The New Year

It seems as though once you settle down and have a family the years seem to almost fly by. I am still having a difficult time believing it is already January, much less that it is 2009 and Tris' fourth birthday is only days away. This year, like the two previous years, Josh had to work on NYE. I had decided I was going to stay home and hang out at the house but Mom decided she wanted to spend the evening with the children and came to pick them up so I could have some free time. After two weeks of visitors and Josh working crazy long hours, it was a much appreciated break. I got to spend some fun girl time with my best friend and ended up ringing in 2009 with my love, who got off only two hours shy of the new year. The following day Josh had to work yet again, but I stayed home and cooked our traditional New Year's Day meal of ham, collard greens, black eyed peas, mashed potatoes and sweet cornbread. The feast was delicious and it was finished just as Josh walked in the door from a hard days work. What a great way to spend the first day of the year!

Friday morning we got up rather early and hit the road to Florida to see my Grandfather who was in town from DC visiting my Dad. We did not arrive at Dad's until around 3pm, but it was well worth it. Dad cooked his famous spaghetti dinner and we all caught up for a few hours before retiring for the evening. The next day we took the kids to Marineland to see the dolphins and they absolutely loved it. It was amazing to have such a close encounter with the dolphins. They did all sorts of tricks which the children enjoyed and we even got to watch two women get in and swim with them. Next time we visit Dad's I hope to be able to take Tris to a touch and feed encounter with them, I think she will enjoy that.

In other news, Jackson is almost completely potty trained! He did so well while we were gone, much to our surprise. I had imagined he would revert to using his pull-ups while we were at Dad's, but he stayed dry the entire time and held it until I took him to the bathroom. We even forgot his child size potty, so he used the regular size one all weekend. He even used a public restroom with Josh on our return trip. He is also staying dry during the night, which is amazing because he used to wake up completely soaked each morning. 2009 is going to be that much more fun without the added expensive of diapers! WOO! 

Josh and I have not really made any significant resolutions for the new year, other than my continued goal of losing a little more weight. I need to begin working out again and now that I am through with school I plan on doing so, at home this time instead of the gym. My goal is to begin today and with the help of my new iphone, I have a new program that helps me track my diet and exercise routine. I do however want to get more organized at home. We have already started that mission with completely gutting and reorganizing the kitchen cabinets and drawers while my Dad was in town a few weeks ago. The next step is our closets and office. I should have plenty of time on my hands now, so I am really looking forward to digging in!