Holiday Letter 2008

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

This year has been a very busy and fun year for our family…

In January, Regan turned 5 and had a fantastic tea party to celebrate. Our basement in our new house was perfect for the occasion. The girls wore beautiful dresses and Regan enjoyed serving tea to all of her guests!

In January, Doug finished his “Man Room” (which I call the theater room) with official Steelers paint and an amazing ceiling projector just in time to host the super bowl party. That room has already seen many parties, poker games and movie nights this year. And, of course, playing the wii is a lot of fun with such a huge screen!

In March, we celebrated St. Patrick’s day at M’Coul’s Pub as I was a finalist for their limerick contest. After reciting the limerick to the crowd, the judges declared me the winner… Aidan wanted me to win first place so we could get the two night’s stay at Atlantic Beach. And, I did not disappoint him!

A couple weeks later, we drove up to Pittsburgh to celebrate Easter with Doug’s family. It was great seeing the cousins having so much fun. Coloring Easter eggs, the Easter egg hunt and eating Aunt Tracy’s cute bunny cookies were the best!

In April, my sister Liza traveled to the states to visit. We had a great time shopping, going to the Heritage Festival and even organizing my bathroom and garage. What a sister!

In May, Regan and I flew to NY City to meet my sister Greta, her daughter Kadia and my mom. Greta, as well as many other vacationers from France, was excited to shop in the states since it was such a “bargain” with the USD/Euro exchange rate! We had a great time visiting them, seeing the sites and shopping…. (And, shopping, and shopping!)

Later in the month, Doug went to California for a friend’s wedding which, of course, included some fun times in Vegas with his Notre Dame friends. While Doug was away, his parents came to visit NC for Regan’s dance recital. Regan danced beautifully and enjoyed the spotlight!

Before month’s end, we took advantage of the hotel stay I won for the limerick contest and went to Atlantic Beach for Memorial Day weekend. The kids had a blast visiting the aquarium, jumping waves and digging deep holes in the sand. Aidan even took a surfing lesson from Surfer Joe!

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Pittsburgh. We had a great time going to Kennywood amusement park with Doug’s parents. It was also good to visit with Doug’s grandma. The kids sweetly held her hands. Regan, especially, loved to sit and visit with “Great, Great Regan Grandma”.

In August, the kids started school. Aidan is in the 2nd grade and Regan started kindergarten. They are growing up so fast! Soccer, baseball, basketball, dance, church school and school activities keep us quite busy!

Doug and I also went to our 20 year high school reunions this year. In August, we traveled to Dayton, Ohio for mine and in September, we traveled back up to Pittsburgh for Doug’s. Both parties were a lot of fun. We even stayed in Pittsburgh an extra day to go to a Monday night Steelers game!

In October, Aidan turned 8. We celebrated with a Star Wars Jedi Training party. Star ship flight practice and light saber training were a few of the many, fun activities at the party…

For Thanksgiving we went to Florida. As luck would have it, my parents were there over much of the same time and went to Disney with us. We also traveled down to Ft. Lauderdale to visit my Uncle Gerard on his birthday… He took us out sailing on his boat… We didn’t have much wind for sailing but the kids enjoyed driving the boat under Captain Gerard’s direction. On Thanksgiving Day, we met up with Doug’s brother Don and family at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. What fun!

For Christmas and New Years, we are excited to have my family (parents, sisters, niece, brother-in-law and boyfriend) visit us! I’m not sure how we got five people to fly from Paris, France to Greensboro, NC, but we did… And, I couldn’t be happier!

May your holidays be wonderful and bright!!

Love,
Doug, Lara, Aidan & Regan

A Disney Thanksgiving...

Here are the pics and a couple of videos from Orlando... We arrived Saturday evening and met up with my parents for dinner. The first two days of Disney, we went to Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Then on Tuesday, we took a break and drove down to a much warmer part of Florida, Ft Lauderdale. There we went sailing with my Uncle Gerard. The next morning, Doug and Aidan returned to Orlando early and went to DisneyQuest.

On Thanksgiving, my parents flew back home but we met up with Doug's brother, Don, and his family in Magic Kingdom. Regan also got a princess makeover at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in the castle and we ended the day with a Thanksgiving dinner in the Akershus Palace in Epcot. Friday was our last day in the parks and the kids were both lucky to be picked for Jedi Training in Hollywood Studios! Here are the pics and videos!



Aidan wouldn't go to the Dark Side... Here's his battle to prove it!



Here is Princess Regan taking on Darth Vadar...

A Sailing Adventure...

Here are the pics from our sailing trip with Uncle Gerard... We got to sail, fish and celebrate Gerard's birthday!!

A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Aidan's assignment in computer lab today was to write his version of a story called "A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". I hope he doesn't have many bad days like this one. This is what he wrote:

A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
By Aidan Heberle, Age 8

This morning when I
went to eat my cereal,
I spilled my milk on my cat
and my mom said I had to clean it up.
It was a terrible, horrible,
no good, very bad day.

When I went to school,
I started to talk
and the teacher caught me.
It was a terrible, horrible,
no good, very bad day.

I fell down on the playground
and no one helped me.
It was a terrible, horrible,
no good, very bad day.

And, then my sister
got to be in the newspaper!
It was a terrible, horrible,
no good, very bad day.

Finally, I tripped over all my toys.
It was a terrible, horrible,
no good, very bad day.


(Note, no animals were harmed in the writing of this story. We don't have a cat! But, Aidan's sister has had her picture in the newspaper several times...)

I love it when Regan draws...

Regan gets so involved in her artwork. She just created this masterpiece just for me!

When I told her I was going to scan her picture, she followed me to the computer to see what I meant. After the scanner finished making the noises that scanners make, she saw her picture on the computer. It was then that I realized that she was a little concerned... Regan thought that her original would be gone from the paper. The computer took it, right? She wouldn't believe that her paper wasn't blank until I took it out of the scanner to show her...

Too funny!

How do you pack "more fun" into one weekend?

Well, I'll tell you...

First, you go trick-or-treating with the kids. Then, you get dressed up in crazy costumes and go out with your friends. The next day, you take the kids to a fall festival with cotton candy, face painting and games. And, finally, on Sunday, you go to a soccer party and follow it up with a.....

Cheetah Girls Concert!

Both Aidan & Regan enjoyed the concert. It was a little loud and the opening acts were a little screechy. But, each child (Regan, Aidan, Brooke, Alyssa and Erin) "partied like a rock star".

Wow... It's good that the weekend is over. I can get some rest now! =)

Trick-Or-Treat... (and Captain Underpants takes on the night!)

Regan started out as a kitty... but at the last moment switched out to a Cinderella costume... Aidan was super cool as Jango Fett from Star Wars...

Our new subdivision, Highstream, is the perfect place to go trick-or-treating. So, many houses were decked out! Next year, I'll have to have more halloween decorations out to add to the festivities...

Later, we joined our friends in their subdivision, Old Fox Trail. That place was a MAD HOUSE!! Traffic in and out was at a dead stop and required our traffic guiding skills to get people moving... (Seriously, no one was moving. So, Doug and I had to direct traffic in order to get OUT of that subdivision. Crazy!)

Even later, Doug and I went downtown to M'Coul's and the Green Burro for some halloween fun of our own... We met up with Jenny and Ben Bradford and Jason Pierce and his friend Jennifer. Doug went as CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS! and I went as Lara Croft...

Doug's costume solicited MANY laughs and a lot of attention. Even if people didn't know of Captain Underpants, they really enjoyed his costume.

Here are the pics!