Morris Family

Happy Holidays 2004
From the Morris

We hope that this Holiday Greeting finds you and your family doing well. It has been an exciting year for us. I will attempt to catch you up to date on what is happening in our lives.

When the year started Kinsey, Sydney and I where visiting my sister Shari and her family in Arizona. On our return trip, we visited the Grand Canyon and Four Corners Monument. Yes, we all stood, simultaneously, in four states (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado). This year was very special because it marked the last time that the three of us all went to the same school. Ironically enough, the one and only year that all three of us were in the same school, Lingle Middle School won the Shannon Wright Award for the best middle-level program in the state of Arkansas. Coincidence? … I think not! Remember the University of Arkansas won the Men’s Basketball National Championship the year I earned my Bachelor’s Degree from there (1994) and the St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl after the 1999 season (the first year I lived in St. Louis). I became an official Boston Red Sox fan in 2003. In fact, my daughters bought me a Boston Red Sox hat for Christmas last year. Less than a year later, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series! You’re right, there’s probably not a strong enough link between these events and me to include them on my resume’.

When the year began, the unit that I commanded from September 2000 to June 2003, Company A, 1140th Engineer Battalion out of Farmington and Fredericktown, Missouri deployed to Iraq. The 1140th will return to the states around February 22, 2005.

In January, I performed my second overseas Annual Training in Japan in support of an annual, bilateral command post exercise called Yama Sakura. My first overseas Annual Training was to Panama in support of Joint Task Force Chiriqui, a humanitarian aide mission to build schools and clinics in 2003. I’m scheduled to return to Japan for the last two weeks of January 2005.

In the spring, my name popped up on a mobilization list for a Command and Control Cell with a Design Team to be mobilized in October and deployed in November to Afghanistan for a year. When it all worked itself out, the deployment was trimmed-down to a seventeen personnel Design Team and the deployment was to Iraq instead of Afghanistan. Dave Goodwin, a person that I worked closely with since June 2003, is one of the seventeen personnel. I felt I needed to do something to assist him and his family, so I wrote a website for him with his pictures and messages. http://davegoodwin.semorris.com/

Over the summer, the girls and I traveled to Iowa to spend the Fourth of July holiday with my mom, dad, and bothers.

At the end of the summer, we went on my first cruise, on the Disney Magic. I’d torment the girls by constantly saying, “Girls, I’m feeling the Disney Magic!” … while running my hand along the wall while walking down the narrow hallways. Corny, I know … but you have to give kids this age something in which to role their eyes.

In the fall, we adopted Sir Winston Trip, a black and white cat with beautiful green eyes. His coloring makes him look like he’s wearing a tuxedo. “Trip” because he likes rubbing up against your legs, whether you’re standing still or walking.

Also this fall, my dad and I went in together on a “starter” boat. It needs some TLC, but, hey, it’s a boat! Sydney and Kinsey are threatening to paint it pink and call it Barbie Dream Boat.

Sydney had heel cord lengthening surgery in November to improve her range of motion in her right ankle. Last year we tried serial casting and daily stretching. The cast comes off on December 30.

Kinsey turned 12 in August and goes to Lingle Middle School where I teach. She earned her way on a six student Odyssey of the Mind team at Lingle! Odyssey of the Mind, or OM, is an international creative problem-solving program. Kinsey has really caught fire in reading due to her interest in the “Lemony Snicket's: A Series of Unfortunate Events”. In fact, we went to see the movie yesterday. She says that the movie was “okay, but it was out of sequence compared to the books”. Kinsey is currently third-chair violin, or as her grandparents call it, “the fiddle”.

Sydney will be 14 January and currently goes to Oakdale Junior High. Is it legal for someone to have a driver’s permit when they are so light that the airbag deactivates when they sit in the front seat? Not only will she need a couple of telephone books to sit on, but also we’ll have to stack some weights on her lap! (She’s 4’8” and 75 pounds)

You can also stay up-to-date with us through my homepage http://semorris.com. If you have it bookmarked, the bookmark probably needs updated because I moved the site from cox-internet.com/sean.erick.morris to members.cox.net/semorris.com because more storage is available. One of my Holiday Break projects is a picto-timeline of the girls on the “Family” link. I’m very excited about this because it will be a one-stop location of all Sydney and Kinsey’s fall and spring school pictures organized on a timeline. If all goes well, I may be done by Monday, December 27.

Best Wishes in the Coming Year,
Sydney, Kinsey & Sean


Lisa, Kinsey, Sydney, Sean & Jason Playing Fools' Poker 4th of July Weekend, 2004	Kinsey & Alye riding Grandpa's scooter May 1, 2004	Sydney "helping" dad water the lawn April 17, 2004	Visiting Mexico December 30, 2003


All-Region Honor Orchestra from Lingle Middle School Sydney is in the front November 19, 2003	Sydney's reaction to being irritated by her father while playing on the computer. November 16, 2003	Kinsey & her dad November 9, 2003	Sean @ Lingle Middle School test driving Mr. Sparks' chair. August 2003


Sean @ Drill May 18, 2003	Panama Outside deposed dictator Manuel Noriega's house February 24, 2003	With Panamanian Teacher and students for whom we were building the school February 2003	Morris & Firebaugh preparing for Humanitarian Aid Mission to Panama to build a school and a clinic January 2003


Sydney, Dad & Kinsey cracking nuts Thanksgiving 2002	Jacob, Matt, Rachel & Kinsey "The Boss" @ Six Flags Summer, 2002	Sydney crushing her dad's arm "The Boss" @ Six Flags Summer, 2002	Official Department of Defense (DoD) Photo 2001


Family Portrait aboard the Disney Magic August 2004	Who's Goofy? August 2004


Backyard View East-NorthEast December 2004	Backyard View East December 2004	Backyard View East-SouthEast December 2004


Kinsey, Jacob, Sydney 2000	Kinsey, Sydney, and Dad Six Flags (STL) Log Flume Summer 2000	Kinsey October 19, 1999


Dress Blues August, 1998	Dad visiting Kinsey @ School (Kindergarten/Northside) Winter 1997	Morris Boys May 8, 1971 Ivan, Tony, Kyle (baby), Sean, Gary