Season’s Greetings from the Baxters!
This year William (5 ½) started kindergarten, and I learned how to correctly spell kindergarten. He is in a dual-immersion program (English/Spanish) and seems to be enjoying it. It won’t be long before he knows more Spanish than all of us (he already knows more than Jason). Academically he’s doing great and socially/emotionally he’s your average 5 year old. So if he doesn’t spend all day crying, picking fights, or picking his nose, I consider it a win.
Christopher is in the midst of the terrible 3’s. Why anyone thinks terrible 2’s are the worst is a mystery to me. He has moments of the cute, sweet, and funny, and long stretches of being an absolute tyrant, offended by everything any of us (especially Andrew) does. He would like to be in school like William, but doesn’t grasp that potty training is part of the deal.
Andrew is 20 months old and running and jabbering like crazy. He’s a mama’s boy and wouldn’t have a problem being carried around by one of us 24/7. He’s a pretty good sleeper but is a very early riser—before 6am some mornings. On Saturdays we like to hit up the grocery store while everyone else is sleeping and the donuts are fresh. I keep hoping it’s a phase and some day we can all sleep in.
I don’t fully grasp what Jason does all day in his job at Fidelity Investments, but he continues to be very busy and seemingly enjoys the new challenges. The downside has been more hours worked overall; the upside is that he can be a bit more flexible with his schedule and occasionally work from home. Midway through the year HR determined he was significantly underpaid according to his job function, so this year we were pleasantly surprised by a raise, and then a year end promotion! I’m happy to see his years of dedication and hard work pay off.
With William starting school and having kids and schedules spread a little too thin, I cut back to part time at work. At first it was a harder transition than I anticipated, but now that we’re in the rhythm of things I’m so thankful that I finally stuck to cutting back.
In 2017 my parents made it to Utah twice, my brother’s family visited once (as a surprise!), and we were able to visit Wisconsin once. This year was the first time we’ve attempted to drive to the Midwest as a family instead of flying. Our rental minivan and all of its occupants returned to Utah in one piece, so it is likely we will attempt driving again in the future.
Despite the best efforts of our boys, we managed to complete a good number of home-improvement projects this year, including the addition of a new garden shed, and replacement of half of our original single-pane windows. I also repainted a garage door and more trim than I care to remember. Eventually I moved inside and repainted our main floor mudroom and the basement stairway, which as Jason put it, was just “a gateway to basement projects”. He was right, as several months after the mudroom project, we updated the guest bathroom downstairs.
At this stressful time of year it is easy to forget how blessed we really are. The boys drive us crazy, but are healthy and smart. We have a warm home full of love, and a few extra dollars to splurge a bit on ourselves and those we care about. Hopefully this letter finds you well. If 2017 was a challenging year, we send our hopes that 2018 has something better in store. Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season and excellent New Year!
The Baxters
