According to Yahoo, 2013 was the year of Miley Cyrus, Kim Kardashian, and twerking. God bless you if you don’t know who and what those are. While the Zwahlen family will probably remain off Yahoo’s list of cultural embarrassments for the foreseeable future (although with Roy you can never be sure), there was much to celebrate and be grateful for in 2013.
Abby’s year begins and ends with starting Kindergarten. The much-anticipated day finally arrived and she has loved every minute of it. Her teachers have seemed to notice her enthusiasm and they keep finding new ways to challenge her both mentally and socially, including being pulled out for advanced academics with different teachers. Of course, she doesn’t let it go to her head (that’s our job). She spends her days planning her upcoming birthday party and doing extra chores to earn money for her recent toy obsessions. She loves her dolls, making jewelry, writing and illustrating novels, and everything about music. She even finds small ways to surprise us, including recognizing someone’s needs, praying for them, and then going out of her way to help them. Needless to say, we are very proud... and Roy is getting a paternity test.
Sam permanently traumatized his parents by having emergency surgery this year. Everything is perfectly ok and he has no long-term issues (except for maybe a fear of doctors and the hospital… definitely Roy’s son). Of course, Sam’s year involved a lot more than surgery. Sam has been going to preschool, taking Rec classes, and epitomizing the 3-year-old emotional rollercoaster. Sam still makes fun of Roy but is getting much better at it. He loves wrestling with Dad, building towers for his Angry Birds, and teasing and trying to embarrass his parents. We discovered that Sam is perfectly comfortable walking up to relative strangers and sitting in their laps. Of course, this comfort only applies to people over 4 feet tall. He still terrorizes everyone his age. Sam asks lots of questions each day and loves to be involved in conversations. He is as quick to give a kiss as he is to wipe off the kiss you just gave him.
Lydia is a delight. She has started talking, a lot (see Abby 4 years ago). She loves to ask people about “Cars”, “Elmo”, and “Bo on the Go”. If she feels she has been ignored too long, she will say “Cars” and unsuccessfully try to hold back a smile. Lydia loves to swing her body side to side until she gets complimented for looking so pretty, help comb hair, and read books while cuddling up on a lap. She sweetly says ‘baby’ and then growls like a monster. A perfect friend for both brother and sister. She loves to build, play dollhouse, color, steal things from Sam and run away laughing. She especially loves Dad’s iPhone. Lydia is very good at reading people and will give a wave, hug, kiss, or lay-upon as needed. She loves to make people laugh and will say or do something funny to get the laugh.
Michelle spends her time keeping up with kids. Along with shuttling kids around to various events, she is in the rotation to teach preschool, a music class, and a class for children at our church. Michelle also joined the PTA and has become the head honcho for all things box tops, points, and every other pyramid scheme out there to bring money into the schools. The school loves Michelle.
Roy continues his international travel as a result of his recent promotion to Associate Counsel assigned to the International Department. This year’s international travel included India and Malaysia. There were plenty of stateside trips as well to San Diego, Chicago and New York. He still enjoys the science and policy niche very much and is looking forward to the challenges and opportunities a new year brings. In the little free time Michelle allows him to have, Roy loves to play video games, watch movie trailers, and mess around on his iPhone. Of course, most of that is done while he is hiding in the bathroom (he has to hide from Michelle and her to-do list and all 3 kids who want to steal the iPhone).
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May 2014 bring you happiness and joy!
