2014 Recap

This year's Christmas letter has turned into a New Year's letter. The end of the year kind of snuck up on us. I know it happens every year, but I can usually catch a break somewhere. This year, not so much.

2014 for us began in Longview, TX. Edward was still working for LeTourneau University and I was still a stay at home mom. After returning from our holidays in Michigan, we hit the year running. I joined a crochet group to fill some of my time with less mommy things and met some women who are now my closest friends here! Dr. Ball, the physics professor at LeTourneau, lived with us from Sept 2013 until July 3, 2014 when he went on sabbatical in British Columbia. But before that point, Ed and I were using him for his free babysitting! We were running twice a week and doing running club runs once a month. I began running 5Ks in February! We also got to attend every game night that semester! Pat came for a nice visit in February, as well.

For Spring Break, we took the girls on a Texas State Tour! It was a noisy trip, as Molly decided to practice her screaming skills and Milli decided that shouting, “Stop crying, Molly!” was the best way to get her to stop. We drove to Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, and back home in three days. We did some shopping, site seeing, and seeing friends; so there were some good points. We also celebrated my 40^th birthday by going to a play (Llama Llama!), seeing the Alamo, and eating at a fabulous Greek restaurant in San Antonio.

In May, Edward did research again and I took a class! I needed a lab science, so I took astronomy with Dr. Ball. I aced it, and not because the prof was my tenant! At the end of the month, Edward and a student went to a conference in WI. I dropped him off and then took the girls to MI for a visit. No screaming that time! We stayed for a few days, picked Ed back up, and then spent the night at a friend's house before driving back to TX. Ten days later we returned to MI for Hamilton Family Vacation at the lake.

Dr. Ball left in the beginning of July and we proceeded to use our game room for its purpose! We had a big game night with friends from my crochet club – 10 adults and 11 kids. Never allow yourself to be outnumbered – that is my new motto. Lots of noise and lots of chaos. Only one injury, though; so all in all, not a bad night. We also had a garage sale which made just enough money for me to begin my own business as a Jamberry Independent Consultant! I now get paid to have pretty nails.

Ed went back to work in August and I began to work, too. In September, Molly turned 1! In October, we did some more traveling: I went to San Antonio for the Jamberry regional conference, Ed went to Houston for the Welch conference, and then I took the girls to MI for an apple picking adventure. All travels went well and all happened in the same week. When I returned from MI, I had a bushel and a peck of apples and a brother with me! Uncle Michael came down to spend a week with us. Milli was very excited because it happened to be her third birthday! We celebrated by going to Veggie Tales Live the weekend before, having pie and gifts on the day, and having a Frozen nail party the weekend after. Ten days after Uncle Michael left, we headed to KY for Thanksgiving. There was a lot of sickness and I ended up in urgent care. Not the best holiday ever. We returned to Longview to finish out the semester and then traveled to Michigan for Christmas. That was a lovely holiday trip with no screaming, no sickness, and lots of great times.

Hoping your year was wonderful,

Edward, Reba, Milli, and Molly