Happy New Year!!

Did you (as in the six people who actually read this thing) miss me? LOL. I've been terrible about blogging, but the good news is that it is because I've been busy enjoying the holidays. In spite of not looking forward to them, they ended up being a lot of fun - maybe even the best we've had in a while.

Highlights:

--Seeing old friends. We enjoyed a bunch of visits and gatherings over the 2 weeks.

Our dear friend Paul, who we haven't seen in almost 10 years, and his new wife and baby came for a visit. It was so good to catch up with him, and meet Megan and Sophie. We reconnected immediately, and I really hope that we don't let another 10 years go by before getting together again.

We also hosted Heidi and Coley and family for a few days, which was a total blast. The kids hit is off right away, and what can I say about us and H & C? We have history. Lots of it, stretching all the way from Eugene, Oregon to Boston, MA, and we are just really lucky to have them in our lives. I think I laughed more in three days than I have in three months. We're already figuring out when we're going to go up to MA to visit them next.

New Year's Day we did a very scaled down version of our "We have young kids and can't get out on NYE so let's party on NYD Party." We hosted the Voehls, DiCostanzos, and Joneses for an afternoon of eating and drinking. It was up in the air until the last minute, but I'm glad we decided to go ahead with it.

--Seeing New Friends

We tried something new recently, and invited Jenn and Bart over for a late dinner, in lieu of going out. I withheld the nap from Eden so she was good to go as far as bed by 7:30 and told Sadie she had to entertain herself in her room after 8:15. It worked out beautifully, and it was nice to just sit and chat and eat and drink and not have to worry about rushing home to relieve a babysitter. It was also fun to see Jenn and Bart. We haven't really seen them since the summer, and we always seem to have lots to talk about. Seeing them got me looking forward to the summer already!

We also hosted a get together for Sadie's brownie troop. The girls enjoyed jewelry-making, Twister, Dance Dance Revolution, pizza and ice cream sundaes. I had a chance to meet/get to know some of the other brownie moms, and all in all in was a success.

--Relaxing

We fell into a nice routine of sleeping late, lounging about for the mornings, and then doing something 'fun' for the afternoons. I loved not worrying about packing lunches or homework or any of that stuff. It was hard rousing the girls at 7:30 this morning, and they were none to excited to be dressed, fed and rushed out the door.

Anyway, all in all, it was a great break, and a good start to the winter.