Tuesday, January 24, 2012

2011 in Review

Happy New Year and welcome back to the Layon family blog!

As you can see, last year was not a big year for blogging, and we may have reached a place where one update per year will have to suffice. We're just too darn busy having fun, I guess, to take a break and write about it!

You probably also noticed that our photo card arrived a wee bit late this holiday season. This was not intentional and, in fact, should not have happened at all. We were actually quite proactive about ordering photo cards in late November, but when they arrived the quality was terrible (fortunately our money was refunded). So after re-ordering and having them arrive at the end of December, we managed to not get them into envelopes and out the door until January.

So those details aside... what else happened in the Layon household in 2011?

Anne started kindergarten at Armatage Montessori, so we bid farewell to preschool (and preschool tuition) forever! Anne loves her teacher and new friends, and also enjoyed playing soccer last summer.

Emma is in third grade at Armatage and continues to develop an interest in art and design. She also plays soccer and takes piano lessons.

Grace is in sixth grade at Anthony Middle School and has adjusted very well to middle school life. She has several new friends, continues to play soccer, and also continues to take piano. She's also continues to sing in Con Brio choir.

Sarah is in ninth grade at Southwest High School and so is our third who started at a new school last fall (it was certainly a big year in the school department!). 2011 was a great year for her: her Minneapolis United soccer team advanced to Premier status, and she advanced to a new orchestra in the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony (she also continues to take private flute lessons).

Katie continues to work at Park Nicollet urgent care 3-4 days per week, and continues to appreciate not having to work overnight any longer nor having to see cases as acute as in the emergency room. When she's not at work, she does a ton of driving around town for the girls' activities and a large amount of our cooking and baking. And in other notable news, Katie started running last year and ran her first 5K race in November!

After ten years at the University of Minnesota, Kris changed jobs and is now a mobile product design manager at Capella Education Company. He now leads a team of designers and developers who make mobile apps for university students who take their courses online. It's a fun new job where he gets to work with a lot of smart people, so he's enjoying it a lot. He also wrote a second book last summer and fall (about mobile web design).

Last but not least, our trusty beagle Leprechaun is still hanging in there and is always a happy companion. He's now 8 years old, getting a bit more gray, and seems to sleep more than ever (retirement seems to be great!).

We hope your 2011 was also a good year, and wish you the best in 2012.