A Merry Christmas newsletter!

2016 has had its ups and downs. We lost Mohamed Ali, Prince, John Glenn, and Harambe. And THAT ELECTION THO...

The faces we made through all the news stories of 2016

Mighty Michael!

Our family also had some rough patches, but it has mostly been a great year. Of course the highlight was the healthy home birth of Michael Patrick Sullivan. He is mostly just a big, happy, observant boy who likes people. We all adore his round and jolly self. Far from being neglected as the fourth child, I'm concerned on a daily basis that he may be smothered with love by his siblings.

The Big Three

This has been a year of reading and superheroes for the kids. Diana finally finished her learning-to-read book and has become comfortable enough reading on her own
that she now seeks out opportunities to read to other people. She is eager to learn as much as she can about anything she can, and especially loves science experiments. Liam pours his natural energy into everything he does. He loves to help Joseph work or build things. He spends school time learning to read and write, but his passion this year has been superheroes. Our brave, strong, wildly energetic boy is very much like a superhero himself. Matthew is very bright with the brain of a natural engineer and all the benefits and pitfalls that come with it. He is two years old, which is easy to forget because he is so talkative. Because of his age, he can be incredibly sweet... except when he's not. 😉 He loves to buddy around with his daddy for hours.

Six people and their ride to the Alvord Desert

A year for us wouldn't be complete without traveling. We visited Maui twice for company meetings. Joseph went to Indianapolis for work, vacationed in Mexico (where he narrowly escaped being nibbled on by a shark) for the tenth anniversary of a trip with some friends, and went to northeastern Oregon to hunt elk. We had a fairly slow summer mostly spent in voluntary quarantine thanks to repeat cases of strep. (Poor Joseph was the only one to come down with all the nasty symptoms every time- four times in three months!) After a lot of medical sleuthing, we determined that Matthew was a carrier, but after some intense antibiotics, we seem to have kicked the problem and no one had to have their tonsils out. Despite having strep every two weeks or so, Joseph managed to finish his commercial multi-engine pilot rating so that he could fly out to Ohio and pick up the completely repaired Cessna 340. Having a plane with six seats that can fly almost twice as fast as the smaller Cessna 172 has been grand. Joseph basically looks for opportunities to fly friends and relatives around, and as a family we've flown to Tacoma and the Alvord Desert for day trips and to Skagit Field in Washington to stay the weekend on Whidbey Island.

Our exciting news on the home front is that it looks like we will have a new home very soon! After two years of paperwork and planning, we broke ground on a new house and it is nearly complete. It is a "handsome modern building, well situated on rising ground." (Pop quiz: What book is that quote from?) We hope to be moving in by the end of January 2017. It will be sad to leave the house where our family has grown for the past six years, but it will be oh-so-nice have more than our current 950 square feet for six people. We have definitely outgrown our first house!


We are so grateful for all the blessings that have been showered on our family this past year, including the love of family and friends. And if you are one of the dedicated few who care enough to visit our blog and read a Christmas newsletter, then you're one of our very favorites! (Don't tell the others.) 😉 Merry Christmas and have a happy 2017!

Mommy and Michael 

Diana found an art rock on Whidbey Island

Liam making one of his expressive Cespedes faces

Matthew in the springtime!

The whole family on Maui, December 2016