I'll recap our annual highlights and lowlights quickly for this year's Christmas card/blog.
JANUARY
was a good month.
was a good month.
HIGH: We were pleasantly surprised by amazing fireworks all across San Antonio on New Year's Eve. We have one of the best spots, up on a bit of a hill where we can see great fireworks from our back deck. Local friends, come join us on New Year's this year. We have lots of extra space for friends to camp out to avoid driving with the crazies after midnight. It's Jay's favorite holiday, so come on over!
FEBRUARY
was a bad month. A VERY BAD month.
was a bad month. A VERY BAD month.
LOWS: A car accident for Jay (he was okay, but our Ford not so much), followed by the loss of our dog. We were shocked and traumatized by the sudden death of our 4 year old American Eskimo dog, Kenai. We think he was bitten by a snake or a scorpion or somehow poisoned. He was acting funny at bedtime and less than 2 hours later was dead in my arms near midnight. Worst night ever.
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| Kenai in back. Juneau in front. One of the last pictures I have of Kenai just days before he died. |
MARCH
was a great month. WOO HOO!!!
was a great month. WOO HOO!!!
HIGHS: My mom and stepdad came to visit and we celebrated an unplanned event when Super C chose to be publicly baptized at our church after Easter services.
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| An Easter visit from Grammie & Rand. |
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| Jay baptizes our son at Oak Hills Church! |
APRIL
had it's highs and lows.
had it's highs and lows.
LOW: The catalytic converter on my van decided it needed replacement. Over $2000 down the drain. I hate my lemon of a van with a passion!
HIGHS: We drove up to Austin for the wedding of some Willow Creek friends. Then my Super E turned 6 at the end of the month. I love this boy so much I feel like my heart could burst!
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| Great to see my old boss and his wife at their daughter's wedding in Austin! |
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| Me and my boy on his SIXTH birthday! |
MAY
had some pretty BIG extremes.
had some pretty BIG extremes.
HIGH: We were honored to attend the retirement ceremony of our friend after years and years of service to our country in the US Air Force. We finished our 1st year of homeschooling! We marked our Quiet Tiger's very 1st Gotcha Day Anniversary (enjoy a link to the video I made for her). We spent Memorial Day with Jay's cousins on Lake LBJ.
LOW: My dad had a heart attack in Illinois. He is recovering well, but it wasn't as minor as originally diagnosed.
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| After the retirement ceremony at Lackland AFB. |
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| Celebrating Gotcha Day all day long. A yummy freeze pop after lunch. |
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| Sending my dad a get well care package complete with photos. |
JUNE
brought the drama. Too much drama.
brought the drama. Too much drama.
HIGH and LOW: Jay's summer regional event with his new company and he won the prestigious Ted Jones Prospecting Award. But at this event our Quiet Tiger experienced her first major trauma of being left with sitters at the resort during the regional event. She clearly thought we were there to abandon her. It was a good weekend away for Jay but it was a completely hellish weekend away for me.
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| At the Regional with his award. |
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| Ready to swim at the Summer Regional event in Horseshoe Bay. |
JULY
brought some fun.
brought some fun.
HIGHS: We celebrated July 4th with our friends Brandy & Steve. We celebrated our daughter's 3rd birthday and we topped the month off by my Super E losing his first 2 teeth in one night! Excitement all around.
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| Happy Independence Day 2013! |
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| Happy 3rd birthday, Quiet Tiger! |
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| Super E loses his first 2 teeth on the same night. |
AUGUST
brought anniversaries.
brought anniversaries.
HIGHS: Jay and I celebrated 12 years of marriage. And then I realized that it was 20 years ago that month that I left to study in Akita, Japan. Twenty years. WOW.
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| August 18, 2001 |
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| Minnesota State University - Akita, Japan August 1993 |
SEPTEMBER
was good.
was good.
HIGHS: We were diving into our second year of homeschooling. Super C turned 10 years old -- double digits, folks! This boy has my heart. We made a day trip and explored a tiny piece of the Texas Gulf region.
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| Super C and his minion cake that I made for him. |
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| The beautiful Texas coastline. |
OCTOBER
was filled with adult decisions and kid-type fun and games.
was filled with adult decisions and kid-type fun and games.
HIGHS: We had to make a tough decision on Jay's office location -- either staying where he was working with another financial advisor, waiting for an office to open back in the Midwest (preferably Minneapolis), or taking an office here in San Antonio. Decision made and Jay moved into an office of his very own on the North side of the city. He's enjoying it and doing quite well. For the rest of us, we secretly set up Jay's home office while he was out of town on business for a week. We celebrated Jay's birthday and then my birthday. The kids went to their first birthday party for friends. Halloween was fun for all.
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| The new office! |
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| Halloween fun. |
NOVEMBER
flew by.
flew by.
HIGHS: Our Quiet Tiger is successfully potty training! She can't be trusted quite yet to remember what to do every single time, but she's getting there and even has had a good number of nights when she has stayed dry through the night. The kids and I were extras in a movie along with friends of ours. That was fun! We thoroughly enjoyed Thanksgiving with friends Brandy & Steve and a couple of Air Force Basic Trainees. We replaced one of the Christmas trees that were left behind in our Nebraska home and started to decorate for Christmas.
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| On the set of The Adventures of Pepper and Paula. |
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| We found a cheap tree and we went with the "family tree" this year instead of my usual silver snowflake "formal tree." Hope to find our formal tree on clearance after the holiday. |
DECEMBER
has already been quite busy!
has already been quite busy!
HIGHS: We're already busy with holiday parties for Jay's work, Rotary and our homeschool co-op. I have yet to bake any Christmas goodies for our family but have done plenty for events. We finished week 19 of homeschool -- just over half way done with the entire year! I plan to take a couple of weeks off from school to enjoy the holiday. We've seen the cousins at the lake and we'll see Jay's mom on Christmas Eve. Hoping for some New Year's fun and good fireworks again.
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| Early Christmas on Lake LBJ. |
Have a very merry Christmas
celebrating the birth of our Savior!
With all our love
from our family to yours,
Jay, Brooke, Super C, Super E, Quiet Tiger
celebrating the birth of our Savior!
With all our love
from our family to yours,
Jay, Brooke, Super C, Super E, Quiet Tiger
