Fairbank Family Newsletter 2016

Fairbank Family Newsletter 2016

Merry Christmas, everyone. In lieu of a holiday fruit brick, please accept this informative newsletter about the Fairbank Family, drafted by a private attorney at no charge to you. You’re welcome.

Ariana slobbers her way to the top of the Christmas card.

In April we welcomed the newest member of Team Fairbank, Ariana Jean Fairbank. She’s as cute as a button, and as bald as one, too. She loves to be the center of attention, whether she’s giggling for her brothers (while they’re supposed to be doing anything else) or determinedly filling her diaper at church during the prayer. When that doesn’t work, she isn’t above projectile vomiting to make sure all eyes are on her. She’s smaller than either of the boys were, but with a bigger, toothless smile. She’s a mommy’s girl…for now.

Andy takes rare snack break from (charmingly) driving his parents insane.

Andy is three this year, and forget “threenagers,” have you ever heard of a “threenado?” Andy is a very hands-on child, which is great because he usually has wet or sticky hands from digging his fingers into his peanut butter sandwich, or his cup of juice, or his nose. A common ritual at our house involves Andy marching up the stairs from the dinner table with his hands held high over his head, to “wash” his hands and face. Andy is still our most affectionate and creative child. He’ll come running outside when I’m leaving for work because I forgot to give him a kiss. In the snow. In his bare feet.

AJ snubs Harvard for Juilliard.

After two years of preschool, AJ is finally living the dream: kindergarten. It looks like Harvard is out of the question now, after seeing his first report card. He failed the task “count to 100” because he “counted past 100.” Get with the program, AJ. Like any brilliant underachiever, he’s shifting his focus to the arts. Practicing piano is his favorite thing to do. And he has a Suzuki violin teacher now who is calling him “gifted” (after he sight-read his way through several songs). She will be doing extended lessons with him starting in January. It’s all I can do not to brag about him to everyone I know…

Emily puts her foot down on this whole moving thing.

Another year, another house. In six years of marriage, this tough old gal has moved eight times. She grew a human in April, and then we moved to Idaho Falls in May. She’s adapted well, though that could be due in part to the old friends and family we have close by in Rexburg, somewhat close by in Dillon and Twin Falls, and at a tolerable driving distance (with a couple of fully charged tablets and a solid set of earplugs) in Utah, not to mention the ample availability of Reed’s chocolate milk. Emily has her piano back and is teaching voice and piano lessons to the local young ladies.

Joe embarks on a thrilling new career as a part-human.

The cochlear implant I received last year has changed my life. I can hear every little coo and every enthusiastic shriek from my baby girl. I answer the phone at work with gusto. And I have a new appreciation for live music. There are a few unexpected perks as well, like my unique new talent for sticking magnets—any kind of magnet—to my skull. It’s a hit with the ladies kids. I have a fantastic new job at Beard St. Clair Gaffney, the best law firm in eastern Idaho, working in estate planning and business law. You don’t know true adrenaline until you’ve drafted a trust agreement to accommodate tax regulations on income in respect of a decedent for a devise of required minimum distributions from a qualifying retirement account to nonindividual beneficiaries. Also a hit with the (old) ladies.

Let us all follow Christ’s example by serving others this Christmas season. #LIGHTtheWORLD