|
2007
Christmas Letter now New Year's Letter
soon-to-be Valentine's Letter
It’s
that time of year again.
Merry Christmas. Happiness.
Cheer. Glad
tidings.
The "Kubo" Family
Jake (21months), Scott, Gabby, Audrey (6 wks),
Josh (14), Kerri, Jack (2 3/4), Owen and Abby (12)
And dread… as you open another Dannemiller Christmas/New Year’s
greeting/update that weighs as much as a holiday ham.
Each year we resolve to be more brief in our communications,
but such things tend to get forgotten amid the rush of everyday
life, much like Martha Stewart’s stint in the pokey.
|
Jake, hearing the
Christmas letter
was being read aloud, responds.
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It’s a good thing.
Not
that our lives are all that interesting.
We simply enjoy torturing friends and family with the
drivel of our everyday existence.
So, let’s not dilly-dally!
|
Our
biggest news (all 7 pounds 15 ounces of it) was the arrival of baby
#2, Audrey Christine Dannemiller on November 13th.
We prayed for a happy, healthy, good-sleeping kid, and the
Big Guy upstairs delivered. We’re
being totally objective here, but she is the cutest baby ever made.
No offense to our other friends with offspring.
If you have an issue with the final outcome, take it up with
the judges. That’s
just how it turned out.
| For
middle-of-the-night feedings, we negotiated that Gabby would
be responsible for all things input, and Scott would be in
charge of all outputs. After
some deliberation, Scott was of the opinion that the outputs
(i.e. poop, pee, snot, burps, etc) far outnumber the inputs
(milk). Though he
secretly wanted to unload (pun intended) some of the duties/doodies
to his wife, she reminded him that his responsibilities
didn’t require excruciating pain, major surgery, or turning
his body into a dairy. Now
he is happy with the quality time with Audrey, and is thankful
for his loving wife who does it all solo when he travels for
work. |
Audrey, 8 weeks old
|
(Note
to Scott’s work friends. If
Gabby asks, business trips consist of eating week-old sandwiches
from vending machines, and staying in motels infested with bedbugs
and surrounded by loud, scary biker bars).
Jake,
another heavy “output producer” in our li’l poop factory, was
19 months old when Audrey was born.
He absolutely loves his little sister.
He calls her “The
Audee”, which gives her an air of importance, much like “The
King of England” or “The
Godfather of Soul.” He
is constantly asking to hug her, kiss her, and spread his
twice-weekly day school germs all over her.
So far, he is good at sharing with his little sister.
His cars. His
books. His nasty chest
cold complete with smoker’s cough.
It’s all in the family.
|
Jake eating eggs with his
spoon and fork
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The
biggest news with Jake is that he talks more than any kid
alive (his mother’s son), and loves to play his ukelele
(which we call his guitar) and sing for an audience (his
father’s son, too). He
is going to school two days a week from 9-2.
Here he has learned to sleep on a mat on the floor and
to love washing his hands.
Always the opportunist, his ears perked up when he
heard that Celine Dion would be closing the curtain on her
Vegas show at Ceasar’s Palace.
But alas, he wept huge tears when he learned he can’t
do Ceasar’s until he reaches the legal drinking age.
‘Til then, Bette Midler will have to keep the stage
warm for him.
|
This year also saw the Dannemillers doing a fare bit of travel.
Since we have the “free lap children” traveling with us,
we have to strike while the iron is hot.
It makes travel cheap and snappy that way.
Just follow these 12 easy steps.
- Enter
airport sweating bullets as you lug multiple car seats,
strollers, video cameras, pack-n-plays from hot summer parking
lot
- Hold
up airport security line trying to shove aforementioned
contraptions through the x-ray scanner.
- Drink
milk to prove to TSA that it really is milk and not a liquid
explosive.
- Get
on plane first! (Preboarding
rocks!)
- Take
up more than your fair share of overhead bin space.
- Set
child on your lap, and wrap seatbelt around yourself and child.
