Christmas Letter 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas y'all! We have had a good year and hope you did too.

Lydia Kate Leonard was added onto our family on May 6, 2010. She is now 7 months old and crawling.

Erica will be 3 on December 27th and is very excited to be three and joining Primary as a Sunbeam. She loves playing with her dolls and with Paul and Lydia.

Paul is a very active 4 year old. He enjoys being loud, playing with his younger sisters, and older brother, Josh.

Joshua (Josh) turned 7 in September. He is enjoying 1st grade. He likes playing Legos and cars, and riding his bike. He also enjoys playing with his brother and sisters.

Megan turned 9 in November. She enjoys attending Activity Days (with Brittany) and 3rd grade. She still adores horses and enjoys playing soccer with the family.

Brittany is 11 – in 6th grade – and enjoying every minute of it. She enjoys singing in the school and church choirs.

Shawnie stays at home raising the children. She enjoys quilting and sewing, as a matter of fact, she has quilted 2 quilts and accomplished several sewing projects this year. She is a good cook and very helpful with the children (especially the girls). She serves as the 1st Counselor in the Primary presidency.

Kyle has been through a lot since March. He lost his job and thankfully found a new job with AmeriCredit/GM Financial in October. He is the Ward Mission Leader.

Other than a new baby, unemployment, a broken dishwasher, a new job, a new pair of glasses, a brand new school year, and two bike crashes (Brittany & Grandma; Josh & neighbor boy), we have had a pretty normal year (if you call that normal)!

With Love,
The Leonards

(Special thanks to Brittany for crafting our letter this year!)

Merry Christmas!

Romania Pictures

Romania Pictures

How does that go again?

One of Paul's new vocabulary words is "regot." He says it instead of "forgot." I think it is one of the cutest kid language mix-ups I have ever heard.

Judy Leonard Pierce

This past week a beloved Aunt and friend passed away after a short illness (See her obituary here).  Judy was a good friend of Mom's before Mom knew who Dad was, a friendship which continues today. Judy also held a special place in my heart.  As I look back on my youth, I can point to Judy as someone who influenced my development and continued to offer her concern, wisdom and love each time she saw me.

Judy helped me as a youth to learn the value of a dollar.  She worked for a printing company responsible for a local phone book. Judy enlisted me and my cousins to deliver the local phone book.   We were paid 10 cents for each book we delivered. The day would start by loading up Grandpa's old farm truck with boxes of phone books, then we'd drive to a neighborhood, put down the tail gate and jockey for the first one out delivering.  Judy would shuttle back and forth between streets while groups of us took 10 books in our arms and carefully threw the books to the front doors. Judy would carefully mark down how many books we took and mark the streets we delivered to on one of the phone book maps.

Judy somehow knew which homes had the angry dogs, where the 'hidden' bungalows were located, which door was the 'front' door and how much to push us before we were ready to break.  Her concern was especially great one spring day, while delivering books.  The air was still crisp and dirty snow still spotted the neighborhoods. We were riding on the tailgate of the truck and rounded a corner to drive up a hill to work from the top down.  In the gutter was black ice! The truck was driving slow, but the sliding on the ice, then sudden stop as the wheels caught hold of the pavement was enough to throw us in the bed of the truck and throw me off the tailgate and onto a hard pavement below.  I was dazed from the fall and bump to the head and scratched and bruised.  I don't remember the pain of the fall, my memory is of Judy's concern for me and the others in her care.  She quickly took charge, had things put away and and had me get into the cab for the ride home. I don't think I've had quite such a benevolent boss since.

At this time of loss I am truly grateful for the principles of resurrection and the eternal nature of our existence.  The blessing of knowing "...that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there [in the Spirit world]..." is truly comforting. (Doctrine and Covenants 130:2)  Also the knowledge that Jesus Christ died and rose again on the third day, providing for us the gift of resurrection. I especially love the teachings in the Book of Mormon (Alma 40-42) which simply present the Plan of Salvation, what Christ did for us, and our part to play to receive Salvation.

Thank you Judy! Til we meet again.

