Pretending it's still 2007

I'm back. I was out west for Christmas at my parents. In most ways it's like visiting Amish country which is why I had no posts during this trip. I guess it's a little more advanced than the Amish but not by much. They do have running water but it's only hot if you're the first or second one in the shower. And they do have heat. They've had it for a few months now. It's not as if my parents are against technology so much as they aren't really interested in it and therefore don't know how to fix any sort of technological thingies that might exist in the house. The heat, for instance. The heat is coupled with the air conditioning and while you might be able to do without heat in southern Utah you CANNOT do without air conditioning. So, obviously, when they bought the house it had working heat and cool air; however, a few years ago the heat went out and most of the air conditioning. My mother is an Oregon native and likes the house kept at 65 or below so you would think the whole temperature regulatory unit got replaced right away. Unfortunately the one section of the house that still had cool air was the master bedroom. No need to replace anything. My mom had her cool bedroom and several trips there during the day staved off the heat in the rest of the house. My dad couldn't be happier. He is always cold. Cold enough that when the rest of us where sweating our eyeballs out in swimsuits sitting on the Caribbean beaches Dad lounged comfortably in his hooded sweatshirt sporting a big CAYMAN ISLANDS logo emblazoned across the front. I didn't even know the SOLD sweatshirts down there. Anyway, so--no need to have heat. The units finally got replaced over the summer when the boys and I stayed with them over a month and mom realized that such an extended stay deserved night time air in lower than 100 degrees. Thanks mom! Besides the heat, we used to have a toaster growing up but it broke and was never replaced. My aunt gave us a microwave once and it was nice until one of the kids used it as a timer and the thing cooked itself into oblivion (I think it was me). They did get a new microwave a few years ago when Phil was still living at home and got tired of heating up his dinner on the stove in a little pan with a bit of water in the bottom. All this is to say--That's why I didn't post on vacation. My parents did get a new computer for Christmas though. Chris set it all up for them and one of Mom's best friends teaches computers so they should be in good hands.

Now, away from my stream-of-consciousness writing and on to what I really meant to fill this post. I wanted to post this before the end of the year but couldn't (explained above) so I'm pretending it's still 2007 and am going to finally take on my friends challenge to write two Christmas card messages. The 1st: the real sappy kind the dwells on all the wonderful things about your family, and the 2nd: reality. Here goes.

#1

Musso Year in Review 2007 2007 has been a fabulous year for our family and we couldn't be happier. Here are a few highlights . . .

Matthew: Matthew is almost 5 and absolutely brilliant. He is doing fantastic in preschool and loves learning new things in primary at church. Both his teachers are always eager to talk about him.

William: William is 3 and Matthew's little shadow. Matthew has taught Will everything he knows and William is a very astute and quick learner. He learned to use the toilet and never has an accident.

Joseph: Joseph started walking at 9 months and is now running at a pretty stable clip. He has 8 teeth and is just starting to get his molars in. He is learning sign language and adores playing with his older brothers.

Emily: Along with all the normal mothering tasks, I took on several home improvement projects this year. With Chris' help, we tiled the back splash in the kitchen, the boys bathroom, and our master bathroom. Even though this was my first time working with tile everything has come out perfect and looks fabulous!

Chris: Our Daddy loves his job and has visited many exotic places this year. He gets lots and lots of air miles with all his traveling. He loves to use these to take our family on nice trips without having to pay lots and lots for them.

We hope your 2008 turns out half as nice as our 2007. Merry Christmas!

#2

Musso Year in Review 2007

Matthew: Matthew is almost 5 and enjoys preschool and church. His preschool teacher loves to talk about him and just pulled me aside the other day to discuss his aversion to following directions and very strong streak of independence. Church is going well but he did have that biting incident. Aside from the biting he is learning lots of things he likes to tell me about in awkward settings such as the black-hole-like quiet of a college ward sacrament meeting. Example: "Mom, the bread 'presents his body and the water 'presents his blood. And then they KILLED HIM!"

William: William is 3 and Matthew's little shadow. He has learned all kinds of things from his older brother like how to unlock the dead bolt and get past the kid-safe door knob on the pantry. He is potty trained and never has an accident as long as you leave him completely naked.

Joseph: Joseph started walking at 9 months and is now running. Running away from Mom every time he has a stinky diaper or sticky hands or some other issue. He as 8 teeth and is just starting to get his molars in. This makes him grumpy and he screams most of the time. I'm trying to teach him some sign language in hopes of calming the screaming but all he has now is the sign for "more" which he uses with great pleasure. He loves to play with his brothers and his favorite game is whacking them on the head with hard objects.

Emily: Along with all the normal mothering tasks, I took on several home improvement projects this year. With Chris' help, we tiled the back splash in the kitchen, the boys bathroom, and our master bathroom. Because this was my first time doing this I royally screwed up the boys bathroom floor and that room was out of commission for two months while I drilled out every bit of grout with a rotary bit and Chris drill.

Chris: Our Daddy actually is pretty perfect and he really did do a fabulous job this year at home and work. There is one thing I guess. One of his conferences was in California and we decided to make it a family trip since his company would pay for the hotel and rental car. We booked our flights and made reservations at a superb hotel in La Jolla. Unfortunately, 2 days before we were to leave Chris wondered why he had yet to receive any kind of itinerary for his conference and upon further inspection, realized he had the dates of the conference wrong. Whoops. No company tab on this trip. We down graded our hotel and car, but still had a great time visiting old friends!

We hope your 2008 is merry and bright! Happy new year to you all.