2015--a year of change

Well, what to say about 2015? Quite a lot, actually.

Archery in Sparta, WI

Winning Kohl's tournament

Alice started archery in sixth grade, practicing in the early mornings two days a week and doing about four tournaments. She continued soccer in the spring and fall. The spring featured her traveling to a tournament, which her younger team won after a huge kick off at the end, goalie vs. goalie. Though windy and cold, they made it through the day. She turned 12 in May. She also got a pair of glasses, joining the rest of us with bad eye sight. She still quite enjoys her French horn into seventh grade. She also started choir (some egging from mom), but seems to like it. This year in October she was able to meet her favorite author, Tui Sutherland, who wrote the Wings of Fire series. She got all her books signed. She also went to a middle school girls' program at the UW in Madison, which introduces girls to STEM programs at the university.

Favorite author, Tui Sutherland

Marching baritone

Will's 16th birthday

Will got his braces off this past spring and is glad to be able to eat chewy things again. He continued with the marching band and loves it, but decided soccer was no longer for him. He keeps busy with band from July through October. This year he's taking computer science and did a hack-a-thon at the high school, which he really enjoyed. Other challenges this year are physics and AP U.S. History. The history program was rough at the start, but he's really come a long way in learning how to write proper essays. Mom and Dad can attest to the fact that it is college level, because it is very similar to what they remember. He also jumped in to sub for a math meet, though he doesn't do those on a regular basis. Driver's ed classes started in June, but he's taking a long time to get his driving practice done before he takes the test. He turned 16 in December, but is no where ready to have his license. He's just not that into it. We hope to have him ready to test in May, because mom and dad are not spending another chunk of money for him to take everything all over again. On the other hand, they are glad they aren't paying insurance for him just yet.

Jenn had a full year. She represented Old World Wisconsin at the Chicago Travel and Adventure show, traveled to Montana as a museum representative to help an organization improve its audience connection. She also continued to read and score grants for another museum granting organization. She made an attempt to help the local bike club do more marketing. She also continued to do spin class, yoga and got Alice to go one night a week with her to bike. Then, she was offered a new position as assistant director at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison which began in July. The commute was a little longer, but the opportunity to work on a new museum, get more experience with budgets and oversee more in a traditional museum were tempting enough to move on.

Joel continued subbing during the school year. After Jenn left Old World Wisconsin, he helped there by standing in as a supervisor on Sundays, which worked well for everyone. He helped with the local Lorine Niedecker Poetry Festival and continues as the event chair for the Haummerson Pond committee. Joel also started a bigger project, finishing up the second level of the garage/carriage house, so that he could have a bigger space for wood working projects. He didn't quite finish before it got too cold, but he has gotten as far as making sure the floor supports were there, the floor was laid down solidly, and a new set of stairs was put into place.

Joel and Jenn celebrated their twentieth anniversary this July. They headed to Door County and fell in love with the area. They especially liked the Door County Creamery, which specializes in goat milk products, including cheese and gelato. They visited a winery, hiked Peninsula State Park, kayaked across Egg Harbor and stayed overnight in Sturgeon Bay, which was a gorgeous place to stay as well. Joel and Jenn also dabbled in steampunk (look it up) and attending a small gathering in March. They put together costumes and enjoyed an old fashioned vaudeville show.

We didn't do any big trips this year. The kids were busy through the summer with summer school classes and driving. We appreciated getting all the letters and cards for the holiday season, but of course, here we are at the beginning of another new year and life just gets away from us. We hope this finds you in good spirits and we wish everyone a good year in 2016.

Love,

Jenn, Joel, Will and Alice

Happenings: 2014

I suppose the annual letter is a good exercise in remembering the good things. I do like to see the letters from friends and family far and wide, since Facebook doesn't tell a person everything.

We Van Haaftens had some adventures this year.  During the summer Jenn's brother reserved a cabin for all of Jenn's side of the family to stay and visit with each other.  Five cousins got to connect, ranging in age from 14 to just over 1.5. Alice read many a Frozen story to her cousins, even though Frozen is her least favorite thing in the world. The littlest cousin would grab the tablet from Will and state "Done," because he wanted Will to stop playing on the tablet and start playing with him. The littlest cousin was joined by an even littler cousin in August. Jenn went up to her brother's in September to "help" out, but really it was just an excuse to play with the little baby boy and his adorable big brother.

