Holiday Newsletter – Spin Cycle

Hi y’all.  I’ve been lurking around at Sprite’s Keeper and following their Spin Cycle.  I decided that I was finally brave enough to hop on this one, because I already had mine done and ready to shove into Christmas Cards.

Happy Holidays!  The Neatos / Christmas 2008

Greetings from Texas!
Magneato, Pretty Neato, The Noodle, BadNeato and DamnNeato

We have really enjoyed our move to the great state of Texas.  Our main purpose upon departing California was to ensure we’d have a better quality of life, and focus more on our family values than drudging along making someone else a lot of money.  Guaranteed – we have hit the jackpot there!  In one short year, we have spent more time in our own (very rustic) backyard, than we did in several years we lived in CA!  And, the clean air here must do weird things to people!  We have been to a rodeo, gone camping, canoeing, kayaking, sightseeing and started our own garden. There is much less stress … and much more happiness in our little family!

Mag is still working in printing, and dreams of one day owning his own print shop.  Until that time comes, he has been keeping himself so busy that he has not cut his hair in a year!  What started as a deal with The Noodle to donate their hair to locks of love, has now turned into a solo adventure.  The many projects on the every looming “Honey Do” list beckon to him on the weekends, and keep him busy.  He enjoys it though, as he gets to practice his woodworking skills – for the long awaited day he can build his own cedar strip kayak.  Mag has also become a big bad grilling (and smoking) machine, experimenting on his charcoal grill almost every weekend!

Pretty Neato works for a small local e-business, and has recently been able to modify her schedule to get home earlier, in hopes of being more involved in The Noodle’s school and extracurricular activities.  This year has brought a lot of change.  Pretty Neato has become very interested (to the point of being labeled a modern-day hippie by her loved ones) in local foods, recycling and sustainable living.  This inspired the planting (and now restructuring) of The Neato Patch garden.  Pretty Neato has also started to bake, joined a book club, and began participating in local 5 and 10k charitable runs/walks  – all the while, blogging about her adventures (http://theneatos.wordpress.com).  Her big plans for the coming year are to get fit and learn to sew.

The Noodle is in third grade and continues to love the challenges of school.  She just received her most recent report card and was on the Honor Roll, again!  Yay!  She enjoys practicing her cursive, science, math and being artistic.  She even signed up to participate in a spelling bee in January.  So far, her favorite part about the move is being able to ride her bike and play in our cul-de-sac with her friends.  Over the summer, The Noodle participated in several summer camps ranging from art camp to swim camp, and spent time with some family friends.  This is The Noodle’s first year as a Girl Scout, and she looks forward to enrolling in gymnastics after the first of the year.  The Noodle also loves to hop on a kayak and head to the creek with Mag, or put on her apron and make yummies in the kitchen with Pretty Neato.