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
Friday, December 14, 2007
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
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.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Owen and George Michael
Owensk told me last night that he has a new favorite song. I'm finding his favorites are short-lived at times, although "Had a Bad Day" was at the top of his list for months. Then it was "Life is a Highway".
Now. It is "Last Christmas, I gaaaaaave you my heart. But the very next day, you gaaaave it away." He's singing it more than Rudolph or Jingle Bell Rock or Winter Wonderland. He's probably going to get Chloe to start singing it, too. She still goes nutso when 'Bad Day' comes on...Chloe only has to hear the first five notes and her little hands are waving over her head to get our attention that Owen's previous favorite song is on the radio. And I must say previous, because we are quickly corrected by the boy if we call it his favorite song now. It is no longer. Perhaps I need to plug in a Manheim Steamroller CD to play in Owen's bedroom, instead of leaving the radio on all night long. All I need is a four year old running around the house singing George Michael.
Now. It is "Last Christmas, I gaaaaaave you my heart. But the very next day, you gaaaave it away." He's singing it more than Rudolph or Jingle Bell Rock or Winter Wonderland. He's probably going to get Chloe to start singing it, too. She still goes nutso when 'Bad Day' comes on...Chloe only has to hear the first five notes and her little hands are waving over her head to get our attention that Owen's previous favorite song is on the radio. And I must say previous, because we are quickly corrected by the boy if we call it his favorite song now. It is no longer. Perhaps I need to plug in a Manheim Steamroller CD to play in Owen's bedroom, instead of leaving the radio on all night long. All I need is a four year old running around the house singing George Michael.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Season's Greetings ~ 2006
Another year has passed and we are looking forward to celebrating another Christmas with those we love. We have all been in school to learn new things, enjoyed vacations with friends & family and watched new milestones be attained.
Todd went back to school for Project Management certification. He spent many grueling hours every night in front of his laptop, study books and in a virtual classroom after the kids went to bed to learn everything needed to become a certified Project Manager. He doesn’t have enough documented work hours to complete the certification process by taking a very intense exam, but should be there soon. He also started a new job in the Sales Organization two months after accepting the new position. Although Todd enjoyed supporting two of Level 3’s top 10 customers over the past two plus years, he was wanting to learn something new. Over the past two weeks in his new job, Todd knows he’s in a perfect fit position and is extremely excited about what he will be doing supporting the sales teams and meeting with customers scattered around New York City, Miami and our nation’s capital.
Owen moved up from his fire engine toddler bed into a big boy bunk bed with a tent of stars over the top. He loves it and also the new light he can turn on/off right over his head. Owen’s favorite activities are weekly Tumblebus visits at school where he and his friends board a schoolbus remade into a gym for kids where he gets to jump on a trampoline, hang from monkey bars and do gymnastics. Although a weekly Friday trip to Dunkin Donuts before school is normally at the top of his list of prayers every night of what he is thankful for. J This year, Kelley’s dad took him shopping and let Owen buy Christmas presents for the family. Owen even helped wrap the presents and is so proud of himself for picking out Christmas presents for his mom, dad, Chloe and Maggie.
Chloe is talking more and more, with new words and better pronunciations being added to her vocabulary on a daily basis. She is our little songbird, always singing surprisingly on tune with the right melody. Chloe’s favorite song right now is the ABC’s. We removed the front of her crib, so she can climb in and out of her ‘big girl’ bed à she doesn’t even have a guard rail and stays on her mattress without falling out! After two years of having very little hair, it seems to finally be growing in as a beautiful blondie girl. Chloe is also using the potty…shouldn’t be long before we’re done with diapers for good!
Kelley has taken a full load of classes every term over the past year and is now ten classes away from completing her bachelor’s degree in Business Management. She has picked up lampworking, a new hobby she learned from her Aunt Gail last summer. Kelley is spending much of her free time behind a torch melting rods of glass into beads and is having a blast doing it. She has really enjoyed being able to make necklaces and other jewelry out of the beads to give to family and friends.
This summer we took family vacations to Minnesota to see Todd’s folks (Owen keeps asking when he can go back and fish some more on his Papa Wenzel’s lake) and Phoenix to see Kelley’s aunt, uncle, cousins & the bad dogs. We also traveled to North Carolina in April to see Leslie, the younger sister of Kelley’s good friend Mary, get married to the love of her life. We really enjoyed spending time with the Payne family during this trip to the coast. Also in the spring, we drove over to Alabama and spent a weekend with the Cox and McCord families at a lake home and loved watching the four kids play the time away. We took long weekend vacations to Amelia Island, FL in September and in November to Helen, GA with our good friends Martin/Carolina and their two kids AND Christal/Daniel and his two girls. Christal was one of Kelley’s good friends from high school whom she hadn’t seen in over ten years and just got back in touch with….it is great rekindling old friendships and seeing that some things don’t change over time. Our vacations to Ohio to see the Barber family, Florida to see Michele/Cecelia and DC to see the Paynes didn’t happen for various reasons, but we hope to visit them in this coming year.
