A year in a blink! 2010 Highlights.

As one would imagine, the first picture of 201o - in the dead of a MN winter - involves snow. This is the first snowperson our family has constructed and is proud of. If I remember correctly, Jackson deemed her "Linda."

SSullivan turns one and hosts a pajama party to celebrate the occasion.

Easter this year is celebrated with our dear friends, the Lindloffs. Pictures here are the two boys of that family, Truman and Cameron, along with our boys!Jackson turns 3 and gets the biggest present of his lifetime: a bicycle! Jackson's first carousel ride - at the Columbus Zoo (thanks, Gma!)Sullivan's first haircut - FEARLESSSullivan's first pony ride - FEARLESS (Jackson was given the option to get in the saddle first and declined) Jackson's first fireworks display on the 4th of July - at Indian Lake in OH enjoying the Arthur Famiyl ReunionScott undertakes three triathlons this summer: here he is with partner in crime (or shall I say "wetsuit"), Troy Lindloff. This was in Bemidji, further north in MN.W hosted our first annual adult-only goofy summer Olympic party. Wish we got more action shots: the costumes and bocci/badminton/croquet/water balloon competion were hilarious.Sullivan's first ice cream cone. He hated it, as you can tell. :)Tricia runs the Chicago marathon 10/10/10. This is her pictured minutes before the race begins waiting in a - can you guess? - port a pot line. "TRISH" on shirt to encourage spectators to cheer her on by name!Dad becomes ill at the end of August and the Arthurs, along with Dad, Nancye, and Nancye's children & families, make it a priority to enjoy a vacation with him in Hilton Head, SC (Oct). It was great quality time.Kids enjoy their monkey and frog costumes.Dad, very proud of his pumpkin carving, shows off the results. (NOTE: pie pumpkins grouped together grown from the Arthur vegetable garden!)One of my personal favorite moments of the year. Dipping our buckeyes (peanut butter balls, for KY folk) in chocolate. (notice the cute aprons, thanks Gma and Becky!) Blizzard hits MN mid December. 18 inches. Shoveling at all before the 30 hour period of solid snowfall was over seemed like raking leaves when the trees are still half-full: POINTLESS. Fortunately, we looked miserable enough when we finally DID get out there to envoke pity from a snow-blowing neighbor. Thank goodness for neighbors with snow removal toys :) Here's Sullivan, eating it up (for about 7 minutes). Wish I had more photos of the accumulation!

And in closing, we spent a second Christmas in Sarasota, FL, where my aunt, uncle, cousin, and grandparents reside. Great times had by all. Here, our family took a little mini trip to the beach... quite a contrast to my previous description!

Christmas Letter 2010... Hot off the press!

In an effort to both keep it simple and be greener, we have chosen the electronic method of communicating our holiday cheer! We had plans to hit up the copy store today to get the letters and Jackson's artwork copies, following by a drugstore to print the pictures, followed by lots of address-writing and stamp-sticking. I decided on a nap, instead.

Enjoy!

Merry Christmas to all,

There’s one thing I’ve learned in all of the 31 holiday seasons I’ve experienced on this earth: some things get left undone, hence the reason that no one received Christmas cards from the Arthurs last year. Forgive us. This year, Scott has encouraged me to get one out. For being a guy, he TOTALLY loves the annual updates from friends near and particularly ones far.

Let’s start with what’s important… the boys:

Sullivan: Loves water, therefore loves the bath. Loves to be tickled under the neck. Loves carbohydrates (baked goods are his weakness!). Loves anything round and that rolls. Loves blocks and stacking. Hits his brother. Loves music… new favorite dance move: stepping backwards (he thinks it’s so cool). Loves being turned upside down. Refuses to talk: grunts and whines instead. Loves sneaking items in laundry basket, then having Mom discover them (boots, toys, etc) once already in dryer. Loves the thrill of jumping/slipping/falling off of anything elevated. Loves shoes (a fetish, for sure!). Loves playing hide and seek.

Jackson: Loves games. Any game: Candyland, Hi Ho Cherryo, Memory…you name it. Playing games = playing with other people = Jackson is not alone. Loves people and craves that social attention. Loves gymnastics. Petrified of swimming this year, but lessons helped him along. Sweet to his brother (unless getting hit). Loves getting fruit snacks for his success at potty training (#1 = 1 fruit snack #2 = 2 fruit snacks). Loves reading. Loves pretending (again, WITH someone else). Loves preschool and his teachers. Loves playing tennis with his dad and anything else: soccer, basketball… you name it!

