From a new house to new roommates, together with the fun and excitement of two growing kids, 2001 has been a whirlwind year of change and growth for our family!

As you probably know, we moved to a new house this spring. We decided that although we loved our newly-built house in Cedar Park (just north of Austin), we wanted to be closer in to the attractions and activities of the city. We found a beautiful, established neighborhood with good schools, and waited for the perfect house to become available. Finally, in April, we found a wonderful house, with a yard that has all the things we were missing: big shade trees, birds and squirrels, and privacy. And contrary to the name of our new street, all the trees are alive! Chris’s commute is now five minutes, instead of thirty or forty and we’re so close to the elementary school, that we walk Jonathan to school each day. It has needed, and still needs, some fixing up, which requires a little extra patience after life in a brand new house. Still, hardly a day goes by that we aren’t thrilled with our new place.

Mary is 3 years old as of April. Just this year, our “baby” has learned to use the potty, given up naps, started preschool (two half-days per week) and begun gymnastics. She has really grown up a lot, although she often deserves the nickname “Contrary Mary”. And she still has a notorious sweet tooth, often pointing out to us at the breakfast table that “we haven’t had candy this day!” Nice try. Mary enjoys jigsaw puzzles and coloring, but connect-the-dots are her favorite, even if she doesn’t always follow the numbers in the right order. She never goes anywhere without a handful of her “friends” - little plastic dinosaurs, reptiles or farm animals; lizards are her favorite. If there’s music on that’s “rocking out” enough for her, she loves to sing along and dance, in her own special and very entertaining way. She still adores Jonathan, above all, and waits anxiously for him to come home from school every afternoon.

Jonathan has also grown by leaps and bounds this year; the biggest step was beginning kindergarten in August. We had a bit of a bumpy time getting into the new early morning routine, but now that we’re over that, Jonathan really enjoys school. We are really happy with the school and his teacher. In just the last few months, we’ve watched him become an eager reader, a budding writer, a shoe tier (triple knots, no less!), a whistler, and a finger snapper. It’s been so fun and exciting to watch him turn into a big kid. He just completed his third season of soccer, which he really had fun with. He still spends as much time playing on the computer as he’s allowed, playing racing games or RollerCoaster Tycoon. He continues to be a super big brother to Mary; he encouraged her during potty training, helps her on the computer and is (almost) always up for a wrestling match with her! Lego remains his favorite toy, and his collection is always growing.

Chris is thankful to still have his excellent job at BMC Software, helping customers all over the world to use the software he works on. At home he’s been busy being a dad and learning the ins and outs of maintaining the pool that came with the new house. Keeping the house in order and volunteering has filled almost all of Laurie’s time--in a good way! She really enjoys working in the elementary school library several times a month, having lunch with Jonathan on occasion, helping at Mary’s school and brings home paper work to do, too. And she still helps out with a couple of the programs at our church.

With moving to a new home, we didn’t do much travelling this year, aside from weekend trips to visit Laurie’s family in Victoria. We did have a big vacation in the middle of it all, though, in July: we had our third reunion-style vacation in North Carolina’s Outer Banks with the Grayson family. We all had such great time catching up at the big beach house. The boys, Jonathan and the Montana cousins, spent most of their time playing in the giant sand pile beside the house, while the girls, Mary and the Virginia cousins, played together inside.

In October, Laurie’s sister, Sarah, and her husband, Piet, moved to Austin from Michigan. They will be staying with us until they get settled in a place of their own, and we are so happy to have them here with us. The kids love their Auntie and Uncle and their big dog, Morgan.

This year, we are staying in Texas for the holidays, celebrating Christmas in our new home. We wish you all a wonderful holiday season and new year!