Our year in review

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Dear Family and Friends,

We had quite the year…here is the month-by-month summary:

January – Austin & Mary had a winter escape to Cancún with Mary’s siblings. The ruins and Xcaret were awesome. The girls all got 5^th disease while we were gone but recovered soon after. Julia was ecstatic to get a small part in her middle school’s production of “High School Musical”.

February – Anna tried her hand at hip-hop and loved it, Eliza swam and tumbled her way to age 6, and Julia did an awesome job with her solo in HSM. We also acquired a cute hamster, which Anna fondly named Listo (means smart/clever in Spanish) — he sadly only lived a couple of months.

March – Austin and Mary’s work was bought out by Bowne & Co, Inc. Austin’s department was left intact, but Mary’s department was completely phased out a few months later (it’s okay if you read on). The girls continued their busy schedule of swimming, gymnastics, hip hop, Girl Scouts, and church activities.

April – Anna did a great job with her violin concert and Reading Olympics while Eliza tried her hand at a new thing — karate.

May – Julia performed with both her choir and band (flute). Anna turned 11 and was able to complete her first novel for printing. Mary & Austin made the 14 year milestone in marriage.

June – Julia and Mom canoed down the Brandywine River to finish off the school year, Austin and Mary had a rendezvous in Boston, and the younger girls enjoyed a week of theater camp while Julia experienced her first year of Girl’s Camp.

July – We had a blast at the Michaud Family Reunion in Maine. Seventeen people and an outhouse were the highlights, as well as many fun memories of swimming, playing games and day trips. We also got to visit Austin’s grandparents, his half sister, Sarah, and the girls’ NY cousins. Two days after our return, Mary started her new job at Delaware County Community College as an office assistant for their newest campus, right behind our house. The hours and commute are perfect…a blessing. Austin’s work also moved 10 miles closer…another blessing with the outrageous gas prices we had.

August – Anna took a class on Manga, Austin and Mary worked hard to get the deck done, and Julia kept busy volunteering at an art camp and going to the beach. We also did our annual excursion to Hershey Park on the one day it rained that month. It made for short lines and we got to try some cool new rides. The girls’ highlight was the parental breakdown to finally allow two kittens in our family: Ronny and FlapJack. Although Mom does not allow them in the house, they sure do try. The girls thoroughly enjoy them!

September – We were able to see Grammy Michaud on her way to her lifetime dream of visiting the Czech Republic (her mother’s homeland). The girls started 1^st, 6^th, and 8^th grades. Eliza scored big as goalie on her soccer team. And we became the proud parents of a teenager, as Julia turned 13.

October – A routine trip to the orthodontist determined that Anna needed to pull four of her stubborn baby teeth to help the adult ones come in. She was a trooper and healed quickly. Mary was able to enjoy a Time Out for Women presentation in Philly…right near where a new temple for our church is announced to be built.

November – A month to be thankful, as we were able to have the opportunity to see all the grandparents. Austin’s dad was here for 3 weeks and Mary’s parents for 10 days. Between work and all the girls’ activities, it was quite the busy month. We enjoyed Thanksgiving at Aunt Heather’s house in NY and came back to a quiet house.

December – Work parties, church parties, school parties, etc. Band concert, orchestra concert, choir concert, etc. Mary & Austin’s birthdays thrown in the mix. But, through all the bustle and chaos of the season, the love and the peace of the Savior still can be felt. We are grateful for His gift to us.

We hope you are doing well this year. We feel blessed and look forward to the coming year.

Love,

The Wrights

Christmas Day

We had a nice quiet Christmas morning. Eliza and Anna were up first to get things moving. They waited patiently while Julia moseyed down the stairs and I got the blueberry muffins in the oven. The girls were quite pleased with their gifts. Santa did a good job!

Julia's highlights were an MP3 video player, several new clothes, and a hair straightener.

Anna was ecstatic to get more Nancy Drew mysteries, a digital voice recorder, and the next Leven Thumps book. She also loved wearing her new nightgown and peace shirt.

Eliza was happy with her Blendy Pens and another Geronimo Stilton Book. She also had fun trying out her new soccer ball and net after lunch. We all had fun playing her Perfection game.

