When you are through here, you might want to read the
2006 Winter Letter or the 2008 Winter Letter

Greetings Everyone! Happy Winter!

Greetings family and friends all-

Hope this letter finds everyone happy and well. The daylight hours are getting longer and even though it is in baby steps, that's a welcome sign of spring in our future. I trust everyone had a great holiday and made some memories to last. We have had a busy winter break and are looking forward to some down time. For those of you who live far away from our local circle of family and friends here is a collection of photos and stories from our year. And for those of you, who are near, enjoy the recollection!

We hope everyone finds love, laughter, peace, joy and happiness now and in the year to come!

Amy, Nick, Owen, Myles
Bela, Casey & Phin

Nick

Nick has had a very busy year. I should just leave it at that. Going into its 7th year, Doxpop meets new challenges and continues to grow. It's been a year of long hours and hard work but he seems to still enjoy it. I'm very proud of him and his endurance!

Nick continues to serve on the election board and this year was able to arrange a paper ballot hand count in the last election saving the county thousands of dollars. That's pretty cool for a county that needs every penny it can keep. He also serves on the board of zoning appeals and is getting to meet more people in our community. He enjoys working with the small town projects and looks forward to the upcoming events.

On the home front, Nick is still the best dad, husband, friend, handyman, mechanic ever-he consistently bends and flexes to the needs of an active family. (A family that manages to break and tear up things faster than he can fix them sometimes!) On some days, we swap kids in the parking garage at 5:00, then I go to work and he heads home with the guys. I always leave knowing things are taken care of and that's reassuring. He truly is a great partner and carries his share of the load. I appreciate his ability to just roll with the punches and steer clear of major obstacles when I don't have the foresight or the energy to see them. I am so blessed to have such a loving patient partner.

Nick is in charge of taking Owen to gymnastics and cub scouts so he is ready for the Volvo wagon and soccer mom label. It's awesome! And he doesn't even seem to mind the silly things that I do sometimes...like rip up a whole room's carpet unannounced, buy a new vehicle, bring home 2 puppies from the pound, make him dress up in a mullet wig and NASCAR costume or take the boys on vacation for a week! He is the greatest! The boys kind of like him too. They are always doing projects and working on things-last project included computer repair work because our cd burner grew teeth and was shredding CDs mysteriously. Hmmmm...

Amy

This year has flown by-I lose days at a time sometimes. Some days I don't know if I'm coming or going-but for the most part, I am enjoying the challenges of work, family, animals and the constant needs of a house. I have set some new goals for myself that include more exercise, more sleep and more time with the trees.

I'm still home schooling Owen and starting to work with Myles now. That is a huge load. I often feel like sending him to public school but never can bring myself to do it. The work is going well as we have settled on a computer program and a workbook curriculum that provides an outline for me and his computer time for him is fun so it's been a great and reasonably affordable discovery. He is still doing K-1 phonics but is now in 2nd grade math and science. I really want to teach him a foreign language and introduce him to an instrument this year if we can manage-but I don't speak a second language and the most skill I have at an instrument is beating on drums. I may need to outsource that job!

I started working at Reid Hospital last January and have found a whole new world when it comes to massage. It has been very rewarding and offers so much experience. I believe I am a better therapist now that I have worked in that setting. I could never get this experience in a private practice. I do patient massage for pain management, mother-baby massage, acute rehabilitation therapy and regular massage for staff as well as the public. I work nights and have been referred to as the "official tucker-inner" by some nurses. It's nice knowing that you can ease someone's pain or anxiety and offer them relief so they can heal. The private practice and salon work is cruising along too. I'm not overwhelmed with clients but it's steady and building-I started at the salon last February so I'm approaching the end of my first year there. Not too bad overall. I also got to teach science camp this summer, led a couple of hikes out at Mary Gray Bird Sanctuary and did the Amazing Science Race Program for the Community Education Coalition again, so I got to teach some environmental Ed. stuff too-that's always important to me.

