King Family
Merry Christmas from Ronda and Art King! Newsworthy events from our year found here:
January: Hannah flips off the diaper changing table and breaks her leg. She is in a cast for 5 weeks and then all is well. Her father (responsible party) remains in the dog house far longer. We enjoy a Chinese Dinner brought out and prepared by the entire Warren Dick family. We feel first flutter kicks from the new baby. Ronda feels sure it is a boy this time, and Art laughs at her. Ronda has a romantic date with Art night-skiing on Mt. Hood.
February: Ronda, Brenden, Bethani and Hannah spend 2 exciting weeks visiting Steve & Suzanne Rose and family in Singapore. Art, Elissa & Sierra stay home lonesomely.
March: Bethani learns to read, and dives enraptured into books. We keep the librarians busy staying ahead of her. She declares her intention to "grow up and be an author and illustrator."
April: Ronda goes into early labor and onto labor-suppressing drugs and bed rest.
May: Ronda's labor subsides and she is back on her feet. We go away for a "Naming War" weekend while our friends the Parishes take the children. Halfway through the weekend, Brenden falls off a horse and breaks his arm. We meet him at the Emergency Room. He gets a splint, then a cast, and his arm heals well. Cousin Jason visits from Montana to the joy of all the children.
June:. Ronda's intuition says it is a boy. Art smugly works on girls' names. Naming War armistice signed. - June 11: Taylor Raymond King is born!
Ten pounds, two ounces!
July: An older sister tells on Sierra; "She found some gum in the dirt, made Hannah lick it off, and then Sierra chewed it." Just goes to show that baby sisters are valuable. You never know when you may need someone to lick off dirty gum for you. The day he turns one-month old, Taylor starts sleeping through the night.
August: Art gets a new Baritone and tries to re-learn the long forgotten fingering. We enjoy Ft. Steven's park and beach with our church friends. Ronda and the children can peaches, cherries and apricots for winter pleasure.
September: We take a wonderful vacation to Canada. We rent a houseboat on Shuswap Lake for a week of tranquillity, swimming, and enjoying being together. Elissa swims like a fish. Later 155 quarts of home-made applesauce fill up the pantry shelves.
November: We now have 8 at the dinner table; Taylor gets a baby seat and joins us for meals. He is growing fast, weighs 22 lb., and wears 24-month clothes.
December: Elissa takes charge of decorating the tree and the house for Christmas and does a fine job. Ronda and Sierra discuss Christmas, and whose birthday it is. Sierra observes: "Wasn't it nice of Jesus to wait till all our birthdays were over, and he had his last?"
WRAP-UP Taylor has added much new joy for each of us this year. His smiles and laughter remind us of how blessed we are on this Christmas. We sincerely wish the best of Christmas to our friends near and far. With affection and warm thoughts to you . . . MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Ronda, Art, Elissa, Brenden, Bethani, Sierra, Hannah and Taylor
FAVORITE BOOKS OF 1994 includes three wonderful books by Ralph Moody: "Little Britches," "Man of the Family," and "Fields of Home." "Incident at Hawk Hill" by Allan Eckert was Brendan's favorite, and we all enjoyed another reading of the "Chronicles of Narnia" by C. S. Lewis and "The Little Riders" by Margaretha Shemin. Art enjoyed "Young Men and Fire" by Norman Maclean, and Ronda liked "In the Company of Women" by Brenda Hunter and "Christy" by Cathrine Marshall.