The New Year Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

Last year, I convinced myself not to send a Christmas card.

This year, I had every intention of taking a nice family picture with a real photographer and sending out a real Christmas card. But, somehow, time slipped away from me and none of those things happened.

Maybe for the same reasons that it's now January 9 and I'm resorting to Plan B – writing a Christmas e-letter. Oh well. Christmas will come again next year, so I'll have another chance.

After looking at last year's Christmas letter, it became painfully clear that I wasn't nearly as attentive to taking photos of Dan, Monika, and Daphne together. Maybe because Daphne doesn't sit still anymore. Anyway, I did get one great picture of them.

So, until next year, here is our 2014 Christmas e-letter, which should now be called a New Year letter or an Epiphany letter. (But, thankfully, not yet a MLK Day letter or Valentine's Day letter.)

Dan is 8 now. He's in second grade at St. Mary's School. He has become quite the reader in the past year, which makes his parents very proud. He started skidloader driving lessons this past summer and is looking forward to helping more with equipment work. He also earned his exploration rights to the farm last summer, which led to many expeditions to the ponds and pasture with Monika. He still loves LEGOs and has taken a great liking to our new house cat, Grace.

Monika is 5. The big news in her life was the start of kindergarten last fall. She enjoys school immensely, even if it means less time to spend with her beloved calves. She is anxiously waiting for her turn to read chapter books like her brother and is making excellent progress toward her goal. She still loves singing and dancing and has added gymnastics in the living room to her repertoire.

Daphne is now all of two years old and she is the comedic, lovable little sister. She has perfected the heart-melting art of kisses and hugs and is working hard at expanding her vocabulary. She loves to spend time outside and in the barn with her Daddy and the kitties. In a close second, she loves cookies. We are awed by how much she has grown up in the past several weeks and would give anything to keep her little for a little while longer.

Dan and Monika's growing level of responsibility and Daphne's growing independence meant that Daphne was able to spend considerably less time buckled into a stroller last summer and more time playing, while Dan and Monika supervised. This made for many fun moments for all three kids and less toddler-containment guilt for Mom.

Glen and I kept plenty busy with our farm and family responsibilities. We did manage to sneak away together to St. Louis in August for a meeting/vacation. Other highlights of the year included family trips to Camp Lebanon and our now-annual appearance at the Stearns County Fair's dairy show.

We did manage to get one family picture this year... at the farm tour we hosted in June. I've resolved to take more family pictures this year. I've also resolved to send a real Christmas letter.

Until then, I'll keep sharing little bits of daily adventures here on my blog (you can sign up to have blog posts delivered to your email inbox), on Instagram, and on Facebook.

Wishing you all the best in 2015...

Love,
Glen, Sadie, Dan, Monika, and Daphne