Having never been to Orlando as a family, we took some time off around Thanksgiving and flew down to find out what all the fuss was about. Our first two days were a trip to Universal Studios, both parks, to see both Harry Potter experiences. Though we had a rocky start with a broken down Gringotts ride, the rest of our visit in Universal Studios was a good time. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey was amazing, we enjoyed a visit to Honeydukes and waving a wand around the area to make magic. We also  liked other portions of the park, including Jurassic Park, the Return of the Mummy ride, the MIB shooter ride and the Minion and Shrek experiences. Despite rainy weather, we hit Legoland and enjoyed that a lot. We also made a trip to the Magic Kingdom. We tried as many experiences as we could, but there was a lot of waiting and the rides we wanted to go on were very, very long. I had always hoped that our first Disney experience would be as magical as some of our friends seemed to find it, but maybe the kids were too big or it was too close to Thanksgiving and too crowded. By far, everyone liked the choices in Universal Studios better. The kids were most happy with the day we spent swimming in the hotel pool and perhaps as a family we would just appreciate a beach, or water play or some time in nature best.

Besides some nice trips, we were all busy this year.

Joel had built such a nice coop and run last year, this spring Jenn picked up two Maran and two silver-laced Wyandotte chicks. They borrowed a tank set up to raise baby chicks and brought the chickens up to adulthood.  They thought they had four hens, but one started to crow. A LOT. Turned out one of the Marans was a rooster. Fortunately a family friend needed a rooster on his farm, since roosters aren't allowed in the city limits. With him crowing at 5 am, Jenn understands why. They are probably the right kind of pet for our family. Alice loved raising them from babies and giving them names. Joel and Jenn like the idea of getting eggs, even though they might be the most expensive free range eggs they could get. Jenn likes that she's connecting with her family's farming past in some small way. Willem likes that he can ignore them. Alice, Jenn, and Joel like to see them run out and cluck at us when we go out to visit. We've created a portable run to move them around the yard for insects and green grass in the summer. They are fun and have such personalities.

Alice: She finished fifth grade and elementary school this year, moving on to middle school for sixth grade. She still loves playing soccer and enjoys her travel team, both last spring and this fall. She is a tough cookie and is not afraid of the big girls towering over her. Alice continues to play French horn and does it fairly well, getting a solo here and there. She also joined archery club at the middle school. She still loves art class, but also likes her math and science too. She will start an on-line
reading project this coming semester.

Will: Finished 8th grade and the middle school with a culminating 8th grade promotion. He is taking a full load of classes at high school, with no study halls. He is dabbling in computers with a course in multi-media business class, working on Spanish and taking honors or advanced classes with all his other subjects. He also did soccer and marching band this fall and found that life suddenly became very, very busy. Mom and Dad had a hard time keeping up. Soccer was often during the week, but marching band filled the weekend with 8 different competitions over the course of two months. And the topic of discussion of late, sometimes brought up by him, has been college, majors and how to plan his high school life to fit his goals for college. o_O

Joel: Continues to work on house projects. Jenn thought she would be clever this year and assign him a project, which was working on the front porch. He removed all the railings and columns, refurbished the wood, filled in or replaced damaged portions, repainted or replaced items with plastics that wouldn't rot and acquiesced to Jenn's request that the porch floor and steps be a red. He got lots of compliments on his work.  He also got it done very quickly and started work on the carriage house that serves as our garage, much to Jenn's chagrin. He is attempting to shore up the sagging roof and bring in the side walls. He also is insulating and covering over the walls in the upper portion of the garage. This is in anticipation of creating an upstairs wood working shop. He needs to build a fourth wall and make sure the second story floor will hold his tools. Then we can park bikes downstairs and not be in Joel's woodworking way. Joel also maintains the household, dishes, dinner and laundry are done all the time and he also finds time to sub both during the school year and during summer school. He's very active in a local group for creating a warming house near a former skating pond that the community wants to bring back as a place for winter recreation. Once winter ramps up, he is setting up a community event at the pond with cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and skating.