I think it's safe to say...

that Kyle has a job!!! This is his second week, and I'm convinced it is real. It is what he was looking for, and it is close, so we do not have to move. Thank you for all your prayers and referrals and encouragement. It was a long time, but the Lord truly blessed us and took care of us.

Things that Happened Last Week

(in no particular order)
1. Joshua had his 7th birthday.
2. Joshua crashed into a neighbor on his bike. After he started asking the same questions repeatedly and not remembering what had happened, we were worried and took him to the ER. He had a concussion but checked out all right. We learned that helmets really are important. (Yes, he was wearing one.)
3. The dishwasher, which has been extremely noisy for several weeks, completely quit. It is time for our children to learn how to wash dishes by hand. Today I realized that they really don't know how, so this is a good opportunity.
4. We enjoyed General Conference. We now have a family tradition to set out snacks, each one with a list of words. When one of the words is said, everyone can have a snack. Of course, this only works when watching at home.
5. Kyle had several phone interviews. He has more interviews scheduled this week, some will be face-to-face.
6. Kyle and I got a babysitter and went on a date to a dollar theater. We enjoyed ourselves, and the children were happy, too.
7. Lydia started eating solids - baby oatmeal. She is almost sitting by herself.
8. Paul and Lydia both had doctor check-ups. Lydia weighs more than most her age. Paul weighs less than most his age. Paul was excited to report to Kyle that he got 4 shots; Lydia only got 2.
9. Paul finally graduated out of a car seat into a booster seat. He is older than any of the others were, but he just now met the height and weight requirements.
10. The evenings have cooled, and it is getting dark earlier, so the children have begun their fall games of playing in the back yard in the dark between dinner and bedtime.

Hermine flooding around town.

Photo/Video update

Video of Lydia

And photos too

08 - August 2010

Baby Talk - Lydia @ 10 weeks

OK, so maybe I am acting a bit like a first time father, but there were three or four different cute parts of this three minute video. Here you go Grandma.

"I don't have nothing to do."

I've been hearing this a lot lately. This particular wording is from Erica, and although I have tried, the problem with double negatives is lost on my 2 year old. Mostly, though, we are still enjoying summer.

At 8 weeks

Playing in the Gulf of Mexico

At six weeks

One month old

 

One week old...already?

What's in a name?

I find it interesting how different people come to conclusions on how to name a child. It seems there are some people, who know from a very young age the names they want their children to be called.

Shawnie and I don't fall into that group.

It is fair to say, we have struggled a lot with what names are appropriate, desirable, and fit for the individual child. For at least one of our children there was clear direction on what the name should be (and what it shouldn't be). Otherwise, each child's name was part of a list of names that couldn't be finalized until the baby was born.

From the first list of girl names we compiled, Shawnie included the name Lydia. This name was inspired from a person in Shawnie's family history who is also a famous woman in LDS church history.

Lydia Knight is a true inspiration and hero. I hope our Lydia learns of her experiences and challenges. I hope she uses this great pioneer woman's example as an example in her life when life gets hard. While there are many things written about her life, this article sums up her life beautifully.

Remember Lydia, "God Rules!"

Intro to Lydia

New Baby GIRL!

We have all been waiting for a good while for this news, Lydia Kate Leonard was born Thursday May 6th, 2010 at 11:57am! She weighed in at a hefty 8lbs 11 oz and 19-3/4 inches long.

Shawnie and Lydia returned home this afternoon and both are doing very well!

Shh! -- A poem by Brittany

Shh!

The little babe is sleeping.

Shh!

You don't want to wake it up.

Shh!

If the little one 

should wake

screams

will

fill

the

place.

So

Shh!

Say again?

I was sitting down and this image happened to be on the screen.  Paul looked at me with a very serious look and said something to me.  I asked him to repeat what he said so I could understand.  He said, "Dad, I want this thing for my birthday!" I replied.  "OK, Paul. I'll see what I can do. 

See the full post here.

Erica being her cute self

Erica being her cute self.

