The Peabody Family

Merry Christmas from Elgin, Texas, twenty miles east of Austin, small town Texas living, the “sausage capital of the Texas”, and our new home. Patrick and I hope this letter finds you happy, healthy, and mostly done with the stress of holiday preparations. We warmly remember all those who make our lives so rich and look forward to celebrating Christmas.

Christmas moves us every year to remember the good times, friends and family, and those no longer with us. The time of year when our children talk to Santa, rush downstairs Christmas morning, participate in school pageants, sing Christmas carols, have family dinners, and Christmas music that plays in the background. Our best times are spent at home with each other. These are the things we remember, and it’s the warmth of these experiences that generate meaning and cause us to continue to look forward to Christmas year after year. Christmas makes everything in our lives seem larger. I’m happy to say that this Christmas all is good in our home.

We’ve had a happy, busy year that has been full and fun, and we are doing well. Our family is our greatest joy to experience. Life is crazy and most of the time hectic, but we are learning to slow down and try to enjoy (or at least learn from) each moment, and our children continue to amaze us as they grow.

As for the big picture: we are now living in Elgin, everyone is well, we had a great year, a new town, a new house, and a new baby. If you would like to know more, read on. I tried to restrain myself to one page, but was unsuccessful.

In February our family grew as we welcomed our son, William Frederick, to the world. He’s ten months old now, and he’s as cute as a baby can be.. He is the happiest baby too. It’s so easy to make him laugh big belly laughs, and he gets this glint in his eye as he squeals with delight at making mischief.

Will’s year:

Our biggest Peabody baby, weighing in at 10 lbs, 10 oz.
at birth. I’m expecting him to reach Daddy size proportions
Loves his big brother and sister. (They’re so funny! )
Has eight teeth and wants to eat everything
Walks all around like a drunken sailor.
Is into EVERYTHING
I think I’ve heard him cry Mama, and Patrick says he’s heard Dada. Neither of us have witnesses.
Enjoys pointing at everything, raising both his arms in the air, and has recently discovered the excitement of banging objects against each other.
Is great at making messes and pulling everything out
Some favorite things no one will let him have: toilet paper to unroll, power cords, the contents of various trashcans, cabinets and the refrigerator, and anything he can fit in his mouth.
Likes to play peek-a-boo and hide and seek with his sister. She hides, he seeks

Lexa is a silly, stubborn, inquisitive and industrious four year old with a big imagination who loves her brothers, is always right, plays well with her friends, and can out-talk anyone, except maybe Daddy.

Lexa‘s year:

Visited the emergency room when having an allergic reaction. Parents freaked out, but she was fine.
Gave herself her own first haircut, much to our dismay. Not to worry though, those curls that Goldilocks would envy have already grown back.
Is loving preschool
Still tells me where to hide and then pretends to search for me when playing hide and seek
Often practices her “rollersaults” and “jumpers”
Fights with her big brother
Is crazy about princesses and pink and purple
Is crazy about her baby brother, but not always gentle
Makes up songs about what she’s thinking about in the car and also requests Christmas carols all year long
Loves to draw and give people her drawings
Repeats herself over and over if she doesn’t think you heard her the 1st-12th times.
Is concerned about robbers and foxes when she goes to bed at night.

Timmy is growing into a fun, often rambunctious, friendly six year old boy who never stops, is always thinking, can see things in the most creative ways, will tell you all about his big, unique, imaginative ideas and things he likes (reptiles, frogs and bugs, space, robots, dragons, and ninjas)

Timmy’s year:

Lost his first (and second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth) baby tooth
Completed kindergarten and is now in the first grade
Broke his arm at his own birthday party
Joined cub scouts
Is learning to read. We were surprised one day when we learned that we can’t get away with spelling things we don’t want him to know in front of him anymore.
Enjoys building more than anything, mostly with Legos, but will build with any and everything and has come up with some huge, impractical plans of things he wants to build
Tried food with melted cheese on it. The world didn’t end.
Will still only eat pasta if it’s uncooked
Still annoying his sister
Has two speeds, nonstop for things he likes and when he’s getting wild, and a snail’s pace for things like putting on pajamas, eating dinner, doing homework and going to bed.
Is enjoying being read the Harry Potter books, Percy Jackson, Narnia, the Hobbit, and the Magic Tree house books.

Travel

The Frio River

Patrick visited Washington DC with his doctorate program. He loved seeing the monuments and visiting the Smithsonian, took a million photos including this one in front of the White House.

The kids’ first camping trip. We went with the cub scouts to Apache Pass.

Matagorda Beach

This year marked our ten year wedding anniversary. We’re proud to have made it this far together and are amazed at how much our lives have grown and changed. We’re not really sure about what trouble we’ve gotten ourselves into with three children, we had to switch from man to zone coverage. They do love to play with each other though. The other day I found myself saying, “Timmy please don’t roll your sister across the floor.”

I am thankful that I have been able to stay at home with the kids. Taking care of them and watching them grow is the highlight of my days.

