That day before Christmas when we all wore red.

#selfie
#behindschedule
#catchup

Holiday Card

Happy Holidays to everyone.  

2017 -- We hope to end it smiling -- it was kind of crazy.

Most of the highlights from the year were recorded here on the blog. Bullet points by Judi:

• January -- A broken foot and a very sick kitty.
• February -- Recovery for both of the tall boys and skiing for the girls.
• March -- Almost back to normal -- the first part of the year went by very quickly; a dance show.
• April -- Yosemite! 
• May -- Ballet and more dance!
• June -- More dance! A trip to Philly and NY to see friends and family.
• July -- More ballet! Lots of horse, hanging out, and rock climbing. (Kelly, Gerard, and Kristina visit and a hike with Heather!)
• August -- Seattle, 75, and School -- Happy Birthday Ted. And then a broken leg (poor Tia).
• September -- Sickness, losing Sedona, and a big meeting 
• October -- I (Judi) left my company after 20 years and joined a new one with 7 of the same people--we are having a lot of fun setting up our new research center.
• November -- Trying to get into a new groove, Thanksgiving, friends, family!  (Joe visits)
• December -- more dance -- Nutcracker for Kira and Nat starts tapping with the Company.  Of course it's crazy getting ready for Christmas with lots of baking of cookies.

The girls are working super hard.  Nat is a sophomore, Kira is an 8th grader, and Tia is a 7th grader. Next year, we have to start visiting colleges.  Yikes! 

Thoughts from the rest of the crew...Nick:

I appreciate walking like I never have before.  I celebrated 30 years of programming bliss with the same company.

Natalie:

I started playing Ukulele this fall and am hoping to learn guitar soon!  Tap is super fun--come to my show in March!  I started riding English last winter (after riding Western for many years) and am learning to jump.

Kira:

I'm hoping to see Hamilton in 2018!  (Life goal.)  Lots of ballet all year and high school for me in the fall.

Tia:

I discovered rock climbing this year and really got into it this fall!  I am working hard and hope to join a team next year. 

The Kitties:

Yay, you finally started instagramming us.  About time lazy hoomins. 

Nutcracker

 

'tis the season!  Can you spot the Kira soldier?

  

First day

 

The sisters. 

This may or may not be the "official" first day shot. 

I need to download the DLR.

I do love the iPhone camera.

I love that it automatically shares everything with my computer.

I wished for this functionality in 2002. 

Wishes do come true.

The best thing about the school year so far...

No first period class for Natalie.

This means we can all leave the house at almost 8 am together.

It also means that we don't have to get up in the 6 o'clock hour.

It also means that the high school drop off is not scary and dangerous with a ton of drivers.

I'll let you know if anything disappoints, but after one day, I say "it's awesome."  

On another note, shout out to Uncle Joe... He's often here on the first day of school.

We miss you!

Happy New Year!

How does one summarize a year in a page or less? (with 11 point font, few extra line spaces, and .5 margins--but since this is the blog version, not the one mailed in the Holiday card to family, we'll add spaces.)

Highlights for Natalie  

• 2 trips to Disneyland (one with the fam and one with the school band)
• The 8th grade trip to Yosemite
• Girl Scout camp with her sister Tia and the fun high rope activities there
• High school isn’t as bad as she feared
• Jazz band camp this summer
• Dancing and Tumbling

Highlights for Kira

• Learning to do an aerial
• Going to the Ballet Summer Intensive and more ballet
• Being on pointe (she went on pointe last year so this is not something new)
• Performing in The Nutcracker
• Doing high jump for the track team and going to the county-wide competition
• 7th grade (not sure this is a highlight, but it’s an update for you)

Highlights for Tia

• Learning to do an aerial
• Getting a Swagtron
• Girl Scout camp with her sister Natalie
• Learning to solve the Rubik’s cube
• Science Camp in 5th grade (early 2016)
• 6th grade (definitely not a highlight--she liked elementary school better than middle, just an update)

Highlights for Nick

• Giving an epic talk at the conference for his work -- the auditorium was packed and it was live streamed around the world. (Judi and the girls got to watch him from home!) If you work with the things he does let us know and we can send you a link to the talk.
• Reading awesome books
• Adding more solar panels (so the house should be net zero for the year!)
  
  

Highlights for Judi

• Dancing with my girls
• Teaching -- my students are awesome!
• Having a great year at ____ doing lots of exciting work with teachers on the topic of learning; my amazing colleagues (and my bestest colleague, Patti). (My colleagues are so cool we did 2 hikes and a couple of parties this year! It is great when you like the people at work.)

Highlights everyone agreed on!

• A trip to Seattle to see family and celebrate Nick’s Mom 80th birthday and a trip to see our friends in New Hampshire (Thanks, KJ!)
• Family visits (Kelly & Gerard, Rob and Liana, Don, Audrey and Lasse, Joe, Brett, Geraldine, Olivia -- Come hang out with us!) & friends who came to visit from near and far.
• An excellent ski trip in February; a family trip to Disneyland with a wonderful friend/Disney expert

Nick and Judi have a shared highlight of celebrating 20 years of hanging out and 18 years of marriage this year. (The girls are pretty happy about this, too.)  Judi wanted Nick to have a highlight of our amazing garden thanks to his awesome gardening skills, but he didn't want that so we'll just stick that here and see if any one notices.

All the best to you and yours for 2017!  

Love,   

The K Company