December 2005

To our dear friends and family,

After a hectic pre-Christmas schedule we found ourselves with two choices: Either get our cards out on time so that they would get to you before Easter or do the family newsletter. We chose the former, so for those of you who from time to time check this page here is what we left out.

The biggest part of our lives, of course, has been our sweet Mary who turned 1 in August. She is now, at sixteen months, curious, full of happiness and love, and a handful. She has taken her first few shaky steps but as of yet still prefers to use her patented "crab crawl" to get from place to place. Her weekly sessions at The Little Gym are a good way for her to discover new tricks and games as well as to meet new friends and swap germs with them.

Ginny is finding that her new life as a full-time mom is full of joys, discoveries, challenges and new experiences. Although she misses her former colleagues and students at SS. Coleman - John Neumann she and Mary have been able to visit the school and keep in touch. It still seems strange not to be spending extra hours at this time of year getting ready for Michael and Helen's Christmas show.

Bill spent an enjoyable eighth year at the credit union working with some new challenges and responsibilities as well as attending a "Perimeter Security" conference in Baltimore in November. More importantly, with a huge amount of help from Ginny, Peter French and especially Jim he finished work on the basement. With Ginny's decorating skills the room went from a cold concrete cave to a warm haven for adults and children alike.

Over the year we've had so many wonderful times with our loved ones that it's not possible to list them all. We know that 2006 is going to be another year full of warmth, love and surprises. We will look forward to sharing it with you.

Love,