2012 Christmas letter

Dear friends and family,

2012 has been a full and exciting year for all of us. 


Matthias is 3 and is growing up so fast.  He started a three-morning-a-week preschool and absolutely loves everything about it.  His favorite people are Ironman, the Hulk, Mommy, Lizzy, and Daddy--probably in that order.  He is also a fan of Jesus, Santa, Grandparents, the Grinch, and the lady in church that gives him a lollipop every week.  Halloween is his favorite holiday, and on an unrelated note, he throws up whenever he eats too much chocolate.  He is a perfect fit for our little family and one thing that makes him unique in our family is that that he has no butt, so his pants are almost always falling off.  Luckily we live in Atlanta, a place where Matthias fits in perfectly with his saggy pants.  He is so fun to be around, and is growing up to be a smart and handsome young man.


Lizzy is 18 months, and is a girly girl who loves bows, bracelets, and babies.  She is also attending a pre-preschool two mornings a week and her teachers report that she is happy, polite, and very smart.  She loves to dance, which is really entertaining for us, but frankly her future is much brighter in the classroom than on the dance floor. ;)  She also loves to sing, and has a knack for remembering words.  Her favorite songs right now are Row, row, row your boat, Old McDonald, and Jingle bells, and we enjoy that during the singing of the hymns in church she is always belting out one of those three songs (regardless of the song everybody else is singing).  She loves her older brother and, when she can't find him, walks around saying "where Thias go?"  She is a really pretty girl and Josh has already said that she's not allowed to date until she's 31.

Josh and I are both enjoying that our school schedules are flexible and allow us to be home with our kids so much.  It's so fun to take them to parks, the library, or just to play outside.  They are wonderful little people and it's so fun to see their imagination, creativity, and personality shine during these moments.  Family is the best part of our lives.

The big news for us is that Josh and I passed our qualifying exams for our respective PhD programs this summer and we are on track to graduate sometime between now and before we die.  We have known each other for over eight years and during that time we have combined for 13 person-years of school, and we are so ready to be done.  Only a few more years and two dissertations to go!

We wish we could spend more time with each of you, especially at this time of year.  We hope you enjoy this holiday season.  Merry Christmas!

The Garns
Josh, Cheryl, Matthias, and Lizzy