Greetings and Merry Christmas!

2008 was quite a year for Joel, Sarah and me. We hit the ground running (so to speak) in January when we sold our house in University Place and moved up to Seattle. I’d been commuting to my job since May of 2007 and we were anxious to move north and shave a couple hours per day off of my drive. Luckily, we found a cute “brickie” complete with playroom and great backyard in the Crown Hill neighborhood of Ballard. My commute is now 3.3 miles, straight down 15th Ave. I still listen to the traffic reports my way into work, just to gloat to myself a little.

We spent the summer getting to know our new neighborhood and enjoying the local restaurants, parks, and beaches. We dove into a couple minor home improvement projects on our new home, specifically tiling the bathroom and repainting Joel’s playroom. We also hired our neighbor who was just finishing up a multi-year building project on his beautiful craftsman home to transform the decrepit old pile of shingles and sticks at the end of our driveway into an actual garage. It’s not quite big enough to be a two car garage, but it is a perfect “one car, one sound system” garage.

In July we found out that we’re pregnant again (well, specifically Sarah is pregnant… I just helped a little). It’s another boy and we’re expecting him to come along at the end of March. We’re still brainstorming names, but we have already started talking with Joel about his little brother. For the most part Joel seems to get it and is excited. We’ll see how it goes once the little one comes along and Joel is no longer the center of the proverbial universe.

Sarah’s sister Charissa is currently living with us. In addition to attending Mars Hill Graduate school in Seattle and working part time, she provides us with some (much needed) occasional babysitting. Most times its like having another parent around to help with Joel, but every now and then it’s like having an extra kid around too! (just kidding Charissa, we love you!)

I’m enjoying my job at The Omni Group as their Systems Administrator. It’s a fantastic place to work. Even though we’ve doubled in size over the last year it still feels very much like a small family business. And, now that my family lives so close, Sarah and Joel have been able to stop by for meals and the occasional coffee break. I appreciate the fact that Joel knows where I go during the day and is familiar with not only the office itself, but my co-workers as well. In fact he knows most of them by name!

Sarah is enjoying staying home full time with Joel (soon to be “the boys”). She attended a Birth Doula training course at Seattle Midwifery School this winter and will be pursuing certification sometime after baby number two. She’s enjoying MOPS in Ballard and is still part of a Tacoma based mom’s group that was started after Joel was born.

Joel continues to amaze us. Some fun tidbits: He does a spot-on (and hilarious) impression of Eeyore. He’s quite the baker; see his recipe for Pumpkin Muffins on our blog. He loves reading books, especially Thomas the Tank Engine & Bob the Builder. He loves helping daddy in the yard with raking, painting, and operating his backhoe. And he’s STILL pretty much inseparable from his Pooh Bear.

That’s it from us for this year. Hope this letter finds you well and (once again) Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Blessings!

Aaron Sarah & Joel