Today is January 2nd. Already I'm a day late in writing the post for ringing in the new year. Big surprise, I'm behind again. :)
The last few months have been a bit of a blur. From October to December, it seemed like time was flying by. We didn't do a lot of travelling this year, though we did make it out to the Cabin in Leavenworth for a short weekend over Thanksgiving break. We were able to throw snowballs at each other for a while, build a snowman, and even get cozy next to a nice fire. It's always nice to retreat a little... especially when the kids are old enough to go out and play by themselves for a while. They LOVED the snow. If only Seattle would get a little bit here and there so we could enjoy our winter at home.
The whole month of December went really fast. JJ's aunt and uncle invited us out on their boat to see the Christmas Ships. Every year in the Puget Sound the Argosy Cruises decorate their boats with Christmas lights and a whole bunch of boat owners decorate their own boats and fall in line as a big, long boat parade out in the Sound. So pretty, and we always have a great time with JJ's family.
Andrew had his very first Christmas concert this year. He was so cute standing up in front of 500 people singing Away in a Manger and Mary Had a Baby Boy. One thing I'm very grateful for is that his school is private and Christian, so they can sing and teach as much as they want to about God. It's been good for him to hear more and more scripture stories at school, and their form of discipline is so good compared to some of the other schools around. Unfortunately, I don't know if we'll be able to put him back in school at Cedar Park next year, since Mason will be going to school next year, and it costs so much to attend! I can't imagine spending $5,000 on Pre-K and Kindergarten! ugh. We'll probably make the switch to public school... though we've still got a little time to make that decision for sure. We really love his school and the teachers and the curriculum. It makes for a really difficult decision!
Christmas was pretty low-key here, especially since we didn't have to do a lot of shopping this year. I had finished MOST of my shopping by the 1st of December, so there wasn't a lot of running around to do. We were excited to see the elves stop by with a gift for Andrew and Mason on Christmas Eve, and they were really excited with the gifts they got from Santa and all of our family. Thank you, to all of those who sent something to us. We have felt very blessed this year.
Now that we're finishing up Christmas break and we're all back into the swing of things, it's time to start our New Year's Resolutions. This year, I've decided to ACTUALLY set some resolutions and try to achieve them!
#1: Control spending and pay down debt
#2: Obtain an emergency fund
#3: Prepare all of my Primary Singing Time Activities at the beginning of each month to last the entire month. I'll be preparing ALL of my activities for January today, and then I'll know exactly what I'm doing for the rest of this month. Then start again in February...
#4: Live the "Abundant Life," as stated by President Monson: A=Attitude, B=Believing in myself and those around me, C= Courage to do what's right all the time.
#5: Perform service for others at least once a month.
I think they are pretty attainable. I try not to kid myself by setting goals I know I'm too lazy to achieve. You know... like updating my blog posts EVERY DAY.
So... there it is! I hope you are all enjoying the second day of 2012, and wish you all the best in the New Year!
C