Jenn: Had a promotion at work. Really just a title change. She's still in charge of lots at work, but the title maybe better reflects what she's in charge of. She finds herself doing a lot of PR for the site. However the programs team she leads has helped create engaging activities that have brought in more people to the site. She was on the team that created a cycling experience on the site and she organized a high wheel and antique bike group to come out during the summer as part of promoting the new experience. It is a lot of work, but all the new experiences have garnered a 5% increase. She also had the opportunity to attend the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. Her place of work is competing with these places for leisure time and it doesn't hurt to understand and learn from the competition. In addition to this, she served on a grant committee for Wisconsin's Art Council, was a grant reviewer for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, was chosen to do a peer review of a museum out West for the American Alliance of Museums, mentored students in on-line exhibit development for the University of Manchester, and was published in Ethnic Dress in the United States: A Cultural Encyclopedia. And in-between all that she attends soccer games, marching band performances, band performances, rides her bike, serves on the local bike advocacy board and does fiction writing in her spare time, including helping to set up a novel writing retreat in the spring. What?! When did she find time to do all that?

As always, we wish you a happy and healthy 2015! Jenn and Joel are looking at the year. This will be their 20th wedding anniversary this year! Maybe they'll cook up something interesting to celebrate.

Love, Jenn, Joel, Willem and Alice

2013 and beyond

Another holiday gone by and it is nearly Valentine's Day again. November through January always seems tricky for Jenn to keep on top of things. This year a little trickier because she had a nasty virus of some sort in November that threw her out of whack and had her at home for more than a week. It wasn't influenza, but it did turn into an ear and sinus infection requiring a couple of rounds of antibiotics. Joel also got hit with some version of that virus twice, and so the holidays were a little tough all around.

A local museum was getting a professional movie made for their galleries and used Old World Wisconsin as their setting. Joel, Willem and Alice were called in to help fill out the crowds and they got some close ups. If you're ever in Kenosha, you can check out the Civil War Museum to see the video and hopefully the family. Alice also helped Mom by appearing in some on-line videos at her work.  You can see her here:

 and as a little ghostie at the end here:







The family got a fun vacation in the St. Paul area in June after having visited new cousin during their spring break. They got to see their AZ  and MN cousins, aunts and uncles and grandma and grandpa for a week. We stayed in a house with Jenn's sister Emily and her family and had adventures in the Mall of America and some other area museums. The "Let's have cake" tradition took full hold on this occasion with cake for birthdays for people who were there and who weren't there.

Jenn had a new nephew in the beginning of the year that she helped out with for a week in January, to give her brother and sister-in-law an extra hand. He was super cute, so it was no burden. She also continued with spin class and picked up riding with a group once a week. Her tire changing skills were put to the test one very rainy day. She failed, but everyone around was impressed with her trying. She finished her 8th season with Old World Wisconsin.

Joel started subbing every day in January. He really loves the hours, as it gets him home about the time the kids are done with school and left him available for the summer around the house. He continued it into the fall and finds it's a job that doesn't aggravate his back. He also loves the variety of kids he gets to see and work with every day. On his summer vacation, he jacked up the garage and replaced a very large sill log and built a chicken coop for potentially housing egg layers next summer. He also joined the local committee working to build a warming house for a local skating pond. He's having a great time with all those activities. He is still contemplating if getting a teaching license and going full-time will work for him.

Willem decided to grow this past year. First he passed his grandma (Jenn's mom)then he passed Jenn. He still enjoys playing soccer, he did the youth triathlon a second time and got third in his class, and when he started eighth grade, he began with geometry at the high school for his day and with 6 other classmates gets a ride back to the middle school for the rest of the day. He's been very interested in his future and as he starts to choose his high school classes, it's with an eye on a career in computer sciences already. He is continuing band and got himself involved with jazz band this year, having started on valve trombone. He's thinking about learning slide trombone. He also celebrated his golden birthday (14 on the 14th) with a trip to a vintage video arcade. His favorite game to stuff quarters in was Gauntlet.

Alice is also much taller than she was last year. She turned 10 on Mother's Day and she and Mom did a special horseback ride to celebrate Mother's Day and her birthday of 10 years. She finished what would be her last year of dance with a little Austin Powers number. Joel even danced with her on stage in a Daddy & Dancer routine.  She gave the triathlon a try, but it was so cold on that late July day, that she may never try it again. She toughed it out and was nowhere near the bottom, which was good for her. She also still enjoys soccer and started on a traveling team this fall. That made getting kids to games a challenge.  Her last year in elementary school she's really getting creative.  She started French horn in November and sounds very good, as far as we can tell.  She had a solo in her winter music production. We think she sounded great. She got a paint set for Christmas and has painted many pictures with it already.  She continues to love reading, writing and math and is doing well in all her classes, especially science.

