Dear Friends and Family,
Spoiler Alert: This is the first year that we have not had a major move, pregnancy, or birth announced in our annual Christmas letter since we were married! 2018 was the year to catch our breath, be a family, and make a home...well, maybe we took a couple of "little" trips to feed our travel bug.
Although we had no major announcements this year, life is anything but slow and boring.
Sicily turned 1 at the start of the year and hasn't looked back.
She insists that she is 19, which I am beginning to think might be true. She can belt out more songs than Mother Goose, and can tell more potty jokes than a 4th grader.
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Sicily is our nurturer and is constantly playing doctor, handing us "some checkups" and providing us with "new bones". She is truly concerned if anyone is sick or hurt and tells us she loves us (or doesn't like us at all) many times a day.
Sicily follows closely on or often in the heels of her sister, Zella. The duo might be ready to perform a duet of "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" for our next Christmas letter.
Sicily would like to do school, ballet, and piano just like her big sister, and she somehow already weaseled her way into a 5-minute violin lesson each week from Zella's violin teacher.
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Zella is our little sponge. She turned the big four in June with a rainbow pool party in Tulsa, followed by a trip to Portugal!
Her biggest achievements this year were learning to read and climbing to the top of the rope tower at the park.
Zella also gained enough confidence in her French abilities to order a pain au chocolat every day this summer. She became an expert scooter rider in Paris and shakes her head at the newbies learning to ride the new electric scooters in downtown Tulsa.
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Kyden and Zella share a special moment every week as Zella started taking piano lessons from Kyden's first piano teacher. Zella continues to perfect her violin skills and ballet twirls.
Zella worked very hard on this year's Christmas letter and diagrams, and I am wondering how Santa is going to deliver a Jack-in-the-box that pops out with a princess, two fairies, two unicorns and fairy dust that will magically take her into the Paw Patrol realm...maybe he should go with the second option, a flying sleigh ride on Christmas Eve... Good luck with that Santa!
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Kyden has been enjoying his new job, and home town.
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He is also getting a big kick being the Oklahoma-expert to his know-it-all wife. "What in the world is Bedlam?" (To be fair, the Bedlam cupcakes for sale at Target were RED and Orange...) "Honey, it's La Fortune Park not the French pronunciation of La Fortoon!"
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Kyden's new piano was delivered in January and he has been testing it out with a few concerts and parties.
Kyden enjoyed a few work trips abroad to South America and Asia while his wife thought it would be an excellent idea to plan a quick trip to San Diego before spending the summer in Europe.
After spending one day in Paris for the Summer Music Festival (Fete de la Musique), we flew off to Lisbon, Portugal for a week of family adventure or what I like to call the family boot camp. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a week of carrying two children up and down many flights of stairs, hills and mountains. A restaurant two streets over on a map might actually be up 200 stairs or one wrong turn, and we might have to hike up a mountain to get to the next castle.
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Sicily's favorite part of Portugal were the peacocks at the park and the sky ride, Zella could not eat enough Pastel de Natas (Portuguese pastries) and she loved the science museum, and Mommy and Daddy loved the ceviche, trams and site-seeing of course. Lisbon and Sintra are wonderful family destinations and a few lost calories were a bonus.
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Once the jet lag faded, we returned to Paris, and Zella started "French Camp" (all day French immersion summer school). After the first day, she scooted straight to the boulangerie and ordered herself a baguette and a pastry and her confidence only grew from there. She loved every moment of her camp and spent August going up to random kids and the park and asking them in French if they wanted to play with her (unfortunately for her, there are only about 2 kids left in Paris in August and they aren't French).
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Poor Sicily feared the weekly marionette shows and quickly learned how to say "no puppet show" when she heard the bell ringing in the park to signal the start of another show. Sicily quickly caught on to what I call French kids park language "Pas a toi!" (not yours!) "Attention au caca!" (Watch out for the poopoo!)
