2015

T H E

( M O S T LY )

A N N UA L

E D I T I O N

STILL FREE

THE PHILLIPSES
issuing

JACK, 4
ELISE, 6 WEEKS
DANIEL & TALINN, ENTIRELY TOO OLD
FOR THIS.

And then there were 4. But thats seriously it, people.

2014 was a year full of surprises, some
fantastic and some awful. Some, like the
one above, we were still reeling from at
Christmas-letter-writing time. Which
brings us to
2015, which brought the arrival of this
adorable person on August 17th after
the longest 273 days of Talinn's life. As
the last Christmas letter said for home

renovation I now say for pregnancy:

NEVER. AGAIN.
Elise is four months old today and has
gotten decidedly more interesting. She
loves laughing, especially at Jack's antics
and at kisses. She's also pretty excited
about her new-found ability to grab
things. We are all enamored with her
crooked smile. Less so with her near-

constant stream of vomit (frequently

issuing from aforementioned crooked
smile). This morning they invented a
new game wherein Daddy holds Lisi like
Superbaby and flies her around the
room, attempting to puke on Jacks
head. Jack flees, screaming. Everyone is
entertained by this, although I am a bit
less so, since Ill be cleaning the puke off
the floor.

The House. The

Jack
has done so much growing up in the
House. The House. Jack
last two years. He is enjoying preschool,
I also skipped last years Christmas letter
because the house still wasnt done and it
just depressed me. We have made quite a
lot of progress since we first moved in
though. The Owners Suite is finished
enough and the whole house is finally
painted. We had the repaired and
refinished original front door put back on
and the porch floor no longer sports giant
holes.
We even did a tiny bit of landscaping,
although less than wed planned after
discovering a two-foot-wide strip of
concrete covered by a one-inch strip of
dirt that runs the entire length of the
house. Thank you once again, Previous
Owners.
And, both last and least, new sidewalks by
the street. We try to be really, really
excited by how even the sidewalks are
now since the city made everyone on our
block pay for new ones anyway. (A process
I resented less until I started paying more
attention to the dilapidated sidewalks on
every other street in our neighborhood.)

especially access to what seems to be

unlimited art supplies. He loves to draw and
throughout the year has worked on
perfecting renditions of Larry Boy, creature
power discs from the Wild Kratts, Dash
from The Incredibles, and assorted large cats.
He is particularly fond of cheetahs, but any
large cat will really do.
Jack also loves swimming and riding his bike.
After a couple of rounds of swimming
lessons hes getting close to being able to
swim on his own. He likes riding to church
every week and is ready to transition to a
big boy bike.
Jack has also developed quite the way with
words, concocting ever more convoluted
and indirect means of asking Can I watch
TV.

Bolt Castle on Our Tour of the Thousand Islands

There is still plenty of work to be done,

but the place no longer qualifies as
derelict. Unless you look at the garage,
which we are crossing our fingers stays
standing until we can replace it.
Dinosaurs in Chicago

Announcing His Impending Big Brother Status (with Larry Boy)

Quebec

Page 3, Clockwise from Top: Birthday at Niagara Falls (with pinkeye!), Preschool Party, Boat Ride in the Thousand Islands, Grandpas Half
Marathon, Emeriti Park in Athens

JAC K S A DV EN TU R E S

If the Phillipses
didnt travel, can it
still be a Christmas
letter?
No. Most of the family stuck to North
America this year, but we did travel a
ridiculous amount (for work! we swear!)
until the end of June. After that we did
nothing at all. Because pregnancy sucks.
In January we took advantage of a
timeshare offer combined with frequent
flier miles for a trip to Cancun, Mexico.
This trip had the unfortunate side effect
of letting Jack think that $300/night
ocean-front rooms with multiple pools
and hot tubs was an appropriate standard

for hotels. He has complained about every

place weve stayed since.

a cruise through the Thousand Islands

in Ontario

A few of this years highlights:

wandering through Quebec and

telling ourselves we were in Europe
(It mostly worked. The drive did
convince Talinn that she really did
want to forego the trip to Italy.)

Mayan ruins in Cancun

a carriage ride through Charleston

and pimiento cheese grits (Lets be
honest: pimiento cheese everything.
Because pregnancy. And because
pimiento cheese.)

multiple donut stops in Toronto

(Sorry, Toronto. Im sure you have
much more to offer than Tim
Hortons but it was a really quick trip
and it kept raining and Talinn hates
city driving.)

sharks at the National Aquarium in

Baltimore

Merry Christmas and many blessings

to you and yours in 2016!
Love,
Talinn, Daniel, Jack & Elise