Hi there everyone! In order to keep my Christmas Card budget down I'm doing a virtual card and letter. Enjoy!
Merry Christmas from the Patton family!
2007 has flown by, as usual, but it has been a great year!
Our little Julie is now 1 ½, and is such a riot. While she has always been a chatterbox, here lately she has really expanded her vocabulary, and we can now understand most of what she is saying. (A nice perk!) We call her ourlittle kangaroo, as she spends most of her waking hours jumping from place to place. Yes, she started jumping at theage of 15 months (much to my chagrin) and it is hilarious to watch her. Another favorite pastime of her is looking at books. The other day I decided to lie down to read and she sat on my bed next to me for a full hour looking at 10 books. “Wead to me!” is one of her favorite phrases. Her favorites include: Sister time, room time, jumping, laughing, reading and Veggie Tales.
Megan is now 3, and is a very happy little thing. It seems that she is always laughing, or making others laugh. She has finally given up her thumb (with rare relapses) and Mommy is thrilled to be done with that! This year she has really enjoyed weekly trips to the library, where she gets to bring her backpack and fill it with 10 books. She spends two hours every day looking at those books (plus others) during naptime, which she really looks forward to. (Unfortunately, actually sleeping during naptime stopped with the thumb!) Her favorites include: Playing with her sisters, room time, playing Polly Pockets, reading and laughing.
Emma is now 6 and is in Kindergarten this year. She is being home schooled and is loving it. She is our little Math genius (those genes obviously came from her father!). Next week she will finish up Kindergarten math and starts first grade math in January. (And is loving every minute of it . . . I know . . . I think it’s weird too!) One of her big milestones this year was finishing up reading lessons. I know that I have mentioned the fact that she was working on them in my past two Christmas letters . . . and now they’re done! Her favorites include: playing with her sisters, playing soccer (or anything outside), coloring, and reading chapter books.
Ali turned 7 this year and is in second grade. She is also being home schooled this year and loves it as well. Anytime she sees the bus drive by she comments about how she could just be getting home now (at 4:15) and that she’s glad that isn’t the case. History is Ali’s favorite subject. We have just spent an entire quarter learning about the Pilgrims, and it’s really fascinating to her. Tooth pulling has become a bit of a habit for Ali . . . it’s feels like she’s lost dozens of teeth, and she’s no wimp about it. As soon one is loose she’s pulling and twisting, determined to have it out a.s.a.p. This was the year that she lost the two front teeth and she really looks so different. : ( Another addition for Ali this year has been piano lessons with Grandma Patton. She enjoys it for the most part (especially since it means time with Grandma) but isn’t crazy about practice time! : ) Probably the biggest highlight to Ali’s year was going out on a date with Mommy to pick out a kitten at the Humane Society. Ali’s favorites include: Playing with her sisters (and other friends), reading, drawing/coloring, reading, singing, reading, dancing, and oh, did I mention reading? If you ever wonder where Ali is, it’s safe to assume that she’s curled up on her bed with a good book.
Life for Aaron is carrying on as usual. He is still working for Boeing, and enjoying it (mostly). He changes positions within the company periodically, which is nice exposure and a nice change of pace. He is actually looking at the possibility of working from home in the near future. That would be nice (if it actually happens) as he already has a 45 minute commute (each direction) and highway 40 is closing down in less than a month – which will certainly add to congestion all over the St. Louis area! He is still working with the high school youth group at church, and is also co-leading a Growing Kids God’s Way class on Friday nights. His favorites include: Date nights, family game nights, Cardinals baseball, fiddling on the computer and reading.
I guess that leaves me . . . Life seems to have changed a lot over this past year. Most of that change is due to home schooling, which is going amazingly well. I feel like everyone is thriving and our day is very structured. The one thing that I’m still struggling with is keeping my house clean! Ali and Emma are very helpful in that area, but it’s still a work in progress : ). At the end of October, I joined a local gym and am actually finding that I can enjoy exercising. (I never thought that would happen!) I am also part of the Growing Kids class on Friday nights (we are co-leading it with Bruce and Geralyn Keller). This class has been a great challenge for us as we think through how we parent our children, what our goals are for them, and where we are in that process. The last time we did this class, Emma was a newborn, so life has changed quite a bit since then. Surprisingly, one of my highlights this year has been the addition of our kitten, Polly. I’m certainly not an animal person, but was willing to go for a cat. She has turned out to be the sweetest and most social cat in the whole world, and I’m so glad we got her! This year I also started up our family blog that I have really enjoyed keeping up. My favorites include: Date nights, girls nights out, taking pictures and reading.
We hope this letter finds you all well and rejoicing in the birth of our Lord, Savior and soon coming King!
