Greetings from the Stover home! We hope this letter finds you well fed and warm.
Our year has been full of delights beginning with a couple of new additions as 2010 rolled in. We got Daisy first, a blue merle Australian shepherd and then Mr. Darcy, a tri-colored Australian shepherd. This brought our total canine count to five. Unfortunately, we lost two of those later this year to road rage, Max and Maggie. So, we are back down to three. The good news is we successfully crate trained both Daisy and Tess. No, Tess is not potty trained, but she will, however, poop in her diaper while confined to the crate on random and inopportune moments like when we are sitting down for supper.
There were a few firsts this year: Tess walked for the first time, I made instant potatoes for the first time and we became parents to a teenager for the first time. Out of those I would say the instant potatoes were the most unexpected and surprising. I’m sure you are properly impressed that for years I have fed my family only the finest meals which include hand-peeled, real potatoes. If you aren’t doing the same I would question your ability to raise children in this world of dangerous food choices.
Also this year, I turned 40, then Clark turned 40 and it wasn’t as bad as either of us thought it would be. We actually look younger and are smarter than we have ever been. I encourage you all to look to the 40 year old in your own life for their vast wisdom on all subjects. I examined some of the relationships in my life and found a few of them lacking. At least one has since been replaced. I learned an important fact about when you should go to the doctor and I continue to fine-tune my baking skills. These are lessons I would not have wanted to miss. I’m thankful I have the kind of personality open to new experiences and learning opportunities. You should all be so lucky.
We continue to home educate our children. We choose only the finest educational tools in this process and feel that our children are excelling in all areas with minimal long-term psychological damage. We allow them freedom to explore and create no matter the cost to our own sanity. It’s a considerable sacrifice and no doubt, you are rethinking your own chosen method of education right now in favor of something more stressful and less financially rewarding like ours. But that’s what the Christmas letter is all about, isn’t it?
Our older girls are 13 and 10. One is an aspiring pianist and the other, though just beginning violin lessons has already soared to the top of her class. No matter that she is the only student. Our son is six and is mastering his hand-eye coordination by playing Wii for hours a day. Some people say that allowing your children unlimited video game time can cause them to be mentally stunted, however we see this as an opportunity to provide him with valuable skills. Just imagine his superior ability to wave the wand at Walmart that reads those UPC labels. Everyone will want to be in his line! The baby of the family, age two, is mastering verbal skills at an incredible rate. We feel sure she will be reading books without words by the end of the year.
As usual, the end of the year finds us all in excellent health, good-looking and eager to greet the new year.
With the most sincere love,
The Stovers
