Dear Family & Friends
Here is a quick summary of the 2015 year for the Schramm
family.
Kate is 3. We had her arranged marriage all lined up, but
the young man found out she was still wearing diapers and called the whole
thing off. The prospect of her living with me forever was enough to start potty
training. Thank heaven it worked. She is
the boss and I’m terribly afraid of her. I realize this will be a problem when
she is 13, but that’s 10 years away. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Hayden is 8. He is the hardest worker I know. The kid can
haul firewood like none other. I wouldn’t know for sure since that sounds like
child labor and it also sounds like we have an evil woodstove. IF we had the use for firewood, I assume
Hayden could carry very large pieces of wood. He also got baptized. He wanted a cereal bar for treats that day. I
loved it because it required minimal work on my part and that’s honestly what
I’m all about these days.
Sariah will be 12 the day after Christmas. She also got her
black belt this month. This is quite an
accomplishment. Now she is a hormonal
black belt pre-teen. It’s as scary as it sounds. She has also become a very avid reader. This is fantastic except when I need her to do math, clean her room, clean the
bathroom, get dressed….. you get the idea.
Corrine will be 15 in January. Please consider this your warning and I will
include it in our insurance paperwork… you were warned that she can start
driving. Corrine is doing well in speech
and debate. This proves how dumb Keith and I are. We are actually paying money
for our 15-ish year old daughter to learn how to argue. Not to our surprise, she is very good at it
and has won a few awards. Corrine has started teaching piano lessons. This has
been the best thing to help her appreciate her piano teachers.
Jakob is 17. My need
for help getting kids to and from various activities has overcome my fear of
him driving. He has started his mission
paperwork so I have officially kicked into a new level of panic and worry. Have I taught him all he needs to know? Will
he remember to actually wash his laundry? (Not this week). Will he remember to
put the milk back in the fridge? (He didn’t yesterday). Will he be patient with
a messy companion? (If by companion you mean younger brother, then no.) I think I need to cram 18 years’ worth of
“life skills” into the next 4 months.
I am the family coordinator. This means I tell people where
to go and how to get there. I’m pretty
good at my job. I’m also the family
homeschool teacher. Most days I don’t
feel like I’m very good at that job (Remember, more life skills classes). I
have been called to be the Gospel Doctrine Teacher. This is a fantastic
opportunity to feel dumb in front of forty to fifty of my closest
neighbors.
Keith has been given additional responsibilities at work
which adds additional stress without the additional paycheck. He is also the coach of Jakob’s and Corrine’s
robotics team. This means he gets to stress a lot about a robot that 16-year-olds
make. His current calling is corrupting the
young men in the teacher’s quorum. Basically, these three major activities in
his life require a lot of time and patience. Sadly, he can’t get either of
those on Amazon.
The big project this year was ripping out the disgusting
carpet in the family room and school room as well as painting and replacing the
baseboards. I had ideas that this
project would take a month or so.
Reality check… it took 3 months.
The kitchen still isn’t painted but I tell myself I’ll get it done
before company comes for Christmas.
We hope that this letter finds you well. If you are terribly bored or a stalker, you
can see more about us on our blog: www.kcschramm.blogspot.com
Merry Christmas,
Keith, Camille, Jakob, Corrine, Sariah, Hayden & Kate
Schramm
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