Monday, December 22, 2008

Keith and Celia's Christmas Letter


Hi, everyone!

I just posted our Christmas letter on our blog. Go have a look!

We're with the Olsons in Iowa this year... ready for a happy, noisy, Christmas with lots of kids (well, 2) and dogs! Joseph and Cat, I hope you guys have a safe trip here tomorrow. We're looking forward to seeing you!

I hope the rest of you are also doing well. Our thoughts and prayers are with you (especially you, Eric)! Have a wonderful Christmas!

Love, Celia (and Keith)

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Yay for Blizzards!

I have a great husband who shovels the walk and makes sure the cars start and lets the dogs out when it's frigid, so I can enjoy blizzards. :) It wasn't as bad today as it could be; we didn't have that much snow (relatively speaking) to blow around and it was too cold to drop any new stuff.

We are doing great. I might actually get Christmas cards out this year! I'm willing to bet I'll be working on them while in Iowa for Christmas though. :) I wanted to work on them today but there was an issue with Sam's Club getting my online order and they weren't ready when they said they'd be. Ahhh, but I won't go on about that, instead I'll update you on fun things, like Michael!

I posted lots of new pictures to our shutterfly site: http://jcolson.shutterfly.com A friend of ours is a new photographer and we were very pleased with the pictures. Michael has a million expressions, and he shared them all during the photo shoot. He was absolutely exhausted so I was impressed we got as many good ones as we did.

I think the little man might be walking by Christmas. We've been making him practice. He's such a nut- he cries when we "force" him to walk, but then he laughs and beams when he takes a few steps because he is so proud of himself! I'm trying not to push it too much because I don't want him to regress, but he came a long way this weekend! He still won't voluntarily stand on his own either.

I figured out how to make Bavarian almonds this weekend. I've eaten way to many! The recipe and technique need some tweeking, but all in all I'm pleased. I've always wanted to find a "special" goodie I can make for the holidays (and be known for), so maybe this is it.

The new job is great. Have I posted about it here? I don't think so... It's a very diverse job and that makes it very interesting. I've been there for six weeks and still enjoy the people I work with. Haha! My supervisor and the Dean of the department/school are wonderful. I agree with their management style and philosophy on dealing with the group dynamics. It's very refreshing, as my last manager didn't want to hurt feelings so she wouldn't put her foot down and manage. I have gotten as used to the odd hours (1:30-10) as possible. Joseph does a great job with Michael in the evenings and doesn't like it when I come home early (to work from home) because I steal MJ time. ;) Our daycare lady is Awesome! Her five kids (of her own) love Michael and he loves them. We're pretty sure one of the words he repeats is her oldest son's name.

Thanks for listening to me babble. I'll have to take a few videos at Christmas of the Olson cousins. I bet by the end of the weekend, if not sooner, they'll be chasing each other around Grandma's house!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Eric's Address

Hello Fam,

I thought I'd put my address on the Blog so that everyone would know how to get a peice of mail to me here in Iraq. By the way my e-mail address is rudsterman@gmail.com

Capt Eric Rudolph
MNC-I C3 JOC
APO AE 09342-2001

I'm doing fine here, I live in a trailer in work in a palace. It feels as if the time is going by relatively fast, 1 month down and 5 to go. Stacey has sent me a couple packages, I write e-mails a to her alot and I spend a lot of time on Facebook.com. I have several pictures posted there, though I am having trouble posting here due to connectivity problems -- I tried! I'll try again later I promise.

-Eric