Out with the Old, in with the '2'

I heard that was the theme for the New Years Eve party this year...we are just going to go with it. I'm not sure how good we are at the 'out with the old' part- things seem to accumulate here...bad habits...extra pounds...more toys. Although after only a few days with a polly pocket princess set, Katelee has lost the doll, and the other princess dolls we have as well. I asked her where it went and she told me she had been keeping an eye on all of it, but it just "tip-toed away." When someone discovers the actual Island of Misfit toys, please send ours back and tell them they aren't misfits, we just don't keep track of things very well. We had a great Christmas, with the exception of a nasty stomach bug that I tried to blame on the Training Table, until it showed up within my extended family as well. We saw Santa, made gluten free sugar cookie, (Katelee was so happy she could decorate them AND eat them! It got to be pretty messy!We saw lights and read lots of Christmas stories. The kids all saw Santa flying Christmas Eve on our way home and were anxious to fall asleep. Grant was up by 5:45, so we had plenty of time to open gifts before our 9am church. I actually love Christmas falling on a Sunday, it puts things in perspective and it always makes for a special day. Best Christmas suprise ever: (cue angelic Ahhhs) Dave shocked me and replaced our piano with this beauty. I cried the ugly choke sob when I saw it. Now my darling piano students (as seen here at their first recital...which they did amazingly, by the way) can enjoy touching every key and having a melodic sound come out. Brenna destroyed so much of our decorations that made it through the other two children, and yet I was never suprised as she would walk up to me, broken pieces in hand, and exclaim, "HO HO HO." Merry Christmas indeed. We ushered in the New Year playing games and eating junk. We had told the kids they got to stay up til midnight (not Brenna, of course, that would be misery for all involved). They were so excited, and Grant even negotiated a later time he thought would be even better-12:07. After he proposed that, we cheered our sparkling cider cups and found ourselves in 2012. I recently wrote a check for 2005, so how I am going to remember its 2012, I have no idea. While I believe all year we are trying to better our lives, a new year is a great time for me to reflect on the past and go forward with new resolve. Resolve to be better in my little circle of influence. It's a small little circle that I live in, truthfully, but it is a special one! We finished up the year tired, (this pic is not staged, Katelee just found her favorite Christmas gift-the umbrella-and naturally became her own sleeping princess) but now have the energy to make 2012 a great one!