A Christmas Letter

We have the best intention each year of sending Christmas cards and we never have actually sent them. So we decided to do a newsletter via blog and email this year – better for the environment, right? ;) Although we haven’t had a slow year yet, 2008 has been especially busy. But first, a recap of the highlights of the last couple years:

• Steve and Paula were married on December 10, 2005 along with Tracy and Donovan.

• Paula began grad school for counseling in August 2006.

• Ella Renae joined us November 19, 2006.

• We bought a house in Jackson in August 2007. Reid moved into his house the same day. Becky and Zech bought their house in the spring.

• In September 2007, our niece Chloe Lynn Galleck was born and Paula’s dad (Russ) had a heart attack. Both are very healthy and happy now.

On to 2008...
Our biggest news was the arrival of Amelia Jane on April 15. She is now eight months old and a lot of fun. She loves the camera and her favorite toys are anything Ella has touched. She can crawl now and chases Ella around the living room. It’s been a lot of fun to see how they are different and watch them interact. Ella ignored her for a while, but now shares toys and gives Amelia “kisses” before bed. The girls share a bedroom and sometimes sing together in the morning. Amelia has blue eyes and what little hair she has appears to be red. She is very giggly and has a tendency to stick her tongue out when she smiles. She loves shoes and slippers and does this adorable bobbing dance.

Ella turned two last month and is talking more and more. She can also count to twelve and knows her colors, numbers, and some letters and shapes. One of her favorite things right now is coloring. She loves people and books too and if someone comes over, she’ll hand them a book to read to her. She sings and dances too, which is hilarious. She’s quite the entertainer. She has blond curls and her daddy’s blue eyes.

Paula is in her last year of grad school and began her internship shortly after Amelia was born. She also took her electives, which made for a very busy fall, but only has her internship and one class left before graduation in May. She has been working hard at losing weight and has lost about 70 pounds since Amelia was born. A few days ago she fit into her wedding dress again! She’s decided to combine her counseling degree with her knowledge of weight loss and counsel people trying to lose weight. Between the girls, school, and working out, she’s become an expert at multitasking and a big fan of coffee!

Steve recently began a new position at Comcast, which means a better shift, guaranteed holidays off, and no sales! He spends a lot of time with the girls when he is home and has also been honing his cooking and handyman skills. Since we moved in, he has added a porch light, fixed the railing on the stairway, built steps down to the driveway, fixed the ceiling fan, and fixed the light in the laundry room.

In other news for the year, we bought a minivan and sold Steve’s Concorde in April. It’s been wonderful for trips to Evart. Russ (Paula’s dad) bought a newer PT Cruiser in the spring and recently traded it in for a Scion. Carol (Paula’s mom) turned 50 in September and Russ and Carol celebrated their 30^th wedding anniversary in July. Jonathan (Steve’s brother) graduated from high school in May and Doug (Steve’s dad) graduated from Spring Arbor University with his MBA in November. Finally, some very exciting news: Ella and Amelia will have TWO new cousins next summer! Tracy and Donovan are expecting their second at the end of June and Becky and Zech are expecting their first at the beginning of July. We are very excited for both families.

We hope everyone has had a wonderful year and that next year will be even better. We look forward to the new changes and challenges in our family in 2009 – two walking girls and potty training! Wishing you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year…

With all our love,
Steve and Paula
Ella and Amelia