Because He lives,
Aaron, Andrea,
Alison, Emma, Megan and Julie
Patton
2007 has flown by, as usual, but it has been a great year!
Our little Julie is now 1 ½, and is such a riot. While she has always been a chatterbox, here lately she has really expanded her vocabulary, and we can now understand most of what she is saying. (A nice perk!) We call her ourlittle kangaroo, as she spends most of her waking hours jumping from place to place. Yes, she started jumping at theage of 15 months (much to my chagrin) and it is hilarious to watch her. Another favorite pastime of her is looking at books. The other day I decided to lie down to read and she sat on my bed next to me for a full hour looking at 10 books. “Wead to me!” is one of her favorite phrases. Her favorites include: Sister time, room time, jumping, laughing, reading and Veggie Tales.
Megan is now 3, and is a very happy little thing. It seems that she is always laughing, or making others laugh. She has finally given up her thumb (with rare relapses) and Mommy is thrilled to be done with that! This year she has really enjoyed weekly trips to the library, where she gets to bring her backpack and fill it with 10 books. She spends two hours every day looking at those books (plus others) during naptime, which she really looks forward to. (Unfortunately, actually sleeping during naptime stopped with the thumb!) Her favorites include: Playing with her sisters, room time, playing Polly Pockets, reading and laughing.
Emma is now 6 and is in Kindergarten this year. She is being home schooled and is loving it. She is our little Math genius (those genes obviously came from her father!). Next week she will finish up Kindergarten math and starts first grade math in January. (And is loving every minute of it . . . I know . . . I think it’s weird too!) One of her big milestones this year was finishing up reading lessons. I know that I have mentioned the fact that she was working on them in my past two Christmas letters . . . and now they’re done! Her favorites include: playing with her sisters, playing soccer (or anything outside), coloring, and reading chapter books.
Ali turned 7 this year and is in second grade. She is also being home schooled this year and loves it as well. Anytime she sees the bus drive by she comments about how she could just be getting home now (at 4:15) and that she’s glad that isn’t the case. History is Ali’s favorite subject. We have just spent an entire quarter learning about the Pilgrims, and it’s really fascinating to her. Tooth pulling has become a bit of a habit for Ali . . . it’s feels like she’s lost dozens of teeth, and she’s no wimp about it. As soon one is loose she’s pulling and twisting, determined to have it out a.s.a.p. This was the year that she lost the two front teeth and she really looks so different. : ( Another addition for Ali this year has been piano lessons with Grandma Patton. She enjoys it for the most part (especially since it means time with Grandma) but isn’t crazy about practice time! : ) Probably the biggest highlight to Ali’s year was going out on a date with Mommy to pick out a kitten at the Humane Society. Ali’s favorites include: Playing with her sisters (and other friends), reading, drawing/coloring, reading, singing, reading, dancing, and oh, did I mention reading? If you ever wonder where Ali is, it’s safe to assume that she’s curled up on her bed with a good book.
Life for Aaron is carrying on as usual. He is still working for Boeing, and enjoying it (mostly). He changes positions within the company periodically, which is nice exposure and a nice change of pace. He is actually looking at the possibility of working from home in the near future. That would be nice (if it actually happens) as he already has a 45 minute commute (each direction) and highway 40 is closing down in less than a month – which will certainly add to congestion all over the St. Louis area! He is still working with the high school youth group at church, and is also co-leading a Growing Kids God’s Way class on Friday nights. His favorites include: Date nights, family game nights, Cardinals baseball, fiddling on the computer and reading.
I guess that leaves me . . . Life seems to have changed a lot over this past year. Most of that change is due to home schooling, which is going amazingly well. I feel like everyone is thriving and our day is very structured. The one thing that I’m still struggling with is keeping my house clean! Ali and Emma are very helpful in that area, but it’s still a work in progress : ). At the end of October, I joined a local gym and am actually finding that I can enjoy exercising. (I never thought that would happen!) I am also part of the Growing Kids class on Friday nights (we are co-leading it with Bruce and Geralyn Keller). This class has been a great challenge for us as we think through how we parent our children, what our goals are for them, and where we are in that process. The last time we did this class, Emma was a newborn, so life has changed quite a bit since then. Surprisingly, one of my highlights this year has been the addition of our kitten, Polly. I’m certainly not an animal person, but was willing to go for a cat. She has turned out to be the sweetest and most social cat in the whole world, and I’m so glad we got her! This year I also started up our family blog that I have really enjoyed keeping up. My favorites include: Date nights, girls nights out, taking pictures and reading.
We hope this letter finds you all well and rejoicing in the birth of our Lord, Savior and soon coming King!
Because He lives,
Aaron, Andrea,
Alison, Emma, Megan and Julie
Patton
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