Merry Christmas from the Ireton�s

We have enjoyed our first year in our newly remodeled house.� We moved in just before Christmas last year and finished up a few details over the following months.� It�s hard to believe that we lived in the basement for over two years, not the way we planned it.�

Kaylee is now a junior at Lincoln, which reminds us that college is just around the corner.� She loves her German class and will spend a month in Germany in July, attending classes and touring with other students.� This is her third year on the Speech & Debate team and she won in her first tournament.� Kaylee has continued Taekwondo and hopes to earn her black belt in February.� She also takes guitar lessons and was on the �tech� crew for a school play.� She is looking forward to getting her braces off in December.

Kyle has adapted to high school as a freshman.� Soon he will be the tallest in the family, as he is quickly overtaking Mark.� He had a great year in football as the starting center on the undefeated freshman team.� This year he decided to try wrestling and while the workouts are quite challenging, his football and weight training have prepared him well.� He continues to advance in Boy Scouts and is currently the assistant senior patrol leader.� Kyle also played Lacrosse in the spring and is working on his black belt in Taekwondo.

Eric is in seventh grade at West Sylvan and is busier than ever.� This fall he participated in football, soccer, cross-country, Taekwondo, and scouts.� He loved every minute, but decided to scale back a little bit on activities.� On his football team, he was starting noseguard, played a variety of defensive positions, and did an excellent job at center on offense.� He is just starting his basketball season with Shelley as his assistant coach.� In the spring he played baseball, playing at catcher, third base, and pitcher.� In a show of team unity, he bleached his hair for the all-star team.� This year he switched to the baritone saxophone for his school band.

Shelley finished up some remodeling projects earlier this year, two decks and tile work for a fireplace and bathroom.� She stays busy with kid and volunteer activities.� Then there are the never-ending challenges of taxi service and household operations.� She continues to take long walks, plays some indoor soccer, and got away to go fishing a few times.� She caught a 15 lb. salmon (netted by neighbor Anne) and netted a 16 pounder for her walking partner, Dina.

Mark took a different job within Tektronix, now working in the customer service unit on business and technical processes.� It is a big change from manufacturing and he is learning a lot.� He has done a couple of projects on his Mustang, but progress has been slow since summer.� His knees are still holding up, so he runs a couple times a week.

We didn�t do a lot of traveling this year, as the kid activities keep us occupied, but did make it over to Idaho a couple of times.� We also spent several weekends at our river place.� The highlights of our year are always visits with friends and family that we don�t see often enough.�

We hope you are all doing well.� Love,

Mark, Shelley, Kaylee, Kyle & Eric