This has been quite a year for our family. Here are a few of the highlights from the plethora of activities that have taken place in 2008.Donovan started the year in the hospital (for nearly a week) with a case of pneumonia. Fortunately he was out of the hospital in time to celebrate his 3rd birthday. David graduated from pre-school where he learned his alphabets, numbers & counting, karate, singing and dancing. David also celebrated his 5th birthday along with Michael who celebrated his 2nd birthday. And Aleky celebrated his 1st birthday. Michelle is ever the creative chef as she created several amazing cakes for the boy’s birthdays.
David received a bike for his birthday and promptly spent an entire 10 minutes learning to ride it around the park. He was also able to participate in the city leagues for t-ball and soccer.
We had several fun family outing around town including trips to the Bean Museum, Feeding the Ducks, Hot-air balloon ride, Memorial Water Park, Ward Camp-out, Hiking to the Y, Hoogle Zoo (twice), City Safety Fair and Christmas Tree Hunting.
We also had several family camp-outs which were full of fun and adventure. While camping our 3 boys each caught at least 1 fish, been shooting numerous times (pistol and rifle), boating, hiking, lumberjacking, starting fires and roasting hot dogs & marshmallows (not always for s’mores).
We had the opportunity to retile our bathroom. While we enjoy the new tile, the project was forced upon us when we discovered a bad case of mold. So the bathroom walls were torn down, replaced and tiled. On a good note, our health has been much better ever since.
We suffered massive garden failure this year, replanting at least 3 times! We tried a make-shift green-house to extend the growing season but were ultimately only marginally successful. Michelle still salvaged several bottles worth of green beans and pickles. She also bottled 132 qts of peaches, 112 qts of pears, 126 qts of grape juice, 200 ears of corn, 22 pts of plum jam, 16 qts of apples and 35 pts of chicken (not from the garden).
David suffered the first broken bone in the family when he fell from the monkey bars at school. He spent 2 months in a cast. Our annual hunting trip ended in failure; the camping was great but we have no venison for the winter.
Khayyam has focused his real estate on investment property and investment strategy and had several deals that turned out well. Michelle is still doing some sewing for ballroom dance costumes as well as coordinating the activities of our family. David is growing like a weed and has proven very athletic; he’s in kindergarten and loves going to school; he’s proving very proficient on the WII. Donovan has developed quite an imagination and can entertain himself for hours but he loves to play with his brothers too. Michael is mommy’s big helper and can be found within 3 feet of her at all times; he does his best cooking, cleaning and washing. Aleky has finally become mobile and has begun to explore the house; we’ve found him climbing just about everything!
We had enjoyable holidays with both sides of the family and are ever grateful for the opportunity to visit with some extended family on a regular basis. We also started a family blog so that we can remember all the great experiences we have as a family and enjoy sharing them with our family and friends. Our blog address is “http://khayyamjones.blogspot.com/”. We also enjoy reading our family and friend’s blogs; if you have a blog that we are unaware of and would like to share, let us know so we can share in your life experiences.
We hope you’ve had a Merry Christmas and wish you all the best as we start this New Year of 2009!
The Jones Family