Christmas Eve

This Christmas Eve, we had a fun time mixing tradition with some service. We decided as a family to give some gifts this year to a young single mom and her 13 month old daughter. She works twelve hour days to raise money for her daughter's needed back surgery next month. She has no family here, but shows great maturity to make things work. The little girl is the cutest thing ever, and will have to undergo 3 major surgeries in the next year. You would never know, though, because she is always smiling and chatting away. I hope my daughters can learn just a little through this experience the great blessings they have in their life and to appreciate their good health.

The rest of the evening, we prepared the house for "Santa's Arrival". The girls rolled out sugar cookies and decorated them. Eliza made her list and left Santa a note. Then we read Christmas stories and snuggled in for a long winter's nap. This may be the last year of believing in our house, as Eliza did express some skepticism to Santa's existence. She still believes, but you can tell her mind is trying to figure out how he could really be.

Holy Hornets, Batman!

Wasps formed a couple of humongous nests in our trees this summer. We made sure they were dormant before we cut them down. They are really fascinating, with layers and layers and layers of thin paper-like material.

What a sunrise!!

Julia caught this on her way out the door to school one morning...beautiful.

Winter Fun

The girls were so excited when they woke up to a quarter-inch of snow on the ground. You would have thought it snowed four feet. They were out there for two hours playing on the swingset.

THANKSGIVING

We went to Austin's sister's house for our annual Thanksgiving feast. This year was a much smaller crowd, but still fun. The "Wright" grandparents enjoyed their time with the grandchildren and their own children.


Poor Autumn could only look at the desserts.

Grandparents visit

This month, we had the pleasure of seeing all 4 grandparents. We first had Austin's father come from New Mexico to visit for a few weeks.

At the same time, Mary's parents came for 10 days on their annual pilgrimage to warmer weather.


And tomorrow, we will visit with Austin's mom for Thanksgiving. What a neat experience for these girls to get to see all their grandparents in a single month.

Aren't they beautiful!

Falling Cats

Even cats love to jump in a leaf pile

Got teeth???

On our regular visit to the orthodontist last month, he informed us that Anna needed to get 4 of her stubborn baby teeth pulled up top in order to encourage her equally stubborn adult teeth to start coming down, hopefully preventing deterioration of them. Anna was extremely brave and barely affected by the traumatic experience. I think I had the harder time with knowing she would only have her two front teeth and back molars on top...probably for quite some time.

Every Day Miracles

Four weeks ago, Anna lost her new glasses. We thought that maybe she had left them at the park during Eliza's soccer game, but weren't sure. Austin went with her the next morning to see if that was the case, but nothing turned up. After she came home in tears, she went to her bedroom and said a prayer and then returned much calmer. She said that the spirit told her "to wait" and things would be okay.

Well, in the meantime I poked around, left a message with the soccer director, the township park, checked at Anna's school, etc. and nothing came of it. I submitted to the fact that there was no getting them back now and it was time to break down and get her new ones. Until yesterday.

I got a call from the soccer director telling me that a week after I left her a message, someone gave her Anna's glasses, saying they had found them in the park. She had brought them home, but forgot about them. When she uncovered them again, she remembered my name but couldn't find my number. Until yesterday.

I'm thankful not only for a little money saved, but more for the little reminders that Heavenly Father does hear a child's prayer and teaches them (and their parents) the importance of faith.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

It is an unheard of thing, but I actually have started making the girls pancakes on Sunday morning. Anyone who knows me, knows that I avoid cooking at all costs. So, the girls have been excited that I am breaking my tradition to start a new one.

A beautiful day in NYC

Austin and Julia went to Manhattan this morning to visit the LDS temple with other members of the church. They couldn't have had a more beautiful day to go to the city. This picture was taken just outside the temple.

Trick O' Treat

This year was a little different than our traditional trick-or-treating. Julia didn't even come home. She went to a friend's house right from school and went out candy carousing with her. The other two girls went with Austin to the "big neighborhood" on the main road. And, I was left to man the fort to receive only 1 visitor. By the time everyone got home, I forgot to get a group shot!! But, the costumes were the following: Julia was a peace ninja; Anna was a nature fairy; and Eliza was Wendy darling from Peter Pan.

The picture is a pumpkin that Julia carved all by herself.

