Christmas Trip

We enjoyed a quick trip to Medford, OR to see family and friends. Grandma and Grandpa Wallace always make Christmas exciting for both kids and adults. It was a great time had by all.


Several people asked that I not play any practical jokes about Santa bringing coal to Caleb. (click here for last year's pratical joke gone bad) Caleb had a curious Christmas in that prior to Christmas, he was questioning the whole Santa story, but has soon as he saw the Lego Police Station that he had requested, he was a believer again. I'm wondering how many Christmases we'll have with the real Santa? Since I'm sure that once Caleb catches on, Abby will know soon after.

After Medford, we came home to spend time with the Foster family. We enjoyed our annual trip to the Coeur d'Alene Resort for gallon-sized ice cream deserts and then celebrated a fake New Year's Eve on Dec 30th. It's always great to spend time with our family for the holidays.

Cousins enjoying their new Pj's from G&G Wallace

Grandpa Wallace reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve

What's Christmas without something from Hannah Montana?

Trains always play a big role during Grandpa Wallace's Christmas

Christmas Letter '09

Merry Christmas to all!

Al Gore has asked me to send out our Christmas letter electronically this year...either that or I don't think our friends and family are worth the price of a stamp....you decide. We've enjoyed receiving all kinds of letters from you, everyone seems to be doing very well. And you could add us to the list of those who are richly blessed. We live a fantastic life. Here's a quick update on our stellar family, try not to be too jealous of us. (Also remember that I tend to exaggerate).

Abby, 5, is the princess of our home. She sings, dances, and then demands that we do what she says. If she weren't so darn cute, we'd say 'no'. But Daddy's little girl gets what she wants. She's becoming a fan of pop music and has even memorized lyrics from such talented artists as Hannah Montana and Taylor Swift. Unfortunately Abby's voice hasn't quite matched her skill of memorization. The howling dogs and coyotes can attest to my opinion. She also started taking piano lessons this year from her Grandma Foster. And despite my protests, Abby has joined a cheer leading squad that correlates with Caleb's basketball league. I'm sure I deserve having a daughter as a cheerleader, I was just hoping the God would punish me in other ways, like being burned at the stake or living during a famine. But Abby is very happy and growing into a wonderful young lady.

Caleb, 7, is our nearly perfect son. Years ago, when we were trying to have kids and I was dreaming of what my son would be like, Caleb was exactly what I was dreaming about. He continues to love sports, playing soccer, baseball and basketball. We play together all the time at home until it gets dark or I fall over, which ever comes first. We've also been catching a lot of the minor league, college, and high school sports that are played in Spokane. Caleb's in 1st grade and loves school and all that it entails. He loves riding the bus, school work, lunch time, reading, teasing girls, and of course recess. His new found love this year is reading, he's probably read more books already than I had through all high school. He lays in bed each night reading before falling asleep. I've even checked on him an hour after he's gone to bed and he was still reading. Mon and I couldn't be more proud of both our kids.

Monica keeps our house afloat. Our kids' success in school and other activities, is because of her efforts. Plus without her, Caleb and Abby would be getting really tired of frozen pizza and canned raviolis. Aside from all she does for us at home, Mon's business continues to stay strong. I joke that she's making us rich $.75 at a time, but for a business that was started from scratch, she has built an amazing company with her website, message board, and subscription services. http://www.transparenttouches.com/ is her passion and being able to do it from home makes it a perfect fit. In her business travels this last year, Mon has bumped into several C-list celebrities this year including Alfonso Riberio (from the TV show 'Fresh Prince of Bel air"), Joey Fatone (from the pop music group 'NSYNC), and Paris Hilton (why is she famous again?). Kinda strange we know, but growing up in Medford and Spokane, this was very exciting for us.

What about me? Thanks for asking....I'm still a nurse... blah..blah... Dad...blah...blah.. Husband...blah..like sports... blah..blah... third nipple...read a lot..blah..blah..and I love to work around our house. That basically sums me up.

Though I've been slacking as of late, we try to keep our friends/family updated with our family blog. Everyone is welcome to visit http://www.jailfreewallacefamily.blogspot.com/ and stay posted on our adventures. We hope this message finds all of you full of happy thoughts and laughter.

Merry Christmas from the Wallaces

Christmas Card Time

I recently sent out our Christmas Card. You could say that the annual Christmas card was my blog before I had a blog.

