2008 Christmas Letter
It’s been two years since our last Christmas letter, so, we will give you a two-year update.
In 2007, we welcomed our youngest son, Elijah into the world. He was born on February 27, 2007. That's a lot of two's and seven's. It must mean something lucky. Doug & Finnegan were very excited, I was relieved and exhausted. He weighed 9 lbs, 10 ozs! For the next three months we survived on a few hours of sleep a night and I went back to work at the photography studio after six weeks, only because I was able to bring him to work with me.
Finnegan continued to attend school three days a week and became even more fascinated with super heroes. To date, he has about a bazillion action figures of Batman, Obi Won, Superman and many more. Sometimes, I'll come down the stairs to find a dozen or so super heroes lying on the ground as if they were fallen comrades in some tragic battle--it's a super hero graveyard.
In August, we ventured to the Treder Family Reunion in Berlin, Wisconsin where Elijah was baptized and introduced to the entire Treder clan. It was a wonderful visit, but we didn't get to eat as many bratwursts as I would have liked. Instead, we had tons of fun looking at family photos and visiting with all of our favorite people. One highlight of the trip was that Mike Treder managed to rent a B&B for all of us to stay together. It was great to watch the kids play together and have a home base for everyone to stay.
In late September, my business partnership at the photography studio ended. My partner decided she wanted the studio for herself, so I left and concentrated on being at home with the kids. It was a hard transition, but now I'm into a new routine and doing photography in the Seattle area. Now, I only work when I want to.
That brings us to 2008. We started the year off by going to Hawaii in late January with our friends the Swartzs and the Graybills and we rented a house on Maui for a week. The weather was really great, snorkeling was awesome and we discovered that it rains really, really hard in the rain forest. Hence the name. We found a great beach where we relaxed and enjoyed watching Finnegan roar above the din of the crashing waves as he chased the water from the shore. Elijah discovered the sand and he loved digging his fingers and toes into it all day long.
In March we were lucky to have visits from my Mom, Dad and Doug's dad, Mike. We all went on a fun wine tasting trip and ended up getting caught in a Spring snow storm which made wine tasting even better!
As Spring turned into Summer, we started taking the boys on various family outings around Seattle and are now members of the Seattle Children's Museum, The Zoo, The Aquarium and other child-friendly activity centers. Finnegan and Elijah are good buddies as they share a great love for Batman, Star Wars and super heroes. There are daily disputes over ownership of Batman, but they are little boys after all.
On October 4, Doug’s youngest sister, Mary Ann married her love, Paul in Sturgis, Michigan on a quaint farm surrounded by friends and family. Finnegan and his cousin Luke were ring bearers and inspired much laughter when Finn tucked the ring pillow under his arm like a football and beat a hasty path to the altar. Luke was a little more sullen as he drove his fists into his pockets and meandered down the aisle. Finn was rewarded with another action figure when he handed the ring pillow off to the best man and he quietly played through the rest of the ceremony. Elijah didn't know what was going on, except that he wanted Finn's new toy. For my part, I photographed the three-day affair with the assistance of Al Treder, Doug's uncle.
For Halloween, Doug made a mini storm trooper costume for Finn. Of course, he did his Trick O' Treating at Amazon.com and was the envy of all Doug's coworkers. Now he wears the costume as least four times a week. November 5 is Finn's birthday and due to work & school schedules we ended up celebrating his birthday several times; at school with cupcakes on Nov. 5, at dinner on Nov. 7 and then a party with all his little friends at our house on the 14th. Now, whenever Finnegan sees a cupcake he starts singing "Happy Birthday" and asks if it's his birthday. Why not?
So, here we are, Happy Holidays 2008. The snow is falling and today we went sledding and enjoyed the sounds of Elijah's laugh and Finnegan's squeals of joy. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year.
Much love,
Doug, Nancy, Finnegan & Elijah
In 2007, we welcomed our youngest son, Elijah into the world. He was born on February 27, 2007. That's a lot of two's and seven's. It must mean something lucky. Doug & Finnegan were very excited, I was relieved and exhausted. He weighed 9 lbs, 10 ozs! For the next three months we survived on a few hours of sleep a night and I went back to work at the photography studio after six weeks, only because I was able to bring him to work with me.
Finnegan continued to attend school three days a week and became even more fascinated with super heroes. To date, he has about a bazillion action figures of Batman, Obi Won, Superman and many more. Sometimes, I'll come down the stairs to find a dozen or so super heroes lying on the ground as if they were fallen comrades in some tragic battle--it's a super hero graveyard.
In August, we ventured to the Treder Family Reunion in Berlin, Wisconsin where Elijah was baptized and introduced to the entire Treder clan. It was a wonderful visit, but we didn't get to eat as many bratwursts as I would have liked. Instead, we had tons of fun looking at family photos and visiting with all of our favorite people. One highlight of the trip was that Mike Treder managed to rent a B&B for all of us to stay together. It was great to watch the kids play together and have a home base for everyone to stay.
In late September, my business partnership at the photography studio ended. My partner decided she wanted the studio for herself, so I left and concentrated on being at home with the kids. It was a hard transition, but now I'm into a new routine and doing photography in the Seattle area. Now, I only work when I want to.
That brings us to 2008. We started the year off by going to Hawaii in late January with our friends the Swartzs and the Graybills and we rented a house on Maui for a week. The weather was really great, snorkeling was awesome and we discovered that it rains really, really hard in the rain forest. Hence the name. We found a great beach where we relaxed and enjoyed watching Finnegan roar above the din of the crashing waves as he chased the water from the shore. Elijah discovered the sand and he loved digging his fingers and toes into it all day long.
In March we were lucky to have visits from my Mom, Dad and Doug's dad, Mike. We all went on a fun wine tasting trip and ended up getting caught in a Spring snow storm which made wine tasting even better!
As Spring turned into Summer, we started taking the boys on various family outings around Seattle and are now members of the Seattle Children's Museum, The Zoo, The Aquarium and other child-friendly activity centers. Finnegan and Elijah are good buddies as they share a great love for Batman, Star Wars and super heroes. There are daily disputes over ownership of Batman, but they are little boys after all.
On October 4, Doug’s youngest sister, Mary Ann married her love, Paul in Sturgis, Michigan on a quaint farm surrounded by friends and family. Finnegan and his cousin Luke were ring bearers and inspired much laughter when Finn tucked the ring pillow under his arm like a football and beat a hasty path to the altar. Luke was a little more sullen as he drove his fists into his pockets and meandered down the aisle. Finn was rewarded with another action figure when he handed the ring pillow off to the best man and he quietly played through the rest of the ceremony. Elijah didn't know what was going on, except that he wanted Finn's new toy. For my part, I photographed the three-day affair with the assistance of Al Treder, Doug's uncle.
For Halloween, Doug made a mini storm trooper costume for Finn. Of course, he did his Trick O' Treating at Amazon.com and was the envy of all Doug's coworkers. Now he wears the costume as least four times a week. November 5 is Finn's birthday and due to work & school schedules we ended up celebrating his birthday several times; at school with cupcakes on Nov. 5, at dinner on Nov. 7 and then a party with all his little friends at our house on the 14th. Now, whenever Finnegan sees a cupcake he starts singing "Happy Birthday" and asks if it's his birthday. Why not?
So, here we are, Happy Holidays 2008. The snow is falling and today we went sledding and enjoyed the sounds of Elijah's laugh and Finnegan's squeals of joy. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year.
Much love,
Doug, Nancy, Finnegan & Elijah
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