2016 Year in Review

As one does at the end of a calendar year, our family has been reflecting on the highs and lows of 2016. And we are pleased to report that there were more highs than lows.  For that we feel very grateful.

In 2016, Eli turned 9 (his birthday always really kicks off the new year for us), Sebbie turned 6, Eli finished up third grade and began fourth grade at Fulton Elementary school, and Sebbie went through his kindergarten graduation from Carlow Campus School with a Celebration of Montessori Life and then began first grade at Fulton.  Abe and I were thrilled to a) have both kids in the same school and after-school program, making morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up so much more manageable and b) have both kids in public school, thereby eliminating tuition payments for awhile!  We vacationed together in Florida, France and Belgium, Canada, and Utah.  We skied and one of us ran.  We laughed, fought, learned, loved, hugged, played, cried, cooked, ate, and loved some more.  2016 had its own soundtrack for our family.  Early in the year, the kids discovered Queen and were singing their greatest hits with great regularity.  And towards the end of the year, the family finally succumbed to the Hamilton phenomenon; the kids can find a turn of phrase from the musical to suit any occasion and are often heard admonishing each other to "not throw away your shot." The American history lessons were abundant this year.  The kids were very aware of the 2016 presidential election - as were Abe and I.  It was ever-present and emotionally draining. Sebbie was an early Hillary supporter, embracing her early in the campaign and eager to have the first female president. In the end, we all hoped and worked for a different result than the one we got.  Now we're bracing to be more active and engaged citizens who model civility and courtesy and kindness to all.  We know we have our work cut out for us in 2017.

First day of fourth grade

Eli did a lot in his tenth year of life.  He received first communion in May.  He certainly does not love his school, but he has come to terms with it and is a wonderful student and good citizen there.  He particularly loves his days, once per week, when he gets to go to the Pittsburgh Gifted Center for enrichment.  This year he entered his first Science Fair at the gifted center, doing a project on why stalactites form in certain parking garages.  In fourth grade, while he wishes there were fewer essays, he has loved the new science curriculum and has already dissected a cow eyeball and sheep brain. He has also taken up the trumpet. Outside of school, he tried out baseball in the spring, which Ally enjoyed far more than Eli did.  In the fall, though, he started Tae Kwon Do and has taken to that with great enthusiasm.  He is now a double yellow stripe white belt and in 2017 will likely leave the white belts behind for more colorful options.  In his first tournament just a couple of weeks after he earned his first yellow stripe, Eli placed first in his group for patterns and second in his group for sparring.  As he had only ever sparred three times previous to the competition and had just learned his pattern, we were all very proud of his performance. During the summer, Eli participated in several summer camps.  His favorite was a week-long French-language residence camp - his first sleep-away camp.  He also counts our trip to France and Belgium as a highlight of his year, especially riding on the TGV, going to the Atomium and Waterloo (on the 201st anniversary of the battle), and eating crepes.  Eli loves playing board games with his dad (nightly), video games while his brother watches (as often as allowed), and reading.  He is particularly interested in chemistry of late and already knows more about it than I learned in my high school chemistry class.  We wonder what he will learn when he finally can take a class in it.   

