Family newsletter 2010.

1. The McSweeny Family Newsletter 2010

2. The Ohio McSweenys

3. Uncle Paul & Aunt Cathy 2010 was a busy year for us. Our snowiest February on record in Columbus kept us out building ever-higher snow piles. The Deep Creek cabin also saw record snows and only special snow removal equipment kept the neighborhood open but we managed to spend a few wintry weekends enjoying it. Besides long weekend wedding trips to North Carolina and Chicago/South Bend, IN, the highlights of the year were undoubtedly a week with all the family at Deep Creek in July and our pilgrimage to the Holy Land in October. What wonderful memories! We were overjoyed with the birth of two grandchildren (Graham and recently Anissa) and the wonderful news of two more on the way (Matt and Lilly in late December and Dave and Daniell expecting next May). Cathy started a new chapter in her Bible Study Fellowship (Isaiah), enjoys Broadway-series outings with her friends and continues to see the grandchildren on an almost daily basis. Paul did some birding in southern California but all the other travel limited his new bird counts. He still plays tennis and recently joined a Health Club that offers seniors’ exercise. We thank our wonderful God for everything! Wishing each of you a blessed Christmas, Love, (Uncle) Paul and (Aunt) Cathy

4. Patrick, Amy, Liam & Christian Patrick coached Christian’s soccer team and continues to work at Marzetti. Amy survived both a huge downsizing at her company and turning 40. Liam played Tee-Ball for the first time this year and started 1st. Grade. Christian played soccer in the Spring and Fall and started Pre-K. Both boys improved their swimming skills this summer at the pool and enjoyed a trip to visit Nana in Florida.

5. Michael, Kristen, Elena, Melina, Nolan &Anissa It has been an eventful year as the beginning of 2010 is when we found out we were expecting another little bundle of joy. Since then, it's been lots of thinking, preparing, re-organizing, etc to make room in the house for this little blessing, Anissa. So, more serious talk began about converting some bonus room space to another bedroom for Elena & Melina, which has been in construction for the past week. It will be done before Christmas & they are SO excited!! So is mommy, as this means another space to decorate & some shopping trips! :) Anissa will then have her own room & she'll have some new & fun things to personalize her new space, too! We went to Washington DC for spring break for a couple days & got to spend a night at Kristin's house. Such fun! The kids had a blast together & Mike & I enjoyed visiting!! Elena tried out for a traveling soccer team (within Greater Columbus area) and she made it! It was a new experience to all of us and she did enjoy this more rigorous challenge. Their U9 team won the big tournament at the end of the season & she was excited to show off her baby sister at the very last game. She is doing great in school. She still loves to read & draw & has begun to make up her own stories complete with illustrations & auto biography. Melina has been enjoying gymnastics & piano as her favorite activities & she does great in both! She loves to flip around on the furniture & frequently sits at the piano, unprompted, & plays several songs!! She is doing great in school & received straight As this 1st quarter. Nolan started school this fall. I can't believe it. And, yes, I cried. He loves school! It's so fun for Mike & I to hear him come home & sing the songs we fondly remember the girls learning. He loves art & does great writing his letters, numbers, his name & knows all the letter sounds & has begun to sound out & spell simple words. He began gymnastics this year, too & loves that as well! He, too flips around on the furniture with Melina! (oh, my) Anissa Rae arrived October 14th & she is darling! Her big brother & sisters cannot get enough of her as they kiss her every morning & everyday after school. We had her Christening on December 5th & the girls loved seeing her in the same gown that they wore. She is still a little peanut & I love it!!

6. Michael, Kristen, Elena, Melina, Nolan & Anissa continued… Mike is still DJ-ing & golfing & played some flag football w/ his brothers & my brother Ken. There didn't seem to be too many bumps & bruises, so I think they are on board for another season. My brother, his wife & 4 children moved here to New Albany in July & spent a few weeks with us as they looked for an apartment while they build their new home. It's been so much fun to have more family around and most family gatherings have now increased by 6! I am, as always, enjoying these little ones so much & it certainly keeps me busy. I may begin another teaching position for pharmacy technicians in the spring if circumstances are right. We will be hosting everyone for Christmas Eve again & are looking forward to another year of this fun tradition with all our loved ones and esp 2 new babies, possibly 3 (Matt & Lilly's :) Merry Christmas & a Blessed, safe & fun 2011!!! Love, Michael, Kristen, Elena, Melina, Nolan & Anissa

7. Dave & Daniell David and Daniell spent the first year of marriage settling into Columbus, hiking, exploring restaurants and spending time with our families. Daniell began teaching and David continues to treat patients in our local emergency room. Daniell is very active in her book club and has started taking an interest in ethnic cooking. David has been busy playing Soccer, Flag football and creating a model train setup. We spent the month of March in Thailand on vacation and enjoyed snorkeling, caving, hiking and taking in all the gorgeous temples and delicious Thai cuisine. The most exciting news we have to report is that we are expecting a baby due May 3rd next year. We are excited, nervous and really can't wait to meet our baby!