Cousin Christie visits

My niece Christie was up last week to do an externship at Temple University Dental School. We were excited to have her come to church and eat dinner with us before she had to head into the city. She will be coming back in December to interview with Temple's Pediatric Dentistry School; so, we might be seeing a lot more of her if she gets accepted!!

TOFW

I went to "Time Out for Women" today. This is an all day seminar to inspire women in their roles as wives, mothers, and individuals. I wanted to share one quote that I found profound:

"The gospel of Jesus Christ is not insurance against pain. It is resource in event of pain, and when that pain comes (and it will come because we came here on earth to have pain among other things), when it comes, rejoice that you have resource to deal with your pain.”

Nancy Drew!!

I have just discovered the Nancy Drew computer games! These games are action-packed, full of secret passageways, puzzles, hidden trapdoors, and underground tunnels. These games are not for girly girls!!! :) Excellent graphics and a thrilling feeling of suspense at every turn!!!

A TEMPLE IN PHILADELPHIA

They made the most exciting announcement yesterday in General Conference. A temple for our church will be built in the Philadelphia area. The news was new to us also, so we don't know where the exact location will be, but praying it's on the west side of town :)

General Conference was wonderful and I think I enjoyed the first few talks the best on simplifying our lives and finding laughter in all things. Amen to that!

P.S. The temple will be in Downtown Philadelphia @ Broad and Norris Streets. The temple will also house three wards, so it will probably have the same design as the Manhattan Temple.

No Goal!!!

Eliza is on her first official soccer team this year and loves it. She is the pipsqueak of the team, but is not afraid to be in the middle of the pack and loves to play goalie.

My new job

This summer my old job that I had done at home for 7 years was phased out. The company was bought out and our division was shut down completely. My hours had already been cut way back a few months earlier, so being layed off wasn't too painful. I felt worse for those who worked full-time and now had to go find new work. I just figured I would enjoy a few months off and then think about finding a part-time job once the girls went back to school. Now that Eliza is in school all day, I wanted something that would just be a few hours a day and close by so that I could quickly get to the girls if I needed to.

Well....fate (divine intervention) would have it that a new school being built right behind our house had a perfect position for me. My one job ended on June 30th, I took my planned 3 weeks of vacation, and the day after I got back began the new job. I work 4 days a week from 8 am - 1 pm at the Community College department within the Chester County Technical High School College. The job is a catch all of registering and admitting students, answering a thousand of their questions, even more phone calls, etc. I love the hours and I feel like I'm getting the hang of things. The nicest part is that I get to see the girls get on the bus at 7:55 am and I'm sitting at my desk by 8:00 am. You can't beat the commute!! Below are pictures from the parking lot of the school. The first one shows the school and the second shows how close our house is!

The Deck

After five months, we have officially finished the deck. Austin started it back in April and just last weekend put the final board in. It also took me a few weeks to prepare the border and put the stones in. We are very excited this is one project checked off our list!!

Mismatch Day

Aaah...Don't you just love Spirit Week at school. Doesn't she look lovely???

We have a teenager!!!

It is now official...Julia turned 13 this weekend. She decided she wanted a sleepover and invited her 5 best friends from school: Lindsey, Hannah, Taylor, Amie, and Faith. The evening was filled with lots of singing and talking and their version of "America does not have talent". They did quiet a little to watch the movie Penelope and finally fell asleep around 3:30 a.m.

Anime Class

Hi everybody! A couple of weeks ago I did an anime class! It's a type of art that the Chinese (Or Japanese, I'm not sure which) produce. It's really fun to draw! I really like making up my own characters, like Jenny over there, or Nock, the hunter. It was fun putting anime and fantasy together. I'm hoping I can get another drawing class like that to improve my skills even more!
Anna

My first lost tooth!

I was extremely excited when my first tooth came out today. And, I got a quarter from the tooth fairy. I thought I looked different when my tooth came out because before, I had all my teeth.

Eliza

The Kittens

We had two new additions to our family last month: kittens named Ronny & FlapJack (they were already named when we got them). Anna had been begging for a cat for years. I always said no, or on the condition it was an outside cat. I hoped that she would give up asking, but she is persistent in things she has her heart set on.

In a moment of weakness, and the stars aligning in Anna's favor, we ended up with not just one cat, but TWO. What was I thinking??

