Well, 2014 is gone forever – done.  It wasn’t a bad year.   I would sound ungrateful if I started whining about petty things.  For starters, not getting the “express-pass” for the car-pool line was a real buzz-kill, but mine and Bryan’s steely determination to get our little Nadia to gymnastics practice pulled us through.

This year, I toyed with the idea of writing a “Christmas letter”, except, I wasn’t organized enough to even send cards…  But, it’s never too late to re-boot.  So, I am writing a 2014 summary – a “New Years Letter”.  Aside from this humble and rambling blog, I have never done this but here goes!

Family and Friends,

Greetings and wishes for the most prosperous beginnings for 2015!  I trust that 2015 has started off well for everyone and that all of your resolutions are still intact!  I don’t make resolutions, so I am good.  Rachel’s resolution is to stop picking her nose!  I am not holding my breath on that one – LOL 😉

It has been a busy year, but isn’t every year a busy year????  On a professional note, Bryan’s Pubmed publication entries now equal mine. The most current paper was a first-author publication – way to go honey!  I can’t remember a lot of other details about his job, because he is so exhausted at the end of the day that we really don’t discuss work.  He seems happy and we pay our bills, so things must be going well!   I guess things are ok for me.  I march through the day, trying to get my career defining paper published in a top journal, but that final experiment just never seems to work as expected.  On a positive note, I did have independent funding (yes, I am bragging) last year but that runs out next month.   Since I am a pathological optimist, I keep on keeping on.  Science is a marathon, not a sprint…..

Our kids continue to amaze us daily!  Let’s start with Rachel – where to start?!?!    She took the gifted and talented test at her school.  She didn’t make the cut – bummer.  Obviously, Bryan and I failed  to have her optimally prepared for the testing days! Maybe this year she will make the cut for the uber-intellengent GT group 🙂 Hope springs eternal. However, that was the second-grade, and her third grade teachers are very positive about Rachel’s academic capabilities.  Not once at our parent-teacher conference last Fall did anyone mention her nervous nail-bitting, nose picking, or shoe-lace tying!  WOW!  I really love her teachers, no joking.  Rachel loves them too and has really gained a lot of confidence under their guidance!  Bryan and I are deeply and sincerely grateful for them!  On the extracurricular side of things, she is busy with gymnastics, violin, church, and Girl Scouts.  As you may have guessed, it takes a lot of work to mold a child prodigy.  Below is a little sampling of a concert Rachel gave us on Christmas Eve.  I only made her repeat the songs about 10 times in order to get the best sampling of her super talent!

Next up – our precious Sarah Amelia, who is obviously perfect in every way!  This year she blossomed from a little baby into a full-charged toddler!  She is just a total joy, except when she isn’t, which is practically never.  She runs, jumps, climbs, feeds herself with a spoon and fork, and best of all says “no” when she is asserting herself!  Being able to say “no” is a real talent!  She has even pee-peed on the big-girl potty twice!!!!  Also, I can tell that she is going to be an amazing artist, because she certainly has a brooding artist’s temperament.  That’s a good thing.

Well, that is about it.  As you can tell, Bryan and I are certainly busy, even though it’s a pretty ordinary middle-aged responsibility type of busy.  Cheers to a plentiful and blessed New Year!

Love,

Bryan, Ruth, and the girls