Eldridge Family Christmas Letter ...

Ah, the family Christmas letter.  I will now regale you with stories of family perfection reserved for this special annual tradition.  If you believe that, then you don't know me very well. LOL!  Exciting, sorrow, gratitude, love, surprise.  These are just a few of the emotions our family has experienced this past year. The boys ...  Mr. Caden.  Caden is referred to as "Pearl" these days, aka Will Ferrell and a foul mouthed little 2 year old in his online skits.  While Caden is not foul mouthed, he is a sassy independant 21 month old.  Being the youngest of three boys, Caden has no trouble keeping up with his older brothers, digging in his little heels, pointing, and shouting jibberish at them in complete disgust.  We're slowly starting to understand what he's saying ... and I have to admit, he's my son.  Caden says goodbye to his brothers every morning and he and I pal around during the days.  His sweet smile melts me every time and his antics are entertaining.  He loves "cars", his brothers, blankie (nigh-nigh), squeels "DADDY!" when Jon walks in the door every evening, and yes, he still loves his bottle (ba-ba) at nigh-nigh time.  I think he will be off the bottle when he's 16.    

Bradyn graduated from kindergarten this year!  He had an absolutely amazing kindergarten teacher (thank you Mrs. Carlson!) and loved school.  Despite the fact we moved to Colorado when there were only three weeks left of school, he made fast friends.  Bradyn continues to be my little social monkey, and I predict politics will be in his future.  Despite his size (he's ENORMOUS!), he's a "gentle giant" with the most tender heart.  He is now in first grade and doing amazingly well.  We predicted community college for him one day, but I think we might have another Harvard applicant on our hands.Bradyn loves his friends, his DS, Bakugan, WII, Club Penguin, and some days even his older brother Drew.

Drew, oh Drew.  Yes, he is rolling his eyes at me in this picture and I suspect this trend will continue for most photos until he is at least 18.  Drew is in his "awkward" phase navigating the rigors of 6th grade and Middle School.  He's sort of a cross between Eminem and Napolean Dynamite these days.  Jon and I are navigating having a pre-teen and trying not to cramp his style.  He spends alot of time on the phone with his Uncle Josh.  Thank you Uncle Josh.  Despite it all, he continues to be an amazing student  and has all honors classes. Drew played football again this fall and loved it, as usual.  His Nana even flew in from Utah for a weekend to see him play!  Drew started playing the saxaphone in his school band.  He's AMAZING and I am really impressed.   Drew loves the computer, the military channel, national geographic, and all things history.  He tolerates his parents, but it all evens out with what an amazing big brother he is. He even babysits them for short stints (which I LOVE), and he only filled Caden's sippy cup with Mountain Dew High Voltage once.  Caden fell asleep three days later.

Jon's company transferred him to a new client in May.  We moved from New Hampshire to Colorado in May  We love Colorado and Jon loves his 7 minute commute rather than his 2.5 hour commute to Massachussets every day.  Along with the commute, he loves his new client so no complaints on the job front.  Jon was an assistant coach for Drew's football team this fall and he was in heaven.  Jon has a new vendor that gave him 2 tickets to see his beloved Patriots battle the Broncos at Invesco Field.  Patriots lost, Jon was in mourning, but he survived. Jon is the ward activities committee director (which really means I am), and is happy to say we have had two successful activites ... also the shortest activities in ward history.  Everyone is fed and it's cleaned up in three hours! LOL!

As for me, I was appointed by the mayor and city council to be on the School Board our last six months in New Hampshire, and apparently I didn't get enough.  I volunteered and was elected to be on the School Improvement Team at Bradyn's school in the Fall as one of two parent reps.  In my spare time I'm the delegated "party planner" for Bradyn's first grade classroom, run two carpools a day to the Middle School and Elementary School, and I started teaching voice lessons again (I really missed that and am loving it!).  I'm officially a member of a monthly Bunco group with some great women.  Other than that, I spend my days with "Pearl" aka, Caden and am so grateful I can stay home with my boys.  Well, it's time for "ba-ba" and "nigh-nigh" for Caden, and I'm pretty sure my laundry pile pro-creates if I don't watch it every second, so time to cut this short. 

We miss our family and friends in New England dearly, and are grateful for e-mail and facebook to stay in touch.  There are more blessings in our family this year than I can begin to count.  We hope this holiday season finds your families healthy and happy as you celebrate the birth of our Savior. We love you all!

Jon, Cortney, Drew, Bradyn, Caden, and Caesar (woof!)