Our Belated Card

December 29, 2009

Dear All,

Happy New Year! Yes, we’re a little tardy with the holiday
cards this year. With so many of our friends and family on Facebook, we worried
that a holiday card was redundant. But then everyone’s cards and notes showed
up in our mailbox, and I remembered how wonderful good, old-fashioned snail
mail is and how much I enjoy lining up all the cards and photos on the
bookshelf, so I put in a last minute order on Shutterfly and here we are.

The boys are wonderful and were a constant source of
craziness and joy.

Jonah is 10 1/2. He is still the hyper, happy little
character that he’s been since he started walking at nine months.  We keep him as busy as possible in
soccer and basketball in order to burn off some of his energy. Still, he always
has a little juice in him to wrestle with his brother, until I holler at them
to knock it off.

Jonah is a hair’s breath away from becoming a teenager. His
feet are already bigger than mine, and he acquired braces and glasses this
summer. We’re holding on tight to our Jonah who still believes in Santa and who
needed to get tucked into bed by mommy and daddy, but I expect to see big
changes soon.

Ian is 7 1/2. He has grown up so much this year. We’re all
terribly proud of him. Ian’s passion is art. He spends hours drawing pictures
of SpongeBob and Captain Underpants. His best friend from school is a little
girl named DB. Together, they draw fabulous cartoons and are as tight as
thieves.

Both boys are crazy about Lego and I find little yellow bricks
everywhere. If you haven’t stepped on a Lego brick in the dark with bare feet,
then you haven’t lived.

2009 was a blur of adventures and activity. There was a
great week-long trip in a cabin by the side of Lake George. A lovely weekend
and wedding in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Hikes in the woods. Trips to museums
in Manhattan. Virtual bowling on the Wii. Dinners with family and friends.  There was much sitting in folding
chairs on the edge of soccer games. Grilling in the backyard twelve months a
year. Wedding showers. Baby showers. A Bruce concert. The first Yankee game. A
business trip and family visit to Toronto. Tooth fairy, Easter Bunny, and
Santa. Steve’s jars of freshly canned, home grown jalapeno peppers. Home
renovations on the cheap. Dramatic readings of Harry Potter.

While there wasn’t any dramatic changes in 2009, there was
the constant and steady growth of our kids, the continued richness of a life
filled with family and friends (how fortunate are we?), and some rumbles of
career changes.

Lots of love, Laura, Steve, Jonah and Ian.