Since I recently wrote our Christmas card letter, and actually downloaded all of the photos off of our camera since JULY (yes, we have a BIIIIGGG memory card in there!) I thought it would be an easy and convenient way to catch up to present time by posting our letter and some of the pics. My New Year's resolution is to get the photos off of my camera before they are 6 months old!
Christmas 2010
This has certainly been a very busy and full year! In fact, I am having a hard time keeping up with pulling out the all the gray hairs that seem to appear on my head! We all went on a trip to Florida and stayed in a condo owned by one of Mike’s coworkers. It was a little chaotic – but so is anything we undertake! Between Feliks arriving late, Vivita losing a crown on her tooth and the everyday chaos that follows us, we managed to have a pretty good time - so good, that we plan to do it again...in about a decade!
On March 17th, I was lucky enough to become an Aunty for the first time to Kaleb Wiplinger! He is the most gorgeous little guy with the thickest, most gorgeous hair you have ever seen – he had his hair cut at only a few days old! At least there will be some male karma on our block to help bring balance to the highly female population of southern River Road.
He
len & Ingrid are wonderful big sisters! When they tell others about their little sisters, they refer to them as “our babies.” They enjoy being their “sisters’ keepers”, sure to take away toys or bits that are dangerous and especially enjoying scolding them when they are being naughty! Talk about having a mirror reflecting your parenting habits! It’s quite intimidating actually, and really makes my shortcomings obvious!
Ingrid and Helen do love Kindergarten this year, and have been learning reading and adding. They graduated from their therapy for sensory problems and have been doing pretty well. Helen especially has had a complete turnaround, while Ingrid still seems to struggle at times.
The babies amaze me every day! This past summer, I asked Ingrid to go inside and gave her until I counted to 5 to comply. I got to five, and someone else picked up, “sick, sehn, aye, nye, ten!” Nora knew how to count! Probably from hearing me do it for sisters all the time! In another incident, Nora came up to me and said “sir bupkay”. At first I had no clue what she was saying. Then I asked her to show me and she walked up to Stella and pointed to the 2 play cupcakes Stella had, saying “sister sir bupkay”. Oh! “Share Cupcake!” I said. Stella immediately gave one to her! Wow! How had 1 year old babies picked up on this while their kindergarten sisters still fought like savages!? It is all in the personality I think.
I have been keeping busy with the usual chores including choreographing for St. Croix Lutheran High School’s show choir.
Last summer on one really terrible horrible no good, really bad day, Mike was diagnosed with Lymes disease and lost his job on the same day! The good news is that after having had Lymes unknowingly for 3 weeks, it was good to finally nix it! As for his job, while it was nerve racking at the time, he ended up getting a lot done around the house this summer and started his dream job in September at Lockheed Martin working on software for the air traffic control system. I pray that all of our difficulties and yours so gracefully work themselves out!
Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!
Nancy, Mike, Ingrid, Helen, Nora & Stella
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I don’t remember when, but they have become quite reliable about using care around stairs. Of course, you can’t trust them not to fall, but when they walk toward a stairway, the fact that they beat you there no longer means certain ER visit. They know to stop and even how to go down! I don’t know if I’ve ever written about it, but the yalso get themselves off couches and beds for some time. I started putting cushions on the floor next to the couch so they would fall on it. Then I showd them how to sit and swing on their belly to slide down. Didn’t take long to catch on! I think they’ve been doing that since April or may at least?! Maybe even before! 
Oh and the words…SO MANY words. They know all of their farm animal sounds. Nora always seems to have a new word first and then stella picks it up. They both know ‘No’ of cour
se! Which is useful actually, I don’t mind it a bit! I ask if they want water, and they say ‘No’! Ok! How bout a snack?! Nora calls Grandma ‘Bahma’ and stella calls her ‘Ama’. They say “Ou-side’ when they want to go and ‘Sitta’ for sister! When I point to a man in a book and ask what it is, Nora says ‘a dadda’! Here’s a list of words I can think of that either of them say:
