Our year - 2012

December 2012 hit and I was too tired to think of anything to write in a Christmas letter.  We broke tradition and skipped it.  Heck, we ran out of cards and didn't even finish sending them out.  Something tells me we need to try sending New Year's cards.  Or Valentines.   Anyway, now that I've had a few days to sleep in and lounge around I realized that if I don't write down many of the special things about 2012 they will be lost, my memory being what it is.  Our days together are precious.  I need to treat them that way.

Winter of 2012 brought us a lot of pride in our (nearest) city:  Indy hosted the Superbowl, baby!  It was so cool to wander around the Superbowl Village!  On a sad note, our city lost Peyton Manning this year.  I still can't get used to seeing him in a Broncos uniform.  Amy and Dan had the chance to meet him at a fundraiser for the Indianapolis children's hospital that bears his name (Dan takes call there).  That was incredibly cool!

Emma turned 14 this year and started high school!  She loves after-school clubs (Book Club, Art Club, Anime Manga Club...) and art classes.  She volunteers in the nursery at church.  She also participated in the Rite of Confirmation at church this year, which was a beautiful day.  She donated blood this year- twice- for her own use.  She had scoliosis surgery the day after school ended and healed more quickly than we could have imagined!    She also donated a whole lot of hair to Locks of Love.  She had the chance to be a junior bridesmaid in her Aunt Jodi's wedding.  She loves books, drawing and Pokemon.  She also really likes corn dogs.

Daniel had his 12th birthday in March.  He plays percussion at school and recently started playing at church a few times a month, too.  He also serves as an acolyte (altar boy).  He plays football and earned his second degree (youth) black belt.  He loves to play video games, build Lego sets and, surprisingly, read!  He also had a fantasy football team with Daddy and religiously checked the NFL stats all season.  He is always asking us to take him to Taco Bell.

Noah, age 10, was excited to have his braces removed this year!   He still wears a retainer, which has been crunched a few times.  He wears glasses that his siblings also frequently help bend and break.  He played baseball this year.  He enjoys video games of all types.  He loves to play with Legos, play checkers and to read, especially The City of Ember series.  He is grateful for opportunities to have some quiet..which you can imagine are few and far between.  He is a 4th grader at Eagle Elementary school...his last year before junior high (*sniff*).  His favorite food is pizza paired with Sprite.

Daniel, Luke, Noah and a bunch of Legos

Noah with his invention...The Twin Toothbrush!

Luke is 5 now!  He attends Pre-K at our church preschool.  He loves to draw and can often  be found with a fistful of markers.  He loved playing T-ball this spring and was really excited when his big brother Daniel volunteered to help with the team.  He took swimming lessons and learned to swim this summer!  He loves everything the big boys love:  video games, Legos, and OH how he loves Star Wars.  He is so lucky to have Daddy's, Daniel's AND Noah's previously-loved Star Wars toys - some of which are still in one piece.   His favorite food is a chicken nuggets Happy Meal from McDonald's.  He also waits for Mommy to get on the phone so he can sneak candy.

Luke, ring bearer at Aunt Jodi's wedding in November

Leah is a very big girl at three.  Our baby girl is ALL girl.  We have been amazed to watch her morph into a creature that insists on pink...everything.  She loves Barbies, Dora the Explorer, horses and a Nick Jr. show called Peppa Pig. She will work on puzzles for ages.  She also has a love of finding anything in the house that she likes and sneaking it into her room.  Missing something?  Check under Leah's bed.  She says her favorite food is nuggets and fries from McDonald's but the girl asks for soup night and day so I'm not so sure that McMeals are really it.

Amy and Dan had a milestone birthday AND a milestone anniversary to celebrate this year !   Dan traveled to Kenya on a medical mission trip, something he's always wanted to do.  He ran the Indy 500 mini-marathon again this year.  He also had a GREAT time watching Notre Dame football!  I have continued to work on giving our home a big makeover.  I spend wayyyy too much time scraping wallpaper and pondering paint chips, but I kind of love it.  There's something very satisfying about a nice "before and after,"  when so much of a mother's work is so short-lived.  We are so blessed.

The last of Amy and Dan's grandparents moved on to Heaven.  We are sure that Grandpa Krou has found Heaven's best fishing spot.  We miss him.

We hope that you are all enjoying this Christmas season as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.  Happy 2013!

Watch for Dan, Daniel and Noah at the BCS Championship Bowl Game...they'll be there, rooting for the Irish!

God Bless You,

The Fulkersons