Hello All and welcome to the latest edition of the Hojnacki Family Christmas Update. I apologize for turning to the latest technology to keep people updated on our family, but it seems to be the most practical way to go as our lives speed through the year. I have heard several people comment recently on the fact that all of our christmas traditions were invented back in the 19th Century when 85% of the population were farmers and basically had nothing to do this time of year. Therefore all the cookie baking, crafting, tree decorating, letter writing and such served not only to make the dark, cold season more bearable, but also to waylay boredom. Flash forward two centuries to when our lives in December are indistinguishable from July and you find us all tearing our hair out to maintain those same lovely traditions of the season. I just thought it was healthy for us all to acknowledge that I doubt the agrarians of old could have brought in the harvest, canned the vegetables, cleared the fields, baled the hay, chopped the firewood and still done all of their holiday preparations. So I have found it helpful to remind myself often who we have to blame for this mess, "Game On, Laura Ingalls, Game On!"
Nellie is a beautiful 5 year old tortoise shell kitty who we adopted from Dave's Mom this summer. She moved right in and made herself quite comfortable until we decided that a new kitten would be a perfect addition to the mix. So now we also have Skippers, a silver-point tabby I've been told (which basically means he's a gray cat with stripes) and now Nellie is not nearly as comfortable since the kitten is a relentless pest who must constantly be put in his place. The two have forged an uneasy truce and now actually "cavort" from time to time. Skippers was quite tiny when we got him; so tiny in fact that we thought he was a she and the kids named him Cindy. After some growth and a more precise examination by the vet we were told that Cindy was actually a boy and the search for a new name ensued. We landed on Skippers, which is often shortened to Skips, Cap'n Salty, Skipper-dee-do-da, or Trouble as the case warrants. Lest I go on more about the cats than the children, let me move on.
No basketball yet, but she does go to many of my games, and where last year she often left the gym not knowing if we had won or lost, she has taken a much greater interest in the team, the strategy and the rules this year. We are gearing up for our first ski outing this winter thanks to lots of early snow and some cold, cold temperatures here in West Michigan, but we don't have any "Out West" trips planned this year. Last year Sophie accompanied us out to Winter Park, Colorado to ski with our friends the Wendlings. It was some welcome one-on-one time with Mom and Dad and a really great way to spend time together, except that now we have established the precedent that when you are 7, you get to go to Colorado and ski with Mom and Dad. I guess that gives us one more year to get Lily on the ski lift and off the bunny hills.
We have also discovered the joys of school uniforms and are loving the fact that the rest of her clothes rarely get worn (making them much more likely to make it down to Grace unscathed). Lily has also shot up quite a bit this year and is getting dangerously close to wearing the same size clothes as Sophie, which would just royally mess up our clothing rotation system, but I'm sure is bound to happen sooner or later. She also played AYSO soccer this Fall and was lucky enough to have her mom get roped into coaching her team. Even though I feigned ignorance (o.k. AM ignorant) about soccer, they assured me that at the U6 level you just (and I am quoting verbatim here) "Point them in the right direction and tell them to kick the ball." Well, it was obvious after the first few games that there was a lot more than just pointing and telling going on on the other teams because we were routinely getting beat by scores of ten or fifteen to nothing. Now, before you jump on my coaching skills, I will say that our team was populated almost entirely (aside from Lily and one other little dynamo who was only four years old!) by what are commonly referred to as "Daisy Pickers" in the AYSO community. They were lovely and gracious little girls who simply had no inclination to go anywhere near a soccer ball, be it moving or stationary and were often more interested in the half-time snack than the action on the field. After much squeaky wheeling, I have been assured that the "Green Frogs" (should have been my first sign) will be re-allocated to other teams next season. 
Grace has probably made the most progress since last year's Christmas tidings. Since last January when she was still using a more limited single-word vocabulary she has started a full time Early Childhood Special Education class within the school district, graduated from that class and now attends a mainstream pre-school every day. She has tested at age level for her vocabulary and is still working with a speech therapist to clear up some articulation issues. She now holds forth on any and every topic and specializes in particularly annoying sounds that get the best reactions out of her big sisters. Here is a quick example of a standard Gracie-Mommy conversation these days that is still fresh in my mind from this morning,
"Mommy, where do you live?"
As with our other two daughters, Grace is absolutely lovely in a one-on-one situation. She is always cheerful and has been described by several of her teachers as having a "sunny disposition," but put the three of them together and you are more than likely to hit a land mine within a very brief period of time. It is definitely the hardest part of parenting right now and we are working on ways to increase the peace whenever and wherever possible. 
