It’s hard to believe another holiday season is upon us and 2012 is right around the corner. However, after reflecting on the year we have had, no wonder we feel like it has flown by! We all know it’s hard enough trying to juggle working, raising a family and multi-tasking the daily routine of life, but we decided to buy a new house and move this year just to keep things interesting (lol). So since we haven’t been in touch, except for the occasional Facebook status update, here what’s new in Proffittville.

January
Rachel and Ryan resumed skating lessons. Rachel completed level 7 in figure skating and Ryan, after just 8 weeks of lessons, is tearing up the ice and completed level 2 in ice skating lessons. They both are snowbirds and love winter weather.  Rachel also showed an interest in piano in addition to her studies in viola. We signed her up for weekly, private lessons and she is really enjoying it.  After 3 years of searching for a house in the Fredonia school district, our real estate agent showed us a home we really liked. It was also the first house we had viewed that both Rachel and Ryan approved of! The pool, swing set, big back yard and the “secret room” were a plus for them. We placed a bid on the house and our offer was accepted contingent upon the sale of our home.

February
This month was a roller-coaster! We frantically painted and prepped our house since we placed it for sale on the market so quick. Most of the month was spent meeting with mortgage companies and keeping the house clean for showing after showing. We were very fortunate because by the end of the month our house had an accepted offer.  Rachel and Ryan also resumed swim lessons in the newly renovated Dunkirk High School Pool. They had taken a break from lessons, so they were really excited to be back in the water. Did I mention they are not only snowbirds, but ducks too?  We also went to our first “Pink the Rink” Fredonia State University Men’s Hockey team breast cancer fundraiser. It was a blast! We also attended Mayville, NY’s Winter Ice Festival. Chautauqua Lake was completely frozen and we were able to walk out on the frozen lake. The festival also builds and entire castle make from blocks of ice gathered from the lake. It was neat!

March
Todd attended his annual USITT conference in Charlotte, NC followed by a week long spring break. Rachel performed in a viola concert, piano recital and ice-skating shows. She also enjoyed attending activity night at her school, which is hosted by the student council one Friday night every other month, and an Applebee’s Pancake Breakfast school fundraiser. Yummy! We signed the kids up for summer soccer. Both houses were getting the inspections completed and more paperwork filed for this and that. Birthday parties, haircuts, dentist appointments, tax returns, oh my. March is always crazy. We ended the month with Laura driving the kids to Harrisburg, PA to visit friends for the weekend. It was a lot of fun and Ryan tried roller-skating for the very first time!

April
The countdown to our big moving day started. April was spent packing the house. It was also a big month for Ryan who turned 5! He had a big party planned for his friends at Chuck-E-Cheese. It was his first friend party and he picked out a Spiderman themed cake. He couldn’t wait for his big day and he has a lot of great memories to remind him of the fun. Rachel and Ryan had a week off for Easter break and had fun attending a few Easter egg hunts around town.

May
3 weeks left until the mover’s arrive! Laura’s parents came for a visit to help pack the house. Many, many trips to Salvation Army were made as we boxed up 11 years worth of items. We took a break from packing and drove to Pittsburgh, PA for Mother’s Day weekend. We visited the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum, the Duquesne Incline, Church Brew Works Restaurant, Sarris Candy, and IKEA. We had a lot of fun! Rachel and Ryan were making plans about how to decorate their new rooms. Todd was wrapping up his 11th year at the college. Ryan was looking forward to attending Kindergarten in the fall and had his pre-screening this month. He also learned to ride his bike without training wheels. He was very proud of himself! Todd’s parents visited us to help move, paint, clean and unpack. At 7:15 am, on May 26th, the movers arrived. Memorial Day weekend gave us a chance to unpack necessities, clean up our home of 11 years and hand over the keys.

June
Rachel was getting excited for summer break. Her fifth grade class wrapped up the school year with a field trip to Waldameer Amusement Park in Erie, PA. Soccer practices started and Ryan really liked his teammates, the coach and the game itself. Todd was busy with “opening” the pool, cleaning the pool, fixing problems with the pool, and relaxing in the pool. Laura picked up more hours at the Credit Union and had a few Saturday mornings to hit the yard sales.

July
Swimming was the theme this month. We could not keep the kids out of the pool! Plus, Rachel and Ryan were taking swim lessons through the Fredonia’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Rachel spent a week participating in the Jamestown Community College Kid’s College Camp. We had many B-B-Q dinners on the pool deck this month-mmmmmm.