Joel and Jenn worked together to create an awesome Halloween costume for her.  She asked to be Tauriel, the female warrior elf character from The Hobbit movies.

Joel made the bow from PVC pipe, the leather waist cincher, arm guards, and quiver. Jenn made the leaf green tunic and colored and braided her hair like the character in the movie. Jenn decided to tweet it to The Hobbit Movie account and to Evangeline Lily's account (the actress who played Tauriel) and they retweeted it to their followers. It was potentially seen by over 200,000 people. We're just glad it met her exacting specifications. She's become very particular since turning 10.


Other than the crazy illness at the end of the year, that didn't seem to touch the kids, the Van Haaftens had a really good year. We hope this letter finds you well and enjoying 2014, though the winter weather doesn't promise to be nicer anytime soon. Until the next new year.

Love from us: Jenn, Joel, Will and Alice.

2012 in Review

Dear friends and family,

Happy New Year! I hope all of you can find your way to our Christmas letter blog. 2012 has been a year of challenges and happy circumstances.

Day before the ride (rode to Big Sioux)

Jennifer's time this year seems to have been taken up by biking, since she had convinced herself to go on RAGBRAI this year (Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa). This required many, many miles on the bike. With the weather hotter earlier this year, some miles got put on starting in March, but the real training began in earnest in late April. Many a mile was started at 5:30 am, 15-20 miles around town, with increasing miles on the weekends, when Jennifer could find time to do it. This took a lot of time from family  and they really understood the need to get the miles in. Jennifer trained for it with one of her best friends. She even rode on the hottest early days in July, which really did get her prepared for hot days. But nothing can prepare you for seven days straight, getting up at 5 am and just riding, riding, riding through Iowa. It was long and hot through Wednesday, and many times hard. But she never walked any part of the distance. Iowans are great opening up their farmsteads, setting up cooling stations and offering water from their wells, opening their towns and having parties across the state for a whole week.

Sisters in Cedar Rapids

Her mom and dad hosted her group from Wisconsin in Marshalltown, which was relief from sleeping outside in the heat, or in that case on that night, in the storm that came through. Her sister and brother-in-law also rode the whole trip, with her nieces along for the ride in a camper that grandpa drove nearly the whole way. For those of you that have not ridden RAGBRAI, as Iowans or former Iowans, she would say you should try the whole way, all seven days, at least once in your life. It is an experience like no other and it will challenge you, make you smile, make you curse, but you will be amazed if you complete the whole thing. When she finished, she thought she was done with the whole thing--never to try it again, but now she misses the camaraderie you get from enduring the same miles, heat and challenges with 10,000 other people.

Final dip in the Mississippi

Jennifer also got a new boss at work, someone who has worked in the living history field for about 30 years and finds it refreshing that she doesn't have to explain every little nuance of working in that field. Unfortunately for her work site, they lost their senior staff member, with over 35 years at the same location, when he passed away in November. It was a very sad time for everyone and put a damper on the whole spirit of the site. With all the recent retirements, it now makes Jennifer the second most senior person at the site in regards to years worked there. That's a little daunting.

Joel also had some major changes this year. He left his job to return to his full time parenting job. His recovery from surgery had plateaued and not in a good way. But since leaving, his muscles and back health have improved immensely. Jennifer never thought that she would get to complain again of him walking too fast, but she gets to do so regularly now. After enduring life with the kids while Jenn spent most of her time bike riding, Joel started some improvement projects. With more free time and enjoying better health, he was able to refinish the second half of the basement. We've had really bad water problems in the second side and he discovered where it came from and though he hired someone to do the initial waterproofing, he was able to take the rest of the work and insulate, drywall, paint and put in a new floor for the second side of the basement. The kids like it and we are now in search of affordable furniture to make the basement very inviting to the kids that come in our house. Travel in the car has improved, so that Joel drove to Iowa during the week of RAGBRAI, spending some time at his parents' house with the kids and then driving to Marshalltown to meet up with Jennifer at her parents'. Still cautious, we stayed at home for Thanksgiving, but made a trip to Algona again in December. In addition, Joel was introduced to a genre and aesthetic called steampunk. You will have to look it up on the internet to get what it means. But he's taken to creating a few items, while dreaming about refinishing the space in our two story garage, which used to be a carriage house.

