Derek Curtis Family Holiday Letter

January 1, 2008

Merry Christmas friends and family,

We’ve been blessed to be together as a family for the whole year, which is as much a s a military family can hope for. Here’s a rundown on what we’re up to:

DJ is two years old and living up to it. He’s learning to converse and is getting really good at it. He is busy doing things all the time. He tries to be independent but tends to make large messes in the process. He is however an incredibly loveable child. He goes to people, smiles and plays with them. We’ve noticed that since we returned to the states, he especially likes to go to Asian women, as he used to be picked up and played with by Korean women on the Subway in Seoul. DJ also yells “Hockey!” every time he sees a sport of any kind on TV, which makes his father happy.

Michael is turning four in a couple weeks. It’s fun just to listen to him talk. He says the funniest things and is a gifted story teller. His prayers are also highlight reel material. He loves to dress up as Superman and play with action figures. His whole life is a fantasy being played out in real life. He also has a bit of a negative disposition in life, which we try not to talk about for fear of labeling the kid. He sometimes informs us that all hope is lost when things don’t go as planned.

Janina is the girliest girl that one could encounter in a house overrun with boys. She just turned five last week where she got a doll and clothes and makeup. She is in pre-K and loving every minute of it. She wears dresses to school because that’s what she likes. She’ll actually be going to a different school when school comes back in session. She was going to a school across town, but we put her on a waiting list to get into Kennedy Elementary, which is the same school Jonathan goes to. It should make life easier and save on gas. She’s excited to go to the new school so far, we’ll see how she is on the first day. She has grown a lot this year. She used to never talk to kids other than her siblings, and now she is further out of her shell.

Jonathan didn’t make the age cut off for Kindergarten in Oklahoma, so we put him in Kindergarten again and it’s made a lot of difference. He’s confident, happy, and excited every day to go to another day of school. He didn’t have the greatest experience last year in Korea and is doing much better this year. He’s learning to read, but his true strength is in mathematical skills. He’s hilarious as he is still enunciating every word and he uses adult language as a six year old. He is also by far our loudest child; his voice carries throughout the whole house, much to his parent’s dismay. He loves to wear suits to church, so we got him a new one for Christmas. He also got a remote control helicopter, after crashing it into the Christmas tree and removing parts of our ceiling, he now has if flying pretty well. All in all he’s a fun child to have.

Jenn has been keeping herself busy this year. She is involved in Jonathan’s classroom and the PTA. She has put in between 100-200 hours. She is really enjoying herself, meeting new friends and returning to the school environment. She hasn’t been as involved in a school since she last taught in 2000-2001. We are also expecting our fifth child in June, which is also keeping her busy, but not in the same way. Our kids are all dead set on this child being a girl, even though we’ve tried to convey the other half of the odds.

Derek applied for a commissioning program and was accepted in April. Our two year tour to Korea was cut a year short as we left Korea in late July. The program allows Derek to go to school for two years while earning a salary from the Army. We have to pay for tuition and books, but we get the salary, and benefits. So we’re being taken care of while Derek finishes a Master degree in Human Relations. We got to choose the school and we looked in California and Utah but couldn’t find a school that allowed us to finish the degree in two years. So we settled on the University of Oklahoma. On our way home from Korea we stopped in San Jose. The plan was to see San Francisco and tour, since my children have never seen the area where I grew up, but Grandma Curtis and Kendra were there teaching summer school and Derek’s best friends parents were there, so it turned into more of a visiting people vacation rather than a visiting places vacation. We did however see the Golden Gate Bridge. When he’s not doing homework Derek is watching the Sharks play. Yes, he’s a die hard San Jose Sharks fan

So now we’re in Norman, Oklahoma and loving it. Oklahoma doesn’t have the mountains that we’re used to, but the people are amongst the nicest that we’ve encountered and we’re keeping Oklahoma on our short list of places to retire to after the military. We’re enjoying the place the people and the football is growing on us, well at least Derek.

All in all it’s been a great year, have a Happy New Year as we look forward to another great year.