What a year!

Happy New Year to all our friends and family,

The latest polls show the majority of Americans are glad to see 2009 go, but the 4 Webbs are in that minority who thought the year was "good" or better. I describe 2009 as the year of foundations. We built the foundation for Easton and Layla's learning. We strengthened our spiritual foundation through several deep studies and serving others. We reworked the foundation of our marriage through some very positive experiences and understandings. As far as I can tell, all other foundations or what we perceive as foundations are not worth the time and effort in comparison.

I'm adding a short, grainy video clip strictly for the value of the audio. Easton's vocabulary is incredible for a 23 month old.



Easton and I are outside because looking at the moon through the sliding glass door just isn't good enough! Easton learned the concept of moon a long time ago. However, he recently discovered the meaning of "reach it". When he put the two together and sweetly asked for daddy to lift him up high enough to reach the moon, I was speechless.

The fact that I hesitated and actually spent brain power trying to think of how I can make it happen for him shows how much I am willing to do anything for my boy. And I mean anything... Also, I blanked on how to explain the concept of distance in a way he would understand there is no way humanly possible to reach out and touch the moon. The best I could tell him was, "you need to get a space shuttle, a space suit (like Buzz Lightyear), and become very smart so you can be an astronaut". He paused and said, "OK!"

Christmas picture comparison – Last year at this time I snapped one of my all-time favorite pictures of the twins. This year I wanted to imitate that picture and setting for comparison’s sake. Last year they were in Santa and Mrs. Claus outfits. This year we didn’t bother with outfits because of their propensity to stain and destroy clothing. Those novelty outfits are not meant to survive the kind of abuse Easton and Layla give to their clothes. Last year in front of the Thomas’ Christmas tree:


And here is this year in front of the Thomas’ Christmas tree:


Half-marathon – Kendra is planning to run the half-marathon (13 miles) next month. She is continuing to train during our vacation and runs with her friend, Laura. Go wife!


Mommy is doing a great job of staying disciplined so that she can reach her goal. She has a dream of running 13 miles and enjoys the feeling of pounding the pavement. I do not. The only reason I ever run is if I am being chased.

Teaching how to whisper – Over the past few weeks there have been situations where one or both of the twins are awake while someone else is sleeping up stairs. We began tossing in the idea of whispering just to see if they could figure it out. One morning Layla and I were the only ones awake so I took a short video clip of a whisper lesson. You have to turn the volume up to hear, but at the end she sweetly whispers, “I love you daddy”. That just melts my heart in a way words can’t describe.



Trust of a child – One can clearly see faith and trust in action by watching how a child interacts with parents and grandparents. Here is Layla leaping off the top of the slide into Oma’s arms with no hesitation or holding back. She bails off the top with a big smile and confidence Oma will catch her.


Layla is becoming more girly all the time as Kendra exposes her to things like bows in her hair, lip gloss (which is really edible chapstick) and painting her toe nails. I’m excited about how she has enough hair to clip the bow…


She's my little princess, for sure.

See you soon!