Holiday Letter 2010

It's already MARCH?!  Lord, time flies.  I am way behind in blogging, as with everything else.  I need more time in the day, as I'm sure most of my contemporaries would lament!  How did our parents do it?

I can't seem to get out of my garden right now, which is really screwing up my jewelry business...it's just so pretty!  It's really making me happy right now, but that is squashed with the stress of not creating any jewelry with shows coming up.  I'm at a crossroads. I need some inspiration, but the garden keeps calling me!  But, I digress...

So, I wrote a letter to family and friends for the holiday season. The past few years I've made a pdf and jpeg to send out electronically with pics of the family and a little update.  I'm always guilty, guilty, GUILTY to not be sending it all via snail mail. I am saving a tree, saving stamps, saving money and time...however, there's just something about getting those holiday cards in the mail that's priceless. I save the ones we receive from our friends and family year to year. I read them and even get teary-eyed looking at them when I'm putting out the Christmas decorations.  So, why can't I pull it together to send a classic card and Christmas letter out myself?  I'm not sure why I keep falling short.  I guess I just need to give myself a break...no easy task, if you're me, apparently.  I'm pretty dang hard on myself, from what I hear from my husband and best friends.  I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing...whether or not I'm damaging my children...whether I'm gonna end up in a loony bin some day or contract some crazy stress-related disease.  I yam what I yam, in the immortal words of Popeye. Take it or leave it. Now to make myself believe that! 

So, here's the letter with some pics thrown in for reality's sake.  It came with this jpeg that I whipped up at work when I realized I had forgotten to do something this year.  Yikes!  Always running around with my hair on fire! 



The Pettit family is thankfully healthy and we are doing well. This past year was incredibly busy, of course! We are settling into our new home and are getting used to the challenges of being homeowners. The most recent challenge was a weird one. Jimmy asked me if I “happened to back into the garage.” Wha?! Uh, no! We have two garage doors and the narrow wall between them was buckled. It definitely looked like someone had slammed into it. But why? It’s not a swell place to turn around. The driveway is uphill and it’s pretty long. Not convenient at all. Someone would have really wanted to hit it! What enemies have we made? Hmmmm…none we could think of, but a bit of paranoia set in. When Jimmy went to fix it, he found out that it had not been hit, but had collapsed due to horrible termite damage. Sigh. Thank God my husband can fix anything…I say that as I knock on (undamaged and sturdy) wood.

Cooper is in 7th grade at Parkway Middle School…so far so good. His grades are high and he has made lots of seemingly-nice friends at his new school. We’re hoping none are Eddie-Haskell types. He played his last year in Rolando Little League (sob!) and made the All Stars. They went further than was forecasted, which was fantastic! I think I’ll miss Rolando more than he will. Great league…great people. He wants to continue playing baseball and will play in the Knights league next. Cooper broke his nose this past year while tandem jumping on a trampoline (told you so!), but he’s still a looker.

Coop after the "re-break"

He’s turning 13 December 23rd (so, like, in five minutes…) and has started the prerequisite eye rolling and sighing at everything we say. So far, he’s been a milder preteen than I was…I am only hoping that holds true for these coming teenage years! I hold on to the fact that up to now he has had a good head on his shoulders and is a smart kid. We’re hoping that will overrule the dreaded hormone surges to come!

Mackie is almost 5 and is in her last year of preschool at Miss Julie’s daycare. She knows how to write her name and is on the cusp of penning her autobiography. Holy mackerel! She’s 5 going on 25…she’s my karma for sure! She says “like” way too much and sits in the bathroom as I get ready in the morning, watching me put on mascara, questioning me over and over when she will be able to wear “the scara” too. Yikes! She is possibly the cutest, funniest little girl I’ve ever met. We tear up just looking at her sometimes! She just had her first dance recital through her dance school “Jibe” and said she wasn’t scared at all, even though it was her first time on stage and the performance was sold out. I would’ve been scared looking out at 400 people my first time on stage! She remembered all her moves and was a true diva, holding her final pose with a smile so as to receive as much applause as possible. Bravo…We were VERY proud! Oh and she got to wear “the scara” for the performance. The Jibe ladies said she had to. We were amazed at how long her eyelashes are!



Andrea is at a crossroads right now, which goes with her age of 24. She has a great job as a respected and well-liked preschool teacher at a very nice school in Poway, but she has the travel itch kicking off and has been talking about seeing the world. She will be coming to live with us for a while to save money so she can do something about that itch! We have some great friends who recently moved to southern France and have offered to help her find a family to perhaps nanny with for a while. Hopefully that will pan out! She is a gorgeous, smart girl who’s turning into a gorgeous, smart woman right before our eyes. She’s making us proud by taking the initiative to take charge of her life and make some smart choices. We are all looking forward to spending some time with her while she’s with us before she embarks on this new exciting chapter in her life! Mackie has plans galore with her beloved big sister, one you can bet which involves talking her into applying “the scara.” I hope she can fit in all her big plans before her Andie will hop on a plane to Europe.

Andie and Mac "Easy Bakin'!"

We hope you and yours are healthy, happy and that all is well in your world. Here’s to a great 2011!

P.S. Cooper is all better and is still a handsome gent!  He hasn't gotten on the trampoline since...

Coop at Mission Bay January 2011