Life, Love, Laughter: Happy New Year!!!

Welcome to Twenty Twelve! While Twenty Eleven was a decent year for our family, we always pray & ask that the next year be even better! We rang in the New Year at home with our munchkins, watched football, ate a yummy Outback dinner & even drank a few glasses of wine. The kiddo's fell asleep early, Dylan on the couch was out at 5:45! Wowza! I think he is still trying to play catch up from a busy Christmas week! Our little twinkling eyed little girl stayed up with us for a bit & later after the kiddo's were in bed the hubby and I had a little time to reflect. Reflect on the previous year, lessons learned, choices we made some which were good and some which have room for improvement....but all in all we have a fantastic year to look forward to!

Sunshine, not a cloud in the sky and nearly 50 degree's on New Years Eve 2011! Had to mark this day with pictures, we may not be as lucky the next several years! It was a beautiful day!!!

     Definitely the biggest news of our year to come came the last week of 2011 when we found out that Danielle was accepted into the Linn Mar School District under open enrollment. This is HUGE for Danielle & it was by far the very best news we could have received!!! We are no longer in a huge hurry to sell our home, we can do a few more improvements and think long and hard about where in the district we would like our future home to be. In 2012 our little girl will start pre-school, 5 days a week!!! *tears* It is hard to believe that she is growing so fast, but we are so excited for what her future holds as a little Lion!
      Dylan will start Kindergarten in the Fall, and until that time I will try and keep him little as long as I possibly can. Yet each new day with Dylan brings something new, and the reminder that he is growing up oh so fast, right before our eyes. We have no choice but to hold on for the ride! He is such a kind and gentle sole. The past few weeks he has wanted his sister to sit and play with him many times thru each day. 'Danielle wants to play with me' he will say. We will put her in her chair, they will make pretend donuts or cook brownies or even color a picture together. These are moments we have longed for and seeing Dylan take it upon himself in the big brother role is something that I cannot even explain, it is awesome!
    This coming August Brad and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage! No way! We hope to celebrate together on a fantastic warm weather destination vacation. Being together 16 years and now we will be married for 10, wow, time has gone by fast, and the journey has been so grand! I am so lucky to have such a fantastic husband and loving father for our children. Brad and I each have a lot going on in our day to day jobs, as parents, as husband and wife and in our careers too. We have been blessed and we hope things continue to go as well in this coming year. As we sat and chatted about how we can make each other better, there are things we will try and make better for our family too. One thing that just happens is what we feel in our hearts, the love of our family, together, each and every day in our home. Those feelings are in our hearts and will never fade away. Family is everything, and those words we live by each and every day. And our friendships are just as important too. Where there is the love of family, there is the love of close friends, we have friends that are our family to us and we cannot wait for a fantastic year spent with them as well!