We hope you all had a wonderful 2008! Our family had fun year filled with visits to and from friends and family.
Jasper turned three this year and has started pre-school. He is attending a Montessori school and we could not have found a better fit for Jasper and our family. Jasper still enjoys helping me cook—often times he will say “Mama try this [insert food] with this [insert a different food], they taste GOOD together!” He also enjoys playing his fiddle, guitar and has informed us that he wants to "play the rock and roll" with his saxophone. Jasper had his first "gig" which you can see on YouTube HERE
Jayna had a year full of milestones. The week she turned one she started walking and soon after she was running and climbing. We started sign language with Jayna at birth and she started signing early, she was signing “milk” at 3 months old. Now at the age of 16 months she has a huge vocabulary, over 50 signs and spoken words. She is putting two and three words together already. Our favorite sentence is: "Papa teaching Dong-Dong" "Dong-Dong" is her word for music, fiddle, guitar, instruments.
Chad continues to teach and perform with the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience (DGBX) a few places they performed this year were BB Kings Blues Club in New York City, Festivals in Austin, TX, Pigeon Forge, TN, Grey Fox Festival in NY, The Birchmere in Alexandria, VA. Catherine is still teaching fiddle to kids and now has a studio of 17 kids between the ages of 4 and 17 and continues to do her web design work from home.
We had fun family trips to Spokane (Chad’s family and friends), Portland, we drove with Jan up to see Olivia and Mark, who moved away from the Bay Area in 2008 and we met Amy who also moved away from the Bay Area. A week on the Jersey Shore with Catherine’s entire family and Catherine and the kids had a special trip back to Michigan so Catherine could participate in a farewell concert for her High School orchestra conductor. This gave her a chance to see many of her high school friends and to celebrate her birthday in Michigan, something she hasn’t done in years!
As always, you can keep up with our lives here: www.chadmanning.com/mannings/
Wishing you much love and many hugs!
Catherine, Chad, Jasper and Jayna