8. Theresa, Jeff, Carmela & Graham It has been a wonderful year! Certainly the highlight was Graham's birth in March (3/16) We missed St. Patricks Day by one day, but he is still our "Irish baby!" He is just sitting up, loves to laugh, cuddle, and make funny noises! He is a little dream boat! Carmela loves him and loves being a big sister. She is now a self-proclaimed, "big girl!" She is very helpful with her baby brother, helping her mommy get diapers, and she always has a way to make Graham laugh whenever he is crying! He enjoyes just watching his big sister play and sing. Jeff and Theresa are still working the same jobs. Theresa continues to love teaching high school art part time and has begun an on-line Masters program. On-line lectures, e-mailing papers, and posting comments in a classroom chat-room works soooo nicely with our lifestyle right now! Jeff is busy with work and our church. He singing in two choirs. A traditional group and a small contemporary group. He brings Carmela to his weekly practices at the church and she really loves that! We often find her standing in her room with an open book singing her heart out. It's so cute! We are excited about the weddings this summer and are looking forward to spending time with family. God bless! Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!Love, the Dreilingsxoxoxox

9. Matt & Lilly The youngest Ohio McSweeny household has had an exciting 2010! We found out Easter we would be expecting our first little one around Christmas. Truly a gift from heaven-we are so excited! Lilly switched from primary care to wound care and is loving her new job serving patients with large nasty wounds. Matt JUST received a much awaited job offer and will also be switching career paths to work with his oldest brother Patrick at Marzetti's! We are all settled into the new house and are looking forward to filling it with our growing family.

10. The Wasti Family

11. Aunt Mimi Is wishing a Merry and Blessed Christmas to all of our wonderful family. My wishes for you in 2011 are for health, contentment, laughter, success and an abundance of love! I look forward to the summer weddings to catch up with everyone.

12. Kristin, Roger, Evy & RJ Merry Christmas 2010! We hope everyone is having a safe and blessed holiday season. It has been a fun year here in ! It seems each season brings a new round of sports activities: summer had RJ and Evy swimming, golfing, playing tennis, summer baseball tournaments for RJ, and cross country training for Evy. Both kids again competed in the local kids triathlon (which Evy survived despite a pretty bad bike accident). Fall has been soccer and baseball for RJ (his favorite position is catcher) and running for Evy. And with the arrival of winter, both kids are busy playing basketball. Whew! “Mom’s Taxi” has been getting a work out.Our highlights for the year have been RJ’s First Holy Communion last April, the annual Diabetes Walk in October, some travel: RJ and Roger went to in the spring to see the Orioles at spring training. Evy and Kristin spent some girl time at American Girl in the spring and American Girl Boston in the summer. We also enjoyed our annual two week sojourn in August to Olcott, NY; Cooperstown, NY; Holyoke, MA; Worcester, MA; culminating in a fun beach trip to Fairfield, CT and a stop at Kristin’s alma mater with her college roommate. While we are so lucky to have Mom, Ian and Page close by, another highlight has been enjoying out-of-town family visits -- from Greg, Amber and the boys; a fun sleepover with Michael, Kristen and their three (three then!), which included a day trip to Hershey Chocolate World; Uncle Jimi, Aunt Charlene, Uncle Sam, Aunt Patty, Sarah, Tom….the Marquis Inn is now accepting reservations for 2011! JOur plans to move were cancelled this year when we could not sell our house (darn economy!), but we are so happy with our decision to stay in our current home. Roger continues to enjoy spending time with the kids (and coaching some of their teams), golf, and his position at UMMS; Kristin is loving staying busy being a mom, as a Committee Chair with PTO, her position on the Board of the local School District Foundation, and her role as Entertainment Chair for the Club.Much love to all! Happy New Year!!

14. Sarah & Tom Another busy and blessed year for the O’Sheas…. We took another trip to northern Europe over the summer, this time to visit Norwegian friends from grad school. We hiked mountains and camped within reach of a glacier, sailed through fantastic fjords on a friend’s boat, and stopped over in Iceland on the way back. Earlier this year, Tom led a successful seminar series at our church – “Catholics Going Green” – bringing his environmental and conservation background to the discussions. Sarah’s conversion to a New Englander is progressing….she attended her first Red Sox game at Fenway Park and had a blast! And, hard to believe that this Texas-raised girl now looks forward to using her new snowshoes on the snowy Massachusetts trails! We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the weddings next summer and meeting all of the new babies! Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas! Love, Sarah and Tom

15. Ian & Page Ian and Page have had an interesting year. After 6 months of volunteer work for the peace corps in places like Aruba, Bora Bora, and Maui, they settled down on a 35,000 acre alpaca ranch in northern North Dakota (the locals call it "Canada"). Between flight lessons for their new helicopter, snowshoeing to check on their alpaca herd, and sailing their boat around the globe, they find time to catch shows on Broadway, ski the Alps, and take camel-rides in the Arabian desert. Page enjoys baking elaborate wedding cakes while Ian is busy perfecting a new bomb scanning device for TSA. Other than that, their year has been so uneventful their imaginations tend get the best of them. Merry Christmas to all!