As we near the end of 2006, 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 & Sammy
Todd went back to school for Project Management certification. He spent many grueling hours every night in front of his laptop, study books and in a virtual classroom after the kids went to bed to learn everything needed to become a certified Project Manager. He doesn’t have enough documented work hours to complete the certification process by taking a very intense exam, but should be there soon. He also started a new job in the Sales Organization two months after accepting the new position. Although Todd enjoyed supporting two of Level 3’s top 10 customers over the past two plus years, he was wanting to learn something new. Over the past two weeks in his new job, Todd knows he’s in a perfect fit position and is extremely excited about what he will be doing supporting the sales teams and meeting with customers scattered around New York City, Miami and our nation’s capital.
Owen moved up from his fire engine toddler bed into a big boy bunk bed with a tent of stars over the top. He loves it and also the new light he can turn on/off right over his head. Owen’s favorite activities are weekly Tumblebus visits at school where he and his friends board a schoolbus remade into a gym for kids where he gets to jump on a trampoline, hang from monkey bars and do gymnastics. Although a weekly Friday trip to Dunkin Donuts before school is normally at the top of his list of prayers every night of what he is thankful for. J This year, Kelley’s dad took him shopping and let Owen buy Christmas presents for the family. Owen even helped wrap the presents and is so proud of himself for picking out Christmas presents for his mom, dad, Chloe and Maggie.
Chloe is talking more and more, with new words and better pronunciations being added to her vocabulary on a daily basis. She is our little songbird, always singing surprisingly on tune with the right melody. Chloe’s favorite song right now is the ABC’s. We removed the front of her crib, so she can climb in and out of her ‘big girl’ bed à she doesn’t even have a guard rail and stays on her mattress without falling out! After two years of having very little hair, it seems to finally be growing in as a beautiful blondie girl. Chloe is also using the potty…shouldn’t be long before we’re done with diapers for good!
Kelley has taken a full load of classes every term over the past year and is now ten classes away from completing her bachelor’s degree in Business Management. She has picked up lampworking, a new hobby she learned from her Aunt Gail last summer. Kelley is spending much of her free time behind a torch melting rods of glass into beads and is having a blast doing it. She has really enjoyed being able to make necklaces and other jewelry out of the beads to give to family and friends.
This summer we took family vacations to Minnesota to see Todd’s folks (Owen keeps asking when he can go back and fish some more on his Papa Wenzel’s lake) and Phoenix to see Kelley’s aunt, uncle, cousins & the bad dogs. We also traveled to North Carolina in April to see Leslie, the younger sister of Kelley’s good friend Mary, get married to the love of her life. We really enjoyed spending time with the Payne family during this trip to the coast. Also in the spring, we drove over to Alabama and spent a weekend with the Cox and McCord families at a lake home and loved watching the four kids play the time away. We took long weekend vacations to Amelia Island, FL in September and in November to Helen, GA with our good friends Martin/Carolina and their two kids AND Christal/Daniel and his two girls. Christal was one of Kelley’s good friends from high school whom she hadn’t seen in over ten years and just got back in touch with….it is great rekindling old friendships and seeing that some things don’t change over time. Our vacations to Ohio to see the Barber family, Florida to see Michele/Cecelia and DC to see the Paynes didn’t happen for various reasons, but we hope to visit them in this coming year.
As we near the end of 2006, 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 & Sammy
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Christmas in June
Walking up to school this morning, Owen said "I think it's going to be Christmas today, Mommy. I think Santa Claus is coming today." I'm not sure what prompted the comment, perhaps it was how the lights on the front of the school sparkled this morning. We arrived earlier than normal, since I had to be in Columbus at 10am for a customer meeting so the lights were still on outside the school. I told him that Christmas would not be coming until December, so I thought he might be holding his hopes too high if looking for Santa today.
Fast forward to lunchtime when I'm driving home after the meeting. I'm behind a blue pick-up filled with what appear to be garage sale finds. A sofa, a washer, lots of rope. And a three feet tall plastic Santa waving at me. The boy child was right. Santa came today, if only on a short disappearing stretch of highway in middle Georgia.
Fast forward to lunchtime when I'm driving home after the meeting. I'm behind a blue pick-up filled with what appear to be garage sale finds. A sofa, a washer, lots of rope. And a three feet tall plastic Santa waving at me. The boy child was right. Santa came today, if only on a short disappearing stretch of highway in middle Georgia.
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