The Stucki's: 2009

Christmas Pictures ... Dec 20, 2009

This was the easiest set of Sunday morning before church Christmas photos that we have ever taken.

Ashley's Christmas Play ... Dec 17, 2009

Ashley played the Angel Gabriel in the St. John's Pre-school Christmas Pageant. She, of course, did very well.

Mexico City, Mexico ... Dec 4 - 6, 2009

Heather joined me for my latest trip down to Mexico City. I left for meetings on Thursday and she came on Friday. Every year there is a Christmas party for the Latin America team, coinciding with some annual meetings we have there. Although her flight was canceled through Houston because of snow there (seriously, what is up with snow in HOUSTON??), she was able to make it late Friday night, in time for the weekend. She did miss our dinner at the Mexican National Gallery, where we had a special tour of the exhibits and a dinner.

We had already seen most of Mexico City when we lived in Celaya, Guanajuato earlier this decade, so really we didn't have much interest to sight see. After a nice run through the city, we got ready and just wandered to a city market that was pretty crappy. Basically our only desire for the weekend was to relax, find replacement Mexico glasses (our supply has dwindled over the years) and the good Mexican vanilla from San Miguel (we were hoping we could find the same brand we had stocked up on a few years back). We didn't have too much luck on the glasses at first, considering the concierge sent us to a locale that ended up selling EYE glasses! But we found some vanilla that was not the same, but hopefully would suffice and did go down to the Zocolo and walk around for a little while. We even took one of the dangerous taxis back to our hotel since we couldn't find anything else to get us back (we were not smart enough to have our hotel taxi stick around and wait for us). We also stopped at Sanborns, one of the few places we liked to eat/shop at while we lived in Celaya.

The party started in the late afternoon, so we got dressed up and headed over there. There was a nice "early" dinner and then just dancing and socializing, which we were not too fond of. We stayed as long as we felt like we had to, but ended up still leaving very early. It was around 11PM, but considering the party went until the morning (they served breakfast...actually, they served the first dinner, a second dinner, and then breakfast), it was early. But we were glad to head back and go to sleep.

Sunday morning we just hung out all day except for a quick trip to the main craft market, where we were able to find our glasses. Once that was accomplished we didn't feel like we had to do anything else. It was the most relaxing weekend we have had in a long time.

Dawn was kind enough to come out and watch all three kids while we were away, so we didn't have to worry about them at all.

While it was unfortunate that the party was not at the beach, we still have good time.

Ashley's Birthday Party ... Dec 1, 2009

Ashley's birthday party this year was a Luau, like Katie had for her fifth birthday (and we were able to recycle the decorations). She invited friends from her class and from the neighborhood. The kids played games, ate pizza, and had cupcakes. It was not nearly as chaotic as I thought it would be having 20 five year olds running around and we got some GREAT help from some of our friends. More pictures to come.

Ashley's Birthday ... Dec 1, 2009

Ashley turned FIVE! It is hard to believe 5 years have gone by so quickly, but they have been five really special years. Ashley adds A LOT of personality to our home. She is very spirited, which I always say doesn't serve ME well now, but is going to serve HER well her whole life. Ashley sticks up for what she knows is right, and doesn't let anyone persuade her to do something she doesn't want to do (again, good for her, but when I need her to clean her room... not good for me). Ashley LOVES to dance and is always dancing around the house. She especially loves to dance on the very tips of her toes and feels like she is ready for point shoes. Ashley essentially taught herself to read this fall, and loves to read books to me every night. It's a whole new world for her because she loves to read all of the signs on buildings and everywhere we go! Ashley ADORES her brother and can not still, even after 18 months, leave him alone. She loves her big sister Katie, and is always trying to keep up with everything Katie is doing. We love, love, love Ashley and we are so grateful for the energy and love she brings into our home.

Christmas Decorating ... Nov 28, 2009

As is tradition in our family, the weekend after Thanksgiving all of the Christmas decorations go up. And as usual, Heather did a great job.

Thanksgiving ... Nov 26, 2009

We had a couple of families over for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a great meal with some great friends. Plus Heather brined the turkey for the first time, which made it especially delicious.

Turkey Trot ... Nov 26, 2009

Our whole family ran in different races at the annual YMCA Turkey Trot. Heather ran the 10K, I ran the 2 Miler, and Katie, Ashley, and Ryan ran in their respective age group short runs.
Ryan won for being the youngest participant. We were lucky that the "cheater" from 6 years ago was not there to strip him of his title, like they did for Katie when she ran this in 2003. At that time, some cheater brought their kid that couldn't even walk and not only won for being the "youngest", but also was CARRIED the whole way for the victory in the race. I am sure that this kid (now probably six years old, since she was like a month old for the race!) looks every night at that trophy with the turkey on top sitting on her shelf and feels shame and embarrasment for the way she won that. Unless her parents were too cowardly to tell her the REAL story around her "victory"!
Anyway, Heather ran one of her best races and came in 6th for her age group (now that she just moved into the "over 35" group!). I pushed Ryan in the jog stroller for my race and did better than I thought I would. Of course my signature head band helped propel me to a top 10 finish! At some point in my career I will sell this on ebay, so watch out for this.
The kids did great in their respective races and although it was a cold morning, we had a great time as a family prior to our Thanksgiving feast!