Scott and I have been married for six years and – excuse the mushiness – lean on each other/ fall in love with each other more and more with each passing day. This is no new news to any of you, but life is dang hard… and what a joy to stumble through it with each other. We are humbled and scared out of our minds daily by the task of constructing a home and a life and a foundation for our children. Daunting and wonderful. Frightening and sweet. Worrisome and special… such is the stuff of parenting.

Quickly: Scott continues to work at The Mayo Clinic as Major Gift Officer and enjoyed the new adventure of racing in triathlons this summer (you should see him in a wet suit… oo la la!). I am still teaching 6^th grade math part time, ran the Chicago marathon on 10-10-10 (qualfied for Boston!), and became a reverend (OK, it was an online click to be able to conduct our cousin’s April marriage ceremony in St. John’s, but I claim the title proudly!)

2010 included the loss of my dad. I wish I could hold tightly to the feeling I feel when I watch someone I love fall ill or pass on: gratitude for life and the preciousness of it. I wish I could keep every moment I am alive real and authentic, wasting no time on the unimportant “junk” of life. I wish I could always ward off fear and insecurity, remembering that I am just as I need to be as long as I am operating in love, resting in that assuredness from God. I know all of these things up close and personal through each of my seasons of loss, and it feels so right that the best way to honor those who have passed is to not let it fade. But I do. We do. Don’t we? Shall we agree to try our best in 2011?

Thank you for all of your love for and care of our family in 2010. We shoot it right back at ya!

Scott, Tricia, Jackson, and Sullivan Arthur

P.S. Enjoy the included artwork of Picasso Jackson. He was very excited to make it for you! [scanner not working... we will include this part whenever we get to it ... read: never]

Resurfacing... I think

I am back in Rochester. Where I live. On the one hand, it feels so good to be home. On the other, coming home means heading into a full-fledged MN winter and coping with the reality of having no parents living.

Dad passed away at about 1:30 am on November 17. I couldn't help but notice, when I was holding Dad's hand at the Hospice Unit in the hospital and watching closely as he breathed, that it felt eerily similar to a previous night. Mom died in the middle of the night on the 16th (of June). I held her hand too.

The days that followed Dad's death and the funeral/visitation were all smooth events. The service itself was an authentic celebration of my Dad and all of his gifts to the lives of people around him. As I look back, I think he would be pleased and honored. Nancye, Dad's wife, and her family were involved, as well as loved ones from Dad's more extended history. It was a balanced representation of him. Nancye and I operate well together. Given her recent addition to my (and Dad's) life, being forced to make heavy and important and sometimes sensitive decisions in a unified way could had gone all shades of bad. But it didn't. This, among many other things, can be counted as an appreciated miracle.

And now we're back. And I've verbally expressed to everyone around me how much I look forward to re-engaging in all the day-to-day things I had been pulling back from: Getting back involved in orangizations I am apart of, actually responding to the preschool newletter about ways to volunteer, accepting invitations to do fun, social things with girlfriends, supporting the people I love, signing Sullivan and Jackson up for swim/soccer/gymnastic lessons, cleaning my house (oh, wait, I don't do that normally :), etc, etc.

The grief I anticipate experiencing in coming days/weeks/months will come in a package. I know this about myself, because I've been feeling it for 3 months, since I first learned of Dad's pancreatic cancer diagnosis. This season of life for me will be about grieving my Dad as an individual, for sure. But I know it will be coupled with the reality of moving forward on this planet with no living parents... of no grandparents for my kids on my side... doing what parents and grandparents do: sending anniversary cards, giving advice, checking in on us, giving thoughtful gifts, remembering special events, encouraging me, celebrating me, supporting me. Parents are one's number one fans. And now I must rely on the cheerleaders around me (read: SCOTT! and many others) for this kind of support. Thank that wonderful, always-present God for supplying me with some pretty kick-butt cheerleaders in my life. I've been left in good hands.

Thanks to all those who have expressed their love in recent weeks: flowers, cards, memorial donations, phone calls, emails, facebook comments, and the like. I know I will never be able to get all the thank you notes out... but let my thanks be sent out into cyber space at the very least in this format!