Holiday Letter 2006

Philbrick Family’s 2006 Happenings

Spring – I can’t remember! It has been a long year. I know the girls had birthdays; Kelsey turned 13 and Katie, 10.

Kelsey finished 7th grade and Katie finished 4th grade. They both remained at the same schools for their 8th and 5th grades, respectively.

The girls participated in an art show in June. Katie came away with 2nd place for her age group having done a portrait of her cousin, Madison. She is very talented drawing people, where Kelsey’s strengths are with animals and scenery.

Over the summer we vacationed in New Hampshire and Vermont for a week. We visited Storyland for the 12th consecutive year; I don’t think we will ever stop going even when both girls are teenagers!

Katie attended basketball camp for a week during the summer.

We enjoyed visits from my brother, Terry, and my sister, Fay, and her family during the summer.

Dan’s mother, Marge, had surgery in August and remained in the hospital for the entire month due to one complication after another. She is due for another surgery January 4th to reconnect her colon, hopefully things will go smoother as she has not felt well since July.

The girls are doing great in school.

Katie is playing basketball, on her school’s debate team, taking piano and flute lessons, attending art lessons, and participating in Odyssey of the Mind. She just participated in her first piano recital and did a great job. She would really love a dog, but we tell her it’s not fair to the almost 17 year old cat, who has never had a dog around, so don’t let her talk you into getting us a dog.

Kelsey is in 4 different bands and loving it. She is in the middle school’s concert band and jazz band and the high school’s marching band and jazz band (she is the only middle school student in the high school band). She has qualified for Maine’s District 2 Honors Band (only 2 Auburn Middle School members qualified), so needless to say her saxophone is keeping her busy. She also participates in Odyssey of the Mind. Not to mention a very, very busy social schedule, she is hardly home on the weekends. She has quite an extensive MySpace page and she even let her Dad become one of her "friend's".

I am busy with work at the bookstore, buyback is now in progress and the spring semester starts in a few weeks. I am also coaching Odyssey teams for both girls. They keep us running with all their activities.

Dan just celebrated his 40th birthday and is busy with work. He received a promotion last month; his title is now Director of Information, Media and Web Services. He was also honored with being chosen as chair of the classified and professional staff committee at USM L-A and is on the Dean's leadership team.  His supervisor left USM L-A for another position last week, so he has extra job responsibilities in the interim. He hopes to start a Podcast with a friend this year, so check back for more information.

We wish you all a very happy holiday season.

-Lyn