Christmas Newsletter

I know it's a bit tacky but here's the newsletter I am mailing out. Who can afford all those stamps!?

The Weinreb Family 2008

We started off the year by making our first-ever trip to Disney World. We went February 9-14th and had a fantastic time. The weather was cool but nice. The kids had a great time and my favorite comment about the trip came from Todd, “This truly is a magical place.” We stayed at the Nickelodeon hotel (I wouldn’t stay there again), spent 3 days at Disney and 1 day at SeaWorld. The kids had a great time and I think next time we’ll go for longer than 5 days. We also went back to Florida to spend Spring Break in Amelia Island with G’ma & G’pa and had a wonderful time there, as usual. Due to some poor customer service from the airline from our Orlando trip, I managed to get 4 free tickets and we used them to go to Chicago in June. We spent 4 days in the windy city with Todd’s aunt & uncle and had so much fun. We went to the zoo, Oz Park, the botanical gardens, downtown Chicago, the Hershey store, American Girl store and spent some quality time with Elaine & Bernie.

We also had several visitors this past year. My dad & step mom, Susan, came in July and we took the opportunity to go to Amelia Island, Florida for a few days. We spent 4 wonderful days down there. They got to enjoy the beach, the kids and got see baby sea turtles hatch and crawl into the ocean. We also got to visit the Georgia Aquarium which was fun too. Our next visitor was my mom. She came in September and we were able to do some tourist stuff. We went to the Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. Many famous Georgians are buried there…Margaret Mitchell, Bobby Jones and rows & rows of confederate soldiers. We then took her to a civil war battlefield, Chickamauga & then drove on into Chattanooga, Tennessee and went to Rock City which was a lot of fun. We tried to hit some yummy restaurants for southern food as well.

Todd was invited to play in a golf tournament in Destin, Florida so we all went down for a weekend in October. While Todd golfed, the kids & I went to the beach. The next day we went to visit my cute cousin Carrie Stephani and her family. We went to the beach together and to dinner. It was a very short visit but it was fun.

Todd is doing well, keeping busy with work and play. He continues to golf a bit and takes an occasional work trip. We are so grateful that he works hard for us. Todd is now the designated driver for Sam and it’s an hour & a half trip & I’m so grateful for his willingness to do it! I am super busy with the house, two kids at two different schools, parent group leader at Sam’s school, my support group and the Young Women’s President. I’ve got a lot of juggling to do but somehow things get done. I got to go to Utah twice this year. I surprised my little sister Erin in May for her wedding. It was fun to be there for her and Salvador. We are excited to have Salvador and the new baby (due any moment) in our family. I went back to Utah in June and went on a sibling vacation with my dad. We got a condo in Park City and spent some quality time together as brothers, sisters and dad. We had a great time. I’m so lucky to have wonderful parents, siblings and in-laws.

Sam (9) has been very busy this year. For the better part of the year he’s had therapy 6 times a week on top of school and play. It made for A LOT of driving. I know he’s so tired of therapy. He’s been in it since birth. He had the opportunity to play baseball on 2 special needs teams this year. The fall ball was so fun because they had “typical” kids teamed up with the special needs kids. It was great. We hope to do it again in the spring. Sam & Abby also participated in Special Pops Tennis this fall too. It’s a wonderful program where they teach special needs kids how to play tennis. After 8 weeks of instruction, they had a Skills Tournament and Sam did well. We will participate in the spring session and hopefully he’ll be able to attend the Georgia Special Olympics. The biggest thing for Sam this year was that we pulled him out of public school because we found a private special needs school, Clearwater Academy, and it has been so great for him. All of Sam’s therapy is done at school so for the first time in many years, he can come home and be a “normal” kid. It’s been such a blessing for all of us. He’s one of 9 kids right now and there are only 3 kids in his class. They have OT, PT, speech and horse therapy done thru the school and they also do therapeutic recreation as well.

Abby (6) has also had a big year as well. She graduated from preschool and has moved on to Kindergarten. Abby attends Woodward Academy, a private school, and it’s about 45 minutes away. She gets to take the bus and has enjoyed that…much more so now that she can take her DS with her. The school is fantastic and offers so many wonderful opportunities for her. She is currently taking piano lessons while at school. Her first recital is in December. Abby is reading on at least a 2nd grade level. So far she’s read Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. She’s doing really well in school and is an excellent student. She is so excited to have several loose teeth as well.

Geez, I guess that’s enough from the Weinrebs. We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and a fantastic new year. We’ve been truly blessed this year. Thank you for being in our lives.

Love to all,
Todd, Kim, Sam, Abby, Newman, Frog 1 & Frog 2