Merry Christmas and Happy 2007! We hope this letter finds you well, happy, healthy and safe.
2006 has been another interesting year Clan Caraher, filled with many joyful milestones as well as challenging moments which we seem to have weathered without too many scrapes.
Michael and Liam each continue down their mostly entertaining, yet sometimes grey-hair producing (well at least for Lee!) paths of life.
Mike, now almost 9, is today practicing to be the Talking Donkey in the church pageant, about which he is quite excited (think Shrek in Bethlehem). This seems right up his alley given a strong proclivity for drama and humor (we’re not sure where this comes from). His love for music continues to grow, and earlier this year we successfully established a “No Piano Before 6:30 AM” rule which means that we listen to his favorite piece of the moment only 15 times a day. He very much enjoys school, is enthralled with all thing Penguin, loves horse-back riding, and has a strong command of language which he likes to exercise, particularly when negotiating. It’s a joy….no, really.
Liam has just turned 6 (with much excited anticipation as he really got the whole concept this year) and is now in Kindergarten in the special education program where he gets specialized attention for both his language and fine motor delays. He has Pete on the run in the afternoon with a busy schedule of therapies disguised as fun activities. The Magic School Bus in the written and video versions are great favorites, and it’s been a real joy to see him understand fully audio as well as video content to the point of laughing out loud during stories. His vocabulary has grown dramatically, as well as his ability to communicate verbally in full sentences – so progress!
It was a big year for the extended Clan Caraher as Pete’s youngest brother Tim married Jen Norman in a wonderful Tim-and-Jen ceremony in the Tahoe National Forest. It was a fantastic week with all Carahers from far and wide together to celebrate. Mike and Liam were ring bearers and there was a bit of tension when Liam decided he quite liked the ring thank you and didn’t want to give it up. Patrick has moved to Colorado, but we are looking forward to Tim and Jen returning to the Bay Area next year.
Pete and the boys spent their fifth summer at Camp McEnany with my father, while I traveled back and forth several times. This time was great for all of the boys, with camps, pool, golf, horses and fun had by all. We made our annual pilgrimage to Madeline Island, this time with our good friends Kristi and Chip Blundell and their three boys, which was a blast.
Pete and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary (I am instructed to say “celebrated 10 Glorious Years of Marriage”) with a week-long trip to Maui sans children (Thank You Sue!!). I found the arduous task of deciding whether to start the day at the beach cabana or poolside overwhelming, and almost couldn’t make the decision about where to eat every night. Thank God Pete was there to help me through this!
During that trip, I had a moment of weakness, where I conceded that yes, we could get a cat. And so Altuna – “Al” – joined us in November and is very much at home with us. Michael wants another cat, and I’ve promised him that as soon as he can consistently neatly clean the litter box we can get another cat. No fear there!
We’ve been able to spend a lot of time with Carahers and McEnanys this year with trips to some and visits from others — and look forward to trips to Kansas, Arizona, Wisconsin, Chicago and Ireland next year to do the same (with everyone so spread out it is a challenge!)
Work is going well for both Pete and me and much too boring to talk about here. We’ve all been active at church, and I’m excited to be back in the choir, which I had really missed.
Pete continues to make things happen here at home, and with the kids, and is known for adventure play dates. He was able to play much golf this year, and is looking forward to his 40th birthday next November, since he’s declared it the “Year-Long Birthday Celebration of Golf”- (I’m a little nervous to find out exactly what that means).
My father is doing well, thank you all for your kind thoughts and words about him. He is back in Snowmass for the ski season this year after several trips to see us and my sisters, and a three week trip to England and Scotland this fall. We are looking forward to him and my youngest sister Abby joining us for Christmas, and are sorry that Lizzie will not be able to come as she is in the throes of writing her dissertation.
We hope you have a wonderful holiday surrounded by those you love, and that 2007 brings great happiness to you and peace around the world. Love, Pete, Lee, Mike and Liam
2006 has been another interesting year Clan Caraher, filled with many joyful milestones as well as challenging moments which we seem to have weathered without too many scrapes.
Michael and Liam each continue down their mostly entertaining, yet sometimes grey-hair producing (well at least for Lee!) paths of life.
Mike, now almost 9, is today practicing to be the Talking Donkey in the church pageant, about which he is quite excited (think Shrek in Bethlehem). This seems right up his alley given a strong proclivity for drama and humor (we’re not sure where this comes from). His love for music continues to grow, and earlier this year we successfully established a “No Piano Before 6:30 AM” rule which means that we listen to his favorite piece of the moment only 15 times a day. He very much enjoys school, is enthralled with all thing Penguin, loves horse-back riding, and has a strong command of language which he likes to exercise, particularly when negotiating. It’s a joy….no, really.
Liam has just turned 6 (with much excited anticipation as he really got the whole concept this year) and is now in Kindergarten in the special education program where he gets specialized attention for both his language and fine motor delays. He has Pete on the run in the afternoon with a busy schedule of therapies disguised as fun activities. The Magic School Bus in the written and video versions are great favorites, and it’s been a real joy to see him understand fully audio as well as video content to the point of laughing out loud during stories. His vocabulary has grown dramatically, as well as his ability to communicate verbally in full sentences – so progress!
It was a big year for the extended Clan Caraher as Pete’s youngest brother Tim married Jen Norman in a wonderful Tim-and-Jen ceremony in the Tahoe National Forest. It was a fantastic week with all Carahers from far and wide together to celebrate. Mike and Liam were ring bearers and there was a bit of tension when Liam decided he quite liked the ring thank you and didn’t want to give it up. Patrick has moved to Colorado, but we are looking forward to Tim and Jen returning to the Bay Area next year.
Pete and the boys spent their fifth summer at Camp McEnany with my father, while I traveled back and forth several times. This time was great for all of the boys, with camps, pool, golf, horses and fun had by all. We made our annual pilgrimage to Madeline Island, this time with our good friends Kristi and Chip Blundell and their three boys, which was a blast.
Pete and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary (I am instructed to say “celebrated 10 Glorious Years of Marriage”) with a week-long trip to Maui sans children (Thank You Sue!!). I found the arduous task of deciding whether to start the day at the beach cabana or poolside overwhelming, and almost couldn’t make the decision about where to eat every night. Thank God Pete was there to help me through this!
During that trip, I had a moment of weakness, where I conceded that yes, we could get a cat. And so Altuna – “Al” – joined us in November and is very much at home with us. Michael wants another cat, and I’ve promised him that as soon as he can consistently neatly clean the litter box we can get another cat. No fear there!
We’ve been able to spend a lot of time with Carahers and McEnanys this year with trips to some and visits from others — and look forward to trips to Kansas, Arizona, Wisconsin, Chicago and Ireland next year to do the same (with everyone so spread out it is a challenge!)
Work is going well for both Pete and me and much too boring to talk about here. We’ve all been active at church, and I’m excited to be back in the choir, which I had really missed.
Pete continues to make things happen here at home, and with the kids, and is known for adventure play dates. He was able to play much golf this year, and is looking forward to his 40th birthday next November, since he’s declared it the “Year-Long Birthday Celebration of Golf”- (I’m a little nervous to find out exactly what that means).
My father is doing well, thank you all for your kind thoughts and words about him. He is back in Snowmass for the ski season this year after several trips to see us and my sisters, and a three week trip to England and Scotland this fall. We are looking forward to him and my youngest sister Abby joining us for Christmas, and are sorry that Lizzie will not be able to come as she is in the throes of writing her dissertation.
We hope you have a wonderful holiday surrounded by those you love, and that 2007 brings great happiness to you and peace around the world. Love, Pete, Lee, Mike and Liam
Comments