Annual Holiday Letter

Greetings Family and Friends,

As Amira and I clinked our fluted glasses filled with sparkling apple cider at mid-night on January 1, 2012 we vowed to make the New Year a year of being fancy and adventurous. Little did we know we’d be taking Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride to a whole new level!

Beginning New Year’s Day we took a spontaneous road-trip to Santa Rosa, Ca, to the home of Snoopy’s Ice Rink. We spent a glorious day there along with exploring the Charles Schultz museum.  It was a perfect way to start 2012.

At the end of March, beginning of April we arranged a surprise birthday/family reunion trip to San Diego for my dad. We rented a beautiful home just a few short blocks from the water.  The Brown Clan and the Leboda Clan (Arizona family) had a grand week in southern California.  Memories that will last a lifetime!  Two days before leaving I fell down a flight of stairs and broke my ankle in two places. This however did not stop us from enjoying the last days of San Diego. However, it did take me out of work for more than 6 weeks.

During my hiatus, Clint and I discovered we had an older sister named Terri and met her at the end of May.  In some ways it’s still very surreal yet very natural at the same time.  We’ve certainly enjoyed getting to know one another and spending time together.  Turns out she lives in Arizona. What a small world!  We’ve since introduced her to the Leboda Clan, which has been a great experience as well.

After watching the summer Olympics Amira decided she wanted to try gymnastics. So for the last few months she’s been taking classes once a week. After her second month of classes her teacher approached me about Amira taking a spot on their competitive team of which she is now training for.

In addition to doing gymnastics once a week she opted to play on the school’s volleyball team this year and did really well.  So excited to share these wonderful experiences with her.

For Thanksgiving we spent the extended weekend in Arizona with the entire clan and had an absolute blast.

As of the writing of this Annual Christmas letter (12/16/12), our family has learned that my sister-in-law, Claudia, has Stage 3 cervical cancer.  She and Clint have agreed to take the doctor’s recommendation for treatment, which will be 6 weeks of combined chemotherapy and radiation.  Her first radiation treatment will be December 24, 2012, with a more than likely overnight stay to track her progress. Claudia has said that she appreciates all the outpour of love, prayers and positive support she’s been receiving.  She is choosing to keep herself surrounded with positive people, as she knows this will benefit her more than anything.  We’re in the process of putting something together to keep everyone informed via a web-page. Once this has been done we will gladly pass the word along. (Update 12/25/12: Claudia received her first chemo treatment Sunday, 12/23/12 and her first radiation treatment Monday, 12/24/12. She is doing well and is looking forward to spending the holidays with her family.)

         As you look back over the year, I hope you look with fondness and gratitude. As you look forward, I hope you look with amazement and wonder.  I wish you peace, good health, and lots of love.

Amira's Adventures

Well in light of everything we've been experiencing with mom's situation, Amira's been having some pretty fun adventures.

One night I had a dinner "meeting" so she went with my brother, his family and my cousins to a minor league baseball game. She's been before but now that she's almost 5 she's more intriqued and interactive with everything. She and cousin Pat, who really gets into all sporting events, were taunting the umpire with things such as...."oh come on blue what kind of call is that". During the innings they also play music, so again she and cousin Pat would stand up and dance. I'm telling you cousin Pat is a kick in the pants so was a bit envious of Amira hanging out with her and the family. Especially after the "meeting". Ok, well it wasn't exactly a "meeting" but in a way it was sort of. I had recently met someone and we had been talking and chatting online, so we were meeting for dinner. I'm telling you this much, no matter how old you get this part is the worst part......getting to know someone to see if there's the possibility of a relationship.

It was a nice evening. We had dinner at a place call Joe's Crab Shack which is located right on the river. So it was lovely to sit outside on the patio area over looking the water and enjoying the sunset. Conversation was good and his company was nice. However, I get the feeling we are going to be great friends but nothing further. He's also divorced and has two children. He's been divorced for over a year and a half, but there's just something that tells me he's not completely over the shell shock of being divorced, which I completely understand when you are not the one that wanted the divorce in the first place. Anyway, it was a nice evening and if nothing else I have a new friend, but really I'm not looking to date a bunch of people----hate that--never have been good at it and don't want to learn now----just want to meet someone and start a new chapter of life with them.

