Christmas Letter 2008
click here for 2008 - the year
in pictures
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Happy Holidays to our Friends and Family!
First of all, thanks for taking the time
to visit our website. We were trying to conserve a few trees by
publishing our letter online, so we hope you appreciate this method
of communication! We try to get new photos of the kids on our site
regularly, so check back often and keep in touch.* We love hearing from
you!
Chaos continues to reign at our house, but as always,
its a different kind of chaos from last year.
We
are going on our 7th year in Iowa and still really like it. Life on the
Mississippi River and the changing seasons
are so nice, although Winter tends to linger longer than it should. Its a good
thing we have 2 basketball teams, hockey, indoor soccer, cello and winter
softball to keep us going.
This
year started with more travel hockey which took us to exciting places like
Waterloo, Peoria and Chicago. But, as Bennett pointed out, "Its not REALLY
Chicago if you can't see the Sears Tower" and boy, was he right. It was freezing
cold and we saw what big city hockey was all about, but we made it to a Chicago
Blackhawks game against the Edmonton Oilers (Bennett's favorite team), so it
wasn't all bad. Thanks to Bob and Diane Shomper for the 5th row tickets right
behind the home team bench! And we shouldn't forget the trip to Peoria with Syd
and 3 of her friends for "High School Musical on Ice" - it
was awesome!
We attended the Spading Family Reunion at Chris' parents house
(1.7 miles away) which brought together over 40 relatives for a festive 4th of
July weekend. We also made it to Wisconsin this summer to
Appleton and then to Silver Lake where we
met up with Auntie Rene (Kurt's Sister), Uncle Kokka and our favorite cousins:
Jackie and Nattie. We had a great time relaxing on the beach and getting caught
up on sleep. Of course, we had to stop in Madison at Fraboni's, our favorite
Italian deli, where we met "Bennett Fraboni".
This
summer also brought the RAGBRAI across Iowa - its the big annual bike race across Iowa
and it ended in LeClaire this year - bringing about 50,000 people to our fair city in a 6
hour period. Bennett and I volunteered our efforts and it was a great time,
meeting new people from all over the country.
Bennett played Squirt Travel Hockey and soccer (anything to burn energy)
and tried baseball for the first time which was a really fun experience that we
think will continue. During
the summer, he enjoyed going to the Belin-Blank Center at the University of Iowa
for another "Lego Robotics" class. He also hit cello and hockey camp, rounding
out the summer. He likes 5th grade, but isn't too crazy about the additional
responsibility and homework that it brings. When the travel hockey team
didn't form for this season, he opted for the recreational House league that
plays HERE 2 times a week, allowing him to try basketball and allows the rest of
the family a quality of life that we haven't had over the past two travel hockey
seasons. Bennett continues to amuse us with his quirkiness and he is a good big
brother to his sister and little brothers and we are proud of his achievements.
Sydney continues to love
school with her many friends at Cody School. One might call her my "my Mini Me"
since she is playing AAU basketball, soccer and started ASA softball in the Spring. Its very fun to watch and she
obviously gets her
"tenacious D" on the basketball court and soccer field from her mother.
This Fall her team started practicing volleyball, which she enjoys very much as
well. During the summer, she participated in several softball tournaments in the
area, a writer's camp and "Camp Freeze", an ice skating camp where she was the
only girl wearing hockey skates. She still loves her "Webkinz" and has
acquired quite a collection. (If you have a Webkinz in your world, let us know
and we will put you on our "Friends List"). She likes to draw, write stories and
sing and has an keen ability to sing like Alvin the Chipmunk. However, she has a
great sense of humorous and make us laugh every day. We are proud of all she has
done over the past year.
The babies (Tanner and Chase) went from being little 6 1/2 pound
newborns to 38 pound monsters in 2 years, busting off the growth chart. They
demonstrate their Italian heritage by pounding lasagna and anything else with
Dad's special homemade sauce. They are real troopers and they seem to really
like going to any of Bennett's and Syd's activities and cheering them on. They
are happy boys and play nicely with each other most of the time, while
entertaining the very patient and tolerant cat and dog. They love Bob the
Builder and any type of "ma-CHEEN" and cement mixers are a particular favorite.
We go to the gym 2-3 times a week and they enjoy their
buddies while mom is burning the calories. We still get them mixed up from time
to time, but Tanner's scar still keep us in check. Their
personalities
still seem to flip flop from day to day, so its hard to
determine which one is crazier.
My (Chris)
most frequently asked question of the year was, again, "are they twins?"
Ummm...yea, how'd you guess? There's really no good way to answer that
question, really, but I'll take suggestions. I suppose the "big news" is
that I went to Dallas this summer with my friend Mo Maley to attend our
high school reunion. We had a great time driving around Dallas, eating
and catching up with high school friends. I was nominated for "Changed
the Least", which I wondered was a compliment based on the bad hair I
had back then. I met up with Mo again at our annual girls weekend in
Chicago along with Meg and Sue - it is a highlight of every year. Back
at home, I spend a lot of time getting kids from place to place while
avoiding speeding tickets, but I continue to be
involved with the PTA and although I have passed my Friends of the Library Board
position off to my mother, I still maintain the library's website. I am still enjoying staying home with
the kids and working from home developing websites. I managed to
play in the women's soccer league again, put on some trivia nights for
local non-profits and really enjoy workouts at the
Life Fitness
Center. I manage to get out from time to time and enjoy the company of
many good friends in the area.
And last but not least: Kurt. He
continues to nurture his hunting land by making sure there is plenty of
alfalfa and switchgrass to lure more wildlife. He got a 12 point buck
last year that is now proudly hanging on the office wall. His project at
work "went live" at Harvester this Fall and somehow John Deere still
managed to pull off another great year! His next challenge is our master
bathroom remodel, that is 7 years in the making. The bathtub is on the
front porch as I write this. Its a matter of time before the neighbors
start asking questions, but the boys are doing a great job and saving us
a ton on money by performing the demolition themselves.
My parents moved up here in June 2007 and
they live exactly 1.7 miles away. They have 15 acres and a pond, which
has kept them and the "big kids" very busy. All of the kids love it over
there. The babies especially love the "apple trees", taking rides in the
UTV and feeding the fish. My parents help quite a bit with the twins,
enabling me to get some much needed time to myself. I think they are
enjoying being closer to us and their mothers, who are in central Iowa.
We would welcome any of you who would
like to visit us! There is much to do around here and we are 176 miles from Chicago and have a decent
airport locally in Moline.
*Meanwhile, enjoy your Holidays, have a
great 2008 and keep in touch! Our email addresses are: kurt@ccx.net
, chris@ccx.net, bennett@ccx.net,
and
sydney@ccx.net. Let us know you stopped by!
click here for 2008 - the year
in pictures
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