The weather was spectacular and the camp sites up there are just about unmatched by any we have ever visited. In addition to that trip we spent Spring Break in Florida with my parents, including a one-day jaunt to Disney World and spent our Winter Break in Colorado with Sophie.
As for our family, we are all another year older, some of us a few inches taller, others perhaps a bit wider, but all healthy and happy none-the-less. It was, however, a tough year for Dave's side of the family as we lost his Grandmother in the Spring and his Dad this Fall. Although his father had faced some serious health issues for many years, it was still a shock and certainly very difficult for his Mom. It will be a strange holiday season without them and, since Dave's family is so close-knit, every holiday afterward will be missing someone.
We have added two new four-legged members (one of whom is so needy right now that it's darn near impossible to write this message)
Nellie is a beautiful 5 year old tortoise shell kitty who we adopted from Dave's Mom this summer. She moved right in and made herself quite comfortable until we decided that a new kitten would be a perfect addition to the mix. So now we also have Skippers, a silver-point tabby I've been told (which basically means he's a gray cat with stripes) and now Nellie is not nearly as comfortable since the kitten is a relentless pest who must constantly be put in his place. The two have forged an uneasy truce and now actually "cavort" from time to time. Skippers was quite tiny when we got him; so tiny in fact that we thought he was a she and the kids named him Cindy. After some growth and a more precise examination by the vet we were told that Cindy was actually a boy and the search for a new name ensued. We landed on Skippers, which is often shortened to Skips, Cap'n Salty, Skipper-dee-do-da, or Trouble as the case warrants. Lest I go on more about the cats than the children, let me move on.. 
Sophie is now 8 and in the second grade. She still enjoys school very much but has admitted that second grade is a bit more work than first and that the spelling words are "way harder!" She prefers math to english (obviously her father's daughter) and loves art more than any other subject. She has decided to grow her hair out so that she can donate it to Locks of Love in the next year or two. In the meantime she looks about ten years older and requires much more grooming than she used to. Thankfully she is still oblivious to the pre-teen developments of fashion-conciousness, high-tech gadgets, embarassment of her parents and (most importantly) boys. She is still liking soccer and plays on an AYSO team.
Sophie is now 8 and in the second grade. She still enjoys school very much but has admitted that second grade is a bit more work than first and that the spelling words are "way harder!" She prefers math to english (obviously her father's daughter) and loves art more than any other subject. She has decided to grow her hair out so that she can donate it to Locks of Love in the next year or two. In the meantime she looks about ten years older and requires much more grooming than she used to. Thankfully she is still oblivious to the pre-teen developments of fashion-conciousness, high-tech gadgets, embarassment of her parents and (most importantly) boys. She is still liking soccer and plays on an AYSO team.
No basketball yet, but she does go to many of my games, and where last year she often left the gym not knowing if we had won or lost, she has taken a much greater interest in the team, the strategy and the rules this year. We are gearing up for our first ski outing this winter thanks to lots of early snow and some cold, cold temperatures here in West Michigan, but we don't have any "Out West" trips planned this year. Last year Sophie accompanied us out to Winter Park, Colorado to ski with our friends the Wendlings. It was some welcome one-on-one time with Mom and Dad and a really great way to spend time together, except that now we have established the precedent that when you are 7, you get to go to Colorado and ski with Mom and Dad. I guess that gives us one more year to get Lily on the ski lift and off the bunny hills.
Lily will be 6 on Christmas Eve. She is in an all-day Kindergarten class at a local Catholic school with many of the same friends from her young-fives class last year, including the same teacher. While she is not as enthusiastic fan of school as Sophie, she loves her friends, getting to eat lunch at school and having three recesses!
We have also discovered the joys of school uniforms and are loving the fact that the rest of her clothes rarely get worn (making them much more likely to make it down to Grace unscathed). Lily has also shot up quite a bit this year and is getting dangerously close to wearing the same size clothes as Sophie, which would just royally mess up our clothing rotation system, but I'm sure is bound to happen sooner or later. She also played AYSO soccer this Fall and was lucky enough to have her mom get roped into coaching her team. Even though I feigned ignorance (o.k. AM ignorant) about soccer, they assured me that at the U6 level you just (and I am quoting verbatim here) "Point them in the right direction and tell them to kick the ball." Well, it was obvious after the first few games that there was a lot more than just pointing and telling going on on the other teams because we were routinely getting beat by scores of ten or fifteen to nothing. Now, before you jump on my coaching skills, I will say that our team was populated almost entirely (aside from Lily and one other little dynamo who was only four years old!) by what are commonly referred to as "Daisy Pickers" in the AYSO community. They were lovely and gracious little girls who simply had no inclination to go anywhere near a soccer ball, be it moving or stationary and were often more interested in the half-time snack than the action on the field. After much squeaky wheeling, I have been assured that the "Green Frogs" (should have been my first sign) will be re-allocated to other teams next season. Now that Kindergarten is in full swing, Lily is beginning to catch on to the fact that all of those confounded letters actually say something and, in her patented learning style, zip through all of the skills that we were so concerned she wasn't getting sooner. We signed her up for an acting class at the Civic Theater here in town which was right up her alley and she will be continuing that through the Spring.
