My how times have changed. In just over 15 years, the Kier Khronicles have evolved. At first in the late 1980’s they were individual hand written notes on your holiday card. Next came the hand written copy which was photocopied. 1994 was the debut of the formal Kier Khronicles as word document. Now 2006 is the next evolution of the Kier Khronicles, the on-line blog entry.

The early changes were an effort to reduce writers cramp and get my holiday cards out sooner. Later versions were just to neaten up the hand writing and this latest change reflects both a time and cost savings. The nice thing about his blog is that it is updated constantly. Now you no longer need to wait for the annual holiday card to obtain the latest news from the Kier family. A search of previous blog entries will allow you to see greater details of what has occurred over the past year. Another improvement allows you to view recent photos as part of the blog instead of in a seperate password protected gallery. I’m sure that there will be instances when a gallery will be used, but the blog not only allows in-line photos, but allows descriptive text to be included.

For those of you who received our annual holiday card, by now, you’ve noticed the recent addition to the family. It was about this time last year when we discovered we were expecting a new addition. This was a compelete shock to us as we had to work real hard to conceive our first two kids. This one came along totally naturally. After the shock wore off, everybody was excited and waiting for Michah to arrive. Naming him was a chore. His name needed to begin with an “M”, be six letters, 2 sylables and have an “H” in it. After a long search we settled on Michah Robert. The Robert is in memory of my mother Roberta who passed away two years ago. On July 28, 2006 Michah arrived.

The rest of the year was pretty uneventful. Meghan completed Kindergarden and entered first grade in the fall. It is amazing to see her just beginning to read. Pretty soon she will be reading up a storm. She loves school and has two first grade teacher who job share. She has Mrs. Carlson on Mondays, Tuesdays and alternate Wednesdays. On the other days, Mrs. Polezoes is her teacher. Meghan adores both of her teachers. Full day school has been a slight adjustment for Meghan. The biggest ordeal has been learning to eat lunch in the amount of time they are provided. But it appears she has finally gotten the routine down.

Mathew is also doing well. He continues to be obsessed with trains and Thomas the Tank Engine. Everything is Thomas. All of his clothes. His toothbrush and toothpaste. Even his silverware is Thomas! Thomas is everywhere in our house. Even though obsessed with Thomas, Mathew is learning. He learned his numbers and colors from the various engines in the world of Thomas. Mathew continues to grow and amazes us as he grows and shows us the things we take for granted all anew.

Well there you have our year in a nutshell. It has basically been raising the kids. There are far more details i previous blog entries and we invite you to view the archives. In the mean time, I wish everybody a happy holiday and a great new year!

PS. Be sure to check back for the lastest news, photos and thoughts posted on my blog.