Rainey Family
Christmas Letter - 2015
2015 was another fantastic and busy year for the Rainey
family!
In February, Donovan turned 9 years old. He completed grade 3 in June with flying
colours and has been enjoying grade 4 this fall. He participated in soccer over the summer,
rock climbing in the winter and fall, piano lessons, and has had the
opportunity to begin learning the recorder and violin at school this year. He continues to be our “crafty” guy and in
particular has welcomed some opportunities to make pottery and take sewing
lessons.
Malcolm turned 7 years old and started grade one in the fall
and has not looked back. He has made a
huge leap in terms of his memory, which has meant a big jump in both his math
and reading skills. His speech is also
improving all the time and he is such a motivated learner – we get such great
feedback from his teachers. He takes a
dance class with a friend and can sing ‘Let it Go’ by heart – he is so musical!
Kieran had a big year.
He has gotten very sturdy on his feet as he does his best to keep up
with his big brothers. He is talking
more and more and is such a joy to have around.
He has developed a real love of books and also enjoys singing and
bossing everyone around.
We made the switch to ensuring Malcolm has a gluten free
diet. This has meant that we don’t bake
with any wheat flour. We have explored many
new recipes and have found some really good ones. Malcolm put on a major growth spurt that his
doctors attribute to his new diet, so we know we are doing a good job.
Jan had a busy year with research and students. Two of his students successfully defended
their PhDs and a student graduated with a MSc.
He also supervised five fourth year students. His work continues to flourish and he got
promoted to full professor in July.
Mary Ellen continues to work three days a week and is continuing
with some volunteer work. She was
excited to go home to Ontario (by herself!!) in April to help her parents move
into their beautiful new house in Tillsonburg.
In 2015 Jan and Mary Ellen celebrated their 15th
wedding anniversary with a 4 day trip (without kids!!) to New York City. They had a great time touring around and
seeing shows and even had time for a bit of shopping.
The older boys had a fantastic summer with Grama and Grampa
Rainey taking care of them three days/week in July. They made a lot of great memories going to
the lake and the beach. In August we all
headed back to Ontario for a couple of weeks.
As usual, the farm and seeing all their cousins was a great hit. At the very end of the summer, we squeezed in
a family camping trip to Fundy National Park and it was a big success.
We have a new addition to announce! Bobby the cat joined our family in early
December. He is a playful 4 year old who
is amazingly tolerant of the kids’ attention.
We thank family and friends who visited us from afar in 2015
from afar – we love visitors and hope to see more of you in 2016. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
