A late Happy Holidays from the Calls January 2009

[Christine Call]

Hello everyone,

We are sorry we are so late in sending out our letter.  We just wanted to let you all know how grateful we are to have such wonderful friends and family in our lives.  You have made our lives rich with your love and generosity.
This year has been full of new and exciting adventures for the Call family.  We moved from Virginia, back to Alabama, Jaina entered the terrible, and destructive twos, Jensen started Kindergarten, Josh graduated from the Fellows program, and last but not least we started construction on our home.
Jaina, while adorable, has become quite mischievous.  Apparently she feels that our home lacks color and style, because he has colored on just about every surface in our apartment, including the tv and the kids computer.  She has also put holes in out walls, broken blinds, and torn the cheap fake woodgrain finish of of some of our kitchen cabinets.  More than once I have been grateful that we are living in an apartment during this stage of her life and not a new home.  She is also incredibly smart, and quite verbal for her age.  She loves to sing and dance.  A couple of months ago she decided that she hates to wear pants, and only wants to wear skirts or dresses, because she wants to look like a princess.  Of course I don't have many dresses or skirts for her to play in so dressing her is a big battle most mornings.  I try to tell her that princesses have to wear play clothes sometimes, but she doesn't believe me.
Jensen started Kindergarten in the fall.  After a few difficulties with the with the school district (Jensen has had 3 different teachers and had to change schools within a month of school starting) he settled into a good school  with a great teacher.  He really likes school, and his favorite part of school is P.E.  His least favorite thing about school is homework.  Personally I think homework is a little silly at this age, especially since Kindergarten is a full day, but I suppose it is good to get them in the habit.  We have been trying to teach him how to ride his bike, and he has been making progress, but still has a ways to go before he is riding on his own.  He has also started developmental basketball on Saturdays and is really enjoying that.
Our house has been our biggest adventure this year.  A year ago we thought we would have a completed house by now, which shows how little we knew at the time.  We really like the finished design we came up with, although we have already begun to see flaws in it.  We figure those kinds of things are inevitable, and we will continue to find flaws the further along the construction goes.  Excavation began in November, and was a lengthy process because of all of the rock they uncovered.  The slab and basement walls were poured in December, and framing began last week.  We have had our share of hiccups, but feel that those are inevitable as well.  All in all we really like our builder and are excited to see the finished home.
We hope this new year finds you all happy and healthy.  Hope you enjoy the attached pictures.  We didn't get a whole family picture taken this year, but oh well.  I will send you one of the latest of our house as well.  If you want to see more just let me know, we have been trying to get out the build site almost every day.

We love you all,

Christine, Josh, Jensen, and Jaina