- Endure
screaming.
- Fix
screaming with half-finished sippy cup of milk.
- Smell
waft of poo soon after takeoff.
- Change
baby diaper on tray table using the still-lit “fasten seat
belt” sign as excuse to not walk to tiny airplane
“bathroomlette” to change child on wet toilet seat.
- Watch
guy sitting next to you eat entire menu of airplane snacks
without any of it touching his own tray table after witnessing
what you just did.
- Sweep
up crumbs and bathe seat and tray table in Purell hand sanitizer
as you exit the aircraft..
Once
we have to start paying for flights for Jake and Audrey, it’s all
road trips from then on - lots of license plate bingo, “I Spy”,
99 Bottles of Beer On The Wall sing-alongs, and “Are We There
Yet?” Still, our
2007 trips had us visiting loved ones in
Nashville
and
Ohio
. We also spent a week
in
Seaside
,
Florida
with Scott’s family. Yes,
14 people and 1 pregnant Gabby in a big beach house.
We all lived to tell about it, and all still love each other.
Believe it because it’s true.
It was fabulous!
The Dannemillers: back:
Scott, Jake (hidden), Papa, Jeff
middle: Mia, Gabby, Nana, Laura, Chris, Victor
front: Michael, Cori, Ryan, Joey, Julianna
| After
the beach week, we headed to
Colorado
for a week with Gabby’s family.
Unfortunately, they never showed up due to some
Ebola-like virus they caught in
South Texas
. At least
that’s the story they provided to avoid hurting our
feelings. It was
fun, but not as fun as it could have been had the Brands not
nearly died and been able to come with us.
|
Jake feeds a chipmunk |
On
top of that, we flew to D.C. for our friend and fellow
Guatemala
volunteer Jen’s wedding. It
was a really great love-filled, tradition-rich celebration, and we
were glad to be a part of it.
As
for the adults in our clan, Gabby spent the year as super-mom.
She also considered the prospect of going back to work when a
truly incredible opportunity came up.
Unfortunately, the timing was a bit off.
She was one of the last candidates in the running to become
the Executive Director at a local non-profit serving the Hispanic
community. She would
have had to start work in September, with Audrey scheduled to show
up in November. As we
expected, getting three months off after being in the job only 8
weeks was a hard pill to swallow.
While it felt like a call
that God asked us to respond to, we were grateful for his
answer. The organization has a great new Director and
the Dannemiller kids still get to hang out with Mom everyday.
The Board seemed interested in future opportunities, so we’ll see
what comes of it. Until then she’s going to volunteer and
try not to warp the kids.
Scott’s business continued to grow this year.
He spent the majority of his time conducting management
development workshops, team building sessions, and problem solving
programs for a variety of different companies.
However, since about 70% of his work was with one company, he
set a goal to branch out and work with different organizations.
After a slow couple of months at the end of this year, the
first half of 2008 looks really diverse and exciting.
In addition to the normal work, there are lots of new
opportunities to train other facilitators how to use an assessment
called the MBTI, to coach people one-on-one in communication skills,
and to travel internationally doing some conflict management work.
The challenge in 2008 will be to manage the travel schedule
so he gets enough time at home with the family!
Otherwise,
all is well at our humble little abode.
The interior repairs are nearing a close after only 18
months! Next, we try to
pretty-up the outside of our 1300 square foot mansion!
We’ve done our best with paint and a few Christmas lights,
but there is so much more!
BEFORE: March 2006 |
AFTER: September 2007 |
As
for 2008, we’re starting to look out at the next few years to see
what life has in store. We’re
toying around with some fun ideas.
With new business opportunities, we may even have the good
fortune of being able to plan 2-3 months off every year or two to
volunteer internationally with the kiddos.
Who knows? It’s
always fun to think about what’s to come.
So, until next time, we wish you all the best the world can offer
you in 2008. May God
bless each of you with joy, peace, and good health!
So, from our house to yours…
Merry Christmas and a Poopy New Year! |