The girls truly love the cats as you can see by the pictures. Eliza treats them like babies who do not know how to walk yet. She carries them everywhere and they are usually quite patient with her.

Kittens!!!

Hi!!!! I'm so excited because a month ago we got kittens!!!!! AAAH!!!!!!!!!! (I'm still excited about it.) I've never had any pets before, except for a hamster, but he died very quickly.
Mom and Dad were talking in a different language, what they always did when they were hiding something from us. We all hopped in the car and rode for about twenty minutes. When we stopped in front of a house, I thought it was the usual pickup of one of my sisters friends. But it wasn't!!! We went down into the basement, and there were four kittens!!!!
Simba, Jasmine, Ronnie, and Flapjack were the adorable kittens names. They were so cute!
You might have guessed what happened next.
We got to choose one!
Actually, sorry.
TWO!!!!!!
We decided on Ronnie, (orange) and Flapjack (Black w white belly & paws.)
HOORAY!!!!!
(Did I mention I was still excited?)
Well, gotta run!! More info on the kittens next post!!!!

Bunk beds resurrected!

We decided earlier this year that Anna and Eliza would share a bedroom this school year. This would let us have an extra bedrooms to store things when we finish our basement this winter (we hope).

Eliza was so excited about the prospect of both having bunk beds and sharing a room with one of her sisters; although I can't say the feelings were reciprocated with as much enthusiasm. We do give Anna credit, though, for being a good sport.

First Day of School

Here are Anna and Eliza at the bus stop, excitedly awaiting the bus...Julia had already left for school an hour earlier.

Labor Day @ the beach

We couldn't end the summer without a trip to the beach. But the beach was actually a sidebar of something more...

My mom was actually flying in to Philly that day, meeting up with her cousin Gayle, to go on a long awaited trip to her mother's homeland of Slovokia. We are so excited she could finally make this trip that she has dreamed of doing for years. Cousin Gayle is a highly experienced world traveler and has planned a wonderful trip for my mom. It will be fun to hear her tales when she returns.


We drove my mom over to her cousin's house near the Jersey shore and were able to have a nice lunch with them before we said our goodbyes and headed to the beach. The girls had tons of fun jumping waves and digging motes. It was hard to leave, but we knew we had the long trip home and preparations to still make for the first day of school.

So long summer. It was fun.

August 29th - Rain, again, at Hershey Park

I must preface this entry by saying last year we had a horrible experience at Hershey Park. There were lightning storms and torrential downpours throughout the day. We were only able to go on 5 rides and went home soaking wet. Eliza was sobbing and the other 2 were on the verge of tears. At that moment we swore to them we would NEVER go to Hershey Park again on a day where there was any rain in the forecast.

Fast forward one year...

The month of August was extremely dry...not one drop of rain had fallen in 27 days. This was setting up for a beautiful day at Hershey Park. We picked Friday as the day we would go and left Saturday as a back up, just in case there was rain. Wouldn't you know it, we watched the weather forecast Wednesday night and rain was predicted for both Friday and Saturday!! Of course the rest of the week was sunny once again without a drop of rain. But due to other things going on and work, we had to go one of those two days. We picked Friday, because they said occasional rain showers and no lightning. Saturday was suppose to be more humid and lightning storms.

Friday morning...

We set out with all our gear including an extra pair of clothes, ponchos, jackets, and extra shoes. (I didn't want a repeat of last year) The 1 1/2 hour drive out there it was overcast, but not raining. Good, I thought, I can live with that. Well, literally the second we hit Hershey town limits, the rain started coming down. And it kept coming down for the next 11 hours. Not stopping once. But we persevered. The ponchos and jackets went on and we rode just about every single ride in the park. Eliza loved Super Dooper Looper and went on that about 4 times. Dad, Julia and I tried out the new Fahrenheit ride. A little rough, but definitely thrilling. Anna loved wiping out on the Wave Rider boogie board ride they had. And Eliza, Anna and I had a blast on the new water slides they put in this year. It wasn't fun dealing with the rain and cold the entire day; but, there were no lines to speak of and just about everything stayed open. So for that, it was worth it. As we were leaving the exit gates at 9 p.m. , the rain finally stopped! Such a poetic ending.

P.S. Not a drop of rain or lightning on Saturday :{