It is at this special time of year that we reflect on the past year and acknowledge how richly blessed our family has been.
Mikell is 13 yrs. old now and a typical teenager. Suddenly, she spends a lot effort getting herself ready in the morning, listening to her music very loud, and now has herself a “boyfriend”. Luckily, her grades are still important to her and she’s still getting straight A’s, despite her “teenage” tendencies. She spent the summer traveling with her softball team, which she really enjoyed. She made the 8th grade volleyball team at her school and earned herself the position of setter. She got a hamster named Rhino who always puts a smile on her face.
Nik is 11 now and continues to be very involved in his sports. He enjoyed playing baseball again at shortstop and pitcher. His highlight was definitely playing on the All-Star team, a game-winning grand slam, and dad coaching both of his teams. He played on a travel soccer team this fall and enjoyed that as well. It was good for him to see “real” competitors for once on the soccer field. He says he’s done with soccer and wants to try football next “fall” until high school, and then he’ll run Cross Country in the fall. He’s also a great straight A student and a strong leader in the classroom.
Alek loves school and is now 7 in the 2nd grade. He is our social bunny and loves doing anything that involves other people. Of course recess is his favorite. He had another great season in machine-pitch baseball this past summer. Mom coached him again and all of his buddies and it was certainly a lot of laughs. Alek also practiced with Nik & dad’s team and definitely held his own with the older boys. He is looking forward to playing with the big boys next year but is also planning on Eric coaching….not sure how that’s going to work out. In his free time he loves to play with his Star Wars action figure collection. He had his tonsils taken out this past summer and also had an ear patch put on his ear drum after having a tube removed. Poor guy had to do without any swimming all summer long. It was worth it though because he can hear better now and doesn’t blast his radio anymore. He handled the procedures like a real trooper.
Tammy has made a change from her at-home lifestyle and started substitute teaching. It is fun for her to work at the kids’ schools and they actually think mom is “cool” for doing it. Spending a few days a week at school has made life at home a bit more crazy but it has been a blessing as well. She still enjoys her workouts, whatever it may be that day, and is even doing some in-home personal training on the days she’s not teaching. She had a great season on her road bike, with the highlight being the Yellowstone all-day ride in September with the local cycling team. It was difficult to plan on any running races this year with kids’ sports schedules, but she put in a lot of miles.
Eric spent a good part of his year coaching baseball, first with Nik’s Cal Ripkin team, then with Nik’s All Star team, which he loved every minute of. It kept him very busy but the boys benefited greatly from his efforts. Work had its slow moments this past year but it has certainly picked up. Eric is preparing to move the business to another facility in the next few months, which will be a big challenge but will utilize many of his abilities and talents.
Eric & Tammy took a cruise with other couple friends in March down the Mexican Riviera and had a blast! It was our first real cruise and we enjoyed it more than we thought we would, thanks to good motion sickness drugs. We stopped in Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan and loved each adventure. We are still very blessed to have Grandma & Grandpa Hender living across the street and helping out in those times of need.
The family trip this year was a drive to San Francisco in June. We had a very touristy vacation, since the kids had never been there. We did all the fun things with them that Eric & Tammy grew up doing. Eric’s brother, Ron and sister-in-law, Kelly got married there at the same time, so it was nice to spend time with all of Eric’s family.
Our prayer is that we can all count our many blessings and keep our hearts filled with gratitude, especially during this difficult year for many.
Mikell is 13 yrs. old now and a typical teenager. Suddenly, she spends a lot effort getting herself ready in the morning, listening to her music very loud, and now has herself a “boyfriend”. Luckily, her grades are still important to her and she’s still getting straight A’s, despite her “teenage” tendencies. She spent the summer traveling with her softball team, which she really enjoyed. She made the 8th grade volleyball team at her school and earned herself the position of setter. She got a hamster named Rhino who always puts a smile on her face.
Nik is 11 now and continues to be very involved in his sports. He enjoyed playing baseball again at shortstop and pitcher. His highlight was definitely playing on the All-Star team, a game-winning grand slam, and dad coaching both of his teams. He played on a travel soccer team this fall and enjoyed that as well. It was good for him to see “real” competitors for once on the soccer field. He says he’s done with soccer and wants to try football next “fall” until high school, and then he’ll run Cross Country in the fall. He’s also a great straight A student and a strong leader in the classroom.
Alek loves school and is now 7 in the 2nd grade. He is our social bunny and loves doing anything that involves other people. Of course recess is his favorite. He had another great season in machine-pitch baseball this past summer. Mom coached him again and all of his buddies and it was certainly a lot of laughs. Alek also practiced with Nik & dad’s team and definitely held his own with the older boys. He is looking forward to playing with the big boys next year but is also planning on Eric coaching….not sure how that’s going to work out. In his free time he loves to play with his Star Wars action figure collection. He had his tonsils taken out this past summer and also had an ear patch put on his ear drum after having a tube removed. Poor guy had to do without any swimming all summer long. It was worth it though because he can hear better now and doesn’t blast his radio anymore. He handled the procedures like a real trooper.
Tammy has made a change from her at-home lifestyle and started substitute teaching. It is fun for her to work at the kids’ schools and they actually think mom is “cool” for doing it. Spending a few days a week at school has made life at home a bit more crazy but it has been a blessing as well. She still enjoys her workouts, whatever it may be that day, and is even doing some in-home personal training on the days she’s not teaching. She had a great season on her road bike, with the highlight being the Yellowstone all-day ride in September with the local cycling team. It was difficult to plan on any running races this year with kids’ sports schedules, but she put in a lot of miles.
Eric spent a good part of his year coaching baseball, first with Nik’s Cal Ripkin team, then with Nik’s All Star team, which he loved every minute of. It kept him very busy but the boys benefited greatly from his efforts. Work had its slow moments this past year but it has certainly picked up. Eric is preparing to move the business to another facility in the next few months, which will be a big challenge but will utilize many of his abilities and talents.
Eric & Tammy took a cruise with other couple friends in March down the Mexican Riviera and had a blast! It was our first real cruise and we enjoyed it more than we thought we would, thanks to good motion sickness drugs. We stopped in Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan and loved each adventure. We are still very blessed to have Grandma & Grandpa Hender living across the street and helping out in those times of need.
The family trip this year was a drive to San Francisco in June. We had a very touristy vacation, since the kids had never been there. We did all the fun things with them that Eric & Tammy grew up doing. Eric’s brother, Ron and sister-in-law, Kelly got married there at the same time, so it was nice to spend time with all of Eric’s family.
Our prayer is that we can all count our many blessings and keep our hearts filled with gratitude, especially during this difficult year for many.
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