I get a kick out of reading other's Christmas cards/ annual updates. I love to see what my friends and family are up to, but it's also a secret obsession of mine to critique the grammar of each letter. I must of inherited the desire to cut up other people's writings from my English-teacher mom. One of my favorite styles to read is when their letters are written entirely in the third person. As if they have hired a writer to update us all.

I shouldn't be critical, but it makes me feel better about myself. Though I'm known for making a lot of mistakes on this here blog as well. I'm awful with the words 'there' Vs. 'their' especially.

For those of you who weren't worth the price of a stamp, here is this year's Christmas card:

Hello Sports Fans, Merry Christmas to all. We hope you are all happy and healthy. We are all doing very well in the great northwest. We find ourselves in awe of how blessed a family we are. But I'll skip the sappy stuff and get right to the much anticipated annual family recap: Abby Rae has gone from her terrible two's straight to terrible teens. She sweet talks her way out of trouble, begs for what she wants and has even slammed the door shut when upset. To my delight though, she ended her "dancing" career in the spring and now has taken up gymnastics. Now I know I ridiculed her dancing lessons as a waste of time doing what most the world would consider more like seizure-like motions rather than dancing, so I think gymnastics is a happy median of an activity that will have some benefit later on. For example, if she ever finds herself under fire by a machine gun, she can now do summer-saults to avoid the bullets. Though we don't expect her to become an Olympic gymnast, since she's already as tall as them, we are thrilled for her enthusiasm of the sport. Abby also started pre-school this year and I'm pretty sure she's considered the top of her class since she tells everyone else what to do. The rest of her time is spent playing with her princess dolls, dressing like a princess and then expecting to be treated like a princess...just like I want. Caleb started Kindergarten this year and loves to go school every day. He mainly likes riding the bus, but since the bus takes him to and from school, he has to stay there all day. Caleb's sports career took bad turn when he broke his left arm during his 2nd soccer game. A splint, surgery, 3 pins, cast, and another splint filled up the next couple months. Unfortunately, when he broke his arm, he stretched his radial nerve and has slightly paralyzed his wrist, fingers and thumb. The good news is that he starting to get movement again and he should re-gain complete function, though it may take up to 6 months. All that said, Caleb hasn't missed a beat. He's figured out how to do most everything he did before with one hand, and the stuff he can't do with one hand he's learned to not care about...like buttoning his pants...totally over-rated. It's been great to see him over-come this obstacle. Even though we have stressed about his hand, he simply keeps going like nothing ever happened. In fact he insisted on staying signed up for basketball this year and has already started attending practices. Caleb has stayed interested in Legos, riding his 4-wheeler, watching basketball with me (Go Jazz and Zags!) and is excited to go snow skiing when the snow hits this winter. The real princess of our home, Monica, continues to guide her scrapbook kingdom. Her business and website (www.transparenttouches.com) have stayed steady through the country's economic downturn. Maybe the CEO's of GM and Ford should take a lesson from her. Aside from being boss of her own company, she remains the boss of our home making it all run smoothly with her iron fist and sweet, sweet banana bread. I am still both a male and a nurse, other-wise known as a murse. Working at a large hospital brings with it certain excitement and challenges, along with lots and lots of sick people. I continue to work on my do-it-yourself skills around the house. I planted a 2-acre lawn in the spring for the kids to play baseball and soccer and I'm proud to say say that I still am using a push mower to cut the mega lawn. Other than working on Wallace Park, I have also almost completed building a large shop. It's essentially a 3-car garage to store some toys in. It's by far the biggest project I've ever taken on and I've needed a lot of help from family and friends. At printing, I still have some finishing touches, but I'm hoping to have it finished in the next couple weeks. We made our maiden voyage to Southern California and Disneyland this year and had a great time. Abby, especially, was enthralled by the princesses of Disneyland. Added to our beach time was the San Diego Zoo, Lego Land, and Sea World. Other than a few trips to Oregon, we've spent most of our time enjoying our home and Monica's parents' lake house. We can find all kinds of fun and excitement we need within 20 minutes of our door. I've also started a blog that has provided me with a great forum to write about our family adventures. Please check it out at www.jailfreewallacefamily.blogspot.com and feel free to sign up for all the updates to be emailed to you. We thank all our loving family and friends for fun times that they add to our lives. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!