16. The Swindells Family

17. The whole gang plus Uncle Dave & Cousin Julia Swindells on Thanksgiving

18. Aunt Patty & Uncle Sam I can’t think of much from this past year that we’ve done that all of you haven’t already heard about (maybe too much)! The highlight being the birth of Rylan on Jan.19th….another miracle. We loved our 10 days in Italy, our first time there, but hopefully not our last. And how I disintegrated my hip joint with all the walking I did there! (Operation to replace it is December 20th). Sam’s 60th H.S. reunion was in Aug. in D.C., and he was quite involved in the planning, and he enjoyed himself a lot! He and I have kept in touch with some of the old friends since then. Our RV trip out west was another highlight. We met up with Jim and Charlene for 10 days in Montana and Alberta. We had a ball…played a lot of Mexican train. We really loved being on the road, and the RV lifestyle, but after 2 months we were really ready to be back home…we were worried the wee ones would forget us!! I have mixed feelings about not doing Pollyanna gifts anymore, so I think I am going to pick a name every year, and send a gift to that person….just for the surprise fun factor. Looking forward to seeing all of you in July!!!

19. Scott, Sarah, AJ & Penelope The Swindells are in the holiday spirit. The house is decorated inside and out, the kids talk about Santa every day, and there are presents under drought-surviving Christmas tree we cut down and decorated (and has only fallen over once!). Sarah has spent lots of time making decorations with the kids and Christmas cards with Aunt Amber. We've already had a few flurries to get everyone in the mood for snow. We had a lot of fun playing in last Winter's record snow, and AJ (3 1/2) is looking forward to learning how to ski this winter. Back in May, Penelope (19 mos. this Christmas) celebrated her first birthday with lots of family and a duck cake. She loves all animals, but ducks are her favorite. She is energetic, fun, and very talkative. AJ is inquisitive and kind, and he loves learning to read and being a big brother. He is getting excited to start pre-school in the Fall of '11. Both kids love to visit with their cousins every week, and travel to see their grandparents. Scott, Sarah, and Maddy (now 35, in dog years) love watching the whirlwind of excitement in the house every day. Merry Christmas and happy 2011 to everyone!

21. Greg, Amber, Aiden & Rylan 2010 was a great year for the Swindells clan. We welcomed Rylan Samuel on January 19th, the day before Amber’s 29th birthday! Aiden is enjoying his terrible two’s and loves Thomas the Train. Rylan is just taking his first steps and the boys are beginning to enjoy each other! Finally Aiden realizes that our little bulldog is here to stay! Greg continues his work at Northwestern Mutual and is studying towards becoming CLU certified. Amber is busy at home with the boys and also works part time as a Marketing Assistant at a local luxury home builders, Mignatti Companies. We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and an amazing New Year! Cheers!!

23. Samantha & Nick Samantha and Nick are happily living in Union Beach, NJ with their dog Luna. Samantha is in her third year teaching math at Red Bank Catholic High School and is continuing to build a small tutoring business. Nick was recently promoted to the prime brokerage desk at his company BTIG in Manhattan. They spend their weekend fixing up the house and taking Luna to the park. Nick, of course, surfs any chance he gets. They are busy planning the details of their big day and cannot wait to tie the knot in July 2011!

24. The NY McSweenys

25. Uncle Jim & Aunt Charlene 2010 has been a busy year for us! We traded in our 5th wheel trailer andtruck for a motorhome. In August, we took a 6 week trip out West. We metup with Patty and Sam in Montana. We traveled from there to the CanadianRockies, Banff and Lake Louise with them. After saying goodbyes, we thendropped down into Washington and Oregon. Visiting Oregon was monumental for me because it was the last of the 50 states on Charlene’s list to explore. Our country is absolutely beautiful! This coming year promises to be an exciting one - we will be grandparents for the first time and Josh is getting married to a very special girl in August! Merry, Merry Christmas and love to all! May God continue to bless you and hold you safely in the palm of His hand.

26. Josh & Kristen After getting engaged in January, Kristen moved to Connecticut in March. She found a job with a commercial insurer and is very happy with her new position. I continue to work for GEICO and am enjoying the job. Our free time has been spent driving back home for weddings and football games and planning our wedding. We also moved again recently so we haven't had much free time in the past several months. In the new year we look forward to finishing the wedding planning (finally) and spending a little more time in Connecticut and getting to know our new home a little better.

27. Emily & Bill We've had a great year, most of it preparing for the arrival of Leonora Mae Oliver due sometime around December 30th! We have also purchased a four acre piece of land with lots of trees and a creek in hopes of building a new home in the next few years. Bill's photography studio has been growing, we are booking jobs more and more frequently and Emily is working at GEICO loving her position as a theft investigator. We look forward to all the changes coming to us in the next month and can't wait to introduce little Nora to the family in July!