Merry Christmas from the Moores!

Welcome Friends!

Merry merry Christmas and a happy new year!  We would love to share with you some of our family's highlights from the past year.

We kicked off the year with a family trip to Grizzly Jack's water park at Starved Rock. Soon after, our family got the shock of our lives when the long suffering Arizona Cardinals made it to the Super Bowl for the first time ever.  My Dad has been a Cardinals fan for his entire life and we have followed the Cards from Chicago, to St. Louis, to Arizona, watching them lose year after year.  My Dad and brother Ed attended the Super Bowl in February, and although the Cardinals lost a heart breaker of a game, it was exciting for us all to see them get that far.
After the Super Bowl, we had fun seeing old friends and laughing about old times at NFK 100.  We definitely felt like old folks at this event, seeing all of the college students!  But it was great to see our old Newman Center group going strong and continuing on with its good work.  Here's Sharon and I holding Lucy and Dominic at the reunion.

Later that month, Kevin and Lucy attended the Daddy-Daughter Princess Ball at the Champaign Park District, which has become an annual event they both look forward to.  Also, Isaac took his first bath with the big kids in the tub!

Next we celebrated John's 7th and Lucy's 5th birthdays with a family party at Mindy's restaurant in Mokena.  Papa surprised the kids with a Wii console, which has definitely been the toy of the year.  Then, John and Lucy each got to have a party with friends.  John had a traditional birthday party at home with a taco lunch, party games, presents and playing in the backyard.  Lucy took her friends to see High School Musical On Ice at the Assembly Hall, after a birthday breakfast at our house.

In March, we traveled to Anna Maria Island in Florida to spend a week with the Grimes family.  We enjoyed the sun and the beach with Kevin's parents, sister, cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents.

We enjoyed our final semester at University Primary School, where John finished first grade and Lucy finished a year of preschool.  After a long decision with late night talks, advice from friends, changing our minds mid-stream and finally feeling settled, we decided to transfer the kids to Holy Cross School once our time at UPS was finished.
Here's Lucy in her preschool "culminating event," an interpretation of Peter And The Wolf.

When the weather started getting warm again, John decided it was time to ride his bike without training wheels. Not one to be outdone by her brother, Lucy decided to do it too. Both learned quickly and were up riding around (with a few falls here and there) in one weekend.

Grandma Terry, Mike and Uncle Ed came to Urbana for Isaac's first birthday.  We celebrated with a one year photo session, presents and a dinner at Hickory River, where little Boo likes the mac n' cheese.  Isaac started walking shortly after his birthday, and is now running, climbing, bouncing, and moving around like a pro.  Here he is enjoying his homemade birthday cupcakes!  Nom nom nom!

We did lots and lots and LOTS of projects around our house this year, kicking off this spring with a flower box underneath the family room window in our backyard.  John and Kevin built the box, and I planted hydrangeas. 

We had a very relaxed, low key summer.  We spent most of our time at home with friends, playing in the backyard, swimming, or of course playing Wii.  We rode our bikes and worked on our projects both inside and outside of the house.  Isaac got his first taste of the swimming pool this year too, both literally and figuratively.  Unfortunately, the infamous pool must be replaced next summer, it has been used and loved so much that there are too many holes in it to repair.

John spent a lot of his summer (and fall, and winter) building Star Wars Legos.

Our alley was prime space for bike riding, and Cozy Coupe riding.

Kevin and I got to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary in St. Louis while the kids had an overnight with Grandma Terry and Uncle Ed.  We went out for a great dinner, saw Coldplay in concert and stayed at a swanky hotel.  It was a lot of fun and a great break away.  Here we are just before the concert starts.

As most of you know, I spent the summer training and raising money for the Susan G. Komen 3 Day, 60 mile walk in Chicago at the start of August.  My walking partner, Becky Fredrick, and I raised over $5,000 for breast cancer research and education.  Here we are, almost reaching our goal after the first day of walking in the pouring rain.

With the 3 Day behind us, Kevin and I decided to finish the basement in our home and to do the work ourselves.  When complete, it will be a playroom and home theater with a bathroom, large closet for toys and games, and a kitchenette.  Kevin has been nothing short of amazing in working on this project, spending many late nights and weekend hours taking care of every little detail.  So far the basement is framed out, plumbing complete, electrical work complete, and wall and ceiling insulation complete.  We are finishing a few little details before starting the drywall.  We are hoping to have the project completely finished by the spring, saving a huge amount of money and gaining a ton of confidence and satisfaction by doing it ourselves!  Here's Kevin pulling down the first board from the basement ceiling as the project kicks off.

At the end of August, John and Lucy started at Holy Cross School, John in second grade and Lucy in kindergarten.  It is a wonderful school with a great deal of parent support and a wonderful family atmosphere.  We are very happy with our decision and both kids have teachers they like.  Both enjoy school and we don't have too much trouble getting them out of bed in the mornings!  Lucy loves music class, calendar time, show and tell and especially likes the craft projects.  John is enjoying his class science projects on dinosaurs and bats, and he loves library time and playing group games in PE.  Here they are on their very first morning.

In September, Kevin's cousin Marc got married and we traveled to Warren, IL and Darlington, WI for the wedding.  The kids enjoyed dancing up a storm at the reception.  Here we are outside of the church.

Kevin worked hard all year at Cobalt Digital, thinking up new amazing things as always, and managing their team of engineers.  Here he is showing off a Cobalt project at the SMPTE trade show in Los Angeles, just before Halloween.

In the first week of November, we took a fantastic week-long trip to Walt Disney World.  It was nonstop fun that left us collapsing into our beds every night, but already talking about when we can go back again.  Everybody had a blast including Isaac, who was awfully young for the trip but still had plenty of fun (his favorite ride: It's A Small World).  Here we are watching a performance of High School Musical songs, at the request of Miss Lucy.

Kevin and Isaac watching the fireworks over Cinderella's Castle in the Magic Kingdom:

Isaac and I high in the sky on Aladdin's Magic Carpets:

Finally, we are closing out our year with Christmas lights, Christmas decorations, Christmas gifts, and Christmas concerts and get-togethers.  All the great things about this time of the year, the things we can enjoy with our family and friends as we reflect on a year full of good times and many blessings.  This month Kevin will complete his final requirements to earn his Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering.  We are all so proud of him.  He will participate in the graduation ceremonies in May.  This month we'll also travel to Bloomington, IN to see my brother receive his PhD in Political Science.  We'll also get to see John and Lucy perform in the Holy Cross School Christmas concert.  We've been hearing their songs around the house for several weeks already and I am putting the finishing touches on their homemade angel costumes.
Here's Isaac helping to put up the tree!

And here are the kids by their beautiful Christmas tree.

Once again we want to wish a very merry Christmas to all of you!  We hope that the next year brings you love, joy, peace and all of the best things.

With much love and heartfelt gratitude for your friendship and caring,
Becky, Kevin, John, Lucy and Isaac