So more good news, the kids have a new cousin, a baby boy named Christopher. Jennifer's brother and his wife welcomed the baby boy in November. Though they haven't made it yet to the Twin Cities, they hope to get up there to visit in January. He's as cute as a button, as you can see from the photo.



Willem had a good end to sixth grade. Math was too easy, too much review for him, so he made the switch to a more challenging math for 7th grade. He is now doing Algebra in a class with 8th graders. The start was a little hairy, but he has found his stride and math is still his favorite subject. Teachers make all the difference. Science was not his favorite last year, but this year we have no problem in that subject. Instead, social studies has become a challenge, which we see as evidence of how teachers engage their students. He's also involved in Future Problem Solvers, which Jennifer tries to squeeze out time to coach. Will continues to play baritone in band, enjoys going to the after middle school hang out, the Escape, and really enjoys all his time on the Wii, computer, and TV. We have to really watch the screen time. He likes to read, but is very picky about the books he will read, so he tends to reread the Percy Jackson series and the Ranger's Apprentice series. He also continues to enjoy Legos, which is an ever growing collection in his room. Will trained for the youth triathlon again this year, but got a fever two days before and wasn't recovered enough to do it. He was disappointed, because we also got a new bike that fit him better with bigger tires that moved him along faster.

Alice still loves her dance class. This year was a Mary Poppins theme for recital and she enjoyed dancing to "We Love to Laugh."  She started dance in the fall again. Another thing she has decided she really likes is playing a recorder. She's not quite old enough for an instrument, but we can see she's very ready to start. We have to wait until 5th grade. This summer we couldn't convince her to join Will in the triathlon, though at first she seemed interested. She has made noises that she might try it next year, so we'll see if we can keep her interested. Alice continues to be a great student and enjoys extra challenges with a high ability reading group, gifted and talented sessions once a quarter and being on a Future Problem Solving team that Joel coaches. She still loves art projects. A new love for her is "The Hobbit." Joel had read the book to her before, great daddy daughter time, and was rereading it to her this year. She has enjoyed it so much, she was begging to go to the movie, which they did together. I think we have another Tolkien fan on our hands, because now she wants to go to New Zealand to see the movie sets (well she actually want to go to Middle Earth, but that's impossible). And she wants Lord of the Rings and Hobbit Lego sets as well. Her brother is not into it as much, but he liked the movies when they were shown on TV and also likes the Lego sets. Both kids like fantasy, so perhaps they'll come around to reading the trilogy in the next few years. She still enjoys Boys and Girls Club and attends that after school, even though Dad is at home.

RAGBRAI was our big trip this year, which maybe wasn't that much of a vacation after all. Joel would like to keep occupied, but he doesn't want to give up his time with the kids entirely. He is exploring substitute teaching in our town as well as possibly working with placing high school foreign exchange students in the area. Both jobs would allow him to be around the home when the kids are done with school. Who knows what 2013 will bring? Life is an adventure and we will take it as it is.

All the best for 2013,
Jennifer, Joel, Willem and Alice

So long 2011!

Another year, another try at a website hosting my holiday letter.  I apologize for the lateness of this letter.  The holiday and post-holiday season seem to just tackle me.  I never believed it would be February before I got done.

Highlights of 2011:

The biggest thing that happened to all of us is that Joel had surgery on his back for the second time in his life.  He's had issues with the muscles in his legs that had been getting worse.  We had been taking a wait and see attitude, but without improvement, he made the hard decision to let them go back inside.  It turned out the dermoid tumor from his youth (which is benign) had returned.  They didn't know this for sure, though they guessed at it, until they had opened him up.  We are thankful that the surgery went well and after so many years, his leg muscles have stopped moving constantly.  Recovery is still on-going, but you don't open up a 40 year old and expect him to bounce back like his 16 year-old self.  We are still taking our time before we take any trips longer than an hour in the car.

