Home  Email MyYahoo  Google  JavaLobby  Movies  TV Guide  ESPN  TASC  FedAuto

Well another year in the books and due to an outbreak of procrastination and extreme laziness, we’re back to the traditional holiday letter.  Next year maybe we’ll outsource?  For those suffering from ADD, here’s the abbreviated version: leukemia, slumber party, schools, weddings, day-tripping, beach, and lots of traveling.  For the rest of you, read on! 

This year didn’t get off to a good start.  After a quiet January, in February we learned that our nephew Nick (Kelly’s sister’s son – age 8) was diagnosed with leukemia.  So it was a difficult spring and summer, but luckily he has done very well with the treatments and is back in school.  The rest of the year brought better tidings.  We spent most of May on various day-trips to DC to see a Nationals baseball game, visit the zoo, saw “Momma Mia’ for our 15^th (yes 15^th!) wedding anniversary and Doug and a friend went down town to see a world renown card magician for a bachelor party (at least that’s their story and their sticking to it).  This summer was the “Summer of Love” as we knew 6 couples getting married (all of them out of town).  We managed to make it to three of the weddings and enjoyed seeing everyone.  The girls especially enjoyed showing off their latest dance moves.  In August we headed to Myrtle Beach for a week with Grandma and Grandpa Frietchen and the Popes (Donna’s family).  We also celebrated lots of birthdays at Myrtle Beach as three of the four kids have July birthdays and Doug & Kelly turned 38 (yes 38!) in August.   Finally in Nov, we were finally able to visit Nick and celebrate his 9^th birthday (the doctors didn’t want him around young kids in the spring and summer).

Rachel (aka “Our Lady of Perpetual Motion”) finished up kindergarten and moved onto 1^st grade this year (a whole day at school!).  Her favorite subject is lunch - although she enjoys chatting with her friends more than actually eating it.  She generally enjoys school but isn’t too keen on homework.  She started the year knowing her ABC’s and has ended it reading books and doing addition.  Next year, she should be on differential equations and hopefully be able to write this letter.

Rachel celebrated her 6^th birthday in April with a slumber party.  Nothing like a houseful of 6 year olds all sugared up.  Everything went fine until the HAZMAT team showed up.  She has made lots of friends in the last year or so, especially since 3 girls her age live just around the corner from us.  We’ve also learned that there are numerous slightly older boys in the neighborhood so we could be in for trouble in a few years – a couple have already jumped the fence looking for her and another wants to take her out riding on his two-wheeler!  She’s been engaged to be married a few times this year, but we’re going to hold off sending out the invitations for a little while longer.

Samantha (aka “Little Miss Iron Will”) finished up her first year of preschool and is currently in her 2^nd and final year.  This year she’s a “Panda Bear” [as opposed to a “Sleepy Bear” which Doug is a member of] and goes to school five days a week!  Her best friend is also named Samantha and they enjoy chatting in the car as they carpool together to school.  Rachel remains quite close to her (our Samantha) as well.  They invent games, put on concerts, play Barbies, write notes, conduct fashion shows, bake cookies, take bubble baths, etc..  Of course, they do it all with the requisite arguments, mess, and chaos associated with sisterhood.

Samantha celebrated her 4^th birthday in July with a Strawberry Shortcake party with all her preschool friends.  It was a low key event on a very hot July afternoon, featuring water balloons, a piñata and a Strawberry Shortcake CD that will be forever engrained in our memories.  Repetition, apparently, is a hallmark of preschool learning.  In addition to her class party, Samantha enjoyed a birthday dinner of king crab legs (her favorite), corn on the cob, strawberries, ice cream and chocolate cake!

Kelly spends her days, nights, and some week-ends as a volunteer:  preschool parties, Brownie meetings, children’s activities at church, United Methodist Women’s program planning, visiting the 1^st grade classroom to help with reading, etc... When not indulging her passion of spying on her kids and interfering in the lives of countless others, she enjoys relaxing at home, eating chocolate, doing an occasional craft, and has discovered coffee after thirty some years of inexplicable abstinence.

Doug continues to work for TASC / Northrop Grumman playing with circles and ellipses (aka spacecraft orbits).  After years of avoiding the “m-word” (management), he’s been “promoted” to the illustrious ranks of middle management in charge of a group of other engineers that have no desire to be managers.  His management style is very simple – if you don’t like it, you can be the manager!  No complaints so far… This year’s “free time” (i.e. after the kids go to bed)  has been consumed by finishing up projects left over from the home addition (4 closets built, 2 more to go) and training for the couch potato triathlon (circuit training involving meandering between the recliner, computer desk, and the refrigerator – usually between commercial breaks).  He is also setting a world record as the slowest wood carver although has kept up with playing chess on the Internet.

We hope this finds you well – out of the cold, perhaps enjoying a mug of cocoa with a bowl of popcorn and a candy cane or two.  Savor the gifts this year – the ones under the tree, the ones sent from heaven, the ones dancing on the couch cushions in your family room, the ones serving oversees allowing us to enjoy our freedom and amazing standard of living, the ones working in our battles against diseases and illnesses of all kinds, the ones delivering the pizzas to your door in the snow. Treasure all these gifts at this very special time of year.  As always, we invite you visit us at home, online, in the mailbox, on the cell, through the psychic friends’ network, or via any means convenient to you.

Happy Holidays!

Love,

Doug, Kelly, Rachel, & Samantha