Though we do have some wonderful neighborhood groundhogs that frequently entertain us in the backyard and sometimes make a mess of our garbage, as you may be speculating, we ran out of time to get our annual Christmas letter written. We opted for the next available holiday… Happy Groundhog Day... 2006! About a month after we got settled into our new house in Happy Hollow, we found out we were to be blessed with baby #5. I left my job in May, and while I miss my Schilli family and some of the challenges and opportunities of working outside of the home, I am also very lucky to be at home with the kids and am really enjoying the family time. I spent a lot of time working on the house last year and was also able to start exercising several days a week. As usual, I have about five more projects started at a time than could actually ever be finished, but that’s entirely normal and my family tolerates it. One project especially near and dear to my heart was to make our new niece Mia’s christening gown. Other than that I’ve just been busy with the cooking, cleaning, and the many things that make up normal life with a big family. Lillian Alina Witt was born October 21, 2005. She weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and arrived after only an hour of labor. She’s my kind of baby.. highly efficient! Lilly is beautiful and healthy. She seems to know that she has come into a busy home and makes herself heard above the normal fracas, without hesitation. Her greatest skills right now are eating, smiling and drooling. The other kids call her Baby Jabba. It does seem to suit her, though we’ve made them promise to stop calling her that before she is too much older. Eleanor had her first birthday in March, started walking and talking and hasn’t slowed down for a minute ever since. She is completely fearless, loves the park, swimming, reading books and coloring. She’s also a very verbal child and has no problems whatsoever in making her opinions known. “Lenny do it” was her first full sentence and remains a favorite. Every day she learns something new.  Most recently, it’s been her colors and her shapes. For reasons unknown to us she is particularly fond of trapezoids and triangles. Mitch is 7 and a 2nd grader at St. Mary’s. He earned his red belt in Tae Kwon Do in the spring and then decided it was time to try some new sports. He played soccer in the spring, flag football in the fall and of course continued his normal swim lessons at the YMCA. We went to Purdue’s Bug Bowl in April where his big brother, Mike, almost won a cricket-spitting contest. He really enjoyed three weeks of day camp at Camp Straight Arrow during the summer. He’s working really hard and doing very well in school. This is an exciting year for Mitch as he’s preparing for First Holy Communion in May 2006. Mark is 14 and an 8th grader at Tecumseh.  He works hard in school and has excellent grades. He continues to play percussion in Band and participated in Solo and Ensemble competition & “8th grade night” with the Jeff Marching Band. He volunteered all summer as a Junior Counselor at YMCA Straight Arrow Day Camp and also participated in Leadership Camp. Mark was invited to attend YMCA Adventure Camp in Hershey, PA, where he went to the Hershey factory, the Harley Davidson plant, and Historic Gettysburg. He broke his ankle playing football in the backyard (the old "option-right-jump-over-the-bush" play.) Mark played a lot of paintball this year and is anxiously awaiting warmer dryer weather so he can play again. Mike is 16 and got his driver's license. He plays French Horn in concert band and Mellophone in the Marching Band and Show Band. He qualified for State in Solo Competition the Jeff Marching Band also competed at State competition in October; They had their best finish in 20 years. He was invited to play in Graduation Band and recently has worked with the Liturgy Coordinator at St. Mary’s to start a Teen Ensemble.  Mike also participates in Academic Superbowl and French Quizbowl and worked on the Stage Crew for the Spring Theatre production of Rumplestiltskin. He plays paintball and volunteered as a counselor at Straight Arrow Day camp. Every day he seems older to us. We could blame it on the talk of college, that he’s 6’3’’ or that he drives a car, but the reality is that he’s more adult now than he is little boy and it’s fun for us to be a part of the transformation. Michael began a new job at the Purdue University Libraries as their Senior Research Systems Administrator. He recently travelled to Phoenix to present at a Coalition for Networked Information conference, and in May, Purdue is sending him to present at EuroCRIS 2006 in Bergen, Norway. He has been attending classes at IUPUI for the last two years and should graduate with a Master's degree in Library Science in August. He is going into his third year on the Board of Directors at the Lafayette YMCA and still chairs the Program Committee. Our YMCA's dragon-boat team took first place in the open class of the Wabash Riverfest! Purdue had a disappointing football season, but we enjoyed a steady stream of friends who visited and walked to the stadium from our house. We had beautiful weather for our annual Father's Day camping and canoe trip on Sugar Creek. We have a happy and full life.  We’re so grateful for our health, our family and our friends. We hope this finds you enjoying the wonderful things in your life as much as we enjoy ours. All our love and hopes for a Groundhog Day filled with the promise of an imminent Spring, Rachel, Michael, Mike, Mark, Mitch, Lenny, and Lilly