Happy New Year!!

Just a quick post to let everybody know that all is well here in Michigan! We're finally getting a little bit of snow, and the boys are happy! They were able to build snow forts in the back yard this morning, and Tom actually had to plow the driveway!

We've enjoyed several days of sleeping in, watching movies and playing games . . . just relaxing in general! The boys have also been watching Ebay for the Ipod touches that they want to buy. Bryce won one last night, and Nicolas is still watching several.

Last night we enjoyed a pre-New Years Eve dinner at a nice restaurant with Tom's parents. We had a gift certificate that was going to expire today, so we beat the crowds and had our dinner on the 30th. Nicolas and I shared prime rib, and Tom had a prime rib sandwich -- all were yummy! Expensive, but good, and a nice atmosphere.

This afternoon, the boys are running their radio control cars at a local hobby shop that has an indoor RC track. They have racing on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons, but the boys have to work on their control some more before they enter any races. When they get home we'll get cleaned up for Mass, and then head over to Tom's brother's house for another Christmas/New Year celebration. This brother and sister-in-law were in Chicago for Christmas, so we're having our celebration with them tonight. Tomorrow we have several families coming over for a party here, and then on Sunday my family will be coming up to celebrate my Mom's birthday.

It'll be a busy end to this relaxing holiday break!!

Merry Christmas from rainy Michigan!

Whew! It's been busy around here lately! So much to do -- shopping, baking, wrapping . . . all to get ready for a couple of days of entertaining! It's exhausting! When I have time to sneak a few minutes to read Howard's journal, it makes me envious to read about the slow pace of their days, and the total lack of stress -- even going into the holidays! I cannot wait until that is our life, too!

But, it's not yet, so we make the best of what we have. We have had some great visits with friends and family. We started out with a gathering of some of my college friends and their families last weekend -- we get together each year for a Christmas dinner, and this year Tom and I were the hosts. Our annual tradition includes a picture of all the kids gathered on the couch -- it's fun to look back at how our families have all grown over the years!

Earlier this week, Tom finally found a car that would suit our needs. It's a 2003 Taurus, just under 70K miles, and clean -- not a bad deal, and a huge relief to finally have another vehicle! No pictures yet, but I'll have to remember to get one this week. We had just a little bit of snow, but it was enough for the boys to spend hours out in the yard with Nicolas pulling Bryce around with his 3-wheeler. Now they'll have to wait for a new batch, since the warm temperatures and rain wiped out any snow we had on the ground!

Finally, Christmas Eve arrived, which is my family's day to celebrate. We all gathered at my Mom & Dad's house . . . lots of presents, TONS of food, and some entertainment by my niece's 2-year-old twins!

We got back home around 1am (thankfully the rain held off, and we had a dry drive home!!), and quickly got everyone to bed! Nicolas and Bryce were still up bright and early, and ready to open gifts . . . Casey enjoyed her presents, too!

We had just finished with gifts and were thinking about what to make for breakfast, when suddenly our power went out! We waited a little while to see if it came back on, then a call to the power company told us that it might be later in the afternoon before it came back on. We decided to just get dressed and head out to IHOP for breakfast -- turns out it was a good choice, because it was the only place open! After a delicious breakfast, we joined Tom's family at his brother's house from more gifts and, of course, more food!! Our nephew got "Rockem, Sockem, Robots", and he and Bryce had fun with it.

Now we're back home, and settled in for the evening . . . and watching the news about the attempted terrorism on a plane coming into Detroit . . . so glad that plan was crushed!

Merry Christmas to all of our blogging friends, and safe travels to everyone on the road!

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It's been crazy here . . .

Where did the time go?? It seemed like we were just getting things ready for Thanksgiving, and now it's almost time for Christmas!! The boys have had non-stop basketball games . . . the tournaments are this weekend, and then that will be over for the year. Tom's car died (blown engine) last week, so now we're frantically looking for a replacement and making due with the truck for now. Of course, the weather had to turn nasty just as we took the truck out of its nice warm, dry garage! Oh well, what can you do?!!

Our contract with our Realtor ended on Dec 1st, and we opted not to renew with him for now. I'm working on a 2nd blog -- showcasing the house -- which we'll link to from a Craigslist ad. We'll try the self-marketing thing for awhile, and see how that goes. Of course, as soon as our house was dropped from the multi-list, we were inundated with calls from realtors wanting to list it for us!

Speaking of that other blog, that's what I'm supposed to be working on right now, but I just wanted to stop in here and post an update -- just so everybody knows we didn't fall off the face of the Earth!

I'll leave you with a picture of our Christmas tree!