Merry Christmas from the Krugers!

It’s been a busy year, so naturally, sitting here at the computer, I can’t remember a moment of it.  So, let’s just get started with the kid-update since I know that’s all you care about anyway…

Cecily (3) is as spirited and chatty as ever.  She continues to be quite a firecracker, but she is adorable and hilarious.  In March, Cecily managed to break her leg going down the slide, winning her the much-coveted prize of “First Grandchild to Break a Bone” (my money would have been on the Need kids, but who knew?).  As with all things, she took it all in-stride and was walking around on the cast quickly.  She had the cast on for three weeks and was back to running around after Parker in just under a month.  Cecily started Preschool this September and is loving it.  She continues to be a talker, throwing out sentences sometimes longer than mine.  Cecily LOVES babies and is always playing “Mama”, or lately, “Big Sister”.  She has decided that because she is a big girl (versus a “little” girl), people should call her the big sister.  I keep telling her that if she continues with this, she’s going to give people the wrong impression, but she doesn’t seem to care about that confusion.  So, for the record, if you hear Cecily refer to her baby sister, she’s talking about her Elsa doll and not any current or future siblings (of which there will be none).

Parker (5), this year, has become a rabid sports fan.  It started with watching a few Seahawks games, and he is now planning to be a Husky because they “play all the sports”.  Seeing how Keith & I are apathetic at best in regards to sports, we’re really not sure where this fan-dom came from, but now we’re finding the whole family sitting in-front of the Hawks game every Sunday.  This Summer, Parker taught himself to ride a 2-wheeler bike, so now he loves riding it around & around in the front yard.  After much back & forth on our part we decided to “red shirt” Parker and wait for him to start Kindergarten when he’s six.  I thought he might be upset about it, but he’s loving having a third year in Preschool, and this way he’ll be in school with most of his friends.  We have him going to school one half-day and two full-days a week and he LOVES it (because “big kids get to go to all-day preschool”).

Keith continues to work at the same engineering firm downtown.  It’s long hours and quite stressful, but he loves the work and the company and we consider ourselves blessed that he fell into this job so many years ago.  He’s continuing to increase in management and it’s been amazing to watch him grow into an amazing leader and manager.  This summer, Keith & his Dad took on the big job of re-doing our deck; we now have an Azek surface (it’s like Trex) and glass railings, it is beautiful and we’ll never again have to sand & stain the deck.  Keith & Brian turned 40 earlier this month, so we had a super-epic birthday party, complete with casino games and every appetizer offered in the Costco freezer section.  It was so fun to get our friends together for a night-out.  We all became masters of the craps table and we’re ready to take over Vegas…provided we can bet with play money and they talk us through it every round.  I’ve already made it clear to Keith that I expect him to plan an equally-epic 40^th birthday party for me when my time comes…or we could go to Hawaii.

I am in my final year of leading our MOPS group.  It’s hard to believe that in two (or maybe three) years we’ll be completely out of the at-home kids stage and into the Elementary stage.  I am not really ready for my babies to grow up, so I’ve been enjoying this extra year of having both kids home before Parker starts Kindergarten next Fall.  I am, however, enjoying the two mornings a week where both kids are in school and I have 2 hours to myself.  While Keith & Gary were working on the back deck, I also had my own home-improvement project.  We ripped up the carpet from our front stairs, and I re-treaded the stairs with hardwood treads and tile risers.  It is so beautiful and SO easy to clean!  I find myself sweeping the gazillion pine-needles saying “I love our stairs, I love our stairs”.  Although Keith did the table-saw part, I did pretty much everything else, and I’m quite proud of my handi-ness.  Since we were ripping up the carpet, I also decided to re-paint the stairs…plus the entryway…and you know what, we need to do the hallway too.  By the time I was done, there were very few surfaces in the house I haven’t added color to.  Keith has now banned me from HGTV and Pinterest for life.

This year, my Dad bought the family a motor home to share among all my siblings.  It lives in our front yard (parking it is quite a feat of engineering), so we have gotten the most use out of it.  It has been fun going on trips through the summer.  Camping is notably more enjoyable with running water and a bed.  In April, we took a trip down to Mexico with my Dad & Jared.  The kids LOVE it and are constantly talking about “when we go back to Mexico” (which will be a very long time from now).  This year, both kids were big enough that we could let them play in the kiddie pool while we sat on beach chairs & read, it was glorious. 

We hope that this letter finds you well with prayers for a Merry Christmas and a Peaceful New Year!

With love from the Krugers:  

Keith, Julie, Parker (5), & Cecily (3)