New Year's Eve

We had a much livelier New Year's Eve this year than we have the past couple of years.  We went over to Matt's sister Becky's house and partied it up until after midnight.  We were such a crazy group!  Dave's sister and her family, and Matt's parents came over too.  We ate way too much food, Cafe Rio style salads and burritos, fried fishy things that I did not partake of, but looked good if you like fishy stuff!, and lots of snacking foods.  We ate, played games, taste tested different flavored sparkling ciders, and cheered and set off little poppers at the new year.  Emilyn struggled to wind down, but we put her to bed somewhere around 10:30.  Matisyn and her cousins were going strong until well after midnight, fueled by a dinner of mostly candy, treats and soda!  We made it home somewhere after 1:30 in the morning, happy, exhausted and ready to start the new year.

I don't know what it is about the new year that just makes things seem possible.  It's like a fresh start to put hard things behind you, and move forward into something better.  The whole tomorrow is a new day saying really rings true during this time.  It's refreshing and inspiring, even if it is only in my mind!  Four years ago my Dad passed away suddenly in January, the next January we were dealing with the fall out of a year of consecutive difficulties, and this January we got some bad news from some testing we did with Emilyn.  So I know January is not always a great month, but I still like the feeling that comes from the first of the year and the beginning of a list of resolutions.  I like to think that even though I know there are so many things I can do better, it is never too late to try.  Our resolutions are pretty similar to the rest of the worlds for the most part.  We'd like to eat healthier, we're getting a gym pass again so we can focus on exercising more, spend more time as a family, etc.  Some other things we're going to concentrate on are focusing our spending toward traveling and doing things together, Matt and I getting some time away together, etc. instead of on stuff.  I figure it will help with my desire for more positive time with the girls, one on one time with Matt, and with my need to have things organized (because we are out of room for more stuff!).  I am going to try harder to plan out meals, which will help with dinner time craziness, the healthy eating goal, and with the food budget.  I am also going to do my best to get on the floor and play with my girls everyday, and focus less on my to do list.  Matt says less is more, so we'll see how many of these things I can actually follow through with!  We had some ups and downs this year, but I have a healthy family, great friends, and for the most part it was a good one.  Here's to a fresh start with 2011!