Season Greetings From the Fyfe Family!

Welcome to the first (and possibly annual - we'll have to see about that) Fyfe Family Christmas Home Page. We have never sent out Christmas Letters with our Christmas Cards, but with this technology and the ability to show graphics and color without having to print and make copies, we couldn't resist trying something new! Hope this isn't too boring. Next year we might try something more exciting!

The theme of this years page is "Growth Spurts". Take a few minutes and see how our family (Well Abby and Rachel anyway) have grown throughout the year. We'll begin with the first major event of theyear for our family... The birth of Abby Marie!

Abby Marie was born on April 2nd four days before her due date, and began her growing at 9 lbs 9 oz and 20". We speculate that she would have grown even bigger had we waited (Rachel was over 10 lbs). The picture was taken on April 6. As the picture shows, one of the advantages of having a bigger baby is that they are usually well filled out, and don't seem so "breakable". Rachel was very excited to have a little sister, and has "grown" into her new responcibilities well. Almost too well sometimes!

Abby immediately "grew" into her role in the family as well. She quickly learned tasks like crying, rolling over, getting poked in the belly and of course being held against her will by her older sister. It was only the beginning of several months of growing and learning.

July 10

July 10th was Rachel's third birthday. Her big present this year was her first bike. After a lot of practice, Rachel actually pedalled all the way around the block by herself. A small accident, however, has reduced her interest in pedalling. She likes sitting on her bike, but having it move still has her a little nervous. We are hoping that a long winter will remove that experience from her memory! Rachel has spent this year growing from a toddler into a young girl. She still has many fits and tantrums that you would associate with a toddler, but she is also doing things such as going to birthday parties and Sunday School (no more toddler nursery for her!). She is currently learning to count and can write the letters of her name. Sometimes they are even legible and in order! Rachel is pictured here around her birthday with her friend Megan, and as the shirt suggests, they are best friends. Its a good thing too, because Rachel is pretty shy. She does things with Megan that she would never do by herself.

At this point, Abby is now just over 3 months old, and we are all adjusted to having her in the family... most of the time. Abby is now old enough to be able to do some tricks and be entertaining to all of us.

August 1

Following Rachel's birthday, Abby "grew" into another experience. Her first vacation and long car ride. Both girls proved to be good travelers as we drove to Colorado. They were also pretty good hikers...they hardly had to walk at all! We still think that Rachel could walk more than she did - we have seen her run around the house and up the stairs! She won't have any choice the next time. She has definately grown out of the backpack that she rode in last summer (either that or she had better get Dad on a weight training program!). Colorado has become a favorite vacation spot for us so we hope that the girls grow into good little hikers!

October 31

The second half of the year was spent doing some more growing and learning new tricks. As can be seen in her picture, Abby could sit up and was very close to crawling by Halloween (six months). She had also developed a pretty good smile and has been quick to use it. She has made many an adult's day with her quick smile and laugh. She is beginning to make more sounds as well. Much to her mother's dismay, she says something that sounds distinctly like Da Da. We are working on Ma Ma. Rachel also continued to learn and grow. She is learning to be more gentle with Abby (something she still needs to work on). She is getting better with her numbers, and her letters are looking more and more like her name. She still needs to work on the order though!

December 10

As we come to the end of the year, Abby is now 8 1/2 months, and has two teeth. She can now crawl at a very fast rate, as we learn over and over again when we leave the hallway door open and she decides to head for the stairs! Under supervision, she has managed to crawl up the stairs all by herself. She has not yet managed to get by our watch and attempt the climb without supervision! She also now enjoys pulling herself up on just about everything and moving around on her feet. One of her favorite places is under the kitchen table. We are distressed that this means that she might start walking early. We aren'tsure if we are ready for that! She also enjoys baths now that we have moved her into the tub with a ring for support. She even tries to lift her leg over the side to get in, but her legs just aren't quite big enough (She has a little more growing to do). She also needs to do some work on the Ma Ma thing - but her mother is working very hard on that one! If you want to get a big smile out of Abby, next time you see her, ask her "How big is Abby?"... Answer: "SOOO Big!". Rachel is almost half way to her fourth birthday and GULP pre school. Actually she wants to skip preschool and start kindergarten. Anything to be able to go to school like Daddy does. Over the year she has grown out of her diapers, and into dresses and jeans. And she has grown into liking "make up" and getting her hair curled (although combing it can still be trying at times). She is now able to memorize her AWANA verses and knows her Sunday School songs by heart (too bad she is too shy to sing them up on stage!). So much growing... and there's only more to come!

Hope you enjoyed this year of growth spurts with the Fyfe family. Next year we will try to be more exciting - Rachel will probably be ready to do the page herself!

Merry Christmas!