Beloved,
We trust this finds you well. It’s been a good year and I enjoy taking the
time to look in the rearview mirror and see how faithful and good God has
been. Here’s a little update on our six-pack.
Colombo (C4) will be 18 next month.
He’s been working at Dairy Queen since April and recently started dating a
lovely girl from church. We’re looking forward to watching him on the ice this
season. He’s a senior and smack in the middle of all things college. It seems impossible that our days with him as
we know it are numbered, and the tears come easily when I think of the changes
the next 12 months hold. Truly, the days
are long, but the years are short. So
many years spent in the parenting trenches of diapers, toddlers, school days, taxi-ing,
disciplinging, meals, baths, dishes, bandaging, kissing boo-boos, breaking up
fights. laundry, busy, busy, busy- and then you come up for a breath, and
poof! He’s 18 and getting ready for
college. Cue the tears. Anyway…moving on… He is honest and trustworthy and we tell him often
what a delight he is to parent.
Madison,
15, is a sophomore and after a year at East Catholic High School, she is now
back home for school doing Liberty University Online Academy. It’s a great fit for her and we love having
her home. This decision affords her more
time to focus on dance. She takes tap, jazz, lyrical, ballet, and contemporary.
She teaches at the studio and choregraphs more and more. In March she won the Teen Miss Dance of
Connecticut title, qualifying her for the National competition in June. She, Renna, and I spent 12 days in Nashville,
where Maddy took 5th place- a huge triumph for her. She is caring, avoids drama, and is a
constant encourager and helper.
Nathanael turned 13, so half the kids
are teenagers! He’s in 8th
grade and planning to go to East Catholic next year. His main sport is hockey,
though he plays rec soccer in the spring.
He spent the first half of the year working on his Rubix Cube and juggling
skills, and more recently has spent hours learning and perfecting many card and
magic tricks. He got certified as a hockey referee and also perfected his
chocolate chip cookie recipe. He is
considerate of others and always willing to help.
Trevor, 10, is in the 5th
grade. He’s a diligent student and his
favorite subject is math. He is in his
fourth year of jazz with Madison as his teacher and takes a hip hop class. He loves swimming, the trampoline, and having
his buddy sleep over on the weekend. He
holds the title of ‘only right-handed kid in the family’. He is random, entertaining, and a talented
singer. He sings a solo in our upcoming
Christmas production. He says when he
grows up he wants to be C4.
Rocco, 7, is in 2nd grade
and lost his first two teeth, with a few others now loose. He loved playing baseball in the spring and
is currently loving his first year on a hockey team. He enjoys Legos, Rummy 500, and all of his
“guys” and “friends”. His blue eyes melt
me and it’s just the cutest when he sits with his legs crossed. That boy is sweet, affectionate, and notices
the little things.
Renna, 4, learned to ride a
two-wheeler this summer. She suffered a
scary eye injury on her bike, which could have been so much worse, but after
several specialists and testing, we are so thankful that she only has a tiny
scar and big story to tell. She
cartwheels an average of 62 times a day.
She takes a tap and an acro class and is a strong, athletic girl. She loves doing things with “just only da
girls”, which includes Maddy and me. She
flits and bounces around the house- sometimes while whistling- and rarely stops
moving unless there’s a screen to watch.
Colombo
and I had a milestone year- our 40/40/20 year.
We celebrated our 20th anniversary in October. It hasn’t been perfect, but we’ve been true to
our vows and our commitment has gotten us through some difficult times. We are grateful for a Faithful Father, an
incredible support system, and for so much love and good and sweetness along
the way. We often look at each other and
say, “We have a good life, don’t we?” Colombo
will turn 40 in January and I turned 40 last month. Colombo threw me a beautiful surprise
(shock!) party. We have a trip to Aruba
planned in Januarty to celebrate our 40/40/20.
Colombo just hit 15 years in his
business, still operating from his home office.
He serves on the church board, coaches Rocco’s hockey team, plays men’s
league hockey, and Crossfits. He travelled
to Peru in May for the 2nd time for the purpose of building a church
in the jungle.
I’m still involved with LightsUp
Productions, touring Mystery this past August and September and our brand new
Christmas show will launch on Dec. 16th. I
still homeschool, Crossfit, serve, cook, clean, kiss, taxi, wipe, plant,
launder, coordinate, volunteer, arbitrate, listen, blog, correspond,
arrange…you know- I’m a mom. And since I
had the itch for some more nurturing, we added a Golden Retriever to our chaos
in May. Bauer is a good dog who still
finds plenty of puppy trouble.
In addition to various weekend trips,
our travels took us to the cabin in Maine in June, back to Maine for a fun
family wedding in August, Cape Cod in August (a week gifted to us by friends),
California without kids in October, Nashville, New Hampshire, and I was able to
recently visit my younger sister and her family in Texas where I met my newest
neice, Willow Holland.
Our
wish for you this Christmas season is for health and happiness. May your home be filled with laughter, love,
and peace. May JOY be your anthem this
season and in the coming year.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Colombo, Amy, C4, Maddy, Fan-Man, Trevor, Rocco, &
Renna DiSalvatore
