Christmas 2005 Letter
Greetings!
Hello and happy holidays to you all! In lieu of the last
quarterly letter of ’05 from the kids, we’re sending our Christmas letter out a
little early this year. We have had yet another busy year and can’t wait to
share all our news.
As you all probably know by now, we’ve taken up residence in
Well, starting with the youngest, Zachary Ryan was born
earlier than expected on March 28. Granny and Grampa Cecil along with Uncle
Mark and Eugene came to NC to celebrate Easter. After Granny’s delicious Easter
dinner, Mark and Grampa drove back to MD. The next day Stacy went for a
doctor’s appointment and ended up being induced. Zach was born by C-section
later that evening. He was a healthy 9 pounds 3 ounces and since then has
always been a “big” boy. He never became colicky like his sister was and has
been a generally happy baby. So far he has sprouted 7 teeth and is an expert
crawler. His new attempt lately is pulling up on anything he can find and
“tasting” all he sees. Now that’s he’s a “cruiser,” we have to make sure
everything waist-high is safe to gum.
Next comes Karina and she’s had a good year as well. She has
been good with Zach and helps us keep an eye on him. She usually lets us know
when he’s on the move (and heading towards her stuff – which encompasses
everything in the house!). She attends a preschool two mornings a week at
Language Tots and loves it. She learns a little Spanish and a little French and
even some Yoga. Granny and Mommy attended a Thanksgiving program at the school
where all the kids in Karina’s class sang some songs and then ate a mini
Thanksgiving feast together. It was all very cute. She is completely
potty-trained, is starting to write, and can count to 39. Mommy and Daddy work
a lot with her as she is an inquisitive child and wonders “how to do this” or
“what comes next?”
Stacy is still adjusting to being a stay-at-home mom. Who
knew not working would be so much work? Most days it takes all her energy just
to keep up with the kids and have a smile on her face! She has been meeting
lots of new friends (mostly moms and their kids). Stacy and the kids stay busy
going to story-time at the library or Barnes & Noble, and playing outside
and in. Stacy also finds events for the family to do on the weekends so there’s
usually something going on every day. She’s gotta stay
busy!
Josh is enjoying his new company, Epic Games, and the people
he works with. He is still making games, basically doing the same line of work
as he was doing at Secret Level. He is mainly working on the Playstation 3 implementation of the Unreal Engine. Josh
(usually) enjoys working on the new platform and taking on the exciting
challenges offered. He plans to talk at the PS3 Developers Conference in
January to share the lessons learned from the last 6 months of work.
Stacy and Josh have both been able to see their families
quite a few times this year. Living so close to MD is nice because either
family comes to visit or Stacy and Josh visit relatives in MD or FL. Some
notable family excursions were the baptism of Zachary in May (MD), Great-Granny
(GG) Olive’s 90th birthday in August (FL) and Thanksgiving with Cecil’s, Adams,
Uncle Geoff and Aunt Mary, Mary’s parents and Friends Eugene and Sun (MD).
Friends and relatives also came to town for welcomed visits. Granny and Grampa
(especially Granny), Steph and Mark have visited several times. Aunt Mary and
Uncle Geoff came to visit the weekend Stacy and Zach came home from the
hospital in April. Grandfather Adams stopped by on his way to Thanksgiving in
We hope your 2005 has been as rewarding as ours and your holidays are safe and happy. May your 2006 be even more enjoyable!