Holiday 2008

This is so cliché, but the year has truly flown by! We quietly rang in the New Year with The Hart’s, shot off fireworks and got home in time to watch the ball drop… Peyton made it all the way to 11pm. No worries we’ll try again this year!

The New Year brought lots of energy to grow the basket company and focus on repeat business with realtors and financial planners. In March we were lucky to have a visit from Mom and Dad as well as Jaime. Dad and I spent a day creating a fire pit in our backyard which we’ll get a lot of use of during our picking parties. We broke up the spring with Peyton’s 2nd birthday; a toddler and toddies theme that was especially appreciated by all the adults in attendance.

In June, Jeff and I took our first adult only holiday to Ashville, NC when Mom came down to play with Peyton for a few days. We celebrated a hot July 4th with Mom at the annual parade on Whitland Ave before she headed back to normal summer temps in NS. In the meantime Jeff was diagnosed with a severe case of sleep apnea and went under the knife in July. After a speedy recovery he was back to work and organizing his recording project. The recording was scheduled to start September 2nd; however Jeff woke up that morning with a tooth ache, and by the following afternoon he was sitting in a dentist chair having an emergency root canal. To round out the “they come in threes” our sewer system completely backed up and this resulted in half our backyard being introduced to a Bob Cat!

On the other side of the coin, the CD has turned out great and we’re extremely proud of our project. Please check it out at www.jeffersonross.com. We’ve created a little label, Deep Fried Discs, to promote Jeff’s music and we’re having a lot of fun working on something together.

Peyton at 2 ½ eats like a field hand and is growing like a weed. I’m constantly amazed at what she knows and her natural ability to teach me. She loves to cook and thinks washing dishes is play time with mommy. I’m sure it comes as no surprise that she loves music and has created a little medley of Twinkle Twinkle, A,B,C’s and Ba Ba Blacksheep (they’re the same melody) on her toy piano. If you ask Peyton what she is doing, she’ll tell you “I’m doing this!” It’s all about right now, asking interesting questions and giving you answers that make you think more than the questions. She’s learning limits right now and more than testing boundaries she’s testing whether your reason makes sense… her negotiation tactics are second to none!

This fall we were lucky to have a few visitors from back home. In early October Peyton met Ruby and David, parents of my best friend from high school. She fell head over heals and made up a song about them. Dressed up as La La, (Telletubbies) a costume made by Nanna Red, Peyton met Kim, Grant, Jay and Justin… our cousins visited with us for a week and we got to play tourist as well as celebrate a sweet 16!!

We’ve just finished our Thanksgiving Day celebrations in Atlanta and already looking forward to Hanukah and Christmas that will fall on the same week this year. Peyton can’t wait to sit on Santa’s knee to tell him what she’d like for Christmas… we’re not sure where to say we’ll be but Peyton in all her wisdom said she was going to tell Santa that she’d be with mama and daddy… so there you have it. I’ll be busy the next couple weeks making and shipping baskets and looking forward to the mini vacation Jeff and I will be taking to Savannah between Christmas and New Years.

As we look to the New Year, a change in President and hopefully a change in direction, it is our wish that you find yourself surrounded by hope, love and many blessings!

From our hearts to your home, we wish you a wonderful holiday season!

Tami, Jeff and Peyton
2008