All of Us

All of Us
At I's wedding in July 2019. Back row from left: My oldest D (27) and his wife B (27), My 6th K (16), My 3rd L (23), My 5th T (19), and my 7th A (14). Front row from left: My 9th Z (11), My 10th M (9), Me!, My new son-in-law L (23), My 4th I (22), my love D, My 2nd J (25), and my 8th M (11).

Friday, December 22, 2006

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2006


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope this letter finds all of you happy and well.

2006 was a good year for our family. One major event was the July sale of Daryl’s company, XXXXXXs, to Gore, (maker of Gore-tex) a Fortune 500 biotechnology company located in Flagstaff, Arizona. He continues to teach and do research as a Professor at the University of Michigan and to perform as CEO at his other company, XXXXX.

We have embarked on a major home renovation and addition project. Many months were spent on the planning and design phase with the architects. Currently we are completing the bidding process, which will result in both a final budget and the selection of a contractor to complete the work.

Our family did some traveling this year. We spent almost 2 weeks traveling 1000 miles through Ontario and Quebec provinces. We spent a week in a Baie St. Paul, a small town in eastern Quebec, north of Maine. Since none of us speak French, and most Quebecois do not speak English, it was an interesting and sometimes frustrating experience. The region boasts amazing scenery, both mountainous and water oriented. Located on the St. Lawrence seaway, we were able to go whale watching and sea kayaking as well as hiking, bicycling and horseback riding.

In November we spent a week in Chicago having a city vacation where we enjoyed museums, shopping and a performance by the Blue Man Group. We celebrated Thanksgiving with Paula’s aunt, who lives in Chicago.

We will be traveling to Phoenix on Christmas day. We plan to enjoy time with old friends, some hiking and sightseeing, and the sunshine.

D. is in the 9th grade this year. In September he was confirmed in the Catholic churh, which was a proud moment for all of us. He played running back and corner back on the football team. Although the team didn’t have a winning season, Dillon scored numerous touchdowns and was a vital member of the defense. He is currently playing basketball.

J.’s soccer career ended this year when her team disbanded, so she has taken up horseback riding as her new sport. She also continues to play both the piano and flute. She is in 7th grade and is an excellent student. This past summer she attended Inkstains, a creative writing camp at Eastern Michigan University.

L. is now our lone soccer player, and he is both dedicated to his sport and a talented player. He is in the 5th grade, and doing extremely well in school. He has just begun playing the clarinet and continues to play the piano.

I. has also begun horseback riding lessons and she is passionate about both horses and riding. She is in the 4th grade. She continues to play the piano and to fill her role as our household fashionista.

T. has really blossomed in the past year. She is handling the transition from half day kindergarten to full day first grade extremely well. She has gained a lot of self-confidence and maturity. She is a real math whiz and enjoys doing math problems just for fun. She is now reading well enough that she can read a book on her own.
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K. is enjoying being at home with his mom and little sister. Astute and observant, he has a terrific vocabulary ,and we are often amazed by the things he has to say. He loves to be outdoors, enjoys playing with dinosaurs and helping with cooking.

A. has gone through a tremendous transformation in the past year, from a baby with few opinions of her own to an extremely particular little girl who is not shy about sharing her feelings. To say that she loves reading would be a huge understatement. Her adoration for books is so great that we have dubbed her “the librarian.”

After several months of watching Isabel and Jasmine with envy, Paula has also taken up horseback riding, and is enjoying the challenges of a new sport. She continues to be a member of a women’s book club, and continues with running as her primary fitness activity.

We hope you all had a terrific year and a blessed holiday season. We wish many more blessings upon you for the New Year!

A great way to contact Paula is email: pxxxx@xxxx. I look forward to hearing from you!


Love,

Paula, Daryl, D., J., L., I., T., K. and A.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

What's Up?

You may be wanting to ask this of me, wondering why my posts are so infrequent. My time is being consumed by 2 things, primarily: 1) unsuccesful attempts to get pregnant and all of the obsessing involved, including recent visits to a reproductive endocrinologist to determine if there is something actually physically amiss (results aren't in on that one yet), and beginning tomorrow, visits to the acupuncturist in the hopes he knows something that western medicine does not. 2) the previously alluded to home renovation project.

I will attempt to briefly describe the house as it is. I live in a home built in 1862 with an addition put on in 1975. The house has no garage and 1.5 bathrooms (used by 9 people) and 4 real bedrooms, only one of which has a closet. Additionally, 3 of those bedrooms have adjoining rooms which could be used as bedrooms but would be walk-throughs. One of those adjoining rooms is being used as a tiny bedroom--the 3 girls have a suite, with the 2 oldest together and the younger one in the little room. Another of those adjoining rooms is being used by Daryl as an office. The third adjoining room connects to my bedroom, and it is being used as a combination closet and bedroom for A. 3 of the bedrooms are upstairs but there are no upstairs bathrooms. The upstairs bedrooms sport funky shag and dated wallpaper. The front porch on our house is literally falling off. We have a laundry room that is only big enough for a washer and dryer, no folding area or storage for clothes. The kitchen/family room is dark year round, requiring the lights on at all times. I park outdoors and carry groceries, babies, etc. up a small hill.

The renovation involves: Adding 3 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms upstairs, including a master bedroom, and putting a murphy bed/nightstand unit in the little room that adjoins the downstairs bedroom, which will become a guest suite. Some of these bedrooms will be located in an addition which will include a garage, new laundry room and mudroom, and a finished basement. The downstairs family room, which has large beams in the ceiling, will have the ceiling opened up to the 2nd story with only the beams remaining for a vaulted ceiling with skylights. The kitchen will be renovated to include additional cabinets, a 2nd dishwasher and a 2nd refrigerator/freezer. The old part of the house will receive cosmetic improvements as needed, like paint and flooring.

We spent July-Sept. working on the design with architects. Oct.-Nov. has involved selecting a builder/contractor. We are reviewing bids and hopefully we will have one by next week. We bid out some of the outdoor work separately, which began the week before Thanksgiving. This included removing the nonfunctional swimming pool and deck, clearing brush and rocks, removing and rebuilding the front porch, and sealing the old basement, which leaked, from the inside and outside.

Once the project is in full swing we will need to move out for 5-6 months, so I am currently looking at rental houses.

In other news, we spent Thanksgiving week in Chicago, visiting Windy City attractions like the Science and Industry Museum and the Shedd Aquarium. We also visited friends and saw the parade of lights on the Magnificent Mile. Two birthdays happened while we were there. L. turned 11 and chose to go ice skating outdoors in Millenium Park and to the top of the Hancock building. A. turned 2 while we were there, but we celebrated her birthday when we got home. She was very clingy and attached during the entire week. She is the only one of 7 children who refuses to: ride in the backpack AND ride in the stroller AND ride in the sling AND walk. She only wants to be carried, and only mama will do. Mama's arms get very tired.

We spent Thanksgiving Day with my aunt who lives in Chicago and my parents, who drove in for the holiday.

So that's what I've been up to!

About Me

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SE Michigan, United States
Mother to 10 fabulous kids, ages 9 to 27 years! Mother-in-law to 2 more awesome young adults! Married for 32 years to my best friend.

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