Happy New Year

So 2011 has come and gone and I am not quite sure what I got out of it. I guess it's a good sign if nothing is really sticking in my head, it can't be all that bad. At least Dec left us and we managed to stay healthy for the holidays. Christmas was a success. Mitchell enjoyed his bowling alley, my keepon and Mickey Mouse for all of 10 minutes and then it was back to the ladder & Mario Kart. Grace loves her stuffed kissing Lion King animals and her Vet Center and has been wearing her Jasmine nightgown, or nothing at all, for 5 days. Caroline can't decide which DS game to play or should she fly her giant inflatable clown fish around for a few minutes. And Steven loves his upgrade to a 3DS, what can be better than playing your favorite games AND watch them jump off the screen at you. After it was ll said and done,the craziness of the day is well worth it. On Christmas day we head to my Aunt's for some awesome appetizers and wonderful family time. Mitchell managed to snag a few candy canes off their tree before I moved the rest to the back, then he discovered chocolate covered peppermint bark. Yum! Who can resist that? Caroline spent most of her time harassing my cousin's dog Lucy with Grace close by when she wasn't munching on yummy food. And of course Steven was hanging with his cousins. Surprising enough we stayed longer than 2other families who had places to go as well. Next, we drive to Steve's parents house for the Ivey festivities. Last year it only took Mitchell maybe 30 minutes to crack his head and we spent dinner time in th ER. This year we faired much better. Dinner was great as usual and other than Mitchell being told every 5 minutes to get off the railing it went smoothly. Oh and Mitchell did bust in on one of his aunts going potty and every snickered that she should have locked the door but if that was the worst then so be it. There wasn't any pants dropping or poopong incidents which was a huge relief and when Mitchell started getting restless it was time to open presents and that bought us a bit more time. We left while all the kids were still at 100% and ended the day nicely. Even for Steve and I it was great Christmas as far as gifts go. He surpised me with a Nook Tablet and I bought him a knife sharpener - I knew there was a conversation about dull knives in my future. Dad Ivey commented I should sleep with one eye open now, ha ha. And the kids gave daddy some techy gloves he can keep on while using his phone. I like it when we can think of useful gifts for each other that maybe we wouldn't have come up with on our own. Going into 2012 I can only hope our lives continue to get better. This past week I have created a list of priorities, and it's funny how they change so quickly, but the new year is a great time to start making changes.