Can anything else bad happen?

I learned early on in our marriage that Michael and I have to live at least $500 below our monthly income because we are constantly having major expensive breakdowns and accidents. This is partly because Michael and I combine to make an extremely stupid couple and partly because we're just really really unlucky.

Over the past month, my cell phone broke, Michael's cell phone broke, my laptop power cord broke, the laptop touchpad is acting funky, I accidentally ruined our new table, and the blender died.

Last month, someone hit our car while it was parked in the parking lot in front of our building. Our kids also ruined our carpet using pens as drumsticks.

The month before that, we discovered a water leak in the house we're trying to sell in Maryland. Not to mention that we lost the buyer on our house.

Also last year we had the major issue of a slow water leak in our house that forced us to remodel the kitchen, which we never got to enjoy because we moved.

I don't know how anyone manages to save money because even if we live below our means, all of our savings are sucked up by unexpected expenses.

Sorry for a depressing post, but I'm feeling frustrated and depressed...

Dear Family and Friends,

It's time once again to summarize what's been goin' on with us this year. I'm super slow this year, so I'm taking the eletronic route. If you would like a hard copy of our family picture, just let me know and I'll be happy to send one.

At the beginning of this year, Michael started questioning whether or not he wanted to continue working for Plus Three. He applied for a job with another company, but when his bosses at Plus Three found out he was considering leaving, they offered him the position of Vice President of Technology. After accepting this position, Michael decided it would be a good idea for the company to consolidate their technology department in Raleigh, NC since it is a large techology center and relatively inexpensive. This was also a good excuse for us to move back to the South, where the weather is finer and the people are friendlier. Unfortunately, our decision to move coincided with the burst of the housing bubble, so we are living in an apartment in Raleigh while waiting for our house in Maryland to sell. If any of our friends or family are thinking of moving to Silver Spring, MD, we know of a beautiful house with a newly remodeled kitchen for a great price!

Until we moved, Michael continued to teach Seminary to grumpy teenagers at 6:00 in the morning, but now he works with hyperactive Webelos in the Cub Scouts program. This will be good practice for him so he can show our boys how to win all pine wood derbies when they are old enough for Cub Scouts. Continuing his trend of speaking at conferences, he added Norway and Chicago to his scoreboard this year. We feel lucky that he has done much less traveling this year – since moving to Raleigh, he no longer has to make bimonthly trips to New York.

In June, Erin wrapped up a year and a half as Primary president but was pulled right back into Primary as soon as we moved. She now has the less demanding job of Primary teacher for the seven-year-olds. Erin absolutely loves Raleigh and is enjoying exploring the city with her kids. She also started a blog a few months ago to record her experiments with environmentally friendly, non-toxic, and socially responsible living on a budget. Recently, she did an interview about her blog for the quarterly publication of a small non-profit called Co-op America. Check out www.consciousshopper.blogspot.com to read more about her adventures with going green on a budget.

Cole is our handsome five-year-old. He continues to impress us with his intelligence – he now reads well enough to participate in our morning scripture study. He is also an excellent artist and practices his drawing skills for several hours a day. Cole has become a huge fan of rock and punk music. His favorite bands are Fall Out Boy, Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, and Rise Against. He and Eli have started a band called the Banders. In the band, Cole plays a five-string ukelele and lip syncs, and Eli bangs on laundry baskets and break dances.

Eli loves to play the drums and has converted many laundry baskets and trash cans into drum sets. On one sad occasion, he decided that ink pens would make perfect drumsticks – until they exploded all over the carpet in our new apartment. Eli is our most daring eater and insists that he likes spicy food. Michael, Cole, and Eli got to try ice cream with toasted ant sprinkles at the Bugfest in Raleigh this year (yes, you read that right, and yes they were real ants.) Cole, the pickiest member of our family, did not like the ants, but Michael and Eli said they weren't too bad.

Rylan continues to fulfill his role as the cutest member of our family. You may remember from last year's family Christmas picture that he was born with a full head of black hair. After a few months, his roots started to grow in blonde and the tips turned a golden brown, giving his hair a cool highlighted look. Because of that and his natural curls, people were always asking if we took him to a salon. Erin was extremely sad when Rylan finally got his first haircut a month ago. Rylan takes after his father as a huge fan of anything technology-related. We can't get a good picture of him because he goes crazy with excitement whenever he sees a camera. He also loves phones, laptops, and DVD players, but so far has shown little interest in watching TV.

We enjoyed seeing all of our family and many friends this holiday season and wish you all a happy New Year!

Love, Michael, Erin, Cole, Eli, and Rylan

Eli Says...

This one is for my brother.

We were looking at an old family album from 1986, and Eli pointed to a picture of my brother Josh who had really long hair.

Eli: Who's that?

Me: Uncle Josh.

Eli: Then why is he a girl?