2023 has been a most excellent year. We are loving our Gilmore Girls-esque life in New England. We have made the very best of friends, and truly are at home in Wilbraham. We poured time and money into our house to get some major fixes in (foundation work, mini-splits, and insulation/vapor barrier work). Also got some smaller wins where revamped the small bathroom, and wallpapered the tv room! We still have a long way to go, but are learning so much and really enjoying the process. We got an Australian shepherd puppy early in the year who is currently in his terrible teens, but is still such a good boy. We have done lot’s of training, and he went from being pretty reactive, to about as chill as a herding dog gets. We went on several family trips, spending a lot of the summer going to the lake or beach with friends, and going to Disney in the fall!

Anna- I feel like I’ve grown so much this year. From finally finding a good physical therapist who helped me consistently reduce the pain I’ve had since having kids, to learning new skills, it’s been a great year. I’m currently enjoying some fun-employment which has given me time to work on some projects, and hoping a new job works out in the new year. I’ve felt really accomplished though, both in my career and outside of it. New skills I learned this year include crochet, playing the tenor banjo, replacing a ceiling, wallpapering, and woodworking.

Bradley- He has been learning SO MUCH! This year has been about slowly acquiring tools, and skills in preparation to do some more house projects! He picked up stained glass, some woodworking, and a lot of knowledge so that we can make our long term game plan on how to do the projects correctly. He coordinated all the work that was done throughout the year. He’s also made great progress on his bagpiping! He plays the Uilleann pipes mostly, and in my opinion is quite good. He also got a set of small pipes, and has been learning all sorts of instruments as he helps the rest of us with our practicing.William-

William has been incredibly busy this year, getting good at swimming (he is now on swim team), playing the cello, reading an incredible amount of books, and playing and beating some favorite video games (Zelda TOTK, Fortnite, and Mariokart are faves).He continues to love school in third grade and has a really great teacher, and has made a lot of great friends.

Shallan-She is our social butterfly princess. She is in Kindergarten now and loving it! She has been learning to play the accordion, doing tons and tons of crafts, and plans birthday parties for her stuffed animals regularly. She has endless energy and loves to do activities every single day, and makes every day more special. She loves her friends and shares all the kindergarten kid drama daily.