Dear Friends and Family,

Before taking the 2006 calendar off the fridge and throwing it away, we'd thought it'd be fun to look back at last year "by the numbers". It seemed like a busy year... and it was!

• Doctor visits: 33
• Immuniziations: 14
• Road-trips to visit family: 16
• Visits from out-of-town family: 9
• Loads of laundry: 1,095
• Football games attended: 17
• Airline miles Michael logged for work: 30,118
• Calls to IBM to get Mike's laptop fixed: 9
• Band/choir performances: 21
• Paintball tournaments: 3
• Trips to the library: 27
• Number of times Michael drove to Indianapolis¹ for grad school: 77
• Pairs of shoes purchased: 14
• Carry-in dinners: 8
• School "open houses": 7
• Varieties of beer home-brewed: 11
• Grocery store trips: 72

Not to mention the many things that we didn't count: Hugs. Diapers changed. Stories read. Lists made. Bills paid. Papers and art projects brought home from school. Moments of pride for our smart, funny, talented, loving, wonderful children. Moments of intense frustration when we've picked up their shoes from the living room floor...again. Coupons clipped. Bedtime prayers. You get the idea. It has been a very, very, very good year.

Mike is 17 and a senior at Lafayette Jeff. We haven’t seen as much of him as we’d like, but it’s that time in his life. He works 15 hours a week at the county library as a page. He attended Hoosier Boys State last summer (Michael attended Buckeye Boys State in Ohio sixteen years ago... time flies!) Mike has been active as a musician, playing in the Jefferson High School Marching Band (mellophone section leader), Teen ensemble at St. Mary’s, Pit Band for Cinderella (1st chair), Orchestra (1st chair), Wind Ensemble², and Solo and Ensemble competitions. He earned a gold rating and qualified for State contest with his Solo! He starred as Egbert in his high school production of "The Family Jewels". He’s also been involved in a variety of academic competitions, including a strong finish with the Science team and a 12th place statewide (Seniors) finish in the Rose Hulman Math Contest this fall. He wants to pursue a Mathematics degree and possibly teach High School Math. We’ve spent the fall visiting a handful of colleges and wrapping up applications to Purdue, Rose Hulman and Wabash College. Mike intends to continue playing his horn in college and is preparing for his auditions.

Mark is 15 and a freshman at Lafayette Jeff. He’s made a great adjustment to high school. He was busy this summer knocking out a few required freshman classes in summer school, mowing lawns and with Marching Band (percussion). He didn’t get to spend as much time as he would like at YMCA camp this summer and is really looking forward to returning this year. We gave Mark entrance fees to his first three-event paintball tournament as a birthday gift and it turned out to be great fun for all of us! Mike and Mark’s team “Serious Business” improved their placement on each event, closing out in 5th place overall for the tournament and even won the Team Sportsmanship award which waived their entrance fees to the next tournament series. They start playing again in February (brrr..) and have been working hard to get equipment and themselves ready. Both Mike and Mark are preparing for Confirmation in May, so they’ve also been busy trying to fit in the required classes and volunteer hours.

Mitch is 8 and a 3rd Grader at St. Mary’s. He’s been working really hard at school and is doing well. We’re ALL better at our math facts! He celebrated his First Communion last spring. He spent the summer busy with swim lessons at the Y, Football Summer Camp, Voice lessons and the Bach Chorale Summer workshop, as well as three action packed weeks at Y Camp. You know it’s been a good day at YMCA Camp when your child comes home dirty and hungry then falls asleep in the middle of dinner. In the fall he played wide receiver and safety on the Central Catholic Little Gridiron team. It was full contact for the first time and I did survive, though there were moments it was questionable. He and Michael have also been busy with Cub Scouts. This winter he’s continuing with his piano lessons and the Bach Chorale Children’s Choir. He finds such great joy in singing. It is a beautiful thing to watch your child do something they love so much.

Eleanor turned 2 in March and while she’s definitely a girl who knows what she wants, the terrible 2’s haven’t been all that terrible. It’s been wonderful fun watching Lenny and Lilly’s relationship develop. Michael and I love lying in bed on a weekend morning listening on the baby monitor to the girl’s “conversations”. Lenny loves kitty cats, dolls and playing kitchen. She’s also a huge fan of playing stickers and wearing snow boots… even in July. She loves visits from Addie who we are fortunate to still see with some regularity. We are constantly amazed by just how intelligent and bright a personality she has.

Lilly celebrated her first birthday in October. Last year she was just a tiny baby and this year she is walking, talking and routinely delighting us. Aside from normal Mama, Da-da, no-no-no, her first word was “badger"³. She loves sitting in my chair and reading books, emptying laundry baskets of their folded clean clothes and also pulling her sister’s hair in the tandem stroller when we go for our evening walks. She’s absolutely fearless and only really gets upset when she’s left out of the action.

We all rejoiced when Michael wrapped up classes in July and earned his Master's in Library Science from Indiana University-Indianapolis. He began his second year of writing grants and performing research for the Purdue University Libraries. Two of his papers were published and he has been travelling quite a bit - Denver, Baltimore, North Carolina, Norway, Scotland, Las Vegas, and two trips to Washington D.C. He was invited by President Jischke to attend the Inventor's Recognition Dinner for the creation and licensing of the OAISRB software. He began a second term on the YMCA Board of Directors and was promoted to Senior Faculty Fellow at Shreve Hall. We have essentially adopted the entire 6th floor at Shreve, eating dinner with our students on campus once a week and participating in events such as "Shrevetoberfest", bowling, baking Christmas cookies, and going to King's Island. Last but definitely not least, we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.

I have been busy trying to keep up with everyone and everything, and making lists that I mostly finish. I enjoyed getting dirty in the vegetable garden this summer and also did quite a bit of landscaping and work around the house refurbishing windows among other things. I had fun taking the kids to pick blueberries, strawberries and peaches. I froze and canned like a crazy person for a few weeks in July. I’m also oddly excited about the new kitchen compost system I made. It's embarrassing some weeks how much trash a family of 7 can generate. I also began a small home business--Creaky House--event planning, arranging flowers, and catering. I've done quite a bit of sewing and also made paper and experimented with some other paper crafts like quilling and weaving. We have a new friend, Sydney (10 months) who comes to play with us three days a week. The girls really enjoy having someone new to play with and I enjoy the extra spending money. I've also claimed victory over Fat Bastard--the obese raccoon who thought our garage and garbage made for a really nice home. I may not be smarter than my kids, but I've still got a few brain cells up on a mean old raccoon!

It's a long letter this year! There are a lot of people to give updates on. If you’ve just skipped to the bottom, it’s probably enough to say that 2006 was another loud, messy, fun year at our house and we can’t wait to see what 2007 brings.

Peace and love,

Footnotes

1. Number of times Michael drove to Indianapolis over the course of the last two and a half years (i.e., not all in 2006) to attend classes at IUPUI to get his master's degree.
2. "Jack Tar", Jefferson High School Wind Ensemble, Music in May, recorded live on May 21, 2006.
3. Before the Purdue-Wisconsin football game, a friend emailed us a link to the "Badger, Badger" animation on the Internet. It delighted Lilly, who repeated "badger, badger, badger..." Multiple versions on the web [1, 2, 3, 4] and homemade variations turned this into a family joke. Lilly got a sutffed badger and Rachel got a mushroom cookie-cutter for Christmas.