Grace has probably made the most progress since last year's Christmas tidings. Since last January when she was still using a more limited single-word vocabulary she has started a full time Early Childhood Special Education class within the school district, graduated from that class and now attends a mainstream pre-school every day. She has tested at age level for her vocabulary and is still working with a speech therapist to clear up some articulation issues. She now holds forth on any and every topic and specializes in particularly annoying sounds that get the best reactions out of her big sisters. Here is a quick example of a standard Gracie-Mommy conversation these days that is still fresh in my mind from this morning,"Mommy, where do you live?"
"I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan."
"What about (name of street), do you live there?"
"Yes, that is the street we live on. Grand Rapids is the city."
"Where is Michigan?"
"Michigan is the state we live in."
"But where is Michigan?"
"Michigan is in the United States."
"Michigan is in the United States, but I was born in China and you and Daddy flew there in an airplane and adopted me."
"Yes, that's right. And then you flew home on the airplane with us to meet your sisters."
"That was a long way!"
"And on the airplane you slept on my lap and sat on Laura's lap and turned the light on and off and on and off and on and off."
"Yeah, I was really funny!"
There's just so much going on in her little head that we never knew about because she couldn't talk about it. The special ed classroom was very good for her speech, but now that she is in a regular classroom, she's writing letters, spelling her name and doing all kinds of higher level activities that they just couldn't do in that classroom. Along with her new speaking ability has also come a brand new personality complete with mischief, antagonism and downright ornriness. She knows exactly what elicits fireworks from her sisters and will follow them around the house doing whatever it takes to cause them to explode. There was one period where she went to bed without stories for seven days in a row for not listening and acting up at bedtime. Sophie's remark was, "I don't get it, she's not dumb, why doesn't she just stop?" Good question, Sophie. Very good question. We just celebrated Grace's fourth birthday at Playworld with some of her friends. She got a new ballerina outfit and some tap shoes for her dance class. This year also saw the first instance of one of our children cutting her own hair. Grace gave herself a lovely 80's inspired mullet which was turned into a cute little pixie by my hairdresser. We're making every attempt to keep it that way since it is so easy and hardly needs any maintenance.
As with our other two daughters, Grace is absolutely lovely in a one-on-one situation. She is always cheerful and has been described by several of her teachers as having a "sunny disposition," but put the three of them together and you are more than likely to hit a land mine within a very brief period of time. It is definitely the hardest part of parenting right now and we are working on ways to increase the peace whenever and wherever possible.
As for Dave and I, we have made it through another action-packed year. Given the fact that Dave works in the banking industry, we are thankful that he is still employed and still here in Grand Rapids. Add to the current economic climate the fact that he underwent a merger during the same time and it would not be an overstatement to say that going to work each day has been an adventure. But outside of work we were able to take some nice trips and spend some good family time together. We rented the pop-up camper again but this time stuck a little closer to home, driving just over the bridge and up to the U.P. to Pictured Rocks National Park on Lake Superior.
The weather was spectacular and the camp sites up there are just about unmatched by any we have ever visited. In addition to that trip we spent Spring Break in Florida with my parents, including a one-day jaunt to Disney World and spent our Winter Break in Colorado with Sophie.
Dave paddled down the Green River in Utah with some friends from college and I attended a good friend's wedding in Los Angeles with some of my college friends. Since Dave and I were already so busy with other trips we decided to hold off on our ten year anniversary vacation and are currently planning a trip somewhere warm this coming Spring. 
I am coaching the JV Girls Basketball team at our high school again this year and will be teaching a few German classes at Aquinas College just down the road starting in January.
I am coaching the JV Girls Basketball team at our high school again this year and will be teaching a few German classes at Aquinas College just down the road starting in January. So that should do it for the Hojnacki's this year. We welcome any and all visitors here in Grand Rapids, whether it be for skiing and sledding in the winter or beaching and dune climbing in the summer. We hope to keep in touch with as many of you as possible this year and since I am now a semi-Facebook addict you can find me there if you are likewise inclined. We wish you all a very happy Holiday season!
