For Christmas 2005, we were able to take a quick trip over to England to visit family. We even got to experience snow, which was rather a novelty for our Texan boys.

In January 2006, Alan ran in the Houston half-marathon and used the event as an opportunity to raise funds for Take Heart Association Project, Inc., a charity helping underprivileged children with heart disorders in East Africa.

Unfortunately, Alan has been plagued during the year with tendonitis in his knees and so has spent much time with ice strapped to his legs. Nevertheless, he has recovered enough to plan to run the 2007 half marathon in January, again in aid of Take Heart Association Project, Inc.

Jason has done quite a bit of running himself this year, both in 5K "fun run" events, and also on his school's cross country team. He is currently a 7th grader at Pin Oak Middle School.

For several months, Jason continued to work on his Tae Kwon Do skills and reached the level of blue belt before taking a break to concentrate on the cross country running.

Daniel's main sport this year has been American football, and he played on the "junior varsity" team of Bellaire High School, where he is a 10th grader. Training workouts started in July, and then there were daily practices once school started in August. Daniel worked hard and got to be quite a bit stronger as the year went on. Despite the fierce appearance of football players, they still have their tender moments! The gentleman with Daniel is the head coach of the football team.

Although Belinda had originally planned to return to Tae Kwon Do after recovering from her 2004 knee surgery, she decided a safer option would be to concentrate on musical interests. She spends a lot of time rehearsing and performing with the Houston Choral Showcase, and also tackles several administrative tasks for them since she is now secretary of the board of directors.

Not to be outdone in the musical department, the boys have both started to learn new instruments. Since Belinda has accumulated an impressive collection of musical instruments over the years, she was able to supply Daniel and Jason with her own guitar and clarinet, respectively.

During the summer we were able to spend a couple of days in a house by the Guadalupe River with friends from church. Jason thought the water was too cold for swimming (the dog agreed), but Daniel found another way to enjoy it.

In November we had a very enjoyable holiday in California visiting Disneyland and Universal Studios. Obviously, there were many interesting things to see and do. The boys were intrigued by this life-sized LEGO model of a dozing tourist.

After one particularly wet ride at Universal Studios, Alan and Daniel emerged with almost identical facial expressions in their reaction to being doused. Like father, like son, I suppose.

Almost as "thrilling" as an amusement park ride is being the passenger in a car being controlled by a novice teenage driver. During the summer Daniel got his learner's permit and took some driving lessons. Once he's 16 (in January 2007) he'll be eligible to get a provisional license, which will allow him to drive on his own in certain situations.

At one point during the year, Daniel employed the help of a friend and had his head shaved. He has since let it grow a little, but still does his own "buzz cut" every few weeks.

No Rossiter photo album would be complete without at least one animal picture, so here are Tex (a Bichon Frise dog) and Xena (a Cornish Rex cat) looking particularly elegant.