Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas Update

Merry Christmas from the Sparkmans! I didn't do an "official" letter this year, so I thought I'd update you on us.





David is a busy, busy man. After pursuing the FedEx career path for the past 5 years, he decided that he absolutely hates it. Hates the work, hates working nights, hates being tired all the time. Can I get an Amen??? So after some prayer and pondering, he headed back to school in January to pursue a Masters in education. He is also planning a doctorate to teach education on a college level. Right now he is about half way done with a perfect 4.0. He has even achieved a 100% in a few of the classes. He took the PRAXIS and scored in the top 15% of anyone who has ever taken the test. We are so proud of him!! He also continues to work nights at FedEx and photographs weddings on weekends.
Catherine, too, manages to stay crazy busy. She still works two days a week as a real estate paralegal. Due to the economy, her current company is closing at the end of the year. She is starting at a new firm and hopes for the best. Her much more important job of wife and mother manages to fill the remainder of her time. Lately the roles of cook, maid, taxi driver, etc., have taken a back seat to nursemaid. (See the Plague Post for more info.) I am praying for a healthy 2009! In her free time (what's that?) she enjoys time with her family, book club, and nights out with the girls! (Also she really loves writing about herself in 3rd person.)


Chandler (almost 6) graduated from preschool in May. He started kindergarten in August and loves it! We have full day kindergarten here, so the bus picks him up at 7:30 and brings him back at 3:15. It is a long day! But both Chandler and Mom have adjusted. Chandler has no trouble with the school work, just some trouble stayting on task. (I wonder who that sounds like?) He loves reading, math, and especially science. He loves to do "experiments", which are always fun to clean up. Chandler also loves to swim and got rings off the deep end of the pool this summer.



Callie (3) started at the big girl preschool this fall. She is a little more tentative than her brother, but is enjoying it and doing well. She is a girly girl and loves pink, princesses, and dress up. The other day I attempted to put a blue shirt on her, and she said, "What are you putting on me? This is not pink!!" Callie has been absolutely in love with Christmas this year. She loves Baby Jesus and immediately removes him from any nativity scene she comes across to hold and love. (I think my Mom's is still missing.) She loves Santa, and the lights, and the cookies. She was upset when Santa came to our house last night and didn't say hi to her. She also wanted to pet his reindeer, Comet and Pukid. (aka Cupid, we gotta work on that one.)


2008, like all the others, has been a blessed year for our family. We have felt the Lord's hand as he has guided decisions, blessed our lives, and given us shelter from the storm. We are so thankful for the Savior, the true reason for the season, and for the opportunity to celebrate what he means to each of us. We hope this Christmas finds each of you healthy, happy, and surrounded by those you love. Happy Holidays!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Bad Hair Day

Some of you may be aware of Callie's awesome morning hair. Girl's got skills. It mostly involves sleeping with a blanket over her head on slightly damp hair. This morning's do definitely seemed blog worthy.


The side view




The back- Have you ever seen anything like it?


She does clean up nice, though.



Monday, December 15, 2008

Away in a Manger

We had the opportinity to participate in two live nativities this past weekend. On Saturday night, we had our Ward Christmas Party. The Primary children usually do a program and nativity.





Chandler got to be one of the wisemen. (He was the one bringing the gold, he decided.)



He did refuse to remove his medal, which he received for bowling a 100 at a birthday party the night before. It may have detracted from his outfit a little. But it IS gold, I guess.





Callie has already decided she wants to be Mary next year, so she can hold Baby Jesus. Okay, Dawn? :)


Then on Sunday night, one of the local churches had a live nativity, complete with animals. The kids saw a donkey, a horse, some sheep, and 3 camels.
(If you look closely you can Chandler's blue hood, Ethan, and Callie at the bottom of the picture.)


The kids got to sit on the front row on haystacks, which was a big deal. Each showing sat 600 people! The production was really well done and straight from the scriptures.



They also had crafts for the kids to do- painting, beading, etc.




It's so nice to have activities that help to reinforce the true meaning of Christmas. We are so thankful for this time of year to be able to celebrate the birth and life of the Savior.

Pilgrims, Indians, and other Random Pics

Because of all the Thanksgiving illness, I ended up with very few, very random, Thanksgiving pictures. (Plague Number 3 is back, by the way.) There's no pictures of the table or all of us eating or anything traditional. Illness aside, we had a great time. Chad, Erin, and Brianna came from Sacramento, CA. Curtis, Alicia, and Nathan came from Denver, CO. It was nice to all be together again. Sadly, it will probably be annual event. So of course, my mother required family pictures and matching outfits.

We went to the Germantown Tree Lighting. I left my camera in the car, so I ended up one with picture- the view of my backseat. We had a car full.

The kids did make some cute Thanksgiving outfits.
Only Chandler could be a pilgrim AND Batman.
"Princess Callie", the Indian
Come back soon. We miss you already!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Christmas Conversations

Chandler: Why were there no pigs at the first Christmas?
Me: I'm not really sure. Maybe there were.
Chandler: I bet the pig shephards didn't hear the angel.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

The Ten Plagues

Yes, I know I've been absent from blogging for a while. You know I'll have a good excuse. There were ten plagues, right? Here are the the 10 Sparkman plagues, all hitting our house in the last 5 weeks:

1. My back went out. The bottom two vertebrae completely locked up. It was awesome. I now have a chiropracter, which is also awesome.
2. Bronchitis
3. Stomach Flu (vomiting)
4. Stomach Flu (the other stuff, which Chandler calls "swamp booty")
5. Ring Worm (Chandler is sporting a sweet bald spot.)
6. Random High Fever Virus- 104+ ( Dave has been calling Callie "Caliente" - which is spanish for hot for you gringos)
7. Staph Infection
8. Sinus Infection
9. The Common Cold, complete with all night hacking
10. Pink Eye

We did have a lovely Thanksgiving with my brothers and their families (when they weren't throwing up or running a fever.) I promise to post some new pictures soon. But right now I gotta go find the eye drops and the bleach.