Dear Family & Friends,
It's that time of year again. You know, the time for snow, wish lists, Christmas lights, baking, caroling, partying, and stressing out. But, most importantly, it's time for our yearly recap of life as a Barnum. Don't worry, I'll keep it short and sweet!
Jonah is in 1st grade this year. He loves school. He's reading way above his grade level and excelling in everything else as well. Jonah loves to read the Zoo Books magazines about crocodiles, sharks, snakes, etc. Jonah played soccer this last spring. It was his first experience with organized sports. He wasn't a big fan of it. He would get easily frustrated when he didn't kick the ball just right(that's the perfectionist in him). But since he got a trophy at the end of the season, he keeps talking about playing again next year.
Jonah favorite thing to do is to make a “project”. He'll get out paper, scissors, glue, staples, crayons, string, straws, pencils, paper cups, plates, napkins, utensils, and pretty much anything else he can find and spread them all across the table and begin creating. He comes up with some pretty interesting stuff. It can get frustrating when he uses up all of my scotch tape on his catapult or duct tapes all the pencils in the house together, but I just keep reminding myself that one day he may be creating new inventions, or building beautiful bridges or buildings or something like that.
Lilly turned 4 this year and is going to preschool four days a week. Lilly is learning to read. She knows all her letters and sounds and is working on sight words. Lilly loves to watch Scooby-Doo and she really enjoys playing with her friends. Lilly's quite the social butterfly at school. Her teachers tell me that she is a friend to everyone and it's easy to see. Whenever I pick her up she has to say goodbye to and hug all of her friends. Lilly's not too happy about winter time. She's more of a summertime girl. Several times in the last month, she's come out of her room all dressed up in her swimsuit and wanting to play in the water. I finally had to hide that thing until next summer.
Jayne just turned 2 in October. She is such a fun little girl! She talks like a pro and loves to sing songs and “ballerina”. That's what she calls dancing. Her favorite thing to do is put on her sparkly shoes and her little tutu that her Grandma Barnum made her and run around the house dancing and playing. Lately she's really into watching the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and reading “Pinkalicious.” She's definitely girl through and through.
Nate had a big year this year. He finished his bachelor's degree in Spanish and criminal justice through Weber State University. I'm so proud of him for sticking with it and seeing it through to the end. Nate also recently started a new job. He's a sales representative for Verizon Wireless in West Valley. He's only been there for a couple of months and he's already ranking among their top sales reps in his area. It's been such a blessing to not have him doing such hard labor out in the elements, especially now that it's winter. Nate just got called to serve as assistant scout master in our church ward. He's excited to go on the camp outs with the boys. They'll be doing a winter camp in January.
Nate got his tonsils taken out this year, which has made a huge difference in his health. Usually he's had some walking pneumonia or tonsillitis by this time of year, but so far.....nothing. When they took them out, the doctor was surprised by how large and infected they were. He couldn't believe we hadn't had it done sooner. I'm so glad we finally got those monsters taken out!
As for me, Ashley, I guess my biggest news this year is that I'm back in school. I started in the summer working on my bachelor's degree in family studies through Utah State University's online program. I'm really loving it so far. I've been taking two classes per semester, but I'm going to bump it up to three in the spring. I'm also serving as a Webelos den leader in our cub scout program, which is fun. It definitely helps keep me busy. I've also been doing a bit of babysitting, which is totally uncharacteristic of me. I've never been big on babysitting, but I'm enjoying it and the extra money is always helpful. We watch a friend of Lilly's after preschool twice a week and we just started watching a little two month old baby girl this week while her mom works part time.
And there you have it. That's our 2010 in a nutshell. We hope you all have had a happy, healthy, and prosperous year! Have a wonderful holiday season!
Love,
Nate, Ashley, Jonah, Lilly, & Jayne
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