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While we were in town for Bastille Day, I was able to get Zella to open one eye and see one firework before falling back to sleep. She now claims that she "celebrated" Bastille Day and "watched" the fireworks show by the Eiffel Tower. We were also in Paris for the exciting Soccer World Cup win! Sicily and Zella cheered with the rest of France shouting "Allez les Bleus" (Let's go blue!) from our balcony.
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As the French fled Paris for the August vacation season, Kyden flew back into town just in time for our friends' wedding in a picturesque village in the French countryside. It took us about five hours to leave Paris but only an hour and forty-five minutes to drive back into the hot and deserted August streets of Paris. Kyden made sure to overlap with Mimi's arrival so that Mommy and Daddy could squeeze in a few date nights but unfortunately for him made it home before we had a chance to recruit him into taking the girls to Disneyland Paris. At the end of August, the girls and I said goodbye to our dearest Paris friends and headed home...(In case you were wondering, the flights alone were not exactly a piece of cake, but it was worth it and many kind Delta personnel and strangers made it manageable. I am so thankful for those extra hands and kind words!)
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We have now settled back into our routine just in time for the holiday break.
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We hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a happiest new year!
With Love,
LaShawn, Kyden, Zella (4), and Sicily (19 23 months)
Spoiler Alert: This is the first year that we have not had a major move, pregnancy, or birth announced in our annual Christmas letter since we were married! 2018 was the year to catch our breath, be a family, and make a home...well, maybe we took a couple of "little" trips to feed our travel bug.
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| Climbing Lisbon in June |
Although we had no major announcements this year, life is anything but slow and boring.
 |
| Riding the log ride at the Jardin d'Acclimatation (Paris) in August |
Sicily turned 1 at the start of the year and hasn't looked back.
 |
| Sicily's mini French galette des rois birthday cake as her birthday falls on Epiphany |
She insists that she is 19, which I am beginning to think might be true. She can belt out more songs than Mother Goose, and can tell more potty jokes than a 4th grader.
 |
| Sicily's first ice cream was so good that she had to lay down on the ground to eat it. |
Sicily is our nurturer and is constantly playing doctor, handing us "some checkups" and providing us with "new bones". She is truly concerned if anyone is sick or hurt and tells us she loves us (or doesn't like us at all) many times a day.
 |
| Sicily's kiss face |
Sicily follows closely on or often in the heels of her sister, Zella. The duo might be ready to perform a duet of "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" for our next Christmas letter.
 |
| Climbing on the wall at Les Berges in Paris |
Sicily would like to do school, ballet, and piano just like her big sister, and she somehow already weaseled her way into a 5-minute violin lesson each week from Zella's violin teacher.
 |
| Halloween Fairy Princesses |
Zella is our little sponge. She turned the big four in June with a rainbow pool party in Tulsa, followed by a trip to Portugal!
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| A giant rainbow cake to start the summer! |
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| Celebrating her birthday in Lisbon, Portugal |
Her biggest achievements this year were learning to read and climbing to the top of the rope tower at the park.
 |
| Zella received an "I can read" pin from school |
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| At the top of the rope tower at the Ranelagh Park in Paris |
Zella also gained enough confidence in her French abilities to order a pain au chocolat every day this summer. She became an expert scooter rider in Paris and shakes her head at the newbies learning to ride the new electric scooters in downtown Tulsa.
Kyden and Zella share a special moment every week as Zella started taking piano lessons from Kyden's first piano teacher. Zella continues to perfect her violin skills and ballet twirls.
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| May 2018 at the Tulsa Ballet |
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| December 2017 |
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| February at ORU in Tulsa with a special accompanist |
Zella worked very hard on this year's Christmas letter and diagrams, and I am wondering how Santa is going to deliver a Jack-in-the-box that pops out with a princess, two fairies, two unicorns and fairy dust that will magically take her into the Paw Patrol realm...maybe he should go with the second option, a flying sleigh ride on Christmas Eve... Good luck with that Santa!
