2010 In Review

I thought some of you might be interested in reading our 2010 Christmas letter. Many of you interact with us on a regular basis so you don't receive our yearly update so hopefully this will be a treat for you! I pray for health and happiness for each of you and that you will follow the link for Declan's Journey and read his story. I also pray that some of you will be moved enough to make a donation to a Pediatric Cancer fund and to pass his story on to your friends and family.

Love,
Erin

Dear Friends and Family,
What a year 2010 has been!! It has been non-stop here in the Spahr household. I feel like I haven’t sat down once all year! Having 4 little ones has kept me busy, but the year has been full of bright spots. Mostly small moments of playing in the basement, the backyard and eating a lot of pizza!! We are all looking forward to seeing what 2011 will bring our family and getting to venture out into the world.

Nathan turned 5 in May and started Kindergarten in August. He is really enjoying school. He loves riding the bus and buying his lunch each day. Thanks to my dad he has learned how to ride a bike (without training wheels!) and how to tie his shoes. His favorite toys are his Transformers.

Tate turned 2 in January and is quickly approaching his 3rd birthday! We’ve worked hard with him this year trying to improve both his speech and behavior. We are so proud of his accomplishments. He went from not speaking at all to using two and three word sentences. He still has trouble with pronunciation, but he’s trying really hard in speech therapy to improve. His biggest milestone was saying his own name in October!! He’s still our stubborn and independent wildman- you can depend on him to do the unexpected (like flush his brother’s toothbrush down the toilet!) but that just makes him who he is!

Lana and Jackson celebrated their first birthday in October. They have hit all of their milestones and are doing amazing. They both crawled early and learned to walk at 10 months. Lana is very outgoing and loves to play with her older brothers. She laughs hysterically when they tackle her. She also loves her dolls and is often found “talking” to them. Jackson is our shy guy. He is often scared by the physical play of his older brothers. He loves music and loves to dance and clap. He is just the sweetest little guy. He is content to sit quietly and watch the chaos around him.

I don’t have much going on outside the kids and house. I enjoy two mornings a week exercising at my local YMCA. We tackled some big home improvement projects, completely redoing the first floor bathroom and the living room/dining room/kitchen. Life is certainly crazy but I’m finding a way to be thankful for every moment. When I think about all the little ones fighting cancer it breaks my heart and I wish I could do more to raise awareness about how much still needs to be done to save them! A baby boy named Declan has changed my life and how I think about the precious moments I have with my kids. If you’d like to hear his story I’d love for you to go to www.declansjourney.com or donate in his memory at www.journey4acure.org.

TJ: I am still working for Microsoft spending most of my time with government customers, and mainly the USDA again this year. Six business trips in 2010 did have me away from the family throughout the year. I worry about them while I am away and I honestly don’t know how Erin does it on her own. I am very lucky to have such great kids and a super-mom wife to get us all through it.

Merry Christmas!! We hope that your journey this year will bring each of you much joy and happiness!!!

Tis the Season!

I know. I know. I'm behind again. Life is just soooo crazy busy for us!! We seem to move from one busy day to the next with no break from the craziness. Since it's the Christmas Season we did want to wish each and every one of you a VERY Merry Christmas!! May God Bless You and all those you love!!