The Christmas Post

Dear Friends and Family,

We have yet to make our photo cards this year, and we are so behind on all things Christmas.

So for now, here are some updates for the year.

Joel turned 10 and that is kind of an alarming age. How did I become the mom of a 10 year old? People told me it all went fast, but I felt like the process just doubled in pace. In eight more years, he will be an adult! As a ten year old, he has found his passion for the arts through dancing ballet and contemporary and playing the piano. Both of these forms of expression work really well for him, and he could not really imagine life without them.

Ellie is now 9 and super sassy. She has always had strong opinions about what she likes and does not like, but this is a whole new level of that. She too loves to dance and will openly admit to people she wants to be a famous ballet dancer when she grows up. Apart from dance, she also plays the piano  and reads chapter books in a day. Her new favorite books are about fairies, but she also loves The Secret Garden. When she is ahead on her language arts school work she works at writing her own stories about ducks and other animals.

Dominic is our wild child. At 6 years old, he has enough energy for the entire family and some. This is his first year learning the piano and his second year dancing. He longs to take a hip hop class and has created his own version of this style to his dance at the end of his class. He runs circles around the house to calm down and loves to play quietly even though it doesn't seems possible.

Charis is 5. She grins through her dance class and is a very loving big sister to Bria. There is a baby at the library named Olivia, who Charis makes sure she sits next to every week. In her mind, our new baby just has to be a girl. Charis has also gone from eating like a bird to cleaning out the house. We expect her to suddenly become very tall soon.

Bria is sweet as pie at 4 years old. She is the kind of four year old who acts 8, and even though she does not have to be a part of our homeschool classes yet, I give her things to do because she wants to learn. She is tackling letter sounds like a champ and writing a few letters with ease. She is also a young ballerina who is learning as many moves as she can from her dance teacher and siblings.

Isaiah is now 2, but in April he will be three. It has been so strange to not have a baby in the house. I have also not breastfeed in one whole year (the first year since 2004). Isaiah adores cars and we go nowhere without as small matchbox Lightning from the movie Cars. He is too young to take dance, but at home he has shown us his love for movement as well.

Tim still works for US Bank as the branch manager of Quilcene. It is almost his 2 year anniversary at that branch. He's learned to be quite the chief in the last couple of years while Marion has had to leave for 10 days at a time for residency two times a year. He still preaches about 2-4 times a year and plays music at our church from time to time as well.

Marion is pregnant with baby number 7. Her due date is June 19, 2016. It is very strange to be pregnant and due around one's own birthday. We'll just have to wait and see how that turns out. She is also in her second year of graduate school and attempting to finish her manuscript...yes the same one from 2005. This could be the year it actually becomes a book. Who knows. When she isn't working on that she is homeschooling 4 of our six children and talking care of the house.

So here is a complete update on our entire family for the year of 2015! Can you believe it is 2015? All I can say is life has been pretty amazing. We wish you all a wonderful holiday season!

Love, Tim, Marion, Joel, Ellie, Dominic, Charis, Bria, and Isaiah