The latest endeavor I entered into was in November-I signed up for the Portrait of Liberty project. This is a great project that Nick has been involved with for 3 years now and this year they were offering a painting project that lasted 6-8 weeks and entailed learning to paint. So I started off with acrylics and ended up doing watercolors. It was so challenging. My painting won 2nd place in the adult beginner's class. It was so much fun. I didn't expect to win anything-just enjoyed going to the sessions and watching everyone else paint. I think everyone needs to get out of their comfort zone and do something different. This was definitely out of the box for me and uncomfortable at times but I learned a lot out of the experience.

I had a great summer this year. Despite the work load and house projects I had fun. Nick and I went to see Dave Matthews Band twice over the summer-it's the highlight of my year and I will end my section with a line from a song of his because it's my inspiration and compass when my bearings are off. He says "When You Give Love, You Become What You Are."

Owen

Owen has had a very good year. He is doing so much and learning so much. It is amazing to watch the changes. Owen grew over 6 inches this year and experienced many first events. Owen had his first garden, first canoe trip, first roller coaster ride, first farm camp without mom, first bike ride with no training wheels, lost his first tooth, got his first puppy, built his first tree house, first fund raiser, first gymnastic team and many more.

Being 6 has been a blast and now being 7 looks even more promising with a first skateboard and first workbench! His social skills are improving and he has many neighborhood friends to keep him busy and thinking up new projects.

Myles

Myles is still the King Kong/Sweet Loulie Bear we adore. His antics never cease. He loves big brother for sure and looks up to him. He too has had a lot of growth this year and really seems like he is more like 4 than 3. Too fun!

Myles is cruising right along with his own home education. He sits beside Owen and answers the questions on the computer quizzes. At 2 he knew his alphabet by sight and sound and could count to 20. That may not seem like much but I haven't really had to teach him-he is just picking it up from Owen's work. He is also very inquisitive about how things work and that curiosity will take him far.

The House

The house has not had any improvements done to the outside but the inside is coming along. Nick and his Brother Bob from Portland Oregon put down hard wood floors in March. The living room had 100 year old pine plank flooring that you could see the basement through the knot holes if you looked closely. Now it's quiet, warm and beautiful-thank you Uncle Bob! we love it!

We recently painted our hallway purple and added some track lighting so that we would have a place to display all of our lovely paintings of butterflies, monster trucks and Myles' abstract scribbles. It has been renamed The Gallery-ha!

The bathroom is next!!! Stay tuned!

The Animals

The front porch cat population has held stable around 4-6 strays this year. I'm afraid that may change soon, but we will see. I made my first turkey for Christmas Eve Dinner at my Grandma's house-I will add this was the first Christmas Bonus I have ever received also, I think I'm officially an adult now... but anyway I fed the left over carcass to the herd of felines out front. Needless to say word travels fast-I saw cats that night I had never seen before.

We lost Bandit in October. She was old and ailing-it was sad to watch her decline. She was the best dog and I still miss her. Nick buried her beside Miss Mandy out back, so they can be near us when we have our campfires this summer.

We adopted 2 puppies from the Help Shelter in Richmond about a month ago-whew! Phin is a golden retriever (she acts blonde) and Casey Jones is a skittish Shepard mix-they have issues and we are off to obedience school in January! They are so cute and just want attention. We have had our fair share of messes, chewing, jumping and digging so it's time for some civilizing! Wish us luck!

Bela is going to be 8 in February- she is having a change of heart at mid life. That is she doesn't exactly hate the new puppies anymore-she is tolerating them and every once in a while I think she sneaks a quick play in with Phin. She has had a weird skin irritation from allergies this year and has been on steroids-I don't know how many of you have had the pleasure of living with a 98 lb. bodgerhound on steroids but let me tell you... it's been interesting. The steroids affect her digestion, and her biogas production should qualify us for an alternative energy tax credit next year if the EPA doesn't sanction her first.