In my spare time (Ha ha) I am also:

Taking millions of photos of the kids
Working hard on my to do list from last January
In denial about my waistline
Still busy near the end of each day trying to make it look like I’ve accomplished something before Patrick arrives home
Unpacking from our move at a snail’s pace, more thinking about unpacking than actually unpacking anything really
Cuddling up with a nursing/sleeping sweet baby with a good book or (more often) Facebook or Pinterest, pinning all the things about cleaning and organizing the house, recipes, crafts, desserts and exercises, instead of actually doing any of those things.
Enjoying living near my sister now
Knitting a little during the minutes my lap is free, the sewing machine is abandoned as are all other crafts, hoping to do more hiking with the kids as the weather warms up.
A little bit lonely getting used to our new home, missing our old one, but also looking forward to what’s ahead

We were excited this summer as Patrick accepted a job at Elgin Middle School working as an assistant principal. It’s a good job and a great school to work at. We made the move, and Patrick loves the job and the school. We are excited about this next chapter in our lives and the new adventures it will bring

Patrick’s news:

Still busy at work
Stress is down and time spent not at work is up
Is halfway through the doctoral program he’s been working on. (He’s been working on his Doctorate of Education from Mary Hardin-Baylor University for the past eighteen months.)
Starting to work at getting back in shape and getting ready for another triathlon.
He took Timmy and Lexa to their first Comic Con, sharing all things nerdy with them and was excited to get his photo taken with Bruce Campbell.
Starting to play board games with the kids. They love playing, but both still aren’t too keen about not winning every time.
Has introduced the kids to “the miniatures game”, aka Dungeons and Dragons, which Timmy constantly asks to play now.
Constructed a catapult for Timmy in our backyard

January-prepared home for baby

February -had a baby

March-slept(not at night), holding baby

April-Timmy turned 6, broke arm

May-Married 10 years

June-new job, house search, started packing

July-Lexa turned 4, more packing

August- still packing, moving

September- unpacking

October-stopped unpacking, left boxes in garage

November-Finally settling into a new normal.

December-Merry Christmas!

Frequently used words: fun, play, careful, no, stop fighting

Forgotten words: quiet, calm, order, clean, hurry, sleep

Words we’ve learned more about: love, laughter, patience, joy

We hope you have a warm holiday season and that the coming year finds you safe, happy, healthy and prosperous.

Cathy, Patrick, Timmy, Lexa, and Will

When asking Timmy why he did something he was told not to : “I think my electrons made a mistake.”

Lexa in the car: “Two hands on the steering wheel, Mommy!”

Me: "This summer how about I read you a book about a boy whose a wizard named Harry?."

Timmy: "Does it have dragons?"

Me: "Only a little bit, but it has hippogriffs."

Timmy: "Yay!!"

Lexa: “If the Jewel of Light is glowing when you plant it, it will grow into a jewel flower that will grow up and up and up (stretches her hands over her head) to space! Jewels of Light are always pink or purple, and you can only have one in each house.”

Timmy at bedtime: “Come on, Mommy. That story was boring. You can do better.”

This is the story Lexa dictated to me. It's called Princess Ballerina(as usual). : “Mommy, Daddy, Timmy, Will and Lexa Ballerina. A sudden a bad guy appeared. It was called Bad Guy. Then a piano playing monster appeared. It was called Timmy. Oh no! The food bacteria appeared. The food started rumbling. It jumped. The food was alive. The sweet tea shook. Then it was fall, and the monster was gone. We were saved. The End."

On the second day in a row that the tooth fairy forgot to come to our house, Timmy said, “I know, the tooth is too camouflaged on my white sheets!”

When Will started crying one day Lexa called to me, “Milk truck!”

Timmy came home from his social skills group with a bucket list for the summer. It says: “See dinosaur footprints, make a movie, go to the beach, go swimming, explore a cave, make clay sculptures, make a new species, go to Granny and Papa's, and go to a museum.” I told him that all sounds doable except the make a new species one, and he said, " Mommy, we just need to get some DNA from animals and an egg."

Timmy asked me if I have any Time Lord technology. I said no, and he said, "Hmm, I'll have to make some then. I need a box, a clock and some wires. I'll have to watch out for the Time Chompers. They'll eat the time, and it won't grow back."

When playing tea party with Lexa, she said, “Mommy, do you want Bacon Smash Tea, Macaroni and Cheese Tea, or Sourdough Tea?”

Timmy added to his Christmas list.(He started it in August.) To such items as a jet pack, a million dollars, the calcium lime remover he saw in a commercial, a ninja suit, a magical blue staff, and rocket shoes, he added a force field that only works against babies, a space ship, live butterflies, fake dragon bones that look, smell, and feel real, a Dalmatian puppy, and a slinky. I tried to get him to focus more on giving, so he made a list of of gifts to give. He wants to give his sister a robotic life sized princess, his Daddy a suit that makes him able to hide from Lexa and a real alligator, for me a four leaf clover, a broom that sweeps by itself and a never ending sack of chocolate mints from Olive Garden, for his grandparents smoke alarms, a hummingbird, and a butterfly making machine, for my sister a fence for her yard, and for his teacher, a remote control that will work on people.