| Christmas Letter |
| Written by Chris | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday, 25 December 2008 00:00 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Merry Christmas! We hope this letter finds you all well. I always like to think of our Christmas letter as an excuse for everyone to stop, step away from the holiday madness, and enjoy a quiet moment to yourselves. Our little Cooper is growing up so fast. Growing up so fast that we witnessed his first eye roll at dinner tonight, immediately following a drawn out dramatic "what are you talking about?". He had his third birthday on November 24th. Over the past year he has changed into a little boy. I think it's particularly hard on Moms to watch their little ones grow big, assert their independence, show off their developing personalities and do all of those things that say "I'm not a baby anymore". Coop has had a pretty action packed year. We went to Kansas in the spring to visit family and learned a lot about our little one. It turns out that the kid who can watch a DVD about John Deere over and over and over was in fact terrified of real tractors. As a matter of fact, a detour through a farm implement dealership revealed that he was terrified of pretty much all farm equipment when he is up close and personal. I should say that later in the summer he had a little change of heart and was pretty thrilled to sit on a small John Deere in Brush, Colorado. Cooper has also become a train enthusiast and has ridden on steam and diesel trains here in Colorado. We rode the steam train at the train museum in Golden, CO, and rode the Georgetown Loop which is a narrow gauge rail line that was used for mining in it's heyday. He is also pretty crazy about his little Thomas the tank engine train set. He can fritter away the hours pulling "Frank" cars around and around the track. Yeah, we know, we have tried to tell him they are called "freight" cars but once he sets his mind to it, there isn't much you can do. Coop Spent a lot of time in the water this summer. We swam in the pool at Grandma and Grandpa Peters and lounged in the little pool at Grandma Ginger's house. After slipping off the stairs at the pool, Coop went completely underwater and I pulled him up by the scruff, coughing and sputtering. I assumed that would be the last time he touched the water but to my surprise he just went back to the side and jumped off the edge into my arms yelling his pool catchphrase "To infinity and beyond!" It seems like we have a little water lover on our hands. Cooper is officially a preschooler now. He really likes school and always comes home with what can only be described as toddler gossip. Who pushed who, who is his friend today, what activities went on. Our personal favorites are when the truth gets bent a little bit. After refusing to take a nap at school, Karen asked why he didn't go to sleep. His matter of fact response was that "Miss Yulia was talking to me". What a terrible teacher, rambling on and on while poor innocent Cooper was desperately trying to sleep. Actually, Miss Yulia was talking to Cooper, telling him he had to stop throwing his blanket at the other kids and be quiet so everyone could sleep. Karen really surprised me for our anniversary this year with tickets to a Husker game In Lincoln. It was an amazing experience. We both went to the game while Coop spent some quality time with Grandma Ginger and the Kansas/Nebraska clans. Karen was able to really get a feel for what Nebraska football is all about and why it is so important to so many people... oh, she had a bushel of fun too. The Huskers have really turned things around under new head coach Bo Pelini and things are really looking up for the Corn Nation. I am a lucky man to have such an awesome wife. We also had a fun family vacation with Karen's side of the family in Breckenridge. It was beautiful there and we all had a lot of fun. We hiked on some great trails, ate some great crepes, played some Wii, and the kids loved throwing rocks into the river. Cooper got to spend some time with his cousins Talya and new arrival Micah. Karen is still quilting and she has also added baking to her list of talents. I can't believe I still fit into my pants with all the goodies she pulls from the oven. Karen has also taught herself web design and has added that to the things she does at work, as well as at home. When Karen sets her mind to it, she can do anything she wants. I'm hoping that she decides she would like to learn framing and drywall and then she can finish our basement. We have been in our new house for about a year and a half and we finally got around to hanging pictures. At this rate, we will have the walls painted by the time Cooper graduates. We have such great neighbors and Coop has a bunch of kids his age to play with. When the weather is good, we spend a lot of time in the parks or just taking walks. Ally also loves running with me in the park and around the neighborhood. She is still the cutest and most disobedient dog you'll ever meet. There is nothing more embarassing than realizing that you are lecturing your beagle like she is a teenager and she is probably paying about as much attention as a teenager. We had to put down our first baby, Kinja beagle this year. That was really really hard and we both miss him a great deal. He was a great dog. Karen is still doing the same thing but the company she works for was bought by a huge multinational conglomerate. She is now #17658904. Just kidding, they actually treated everyone pretty well during the takeover. I'm still working at the water quality lab at Denver Water. We actually had some exciting things happen this year. The Democratic National Convention was in Denver this year and we were hopping the whole time. We also had to deal with a 60 inch diameter water conduit that blew up under I-25, taking a huge chunk of the highway with it. We had to remove a bunch of mud and then clean, disinfect, and collect bacteriological samples from the area affected by the break to make sure it was safe to put back in service. Sometimes it pays off to be short because I can stand up and work fairly well in that size pipe. That is a roundup of what went on in our little family this year. We wish all the best for you all in the coming year! Merry Christmas!!!
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Chris, I loved reading your Christmas letter and seeing the photos ofthecommonrheas.com |
