The Annual Holiday Letter – 2014

My email address hasn’t changed in seven years (and that was only because I got married and changed my name). During that same time period, there were three physical residences.

It’s hard to keep track of people’s addresses these days. Maybe because snail mail has become a relic to the point where our (now 4.5-year-old) Search and Destroy think the “mailman” drives the UPS truck. (Tangent: Happy Holidays. Love, Amazon)

As we prepare for the coming years of elementary school, Little League, soccer and various other goings-on associated with growing up, we made the decision to move to a new neighborhood. Since I am always a fan of receiving something other than the PennySaver adverts in my (non e-) mailbox, I thought this holiday season would be a great excuse to share where we’ve gone.

I hopped online and ordered our holiday cards. Then I waited for them to arrive. And I waited.

Turns out, I accidentally sent them to the old address.

I ventured back to the shell of our previous home. The whole purpose of this rush was so that people would have our new address before they sent their holiday letters. Given the urgent retrieval kerfuffle, I didn’t send out the annual update novel. Here’s a condensed overview:

Search and Destroy spent the majority of the year protesting the potty training battle. (I have never before in my life spent so much time hunched over the floor of the bathroom – not even in college.) The boys finally convinced the preschool they could finish a full day in a single pair of pants (save for the occasional spilt milk). They are now in pre-K – seniors of the early education program, and have proudly showed off the dedicated bathroom.

We said goodbye to our lab, Cooper. But even in the sadness of his death, his memory will live on. Scout, our black lab, chose to express his grief by eating a brand-new box of Crayola’s 64-color crayon collection; he spent the following week pooping rainbows across our lawn in memoriam to his brother’s journey over the rainbow bridge.

We welcomed my new niece, and the boys’ first cousin, baby Alyssa. My baby brother became a dad! When I stopped giggling at such a concept, I purchased every ruffle butt diaper cover available and a closetful of dresses to grow with her. Girls have WAY cuter clothes. I may have gone slightly overboard. In my defense, they bought Search and Destroy Buzz Lightyear Power Wheels three years ago. I got to meet her over Thanksgiving and spent hours watching her breathe. Did you know some babies just *know* how to do that. (I guess cordless babies are all the rage now.)

Because I thought moving to a new house wouldn’t provide nearly enough stress (and thereby resulting in blog postable material), I changed jobs. Don’t worry – I’m still writing about techie goodness in the nerdiest ways possible.

2014 passed quickly. May 2015 bring you joy, delight, many copies of the various books/anthologies featuring my work due to be published this year, and a significantly decreased amount of poop.

You’ll still find me here. I love you all. Thanks for laughing along.