Anyway back to Amira's adventures. After the ball game and learning how to cheer and taunt the umpire we hung out with cousin Pat and Pooh for the remainder of their stay. Always a wonderful adventure with them.......filled with lots of laughter.

Last Sunday I needed to work so Amira went to her friend Angela's house for a few hours. Before taking her there I got a text from MixedUpMe asking to pack her swimsuit, which Amira was thrilled to hear. When I got off work and went to get her they were still at the pool. MixedUpMe shared that she had a great time but never once got in the water.....only sat on the stairs with her feet in the water. :-) But it's all good as she had a great time. In one day that little girl's olive complexion immediately darkened to a beautiful color while poor white girl mom takes nearly all summer to look the same color as her in the dead of winter....LOL

Other fun adventures coming up so will keep ya posted.

Demotivational

I received these from Ryles (MixedUpMe's sister), and couldn't help but post them as they made me smile. Thanks Ryles. :-)

Here Kitty, Kitty

You are a South African bush pilot working for Blue Sky Aviation. You fly in some critical medical supplies, enjoy a quick lunch at the hospital.

It's a stifling 100 degrees in the shade and you're eager to get back up to the cool, high blue yonder.

On the way back to your plane, you discover that the only bit of shade within 1 mile has become very popular.

You start calculating the distance to the plane door and wonder . .."Do I feel lucky today?"

Labor Day Weekend

Wow! What a whirlwind of a weekend Amira and I had, alhamdullilah. It started Saturday morning with 5 hours of dance practice, as we only had Saturday and Sunday left to practice before the big show on Monday. After class on Saturday we ran errands and finally ate dinner late that evening and tried to unwind from the full day's schedule because we had another full day ahead on Sunday.

Sunday morning we were back up and racing to get ready for dress rehearsal and practice at Fatima's studio. We managed to get through practice and dress rehearsal within 3 hours time. We immediately rushed home, jumped in the shower, then got ready to race to Mindy's birthday party at the tearoom. There were 8 of us that attended the tea/luncheon, and we had a fantastic time. It was so fun playing with all the hats, scarves, jewelry, etc. They served such heavenly foods, with the most incredible tea selection you could imagine as well as a fantastic dessert. We all agreed it was a great time and we’d have to do it again soon.

Our elegant tea setting table with Barney sprawled at the head of the table.

Glimpse of the Vanity Closet

Even Barney enjoyed dress up.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm - delicious!

Amira stayed overnight at Grandma and Grandpa's Sunday night as they were bringing her to the State Fair by noon on Monday. I had to get there before then and didn't want to subject Amira to the madness of all the performers running around crazy like chickens with their heads cut off.

I arrived at the fair at 10:45 a.m. and we were all dressed and accounted for 15 minutes before show time which was perfect to just relax and be silly with one another---more like nervous stage fright really. At 1:00 p.m. the show started and by 2:00 p.m. it was complete. I remember thinking as we were performing "this sure is going fast".....probably because of the long practice hours we had put in for preparing for this event. For the last 6 to 8 weeks we've been practicing on average 15 hours a week, and when all was said and done it was over in an hour, which almost seemed a little anti-climatic, but regardless we had fun.

After the show we decide to walk around the fair and see the animals and ride a train----Amira's request. It was a great day - and a fun way to spend a Monday rather than a typical Moan-day. =)

Amira on a pony ride
Amira looking thrilled. =) Later she told me how fun it was to ride the pony.
A Clydesdale horse
Grandma and Amira in the petty zoo.

A cute little Bambi deer.

Grandma and Amira petty a donkey.

Grandma, Amira and Charming Child looking into a pen of baby piggies.

A baby Joey (kankaroo)

Amira and Charming Child washing their hands after the petty zoo.

A topiary tractor. It appeared to be a tractor frame they grew grass around.

A topiary truck. I believe it was an actually truck frame they grew grass and flowers over.

A baby cow that was 5 days old.

Baby goats

Baby pigs. The one is a sleepy, hungry buggar. Everytime he'd fall asleep he'd loose his grip on momma pig then reach up and grab it again and fall fast asleep. Poor momma pig.