January 1

Happy New Year!

Inn 2011, I wrote a grand total of 344 blog posts. Not too shabby! I think 2012 will be the year of the home. We plan to spend all of it working on our new house. Chris' friend Shawn and his family stopped by today on their way through town, and Shawn commented that the house is probably a ten-year project. I really hope he's wrong, but I'm afraid he's right. I guess I'm really hoping it ends up being a five-year or less project. A girl can dream, right?

Meanwhile, we still can't get our new gas clothes dryer connected, Chris tried to connect the water line for the ice maker on the fridge and it sprayed everywhere, and tomorrow we're going to attempt to install a new ceiling fan in the master bedroom and re-wire the light switch so that there's a switch for the light and one for the fan.

The first night in the new house went well, though. Caleb slept all night, despite the loud, loud, LOUD noises of fireworks and party horns and shouting and what were possibly gunshots at midnight. Daisy didn't want to sleep in her new room, so she stayed in bed with us. And Chris and I slept fitfully. We need our ceiling fan!

I didn't manage to take any pictures of Shawn or Rachel or their four darling children. I did manage to capture my kiddos eating some delicious Lion's Choice for dinner, though. (This house has a good track record: so far, I have done NO cooking here! I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow so that life can resume as normal.)

We're raising this boy right! He loves his real roasted beef!

The only in-focus picture I took of Daisy today. I never manage to take photos of the kids when Chris is home. Isn't that funny?

Out of focus, but happy!

This girl is growing! All of her pants are now too small. I had to get out several pairs of 12-month pants, and bought a few more at the Monster Sale at The Children's Place.

Today is New Year's Day, so it's still okay to wear the "Happy New Year" hat, right? The boys read a Lightning McQueen book at bedtime. Caleb was happy.