Our 2010 Eco-Friendly Paperless Christmas Letter!

Here's hoping that your 2010 was joyous and blessed! This is our fourth fully electronic Christmas letter, welcome newcomers and enjoy the recap regular visitors. Be sure to click the links below to get the full stories...

Looking back at our adventures this past year, it's pretty clear that we have a lot to be thankful for. We started 2010 with an impromptu trip to Dallas for a few days while Altus recovered from a pretty big ice storm. Fortunately, our family and friends stayed safe throughout the storm, but the town was out of power for over a week! In April Maddie had surgery for a bilateral hernia repair. We were obviously quite worried about her, but she was incredibly brave and came through just fine. The very next month we packed up the family and moved to New Jersey. We'll be here for one whole year while Phil takes a break from flying and works on a Masters degree. Katie's sweet parents came out and helped us move in, and we were able to take in a few local sights while they were here. Things were going quite well until July when Katie's dad got some terrible news: he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The doctors recommended surgery, so in for surgery he went (and a ROBOT did the surgery! So high tech...). His post-op tests looked great, so we're praying that the cancer is gone for good. In August Phil's parents came out for a visit and we took a day to visit the Statue of Liberty (the girls had been begging to go since we moved here!). In September we took advantage of Phil's predictable schedule with a little trip to Disney World. Of course we couldn't stay nearly long enough (is vacation EVER long enough???) but we had a wonderful time. When we got back to New Jersey Claire started kindergarten (how did THAT happen?) and Maddie started at her preschool. Katie's parents came back out again in November and were here for Claire's birthday party as well as Thanksgiving. It was so nice to celebrate with family!

Our kiddos just keep growing and growing. Our biggest kiddo, Claire (age 6), rides the bus to and from big-girl school everyday. She's active in dance, gymnastics, swimming, piano lessons and Daisy Girl Scouts. She lost TWO teeth this year while we were on vacation at DisneyWorld, and this summer she started reading chapter books. She spends a good part of each day snuggled up with a book, and she can often be counted on to read out loud to her younger siblings. Our days of spelling secrets over the kids' heads are over!

Maddie (now 4) participated in her very first dance recital this spring, performing a ballet and a tap number quite well. She showed NO fear of the stage and actually seemed to have fun up there! Maddie also completed her very first year of preschool this spring and seems to have discovered that she likes boys (Eek!). Her teachers tell us she is quite the social butterfly at school and she keeps busy with dance lessons, gymnastics, swim lessons, and piano lessons. She and Claire both had a wonderful time when they got to wear beautiful dresses and be flower girls for two weddings this year (which also meant a solo trip for Katie and the kiddos to Kentucky).

Our little Colin continues to get bigger and bigger, and he's experienced so many firsts this year. He learned to crawl, took his first steps, celebrated his first birthday, and he even got a big-boy haircut. After tearing up the waiting room at the gymnastics gym for several weeks, his mommy decided to throw in the towel and signed him up for a gymnastics class too. He never fails to bring a smile to our faces with his goofy antics and the girls have trouble staying mad at him, even when he's trying to steal their toys. It's hard to believe he's already 1.5 years old. Isn't he supposed to be a baby?

So to sum it up, 2010 included four grandparent visits, 1,500+ miles for Phil and Bailey from Oklahoma to New Jersey, 3,000+ miles in a minivan for Katie and three kiddos (OK to IL to IN to NJ - pause...whew - NJ to KY to NJ), almost 18,000 pounds of boxes and household goods, two weddings, two surgeries, seven days without power, one eight and a half-foot tall Frasier fir (what a great tree!), and more blessings than we can count or deserve.

We don't know yet where our next batch of Christmas cards will be sent from -- the Air Force will probably let us know sometime in the spring where we'll be moving to in the summer. It sure keeps our lives exciting, right? We hope 2011 brings you health and happiness.

Merry Christmas!