First Communion, May 7, 2016

Sebastian, as always, is an energetic talker prone to nostalgia.  He wants to do whatever his brother is doing.  He even broke his thumb this year at the batting cages trying to do what Eli could do.  But he has been starting to find his own individual things lately, too.  This year, Sebbie became a most-of-the-time vegetarian.  He'll make the occasional exception to his vegetarianism to enjoy a meatball sub, chicken fingers (when few other options exist), or pot roast, but for the most part he remains committed. His favorite food is wontons/dumplings and grilled cheese.  And candy.  He is a candy-holic and his year revolves around the more candy-centric holidays.  In May, Sebbie celebrated his sixth birthday with his classmates from Montessori Kindergarten playing laser tag.  He then had a fantastic kindergarten graduation with that same group of friends.  They were a close-knit group and it was hard saying goodbye to them and to Carlow's Campus School where our family had spent seven years.  Saying goodbye to Miss Stephanie and Miss Marlene was the hardest of all.  We still miss them.  Sebbie, with his tendency towards nostalgia, most of all.  In the summer, though, he filled his time with summer camps and vacation.  He loved Pokémon Go camp and Gymkhana's gymnastics camp most of all.  His visit to the Luray caverns with Grandma Vivie and Eli was a highlight, as was the Atomium, ascending to the top of the Eiffel Tower, flying across the Atlantic Ocean, and eating crepes. He is hoping to be able to do a sleep-away camp soon, like his brother.  He loves singing and dancing and has become a legitimate reader this year.  We were thrilled that he was assigned to Ms. Scalamogna's 1st grade classroom at Fulton.  Though he always wanted to be in the same school as his brother, he has since found that Fulton is not all he dreamed it would be. But he has adjusted well and is receiving excellent marks and (usually) comments about good citizenship. He is making new friends in his class, at recess, and at EVO (their after-school program), so he can't complain too much.

Montessori Graduation with Ms. Stephanie

Sebbie and Justin

First day of first grade

 Abe is still at K&L Gates doing general litigation.  He had hoped to be able to travel to London to participate in an international arbitration, but he and his colleagues are such good lawyers that the case settled before that became necessary.  It was a bit of a disappointment.  As settling can sometimes be. Professionally, though, things began to pick up when he became involved in resentencings of individual sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes they committed before they turned eighteen. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in January 2016 that all persons given such sentences on a mandatory basis must be resentenced, no matter how long ago they were originally tried and convicted, Of all the states, Pennsylvania has the most "juvenile lifers," many of whom are now middle-aged. Abe has taken a leading role in efforts to obtain just and favorable results.  He has taken on several pro bono clients, heads K&L Gates' team working on this, and teamed with another lawyer/friend to lead CLE clinics about juvenile lifer cases and to convince other firms to take up some of the cases.  In fact, one of Abe's clients who was originally sentenced to life imprisonment back in the 1970s has already been granted parole.  He has been thriving in his new role and seems to find particular satisfaction working with and getting to know his clients.  It has been a highlight of his year.  Outside of work, Abe enjoys playing games with his family and friends, skiing, taking trips, and scouring the internet for all that it may be able to tell him. To cap off the year, he had some great luck in a recent raffle and won two Delta Airline vouchers that we hope to put to good use in 2017!

Eiffel Tower - Above

Eiffel Tower - below

I continue to work at the European Studies Center at Pitt, though this year brought a new opportunity to become the Interim Director for a year as we transitioned from one Director to another. I have been in the role now since June.  It has been rewarding, but I will be happy to turn the reins over to our incoming Director in the summer.  I'll still have a large role in the direction of the Center, but will be able to forego some of the more ceremonial, time-consuming, functions of the position!  Regardless of my title, I still feel very lucky to have found my job. I get to meet interesting scholars and policy makers. I think about and visit Europe.  I help teach people and make sure our Center has the resources to continue helping others to learn more about and research Europe and European languages. And I work with fantastic people whom I very much admire.  Thanks to my job, I was able to make a research trip to Paris followed closely by a trip to Brussels where I led a tour of educators and students around the institutions of the EU.  When not at work, I enjoy running, watching tv, and imagining ways to remodel our house. I enjoyed having a chance to reconnect with some great friends from Tuscaloosa for a ladies' weekend in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania and my weekly runs with Pittsburgh-based friends. My favorite times are skiing or biking with the family, and traveling anywhere.  I have found being the mom of a 9 and 6 year old to be particularly fun and I can't wait to see what 10 and 7 bring... though a part of me would also like to freeze time and keep them smaller.  

Through the year, as I look back, I am pleased to say that we had remarkably good health, luck, and happiness. The year seemed challenging in many ways, but at home we are comfortable and cozy and able to reflect with gratitude on many instances of good fortune.  There is much I hope to do better in 2017, we all have our "resolutions" for how we could improve, but I think we also need to acknowledge our good fortune in 2016 and count our blessings. We are grateful to our many loving family members and friends and wish you all a prosperous and healthy 2017.