Not quite spring yet, but the sandbox calls to them...

The spring triumph: No training wheels!

This is what big brothers are for.

One of these kids had a napkin...

Owen is apprenticed to his cousins to learn how a treehouse is built.

Blake levels the floor.

Brett places an artificial tree.

"Mom? There's half a worm in this apple!"

"I wonder how I can get these balloons for my next birthday party?"

We still can't figure out why they never catch them on fire.

Bandit died this year. We'll miss her.

Bela contemplates Fermat's last theorem.

"Yeah, I know they're on the wrong feet."

"Myles, are you going to need some help playing with that?"

"Wow! they get harder to blow out every year!"

Blowing bubbles in the rain.

Under the table and dreaming...

Our pet spider. Not so good at fetching sticks, but very quiet.

"I can't believe you're making me wash up out here!"

"Me Tarzan! You short!"

"Hurry up Mom, I got the low bid on this project, but I gotta finish before sundown or I don't get paid!"

"Well, you see, there was this cat..."

Who needs a health club membership when you have The Toddler Resistance Training System at home?

Our annual pilgrimage to see live steam.

Delivery of the hardwood flooring lumber just happened to coincide with Bob's visit... (Our family has a long history of such convenient coincidences.)

The neighborhood beautification committee chairkid at work.

"Owen, are you sure Mom said she wanted to stay on the island?"

"One more test run around the garage, and then it's off to California!"

Our sufficient pumpkin. (Next year, we're going for great.)

"Vidal Sassoon wants You!"

Owen and Brittany on a hike.

The bees work to fill our pantry.

Owen transfers honey from the bees' pantry to ours.

Myles dons his bee suit so he can help harvest honey.

A dedicated husband cleans the stove.
* Amy clarifies: An hour earlier the "dedicated husband" put 5 gallons of honey on the stove and then fell asleep reading a bedtime story as the honey boiled over, onto, into, and through the stove...

I'm guessing it was blueberry flavor.

Cuteness abounds.

"This is a model of the development project we are proposing for the back yard. The investors will arrive shortly, so we'd appreciate it if you big people would make yourselves scarce for a while."

The boys return from their outing.

"Well how else am I going to get inside the doll house?"

"Sure smells good!"

Owen prepares to take on the sharks.

"Are they coming?"

"Dad says I have to wear this if I'm going to keep diving off the edge."

It doesn't get much better than this.

"The game's afoot, Watson!"

"Who says people who think inside the box have no imagination?"

More harvest-time fun.

Only eight more years until he gets a learner's permit!

Next year, I'm riding in the wagon and they can pull!

Mike Fink had better look out!

Owen graduated to three dimensions this year. Next year, we're getting him 20 gallons of housepaint and a roller for his birthday.

Pals stuck inside and waiting for spring.

The explorer and papoose on a hike.

"Yes... I have a clean diaper on... Why?"

Brett: This had better not end up on the Internet!"

Moments later, the hammock flips...

Lazy summer days.

The guys learning to swim bob.

"I need the goggles for riding my bike fast in the rain!"

Owen graduates from mechanic to service manager.

A remarkable number actually went into the bucket.

Filling their pockets and socks in preparation for going inside...

Myles watches big brother do his schoolwork.

Myles contemplates how to make his jack-o-lantern the scariest ever!

The sufficient pumpkin gets carved.

The Harrison Street gang practices brain surgery.

A spooky halloween sky.

We don't know these people.

The rest of the Harrison Street gang prepares for Halloween.

Phin enjoys her first day out of the animal shelter.

"I am Balto, Dog of the North"

"I just know if I could get out of here, I could pull that sled!"

The fall harvest waiting for canning.

Sledding by (not into) the lake.

Waiting for a push (since I can't move.)

That red blur is Owen, who lets nothing deter him from regular bike rides.

Owen & Myles on a winter hike.

Amy and Brittany prepare to plunge in with the other Brookville polar bears.

So long until next year's letter!