Kyden has been enjoying his new job, and home town.
He is also getting a big kick being the Oklahoma-expert to his know-it-all wife. "What in the world is Bedlam?" (To be fair, the Bedlam cupcakes for sale at Target were RED and Orange...) "Honey, it's La Fortune Park not the French pronunciation of La Fortoon!"
Kyden's new piano was delivered in January and he has been testing it out with a few concerts and parties.
 |
| Looks of terror and excitement as Daddy's new piano is being unloaded. |
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| Breaking in the new piano with some Christmas carols in December |
Kyden enjoyed a few work trips abroad to South America and Asia while his wife thought it would be an excellent idea to plan a quick trip to San Diego before spending the summer in Europe.
 |
| San Diego Zoo in May |
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| Paris in June |
After spending one day in Paris for the Summer Music Festival (Fete de la Musique), we flew off to Lisbon, Portugal for a week of family adventure or what I like to call the family boot camp. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a week of carrying two children up and down many flights of stairs, hills and mountains. A restaurant two streets over on a map might actually be up 200 stairs or one wrong turn, and we might have to hike up a mountain to get to the next castle.
Sicily's favorite part of Portugal were the peacocks at the park and the sky ride, Zella could not eat enough Pastel de Natas (Portuguese pastries) and she loved the science museum, and Mommy and Daddy loved the ceviche, trams and site-seeing of course. Lisbon and Sintra are wonderful family destinations and a few lost calories were a bonus.
 |
| Toy Tram 28 at a park in Lisbon |
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| The Lisbon Children's Science Museum was amazing! |
Once the jet lag faded, we returned to Paris, and Zella started "French Camp" (all day French immersion summer school). After the first day, she scooted straight to the boulangerie and ordered herself a baguette and a pastry and her confidence only grew from there. She loved every moment of her camp and spent August going up to random kids and the park and asking them in French if they wanted to play with her (unfortunately for her, there are only about 2 kids left in Paris in August and they aren't French).
Poor Sicily feared the weekly marionette shows and quickly learned how to say "no puppet show" when she heard the bell ringing in the park to signal the start of another show. Sicily quickly caught on to what I call French kids park language "Pas a toi!" (not yours!) "Attention au caca!" (Watch out for the poopoo!)
While we were in town for Bastille Day, I was able to get Zella to open one eye and see one firework before falling back to sleep. She now claims that she "celebrated" Bastille Day and "watched" the fireworks show by the Eiffel Tower. We were also in Paris for the exciting Soccer World Cup win! Sicily and Zella cheered with the rest of France shouting "Allez les Bleus" (Let's go blue!) from our balcony.
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| Bastille Day on July 14th |
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| Bastille Day in July |
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| I just noticed that Zella is actually holding this soldier's hand! lol! |
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| Sailors |
As the French fled Paris for the August vacation season, Kyden flew back into town just in time for our friends' wedding in a picturesque village in the French countryside. It took us about five hours to leave Paris but only an hour and forty-five minutes to drive back into the hot and deserted August streets of Paris. Kyden made sure to overlap with Mimi's arrival so that Mommy and Daddy could squeeze in a few date nights but unfortunately for him made it home before we had a chance to recruit him into taking the girls to Disneyland Paris. At the end of August, the girls and I said goodbye to our dearest Paris friends and headed home...(In case you were wondering, the flights alone were not exactly a piece of cake, but it was worth it and many kind Delta personnel and strangers made it manageable. I am so thankful for those extra hands and kind words!)
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| Versailles in August |
We have now settled back into our routine just in time for the holiday break.
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| Zella's first day of Pre-K 4 in September |
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| Fun at The Gathering Place in September |
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| A November leaf pile |
We hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a happiest new year!
With Love,
LaShawn, Kyden, Zella (4), and Sicily (
