Beca is now a college graduate and has earned her Bachelors of Arts in Psychology. She plans to attend graduate school in the spring. We all traveled to Greenville to see her departmental graduation. Mom, Claudia, Ava, Richard and I stayed at the Third Street Inn which was a beautiful bed and breakfast. After graduation we went to Beca's favorite Indian restaurant and then antique shopping. It was really a weekend of fun!
Christmas was full of many events this year. We began Christmas at Carolina Beach where we spent the weekend with Dad. The condo was decorated beautifully and the weather was so warm we walked on the beach in bare feet. It was so much fun. Ava really enjoyed watching the waves and all of the "geez" (doggies) that were walking along the beach.On Sunday we were off to Louisiana. We had a very long ride ahead of us and I was a little worried at first becuase it was Ava's firs long car ride. However, she was amazing the whole way down. She slept, ate and played. We took turns sitting in the back seat with her. We stopped South of Atlanta both on the way there and the way back. It was nice to break the trip into two days.
While we were there we stayed with Richard's mom and dad. We love spending time with Mimi and Popee Marc. Claudia got to spend time with her cousins and they had a sleepover one night. We had Mimi's Christmas on December 23rd. It was so nice to have all of the family together and have those that had not yet met Ava have the chance to meet her! We went to Gwen and Brent's on Christmas Day and Ava was very sick. You would never know it though, she is such a good baby even when she is not feeling well.
On New Years Eve Santa came at the Rutkowski House and we had Christmas with Mom, Beca, Ashley and Steven on New Year's Day. It was really fun having all of these Christmas's this year. We cooked the traditional cabbage and black eyed peas and enjoyed many desserts which were given to me by my students. We exchanged persents and had a great time! It is amazing to think it is 2009 already. Ava will be 1 soon and Claudia 14! Time is flying.
Wishing all of you a very Happy and porsporous New Year!
