2009 Recap

This year was an emotional roller coaster for the family. John's father was in and out of the hospital the first part of the year due to ongoing health problems and finally lost his battle on May 25th. During his stay in the hospital, Steve's main goal was to throw Nancy a 60th surprise party and to raise money for Saint Rafka Catholic Church. Although, he did not make it til Nancy's birthday, John and his brother and sister carried out their father's wishes and gave their mom a huge surprise party and at the same time collected money for the church. It was a bittersweet moment because it was the first family gathering after the funeral in which Steve was not there to celebrate. He will be missed very dearly.

The next hurdle was Noah's last scheduled heart surgery at MUSC. Although surgery went well, we were in Charleston much longer than expected.....29 days to be exact. Noah had some heavy chest drainage that took longer to drain. He handled it better than we did and is back to normal.

Another obstacle we faced was Isabel starting kindergarten. This was a hard one, especially for mom. Our little baby is growing up so fast. She is loving school and is learning so much. She is starting to read and spell words by sounding them out. Art is still her favorite, but now she enjoys other related arts, like PE, Music and Computer lab. She was also taking ballet and tap dance outside of school, but early November, she decided to give that up. Silvia was pretty heartbroken, but realized that her heart was not in it. Maybe one day she will get back into it, but for now, we may explore gymnastics, soccer or cheerleading the first of the year (Isabel hasn't narrowed it down yet).

As for Noah, he is doing great in his 3 year old program at school. He goes 3 days a week and has fun in school. He has such a personality and his teachers have told us stories of the things he says in class. I must say, I see a future class clown in him. He recently surprised us by saying the Pledge of Allegiance (see older blog post for a video of this). Noah hasn't really ventured too far in his interests this year. He is still a huge fan of things with wheels. One day he may be playing with his trains and the next day his racecars. He switches off regularly depending on his mood.

Speaking of race cars, we took the kids to a NASCAR race in Charlotte. The kids had a lot of fun, but it was a VERY cold day in October. The race was at night which made it even colder. We didn't last the whole 500 laps, but enjoyed the tailgating and shopping prior to the race.

We did our usual few trips to the beach and also made it out to the lake a few times this year. We got a new addition to the family, a 19 foot bowrider boat. We took it on the lake a few times when we got it in the fall, but plan on spending a lot more time at the lake this coming summer. That is one great advantage of living in Greenville. We are only an hour away from several lakes to have fun on. The kids enjoy it and will really love it when we get the innertube and waterskiis out.

As our year began, our year ends with another unexpected circumstance. Silvia's aunt Alice had a stroke on December 3rd. Although it was a "mini-stroke", it is a definite set back for her. As many of you know, at age 74, Alice is full of energy and personality. Seeing her in the hospital is like seeing a parked sports car. However, she is making great improvements. She is receiving rehab everyday, all day, and with her determination and strong will, we know she will make a great recovery.

We want to thank everyone for getting us through this year during our ups and downs. We hope 2010 will bring everyone Health, Love and Happiness! Stay tuned reguarly to our blog for more fun-filled moments. Have a wonderful holiday season.

Merry Christmas,

The Howards