Joel's work was very good about the time off that he needed.  My work was accommodating as well.  We did our best through the summer.  I did take the kids over Easter to see my sister and her family at my parents'.  My brother got engaged New Year's Eve 2010 and sealed the deal in May.  He and his wife had a family reception in June in Iowa City, so just me and the kids traveled again.  I saw one of my cousins and her family during that time as well, then drove my sister and her youngest daughter back with me to my house for a week of togetherness leading up to my 40th birthday.

 Ah, forty!  It really is no big deal.  But worthy to mark the occasion.  I got my very first tattoo.  Crazy, yes, but heck, I'm forty, when else am I going to do it?  I also had a nice celebration in a park.  Though Joel was still rather bed ridden, just under a month after his surgery he made the trip to the park and hung out with me, my friends (and especially a surprise visit from Chicago-area friends) and my brother and sister and their families who all made a special trip for my birthday.  It was fabulous to have everyone join me.

Another thing that I decided to take up is serious road biking.  A new bike shop opened in town, offered spinning classes, and new shiny Trek bikes.  Guess what my birthday present was?  A new bike with lots of accessories.  New biking clothes, bike shoes, the works.  I've gotten up to 20 miles in a single ride, but I have a lot of work ahead of me, as my main goal was to go on RAGBRAI 40 this coming year!  As one of my friends said, "It's like Mecca for Iowans.  They have to do it once in their lifetime."  I agree and am looking forward to that sweaty hot Iowa ride.  My biggest reason for going is I want to say I've dipped my tires in the Missouri and the Mississippi.

The other cool thing I've done for myself is get a smart phone.  My sister had one, my brother had one, I was holding off, but found that I really needed a phone and a calendar all in one. Access to email, Facebook and other things is great.  After doing that, I've decided it's good for portability, but now I want an iPad too, for using on the couch.  I have been sucked in by electronics.

Willem and Alice have been busy, busy beavers and we've done well keeping up with them along with Joel's recovery.  Alice finished second grade with no problems.  She had a great dance recital that her grandparents (Joel's parents) got to see.  She finally learned how to ride her bike, which is entirely my fault, because I just never bothered to get her off the training wheels and doing it.  She wanted to ride so much this year, but she can't quite keep up with all of us yet.  She took summer school and was old enough to be in a class with her brother, much to his chagrin.  Alice started third grade in the fall and loves school and Boys and Girls Club after school.  Like her brother, she's been identified for the talented and gifted program and surprised me after the fact at the end of her week-long course with a paper stating that she was in it.  Neither of my kids tell me about school work.  One of the bigger changes is that she's decided she's done with her My Little Ponies, which she has sold or given away and is now very keen on LEGOs of her own.  We and Santa have tried to get her some that are to her liking, but she is discouraged that much of what's out there doesn't click with some of her "girl's" taste.  And she is offended by the new "girl" LEGOs.  She'd prefer they stay similar to their usual LEGO people, just with more girl colors and more girl LEGO people.

Willem has transitioned from elementary to middle school.  He seems to have handled it much better than his mother.  He was chosen for accelerated learning in his language arts and does an on-line course for it, which seems to be right up his computer-interest alley.  He has good and maybe not so good teachers, but he's handling his courses well.  We were at a loss of what to do with him after school.  We started with him going to the library, using an old TracFone to keep in contact with us, but after losing the phone, we had to regroup and make new decisions.  We were lucky to find an afterschool middle school location near the school and he now goes there every day of the week.  He continues to play baritone and has signed up to do a solo at a regional solo and ensemble competition, which few sixth graders get to do.  He also surprised us this year with an interest in the youth triathlon.  He signed up for all the training sessions, and then did it.  He wasn't last, which was his goal, though I think he wished he'd done a little better.  It turns out running is his strong suit, but he was so pleased with himself, he is going to do it this coming year.  A bit of a conflict, because it is the last day of RAGBRAI.  Joel will have to get video.

Joel is still at Rock County Historical Society as director.  He held a successful Tallman Arts Festival and has bigger plans for the coming year.  After a hiatus, he's back into playing D&D once a week.  I'm doing spinning classes this winter and have started a weight training program as well, which has actually helped me with some tendonitis in my shoulder.

We want to wish everyone a happy 2012.  I am sure it is off to a great start.  I hope it is at least better organized than my 2011.  The smartphone can't do everything for me.  Please keep in touch via emails and Facebook.  I do enjoy hearing about everyone's ups and downs in life.

Jenn along with Joel, Willem, and Alice