Carlson Chronicle – Christmas 2004

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Welcome to the 2004 edition of the Carlson Chronicle.  Here is a brief update on what we have been up to for the last year.

 

Cadie is really coming into her own now!  She is 18 months old and is definitely a little girl, as she loves shoes and purses.  Cadie really likes her daycare…she hugs everyone in the room when she arrives and again when she leaves (if we can get her too leave!).  She enjoys her big brother most of the time, but did give him a black eye a week ago when he tried to take something from her.  She also likes singing and playing her toy instruments, and is quite the little dancer!

 

Tyler will be 3 in March and is growing up fast!  He loves dinosaurs, jumping, and puzzles (they have to borrow puzzles from the 1^st grade room at daycare to keep up with him), though his favorite pastime is indoor baseball with daddy.  He also loves Parents Night Out, where he gets to watch movies on the church’s big screen with Taylor (his buddy, who happens to play on the high school football team)!  He too likes going to “school” and playing with his good friend Trenton.  Lastly, Tyler has finally become a good sleeper!

 

Torie and Craig are very thankful for the extra sleep they are now getting.  Torie is still working at Capital Group.  She recently received a promotion which will have her driving to Brea (Orange County) soon…ironically, this will be a shorter commute due to the traffic flow.  Craig now heads the back-office at Dorchester Capital, a fund of hedge funds, and is happy to be back in the investment world.  It is a small and growing company, and he has really enjoyed it so far.

 

The whole family enjoyed the football season and is hoping USC can keep it going and win back-to-back national championships!  Both kids can signal touchdown and do “Fight-On” with their fingers (think the peace sign for those not in the know).  Tyler can even hum the fight song and his favorite football player is Reggie Bush.  We also enjoy going to the zoo, the Natural History Museum, the park, the pet store and just hanging out watching Disney movies.

 

We were able to take a number of trips this year, most surrounding weddings.  Craig and Torie got a much-needed break and went to Florida for Craig’s best friend Neil’s wedding in April.  It was great to catch up with some friends from high school and college.  The whole family got to go to Wisconsin for Craig’s brother Andy’s wedding which was a lot of fun…welcome to the family Shelley!  We also visited both Maryland/D.C. and Craig’s parents’ lakehouse in Ohio.  Highlights included the kids’ meeting up with various cousins, catching up with friends (Torie especially liked seeing all her “old” swimming friends at the little reunion at her mom’s house), the D.C. zoo, the USC/Virginia Tech football game, the Dinosaur park, the Wild Animal Park, jet-skiing, and walking Sugar (Craig’s parents dog)!

 

Torie and Craig are so blessed by the wonderful kids we have.  We have much to be thankful for this holiday season and would really like to thank our family and friends that have helped out so much with the kids!  We hope to see more friends and family in 2005 and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!