Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and happy New Year's to all of you!

It has been a great Christmas season so far for us, with temperate weather and the ability to see many of our family and friends. Hopefully we'll see even more of you before the New Year has begun.

We continue to enjoy our home in the Swede Hollow neighborhood of St. Paul. Idris (now 8) and Arken (3!) keep us very busy with activities.

Idris finished first grade and began 2nd this year at Nova Classical Academy in Highland Park. He reads about a book per day when he has the liberty to do so, and has done a good job dedicating himself to homework and schoolwork, even when he'd rather have more freedom with his time. Aside from reading, he's enjoying flash games on the computer and video games on the Wii and NDS; playing with Legos; hanging out with a few good friends, and he also likes being involved in whatever adults are doing. This year, he's trying out chess club and fencing as well.

Arken has continued to grow in size and vernacular. He talks quite a bit, usually with actual words, and enjoys clarifying the little details of life for those around him. He has also grown to enjoy games and anything else his brother shows interest in. Arken has become so active in jumping around and climbing on things that he broke his leg in his sleep this summer after climbing up to a top bunk bed and falling out! He recovered in a few weeks, though, and continues to climb on or jump from everything in the house. Arken has begun pre-school this year and has proven to be very social.

Jenny and I have managed to keep doing what we have been doing for a while now and added a few new pursuits. Jenny has delved into jewelry making and pursued other crafts, and I spent much of my free time publishing a book. The amount of work that ends up going into the process of publication has been staggering, but we've been able to work on much of it together, and found a good amount of time to spend as a family as well.

I hope to see you all sometime this coming year and that your lives are blessed.

Happy New Year!