Net neutrality...a little more on the subject

The "Net neutrality" fight is important. It is a fundamental issue with how the Internet works. Which side are you on?

The death of Net neutrality: Five quick thoughts | ZDNet Government | ZDNet.com

government.zdnet.com

Today, a federal appeals court rejected the FCC's claim that Comcast couldn't 'sculpt' Internet traffic and block the flow of BitTorrent data.

<--------- This post is a follow-up on my Facebook post above --------->

 
Who does the Net neutrality discussion involve? There are only a handful of ISPs in this discussion. The last-mile ISPs (your ISP) are small players out of the realm of this discussion. The ISPs (if you can call them that) in this discussion are the national and trans-national network owners which make up the back-bone of the Internet in the US. Essentially, if you think of the Internet being made up of different sized roads, from a driveway into your house to the 10 lane super highways, the "Net neutrality" debate is a basic battle over who should control the rules of the road and mostly involves discussion about the 10 lane superhighways which connect the different parts of the country together.

In-other-words, if ATT owned the Dallas freeways and Timewarner owned the Ft Worth freeways, should they each be allowed to determine who can
get on the freeway, speed limits, road sign design, and the other rules of the road OR should the FCC be in charge of setting the rules?

The ruling was in favor of the near monopoly network owners. Essentially, the networks can decide who is allowed on the network.

Update

We are nearing the end, of several things.

First, the remodeling. Kyle has been working hard. The ceiling and walls have been textured and painted. All the trim has been installed and painted. Last night Kyle and I filled nail holes and applied caulk to the trim. All that is left is some touch-up painting before the carpet is installed on Friday or Monday, and putting on the door knobs. Yay! It looks great, thanks to Kyle's hard work and attention to all those little details.

Second, the pregnancy. I have finally reached the point that I can stop worrying about the contractions I have been feeling for months and instead look forward to our baby being born.

Now it is time to look forward and try to prepare ourselves for whatever is coming next, too bad we don't know what that is!

Religion and politics

Had an interesting conversation recently on various political subjects with someone.  Our political views were somewhat divergent.  I don't know that we made any huge strides forward, but we communicated our views. 

It greatly concerns me that in large part US politics are becoming a WIN-LOSE proposition. We and our leaders are not able to find common ground with each other. We no longer listen to each other, connect in meaningful ways, and compromise.

Even more so, it saddens me to see so many LDS people who are so politically closed minded that civil discussion is not possible.  What makes this country great is its diversity. What makes the gospel great is the diversity of people who can accept it. How can an LDS person think it impossible for a member to be a member in good-standing if s/he is not a Republican? Where does it say in the baptismal covenant that I have to be affiliated to a certain party to join the church?  Why do we judge our fellow members are not worthy if they do subscribe to our personal political beliefs?  Why are we so narrow minded?

It is with great interest I found this article from the Church. Maybe it is time to rethink politics and religion and who is allowed into our 'club.'

Focus on Josh

Josh was recently featured on his classroom bulletin board. He created a poster board with pictures of his accomplishments and things he likes to do. These pictures were his first picks. He then had to narrow it down to fewer. Can you tell what is important to him from the photos? Unfortunately, we don't have any photos of him with his Legos which he drew on the poster!

Changing the batteries in the DVD remote reeks havoc on TV watching

The batteries die in the DVD player's remote and all TV watching is interrupted.  If only because we have programmed the remote to work with the TV as well.

Should be a simple fix, right?  But who remembers the code to enter and the exact steps needed to make it work? Luckily, the Internet holds information, even for 10 year old TVs and their 5 yr old DVD counterparts.

So for the next time the batteries die, the code to enter on the DVD remote for the RCA brand TV we own is 1461. Specifically, hold down the
"Quickview" button while entering the code.

Funny email going around: LDS Church explained in cars.

High Priests are like old jeeps, they can't carry much but

They're reliable and will never leave you stuck.

Relief Society women are like Lamborghinis. They are very

beautiful, move really fast and are lots of fun, but you had

better spend time and money maintaining them or you'll be

sorry.

