Happy Holidays from the Snowy North

Wow...Apparently this is going to be the year of a real Minnesota winter. We have about eight inches of snow on the ground and the temperature hasn't even reached freezing since Thanksgiving. We didn't see these temps last year until January, and we didn't see much snow until February. The problem for snow lovers this year is that it is too cold for a major snow storm. I've learned that the cold air pushes the storm fronts south.

We are having a good time despite the cold. Ella loves getting bundled up to go play in the snow. Tate isn't so sure about it, but it could have something to do with his resemblence to the younger brother in A Christmas Story when he is all bundled up.

Since this is my Christmas letter as well as the first post for this blog, I better catch everyone up on what has been going on in the past year. We have been very fortunate this year in terms of travel. In addition to visits to Indy, Chicago, Wisconsin Dells and St. Louis, we were able to go on two vacations this year. In May, we flew to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The kids really enjoyed this trip. Both of them loved the beach and gathering seashells. Ella liked putting them in her bucket, and Tate liked putting them in his mouth. (I think we are finally past that stage.) Then in September, we flew to Vermont. It wasn't quite peak folliage yet, but by the end of the week the spots of color was gorgeous. This vacation was more my style with some hiking and canoeing.

Erik's mom was able to join us for both trips which the kids loved since we didn't get to her as much we did when we lived in Indy. Of course, all of that has changed since Thanksgiving. She was able to sell her house in Indy (after five and a half months on the market) and moved to the Twin Cities to be closer to the kiddos. She has settled into a great townhouse in White Bear Lake -- about seven minutes from our house.

Erik has not had to travel for work as much this year, which has been great for me and the kids. It is really nice to be able to have someone else chase after Tate for a couple of hours a day. He has taken on more responsibility in his current position as a finance manager now that most of the transition work that he was doing has wrapped up.

Ella started preschool this fall. She goes two mornings a week and absolutely loves it. She loves her teachers and all of school friends. I usually get a rundown of who was absent each day. Ella likes nothing better than to have everything and everybody in their appropriate place. She has also been alternating between swimming lessons and gymnastics. Which she likes better often depends on the day, time, angle of the moon...what can I say, she's three.

Tate has grown by leaps and bounds this year. It felt like one minute he was just starting to walk and the next he was climbing onto the kitchen table. He is really starting to talk and his vocabulary is expanding everyday. He doesn't always have the patience to learn actual words. He usually prefers phrases. His most recent being "Oh no Mr. Bill." He started going to an early childhood class this fall which we both enjoy, and believe it or not there is another Tate is his class.

As for me, I am just trying to keep up with Tate (he's like an energizer bunny) and Ella. I have made some good friends up here and am starting to recognize the same moms at various activities. I've done a little volunteer work at church and at Ella's school. In my spare time (what little I have), I try to read, scrapbook or do some needlework.

We hope all of our friends and family across the country (and the world Steve and Cody) are doing well. We look forward to hearing from you and will try our best to keep in touch.

Also, if you haven't already seen them, we are posting photos in an online photo album at sorensen4.smugmug.com. (password: venus)

Happy Holidays!