business to the company to placing new orders with Level 3. Todd continues to impress his upper management with his ability to accomplish tasks which have challenged coworkers for weeks. This has been a great year for Todd in returning to TENNIS. Although a calf injury kept him from playing for three months, he had a strong return to the courts in his first match the second weekend in December. He participates in four different tennis leagues and is always looking for practice time on the courts with friends after the kids are in bed.

Owen started pre-Kindergarten this fall and is LOVING his class. His teacher says he is at the top of his class for learning to write his ABCs and counting to 100. Owen still enjoys the gymnastics on Tumblebus at school each week, but has picked up his Daddy’s love for the game of tennis. Owen knows all of the top tennis players and can even tell you what kind of racket they use. He is very excited about going with his Dad to see Andy Roddick play at the Gwinnett Arena this month.

Chloe has grown up so much this year! She tries to do everything Owen does, she loves Tumblebus and even participates in a Ballet/Tap class each week at school. This summer, she moved up to a real Bi9 Girl bed and got a ton of shelves added to her room as a headboard to hold all of her books and dolls. For her birthday, she received every set of sheets imaginable with princesses, Dora & Hello Kitty; she was in heaven! After dinner, she loves to ride her Dora big wheel in the cul-de-sac with Owen & Preston.

Kelley still enjoys working from home for the new AT&T as a Service Manager. So far, there have been very few changes that have affected Kelley’s position, although she expects to support different accounts in the coming year. Kelley still loves to spend all of her spare time melting glass & making jewelry. At the end of March, right after having lasik surgery Kelley had a booth at the Down the Street Bead Show at the Galleria mall and sold a TON of beads and some jewelry. She has really beefed up her website and now has her own domain name --> www.kelleysbeads.com Some nights, when Kelley is lucky to have company, her friend Wendy comes over to melt glass too!

Our family expanded by one cat this year...we adopted Henry who is a beautiful white & tabby boy around 2 years old. Maggie is approaching 7 years and feels a little arthritis kicking into her hips in the colder months. Sammy the ferret celebrated her 8th birthday this October...her continuing health has surprised us all. Foster is approaching 15 years, is a little thinner, but still quite the trouble maker when he wants to be. Abbie is close to 7 years old and fat as can be. All of the cats LOVE to spend time laying in the sun in the backyard and birdwatching.

Todd spent a huge amount of time traveling for work this year in Denver, Los Angeles, DC, Miami, New York, you name it. Kelley’s travel for work was virtually nil this year, although she did get a customer trip into DC and got to spend the night at the Paynes. This summer we took family vacations to Minnesota to see Todd’s folks (both kids really got into fishing when we were Up North). We even got to see the WHOLE Barber clan! We also flew out to Phoenix again to see Kelley’s family with the bad dogs. We drove up to the Grand Canyon this time, which was a first for Todd & the kids. Kelley flew out to San Diego for a long weekend with her friend Sara, and then spent another long weekend with her Mom, Grandma, Uncle Mike & Aunt Judy driving from San Francisco up through Wind Country to Portland to see her Grandma’s friends & family. Bonuses for Kelley were sightseeing with her old friend PG in SF & then visiting with her Uncle Stan & Aunt Barb in Portland! Kelley drove the kids down to Naples at the beginning of October to visit Michele & Cecelia. It was wonderful getting to swim in the ocean in October! Hopefully Todd will be able to get away from work next year to go, too.

As we near the end of 2007, we are spending much time counting our blessings of health, family and the friendships we see growing stronger. We wish you all the best of everything in the New Year.

May you find peace, contentment & health
With much love,
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to you all!
TOCK
Maggie, Foster, Abbie, Henry & Sammy

Maroon 5 - Makes Me Wonder

I just bought their new CD this weekend and popped it in the car while I was driving the kids around. They paid no attention to the first track, but Makes Me Wonder came on next. Immediately, Chloe's head was bobbing with the beat and her hands were bouncing in front of her. Same movement as raising the roof, but just pushing it out from her chest. Owen calls it "Chloe's song" and asks me to play it over and over so he can watch his sister dance in her car seat.