Just before my parents 60th wedding anniversary!  They celebrated by renewing their vows in Denmark where they were married on September 4, 1954.

 My parents are shrinking AND my boys are continuing to grow!

Seeing the Nutcracker Ballet at the Belk Theater, December 2010

Girl Scouts from troop 727

Halloween 2010

Ray and I went to a few costume parties as Roman God and Goddess! Fun!!!

Christmas Card 2009

Where does the time go? We are almost to 2010 and I have just begun to write “2009” fluently on my checks! My middle school math teacher said a year does go by faster as you get older, relatively speaking. When you are two years old, one year is half of your entire life. When you are 39 (and holding!) like me, one year is only 1/39^th of your life. Ms. Pogact, you didn’t think I learned anything!!! I just wish I didn’t experience it so literally!

Krista can’t wait for Santa to come, although she’s a little leery of the big guy sneaking around our house while we are sleeping! She (and Kayla) got an early Christmas present this year and got their ears pierced! Krista was so brave and climbed up on the chair as soon as Kayla (who turned white, but didn’t flinch) vacated it. Her smile faded only for a millisecond (no tears) and then she grabbed the mirror and started to admire her sophisticated look! She was all smiles and we admired her courage until about 10 minutes later when we visited the restroom. She took one look at the automatic flush toilet and started crying! It’s common knowledge that automatic flushing toilets (a.k.a. bidets!) like to eat cute, blond four-year-olds

in a swirling water tornado! She literally ran out of the bathroom in search of Daddy screaming “I hate you Mommy!” Huh?!!!

Kayla has hit her teenage years at six! My little girl is fading fast and Ray and I are terrified of her growing up! We rang in 2009 with a much-anticipated trip to see the princesses at Disney World and ended the year on a very different note by seeing Miley Cyrus in concert! That sums it up! I bought Kayla some new clothes and she erupted into a HUGE smile saying, “I love them! They are SO cute!” Then, her smile faded and she added, “But they are not cool.” Since when can’t you be “cute” in first grade?!!! I can see why people home school… seriously! Social precociousness aside, she’s doing great in first grade and now quite the reader!

Spencer is becoming a cool dude (which is probably as “in” as my parents calling me “hip” back in the day!) He’s in fourth grade now and has never missed the honor roll! He’s also getting calls at home from girls- that’s a new one for us as parents! Although it gives me much anxiety, we have loosened the leash a bit and let him go across the neighborhood on his bike to meet up with friends. He borrows Nicholas’ cell phone and has been really considerate calling us often to make sure he is still allowed to be out. You know where this is going, right? Took me a while to realize his “consideration” is really a way to be cool in front of his friends by flipping out “his” cell phone!!! Now I just tell him it’s time to come home whenever he makes his consideration calls- he’s given up the practice! Mommy: 1, Spencer: 0

Nicholas is doing really well in 7^th grade and we are so proud of him! As part of the Duke TIP, he just took the SAT’s… something I was intimidated to do at 17! Earlier this year, he (Ray and Spencer) tried skiing for the first time! He took to it like a fish to water. A few runs down the bunny hill and we were heading for the top of the mountain! I shared a lift with Nicholas on his second blue run, but he immediately flew down the mountain as I was still fixing my goggles. I nearly fainted when I realized he stopped to snake through the orange fence to the Terrain Park- for EXPERTS only!!! It’s now his favorite run- no guts, no glory I suppose! While Ray spent most of the day on green slopes (you did fine honey, really!) the kids enjoyed flying past me on the blue slopes hollering, “Woooooo Hoooooo!”

Ray has defied the odds this year by achieving Elite/Preferred status on TWO airlines… he’s now used to First Class and is on the airline’s Christmas card list! Once during his travels he was wearing his DOJ Center for Domestic Preparedness jacket (from a training class) and a security worker asked him seriously, “Is that where they teach you to cook and clean?” (If so, he’d probably send me there!) He’s just starting a new detail: first due to the White House and all of downtown Washington! Watch out, Obama!

As a SAHM, I have no raise or promotion to report since our move to Charlotte! My Dry Clean Only clothes are getting dusty and my car might as well have a MOM'S TAXI sign on it. Even so, it’s a great time in my life! Krista will be in school next year and a new family chapter will begin, but for now I am enjoying the insanely crazy and sometimes boring routine of everyday life as a mom of four kids!

Wishing everyone peace and love this season and throughout 2010! -The Gretz family