Christmas 1996
Dear Family and Friends,
The highlight of our year was a car trip to Kirtland and Nauvoo with Janet's
mom. It was just like National Lampoon's Summer Vacation. Our car broke down
the first day and was in the shop the whole second day. We had whiny teenagers
and small kids that had to use the bathroom. We did three days sight seeing
and four days driving. We did get to see corn and soybean fields all across
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois (both ways)! When we got home, we asked our kids
which of all the church history sites they liked the best: Kirtland Temple,
Nauvoo Temple Site, Carthage Jail, the Whitney Store, Joseph's, Emma's, and
Hyrum's grave site--or the Speedway at Indianapolis. They exclaimed unanimously:
"The pools at the motels!"
CHELSEA turned six this year and is in the first grade. She is just like
Tigger from Winnie the Pooh--always bouncing around. Chelsea is a Barbie
fanatic and loves to design new clothes for the doll. It's scary, especially
the Ken doll outfits. Her favorite subject in school is math, and she is
determined to do her best, especially on the timed tests. She has joined
the neighborhood gang and can often be seen hanging out on the street corner,
chalking the gang's graffiti all over the sidewalks and street. They've even
taken to mounting their bikes and riding as a pack to terrorize the court
around the corner.
BROOKE turns 12 at the end of the month. She set two school athletic records
at the end of 5th grade last spring. This fall she played soccer for the
first time, which, we must point out, had no connection whatsoever with the
fact that her team came in last in the league. She started playing the flute
at school and is using the same flute Janet used in High School. Yeeuuchy!
Instead of being blood brothers, they are slobber sisters.
RYAN will turn 14 in January and is in the eighth grade. He has taped about
30 episodes of The Simpsons (the cartoon, not the trial) back to back on
the same video tape. He and his friends watch it over and over and over--so
much so that they repeat the dialogue to each other as the tape plays. In
between episodes of the Simpson's, Ryan finished the dreaded project and
all the merit badges for Eagle Scout. Now comes the hard part--paperwork!
He should have his board of review sometime in January.
STAN (16 going on 25) is in the eleventh grade. He got his permanent driver's
license, a part-time job, and a haircut all in the same year! One month he
ran up a $50 AOL bill, so we canceled his account. He showed us by running
up a $90 phone bill the next month. (We will get even when he least expects
it!) The really embarrassing part is that the calls were to a girl in California
he 'met' on AOL. (Everyone start singing. . . "And they called it, Cyber-Love.")
He bought a drum set (so now he has two). He invites his friends with electric
guitars to come over and 'jam' in our basement. On a completely unrelated
topic, I have lost most of my hair and Janet has developed a twitch in her
sleep.
Stan's explanation of how he was planning
to pay off his phone bill.
JANET would not be happy unless she was over scheduled and over extended.
Her piano business is thriving; she continues as a counselor in the Relief
Society; and repeats as a volunteer at the school. She recently took off
one Friday morning for Williamsburg with one of her friends. We did not see
her again until late Saturday night. She's also starting to feel the effects
of middle age: aching joints, creaking bones, fading freckles, and a longing
for grandchildren--or maybe she just wants to send our children home with
somebody, anybody.
CALVIN cheated on a deal he made with Janet. She said if he lost 10 lbs.,
he could buy more RAM for his computer. Well he lost 8 pounds and bought
the memory on the promise of losing the other two. Janet is still waiting!
Calvin has almost completed his 5th year as Scoutmaster and was recently
given the 'Scoutmaster Award of Merit' by the Blue Ridge District. He recently
talked his employer into four 11-hour days instead of five 10-hour days.
Well, as soon as the Stake President got word of that, he and Janet were
called as Ordinance workers at the Temple. There is no rest for the wicked!
Calvin promising to lose two pounds.
We've included some pictures that highlight the best of 1996.
Love,
The Andruses
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