August
The family traveled to Kansas City to go camping with Aunt Shae, Uncle Greg, Chloe, Blake, Grandma and Grandpa. Ryan tried tubing for the first time and even got to drive the boat! Rachel had a blast at the beach, tubing, fishing with Uncle Greg, cooking s’mores and bike riding. It was beautiful week spent lakeside. In St. Louis, Rachel went shopping at vintage stores to find her dress for Aunt Lynn’s wedding. She found a beautiful red and white 1950’s vintage dress.

September
Todd began his 12th year teaching lighting and sound design for the theater. Ryan started Kindergarten! Rachel is a big 6th grader. She is very active with piano, viola, art club, and the Great Lakes Art Club. She earned Student of the Week and is on the honor roll. We are very proud of her accomplishments.

October
We spent Columbus Day weekend in St. Louis for Lynn’s wedding. Laura and Todd attended Laura’s 20-year high school reunion. We met the newest member of the family, Sam. The weather for the wedding was perfect. It was a great day spent outside catching up with family and friends we had not seen in awhile. The week following the wedding, Laura’s parents came up for a visit to see the new house and relax with the grandkids.

November
Ryan is really enjoying school. He is learning to read and thoroughly enjoys coloring. He has matured so much in just a few months. He went on his first field trip to Safety Village and loves riding the bus. Laura & Todd started the Christmas shopping and enjoyed having friends over for their first thanksgiving at the house.

December
The countdown to the 25th has started. Rachel and Ryan have had the opportunity to see Santa and his reindeer a lot this year through various holiday activities hosted around town. Laura is enjoying holiday dinners with friends and co-workers, winter concerts at the middle school, and craft shows. Todd is on Christmas break and enjoying some free time to catch up on his pod casts, gaming and hanging with the family. This week he will volunteer to help Ryan’s class decorate gingerbread houses.

We wish your family joy, good health and prosperity in 2012! Please drop us a holiday letter and let us know what has been happening with you and yours this year. We look forward to hearing from you and hope Santa leaves lots of goodies under your Christmas tree.

Happy Holidays,
The Proffitt Family

Wow!  Where did 2009 go?  I can’t believe a year has passed already.    Some things are the same as last year. We still live in Dunkirk, New York.   I work at the college and Laura works at the credit union. It has been a busy year. The home renovations keep coming, which is to be expected with a one hundred year old house.  We finally took the wall paper down in the dining room and living room with the help of Laura’s parents. We repaired the walls and painted them.  These were the last two rooms left that we had not renovated since we bought the house.  This year we did have time to take a family vacation and went to Letchworth State Park   in central NY.  We did some hiking and saw three waterfalls.  The kids had so much fun.  We even discovered Panama Rocks which is about 30 minutes from our house.  It is a fun hidden gem in Western NY.  For photos click here 

 Rachel is now nine and in the fourth grade.  Her teacher is Mrs. Walzer-Meehl.  She started taking viola lessons this year as well as ice skating at the college. She also joined select chorus.  Right now her class is making it into a winter wonderland and it is almost done.  

Ryan turned three and is so full of energy.  He is really into tractors and motor cycles this year. He continued in the music together class with Laura. 

This year Laura went to a couple of scrapbooking retreats and had several outings with her mom’s group.  I had my gallbladder removed this summer and was able to go to Cincinnati for the USITT national conference where I saw many old friends.  I am looking forward to this year’s conference in Kansas City.

Tomorrow we will spend our first New Year celebration in New York.  This is the first time in 10 years we have not made it home for the Holidays.  We definitely miss the family and hope to get home soon.  We want to wish you all happy holidays and a happy and healthy new year.

Todd

Rachel turned nine this year. She wanted brownies for a “cake” and asked for all kinds of arts-n-craft projects. She had a nice birthday.

We made a trip to Missouri for Thanksgiving since we couldn’t make the drive during the christmas holidays. We had terrific meals with both sides of the family. It was good to be home with the family again!

Thanks Uncle Steven and Aunt Lynn for the great gifts.

The kids and I spent a week in Richmond with trips to Worlds of Fun and the Science museum in Union Station.  The kids were rarley off the golf cart and went from one end of the farm to the other.  On Friday we picked up Laura at the KC airport and then on monday went to St Louis.

In St. Louis we had a Luai at Laura’s parents house with the family. We also went to the new city park downtown St L.  The fountains are great– we just wish we would have worn the swimming suits.  It was a great visit and very hot. On Sunday we came back to the great cool north. Below are some picts of the trip.

todd

Rachel