As I write this, I see a nice yard full of snow — so it looks quite wintery compared to the brown and barren look that I remember our yard having last winter.
2012 was another great year, and we hope it was the same for you. Here's a brief rundown of what we did:
Anne (6) is now in in 1st grade and is still in that utterly joyful age where everything is fun and exciting. She is always beaming with joy and brings that energy with her to the soccer field and, now since last fall, to the piano lesson studio. She's also been spending a lot of time with her new best friend next door, Adi.
Emma (9) is in 4th grade — hard to believe she'll be wrapping up her last year of elementary school next year! Emma continues to take piano lessons, play soccer, and pursue a variety of creative interests. Including photography and yoga with our dog Leprechaun (also 9).
Grace (12) is in 7th grade and moved up to the older touring choir in the Partners in Praise girls choir organization. Although she didn't go to San Francisco last summer or will be going to Italy this summer, we've promised that she'll go on tour with them in the next few years. Needless to say, she's anxious for that time to arrive! Meanwhile she's also busy with soccer, playing U-13 for Minneapolis United, and got introduced to kayaking one weekend up at Grandma Layon's house on Grand Lake.
Sarah (15) is a sophomore at Southwest High School and in her second year of playing soccer for two teams, her U-16 Minneapolis United team and Southwest's varsity team. She traveled to three out-of-state tournaments last year (Arizona, Iowa, Michigan) and will be traveling again this winter to Nevada and Arizona. But the best moment of the year? — getting her braces off in August! (note the nice and, uh, expensive smile in our photo card)
Kris (41) will soon be finishing his second year as a mobile product manager for Capella Education Company in Minneapolis. He enjoys leading a team of 12 designers and developers who work on mobile applications and web sites that help support a number of academic programs for online adult learners. He also traveled quite a bit this year to speak at several conferences, including trips to Europe and Hawaii.
But the best trip of the year was with Katie (42) to California, to celebrate her taking her medical board exams again. It's something she has to do every ten years and the studying reminded them both of being in medical school, so a week of touring vineyards in the hot fall weather of Napa Valley was a fun reward (and also explains the sun hats in our photo). When Katie's not at work, she's usually found baking, reading, or catching up on Downton Abbey.
We wish all family and friends a very healthy and happy new year in 2013!
