Happy New Year!

It really is true that the older you get, the faster time goes. I remember writing the date at the top of my school papers in elementary grades and thinking it would NEVER be the year 2000. (This was waaaaaay back in 1981 and following!) Ted and I were talking last night about how in some ways it seems our time together in Florida for Christmas 2006 was just days ago. A lot has happened since then, for our little family as well as for our nation and world, but somehow all those major events for us--Kenna's birth, Ted's return from his 6-month deployment, our summer travels, and yet another Las Vegas move--seem to have just flown by. It was a good year, it was a challenging year, and we are ready to move on!

We enjoyed the time my parents got to spend with us. They left Sunday morning to go to New Mexico to spend some time with my dad's sisters, and then they will drive back to 'Sconsin (as we affectionately call their home state--to say it properly you need to contort your lips to make the O sound more of a cross between an O and a short A, but drag it out a bit to emphasize the northern accent, as in 'Scaaaaaan-sin). The kids acted like they didn't know what to do with themselves after Grandma and Grandpa were gone. Due to a scheduling error, Ted had to work on Sunday, so it was pretty quiet by the time we got home from our 2 services at church. Kenna went right down for a much-needed nap, I camped out on the couch enjoying some quiet time to read, and the older kids wandered about disconsolately for awhile before finally settling down to their own activities. Charis cried rather passionately, already missing Grandma, her crafting buddy. But then she got involved with a doll kit my mom found for her and seemed to lose all track of time!

It ended up being a nice thing that Ted had to work on Sunday, as he then got both Monday and today off. We did a small amount of clean-up Monday morning, though nothing at all like we probably should have! Kenna was NOT a happy camper, refusing to nap most of the day, much to our chagrin. She is having difficulty staying in a horizontal position when it's time to sleep! Somehow between the screaming fits we managed to have some down time (Ted on the computer, me at my scrap table) and make treats (baklava and hot Mexican dip) to take to the New Year's Eve party at Heather and Blair's house.

We arrived at 7 p.m. and set up Kenna's play pen in Heather's sewing room, hoping she'd crash after a day with little sleep. By the time everyone arrived, there were 7 families there with a total of 22 children. Whew! The kids played remarkably well together, and Kenna did sleep a little bit, though not the whole time. We stuffed ourselves with all kinds of fattening treats, and then 4 of us managed to get in a game of Settlers of Catan amidst the chaos.

Though we didn't plan to, we stayed until just before midnight!! We arrived home just as the fireworks were going off on the Strip. We could see them from our bedroom window, but the kids were tired and completely unimpressed. I guess fireworks from a distance just isn't the same! Kenna blessed us by "sleeping in" until 7:30 this morning (her normal wake time is anywhere between 6 and 6:30 a.m.). The boys were up by 8:00, and Charis slept until after 10:00! I think the boys will need a nap time today...there has been a severe lack of sleep around here during this holiday season.

So, here it is, New Year's Day, 11:15 a.m. and I'm still wearing my bathrobe and glasses. I have, however, scrapped 3 more pages (for a total of 9 in the last 2 days) and am catching up on our blog, so that has to count for something! Kenna is sleeping finally, and I think we'll be getting our lunch ready soon. Today will be a lazy day of watching and playing games, I think.

Hope you all have a wonderful start to the new year! May God bless and guide you every step of the way!