December 2008

After recovering from our Thanksgiving stomach flu, it was time to get full swing into the holidays.

The month started out normal enough. We went to North Bend with the Neels again to pick out our trees. Becky took the kids to Alderwood to get their pictures with Santa. She's convinced that Alderwood's Santa is the best one in the area though you can see from the picture that Blake didn't agree (those fancy outfits they wore were made by Grandma Jan). Kyla finally got to tell the big man that should wanted to get a Barbie Diamond Castle, which she'd been pining for for quite some time.

Then a week before Christmas, the snow fell. School was canceled and for the most part we had to stay home. On the plus side we had a blast playing in the snow and sledding down the hill, at least until one of our cranky neighbors complained to the city to keep the road sanded.

Fortunately we were still able to keep most of our Christmas schedule. On Christmas Eve we were at the Chambers'. The next morning the kids got to open their gifts from Santa (who delivered on the castle) and later Linda, Casey, Jody, and Jen came to our place for breakfast. That night we went to Dot's to
celebrate with the Pritchards. Next we spent a couple of days in Ellensburg where the kids were excited to see deer come visit and Becky was able to sneak away to do some skiing with Cassie and Brian. Finally we had dinner at the Hovenkotters' with the Bouchees.

On Becky's birthday she went to see the Nutcracker ballet with Linda and Kyla. On New Years Eve I took the kids back to the Chambers' to play and do some fireworks while Doug took Becky to the mall to do a little birthday shopping (and Christmas returns).

Overall I would say that the holidays went pretty well, however there were a lot of forces working against us. I had a big deployment that ended up happening on December 22nd, so I had to put in a lot of hours leading up to my vacation. The kids really enjoyed all of the gifts and spending time with friends and family, but doing so much within such a short period was pretty overwhelming and resulted in some crankiness and late bedtimes. Then of course there was the snow that overstayed it's welcome thanks to cold temperatures and kept us at home more than we would have liked.

It's fair to say that 2008 was a pretty good year for our family, though it had some ups and downs. The dismal economy hasn't had much of a direct impact on us (yet) as I have remained employed, we don't intend to sell our house any time soon, and I refuse to look at my 401k statements. Hopefully 2009 will be better still.

Holiday Message 2008

On paper (or on screen, who writes on paper anymore?), 2008 seems like a pretty uneventful year for the Hovenkotter family. For the first time since Brett and Becky met they had an entire calendar year with no moves, new jobs, weddings, pregnancies, or births. However to us, 2008 was anything but boring.

Kyla now goes to preschool three days a week and has learned to read and write short words, do simple arithmetic on her hands, and manipulate her parents with sweetness. She has participated in a number of activities including gymnastics, swimming, and soccer, but her favorite is now ballet, for which she begged Becky to sign her up for two months.

Over the past year Blake has gone from crawling to walking to running and definitely keeps us on our toes. We've lost count of the number of words he's learned to say and is even dabbling in complete sentences. He's also developed this strange obsession with turning the lights in the house on and off. His interests are more traditionally male than Kyla's which thrills his father who thus far has been a good sport when he's been asked to play Barbies.

Becky still excels at full time motherhood (she's had a lot to do with Kyla's reading and writing), but her favorite hobby is long distance running. She often trains and races with her sister-in-law Cassie and thus far she has done several trail runs, three half marathons and two full marathons. The first marathon was on the hottest day of the year (over 90 degrees!) and the second was in Portland. In her negligible amount of free time she's been going on dates with her husband, reading the Twilight series, and whacking newbies on Mob Wars.

Brett continues to enjoy working in the software industry and has been on the same Internet video delivery project for the whole year. When the latest iPhone was launched he was again there in line on the first day, and ever the master of romance he bought one for Becky on their anniversary (and she loves it!). After the stock market plummeted he even bought some shares of Apple stock so that he could get some return on all of this money he gives the company. Other than his geek interests, Brett also became very interested in the election and watched a lot of The Daily Show from the elliptical.

Hopefully everyone this message finds is having a wonderful holiday and that all of this snow hasn't afflicted you with cabin fever. We look forward to seeing you all soon.

Sincerely,
Brett, Becky, Kyla, & Blake

Kyla's Brief Trip To The Police Station

After spending the afternoon at Grandma Ruby's, Becky took the kids back to the car, but Kyla started throwing a fit and wouldn't get in her car seat. After considerable effort to get her buckled in, Becky finally gave up and started driving.

Kyla began screaming that she had to stop driving or should would die (we've done a good job instilling in her the importance of car seats and seat belts). Becky told her to get strapped in but Kyla persisted in her refusal, so she drove them straight to the Renton Police Station (which was only a few blocks away). Once there Becky told her that if she didn't put it on that she would go get a police officer to come and explain to her that she needed to wear it.

Not wanting to get the law involved, Kyla reluctantly gave in but she cried the whole way home "get this thing off of me!" Despite her protests, Kyla left it on.

Kyla's First Attempt At Cooking On Her Own

Kyla was watching TV in the afternoon and got a jonesing for some Mac and Cheese. She'd watched Becky do this a dozen times, so she figured that since she was a big kid now, she wouldn't bother Mommy.

She emptied a box of Macaroni into a plastic bowl (forgetting the water) and put it in the microwave. She punched in 3 minutes like she remembered, pressed the start button, and returned to her show.

The only problem is she punched zero one too many times. Becky was upstairs when she smelled something funny and came running to find a smokey kitchen. Fortunately no damage was done, except for that burnt plastic odor that lingered for a couple of days.

Kyla has promised not to cook solo again until she gets a little bigger.