Christmas Letter 2008

Hello and Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends. We hope this letter finds you all doing well this Christmas season. Once again it’s the time of year when we look back and thank God for the many blessings that he has given us this past year. This year we thought we would give you a glimpse of our year in numbers... so here it goes.

• 14 The number of weeks left in Tracy’s pregnancy. Baby Krelle is due in mid-March.

• 25 How old in months Tatum was when she became a “Big Girl” and started using the potty full time.

• 9 The number of years that Eric has been with Oriental Trading Company.

• 6 How many hours it took to put a new roof on the house this summer.

• 18 How old in months Tatum was when she got her glasses this year.

• 1,400 How many miles Eric traveled to Orlando, Florida for work this July. He got to go to Universal Studios and saw Kirk Cameron in his hotel lobby.

• 16 How many hours Tracy typically works a week for the MSR Group.

• 68 The number of projects Tracy has completed for Oriental Trading Company during the 3rd Quarter.

• 480 About how much we saved on gas this past year by having Eric carpool with his co- worker Gery Nible.

• 48 How many weeks Eric has been attending a men’s group through Vineyard Church.
  

• 12 The average number of times a day that Tatum tells us she will do something all by herself.

• 8 The number of blankies Tatum insists on sleeping with each night.

• 6 How much we save each time Tracy grooms Normandy at home instead of taking her to the dog groomers. Tracy likes doing it and Normandy loves it as well.

• 2 The number of butterflies we hatched this summer. Tatum loved watching them.

• 110 The record number of visitors to our 5th Annual Krelle Halloween Spook House.

• 90 How much Eric’s Pee Wee Herman costume from two years ago sold for on eBay.

Countless - The number of times we found ourselves being thankful for both our families for their generosity in watching Tatum for us while we work or have date nights together. We are truly blessed by having them.

In closing, we hope that God’s blessings find you this next year and that the gift of Jesus Christ is present in your hearts the whole year through.

All Our Love, Eric, Tracy and Tatum

Ultrasound Update...and it's a...

Totally healthy active baby. We went in for our ultrasound a few weeks back, November 17th to be exact. I was 23 weeks at the time. Everything looks just as it should. We saw baby Krelle moving his/her arms and legs. The heartbeat was going good and we got to see so much up on the screen. They even did one of those newer 4D ultra sounds, which was just so neat. We got to see such a good view of baby Krelle's face. We were able to spend extra time just looking up on the screen while a Med Student played around/practiced getting pictures of our baby. This was so nice as we have only had one other ultrasound with this baby compared to the numerous ones we had with Tatum.

God totally answered prayers for no placenta previa during this pregnancy. I can also add that the nausea has subsided. Yeah! And I have started to gain weight instead of loosing.

On a funny note we asked Tatum the other day if the baby is a boy or a girl and she responded "boy", which she does quite often. When we asked what the baby's name should be she said "baby girl tummy". So there you go folks...Tatum thinks baby girl tummy makes an excellent name. :)

Fall Follies...a tad bit late!

October was a jam packed month for us in the Krelle household. The bright beautiful colors of fall, the cooling down of the weather and upcoming holidays bring so much excitement. Some of the things that have kept us busy are: Oriental Trading Company's Hay rack Ride for Product Design Team, Fontnell Forest, Pooley's Pumpkin Patch, Nebraska City, Our Halloween Spook House, and Bill's (Eric's Dad) Birthday.

Some highlights from those trips include:

• At Fontnell Forest Tatum and her friends had fun seeing furry caterpillars and screaming "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" over and over again from a hut. They thought they were quite funny.
  

• At Pooley's "Tatum got her face painted, petted some cute baby chicks and rode a pony for the first time. Thankfully she hasn't asked Mommy and Daddy to buy her one!
  

• Nebraska City is our annual fall trip with the Krelle's. We had a picknick, walked on many tree trails and collected leaves, and we went to Arbor Lodge, where Eric and I got married at.
  

• Halloween was also quite a day in itself. Tatum and I went up to Eric's work to see all the costumes. Eric participated in the company wide costume contest with his department. They put on an "infomercial" called "The Songs in Barry Gibbs Head". Eric was Barry Gibb and some of the others were Kid Rock, Cindi Lauper, The Andrew's Sisters and MC Hammer. They won 2nd place!
  

• Tatum Dressed up as a butterfly and Grandma Sherman took her trick-or-treating while Eric and I manned our annual Spook House. We had a record turn out of 110 this year, which is great.
  

• The 2nd leg of the night included getting ready for a Halloween Party at one of Eric's co-workers house. Our house was a buzz with Alisa, Brian and some friends getting ready to go out here in Omaha, so it was crazy and festive. I was a pregnant Geisha Girl and Eric was a Marine. We had a great time at the party.

• Eric, Tatum and I rounded out the "fall fun" by attending Vinyard Church's Annual Fall Festival. It was lots of fun to go out and be part of the fun. Eric has been attending a mens group there for a good part of the year. We got to play in the bounce house, sit by a warm bonfire, and go on many hay rack rides. Tatum really liked swinging in a hammock there.
  

I have included many pictures...I hope it's not an overload but it has been such fun!