 

Elders Quorum brethren are like freight trains. They can

carry a lot and work hard, but it takes a lot of energy to

get them going.

Young Men are like bullet bikes. They can go 200 miles/hour and are

lots of fun but one mistake and they'll wreck fast.

Young Women are like Miata clubs. Cute little cars that

look like they're having fun but they're always in tight

packs and can't seem to figure out where they're going.

And Primary.

Argument for Argument's Sake

Kyle's been spending more time at home during the day, and he's been surprised by how much Paul and Erica can argue and fuss. (I guess he didn't really believe me when I told him.) One morning, we were all at the table eating when I actually focused on what the argument was about. Then I told Kyle, "These two, who do not even know their numbers, are watching the face clock and arguing about what time it is." Talk about arguing for argument's sake. Of course, I feel that I must also say that most of the time, Paul and Erica enjoy each other and are good friends.

All for a glass of water

The children put together a little play tonight, then adapted it to make a movie. Lots of fun!

And a clip from a little while back:

Honda, making the mini-van palatable to everyone?

2010 Chicago: Honda’s 2011 Odyssey Concept Aims at the Hesitators – Automotive News & Car Rumors at Automobile Magazine

I've never been negative about mini-vans, maybe its just my lack of social prowess.  But what does it matter whether I drive a cool family car?

Whatever I think, Honda seems to think they can get more people to buy a mini-van by some-how making it more 'cool.'  The concept car is pretty cool looking, but will it really make people flock back to the mini-van?

"I want to sleep in my bed"

This morning when it was time to go to school, Erica was still sleeping. As I lifted Erica out of her crib, I told her that we had to take Megan and Josh to school. Erica told me, "I want to sleep in my bed." I felt bad once again to be waking her up to get someone else where they needed to be, but Paul, and Erica, and the next baby, too, have always had to fit sleeping around everyone else's schedules.

Not since 1978...

Lights!

The other day I got out the box of shoes that the older children outgrew but are being saved for the younger children. I found what I needed for Paul and then rushed on to the next thing without putting away the box. Later I found Erica going through the shoes. She had found a sandal with Princesses, and she told me, "It matches me." I think she meant that it fits her, but it also matches her "princess" personality. It looked like it would fit, so I found the mate and helped her put both sandals on. When she stood up, the lights on the front of the shoes lit up, and Erica was very excited. These are now the only shoes she wants to wear, and she loves to jump to turn on the lights. I'm just glad those sandals were made with long-life batteries and light bulbs. Even though Megan is 6 years older than Erica, the lights still work!

Making Progress

I've been putting up a wall to provide us a space for the baby. Here's a video of the progress.

What's Up?

You're probably wondering, because we haven't said anything since Christmas Eve. So, here goes.

We really enjoyed the holidays. We had a great Christmas at home, and then we went to my parents for a week-long family reunion. It was a lot of fun, and a blast to have everyone together. Too bad Brian's family was sick part of the time and had to miss some things.

Kyle, with some help, has been spending his free time working on a remodeling project. We are carving a bedroom (sort of) out of our unusually large master bedroom. Actually, it won't have a closet, and you'll have to walk through it to get to our room, so a realtor would consider it more of a sitting room in a master suite. But we are going to use it for a bedroom for the new baby. Last weekend my parents and Amy came to visit, and in one day the project went from stud framing to a wall with all the wall board in place and the french doors hung. Thanks Dad - your expertise and help made that go so much faster and smoother! Now there's just plaster, texture, paint, finish molding, door knobs, and carpet left to do. We have until May to finish, and I think we'll make it in plenty of time.

The children are back into the school routine, Megan changed piano teachers, Josh broke his glasses and got them fixed, I made it through a Primary quarterly activity, we survived a week of frigid cold, and now we are enjoying a week of spring warmth (except for the allergies it brought out in me). So, I think we are back to typical life!

Snow! - Repost

It is snowing right now -- on Christmas Eve!! It started several hours ago, and now it is starting to stick to the grass. And to think that yesterday it was in the 70s. The children are excited and have been in and out several times. Josh is the most excited, and the most willing to brave the cold.