When you are through here, you might want to read the 2007 Winter Letter

Greetings Everyone! Happy Winter!

Greetings family and friends all-

We hope 2008 was filled with great memories for you and lots of love. We have had a great year and are looking forward to 2009 with hope and love in our hearts. We wish everyone a year of abundant love and peace. Many blessings to you all!

Amy, Nick, Owen, Myles, Bela, Phin, Casey and Leo

Nick

Nick has been super busy, just like last year. Work is good and growing and continues to move forward. Projects on the home front continue to fill his spare time as well as keeping busy with the boys. He volunteered again this year in the Portrait of Liberty Project, worked the historical election and was active in Owen's Cub Scout group.

Amy

I have been busy this year as well, but have managed to find time for fun and a few adventures. I still work at Reid hospital and continue to build my private massage practice here in town. Between that and keeping up with the boys, managing animals and a household, it keeps me on my toes. I got to teach a little Environmental Ed this year and led a couple of hikes for different groups but not as much as last year. I still stay active in our home school group just because it's fun and Myles enjoys the friends we made there with Owen.

We went to see the DMB again this year-it's always the highlight of my summer, I was saddened when I heard of the passing of LeRoi Moore, the saxophone player. The band will never be the same-but I have great hope for their future they always have something up their sleeve to keep it fresh! I got to take a trip out west to see my friend Carmen in Oregon. We drove up to Washington to the Gorge Amphitheatre to see the band-it was a great trip and I got to have some "girl" time in with my best friend-who I miss dearly.

In October Owen and I went to LEAF-we had a great festival and got to visit with other friends in Asheville. It was a great weekend for us and we came home filled with the excitement of banjos, fiddles, mandolins, Bela Fleck, Billy Jonas and contra dance!

Owen

Owen has had a very different kind of year this year. He started public school in the second grade. He likes it and is doing very well. Still a wiz at math and science but a little behind in writing I have no doubts he will catch up and be ready for third grade.

He still gets to explore the finer side of living with broken computer parts from dad. Disassembling printers, hard drives and other mechanical devices he has learned to make motors run, lights flicker, and played with pulleys, levers and lots of other gadgets.

Owen is enjoying cub scouts and got to attend Cub Scout camp this summer. He is still enthusiastic about gymnastics and has taken to canoeing with me this summer. We went fishing several times and had a lot of great hikes in the woods. He and Myles are close buddies and since he has been in school seem to appreciate their friendship a little more. Its so cool to watch him grow and learn, even if he isn't learning from me.

Myles

Myles is growing and moving in to little boyhood. He can turn on the computer, log in and find his favorite web sites. He knows his letters and numbers and does home work with Owen. The day time is quiet here as he misses Owen when he is at school. He constantly asks "when is Owen coming home" as he needs his hot wheel race partner to run around the house with. He can be quite rambunctious at times but still holds the title to "Sweet Loulie Bear." It's been fun having him here alone-I have enjoyed the time with him hanging out during the day. Myles loves his animals and romps with them instead of Owen. They take it in stride and love him equally. He has had a lot of new lines like "in fake life" and the number- "thirty eleven" or "Mom do you want to see an instant replay of the hot wheel car crash" he just encountered but reassures me no one was injured. Too cute-he is such a sweet boy.

The House

The house has undergone some great additions. Nick put in a new gas furnace and this spring will add central air (a first for us). He did foundation work, plumbing and wiring work and continues to update the outdated. I have been working on the bathroom, it was our goal to have it completed by thanksgiving, but didn't quite make the deadline. I painted and wallpapered, he added an exhaust fan and now we are working on a new tub and slate flooring! We know the house is constantly in a state of renovation but I look forward to the day when there isn't something lurking around the corner to be finished!

The Animals

The cat population has stayed at three which is a relief-Puss is a white cat that insists she belongs to us and Grayor and Grayson have adopted us as well. You are sure to see a pile of cats asleep on our front porch despite Bela barking at them constantly-I think they are deaf.

Bela is acting like a puppy with the other dogs I believe they have given her reason to stay young. Phin, whatever kind of dog she is, surely has some hound dog in her. Her lazy eyes and slow gallop reeks of a beagle laying in the dirt on a hot summer day. Casey is our OCD Shepard who graduated from dog training this year. She is an amazing working dog-she herds our chickens and rustles them back into the chicken yard like a real professional sheep dog. The other dogs just watch in dismay at her pride while working the herd. You can practically see her smile. Casey is my going-to-town dog-she goes to the door when she knows its time to pick Owen up from school-you can always count on her to let you know its time. I took Phin canoeing this summer, aimed at making her my river dog-she just lays down in the bottom of the boat and goes to sleep-she took her first real swim this summer and nearly drowned as she climbed to the top of my head in the middle of the lake. So much for the webbed feet and lab appearance, I think she might have some cat in her. We wont be swimming from the boat anymore!

We inherited a spotted leopard gecko lizard this year and it's been fun playing with the little guy. We tried to start a cricket farm in the bathroom-you have no idea what a horrible smell such tiny little beings have to offer-so we are officially out of the cricket farming business.

The garden and the bees have been a little slow this year. We are just too busy to keep up with it all. We managed a few tomatoes, peppers, onions, potatoes and strawberries but the weeds won a battle I wasn’t aware of. We harvested honey just a few weeks ago and squeezed a gallon out of super. In June we got to witness the amazing act of our bees swarming. A huge cluster of bees hanging on a branch about 20 feet up-the sound was surreal. We had a bumper crop of apples and made applesauce, dried apples and froze a ton of them. Come January I can practically smell the pie in the oven!

Here are some pictures of our year-enjoy!

Owen at his first day of school...

Our little helper takes a break from doing the laundry

Everybody thinks we take these sleeping pictures because it's so cute... The truth is that most of the pictures of him not sleeping are blurred.

The Jolly Roger sets sail to halloween harbor

Hmmm... I think we've done one or two things this year not involving pirates, but the pictures tell a different story.

Pumpkins were one of our few successful crops this year. We called the neighbors to help when it was time to slaughter them. (The pumpkins, that is. No neighbors were harmed in the making of this picture.

Practicing for a career in quality control

Capable (we think) babysitters taking care of our little darlings.

Where does Amy come up with these?

Best buddies. (It lasted for about 4 seconds...)

They were fresh out of Hannah Montana cakes.

Living up to his shirt slogan.

I'm sorry, Florence, I'm just not ready for this kind of commitment.

Plunderers R us.

Owen's first big concert. Mom was teaching him to scream "Freebird!"

The penguin waddling among Christmas trees.

That's all for now! Keep smiling until next year!