better late than never...

...is what I always say! Happy New Year!

Christmas was very special around here. It was our first Christmas in our new/old house. Jon finished up our mantel on Christmas Eve morning and got it up just hours before my Dad and Judy arrived on the train. Jon is sweet like that. He even put up twinkle lights on the fireplace. I owe him.

{a quiet moment on Christmas Eve}

So I always, always forget to get my camera out on Christmas morning. Our kids are going to ask me someday why there are dozens of pictures of them sleeping but not a single one on Christmas morning. I'll have no answer for them.

But look what Santa left under the tree!
Meet Holly. I had forgotten how lovely kittens are. This one especially.

Also, meet Jango Fett. And yes, Henry was prrreeetttty happy about this gift. He may have broken into song, I can't quite remember.



As promised, here are the contents of the secret box from Henry. "Four Mome".

3 shells, a pressed penny, a stack of coins, including Henry's prized 50 cent piece, a very shiny rock, a quartz crystal from the parking lot of our old tennis club, a golden rock from the back yard and a Boy Scout pin ("so you will always remember Papa, Mommy"). And last but not least:

"Some love" (his words). Love.

Havalah surprised me with a lovely homemade Asian fan. (I'll post a picture of that within this post soon.) I felt very taken care of by these two sweet kids.

We've been in our house for exactly one year and we have gotten a lot done. I know I've mentioned before that there wasn't a square inch that didn't need to be redone in our home when we moved in. We've made a big dent in our list during 2010. Refinishing the wood floors, tearing down wood paneling and putting up dry wall, redoing the fireplace and painting every single room in the house except for the kitchen and upstairs bath. Our goals for this year are to paint the exterior, finally get all that darned wall paper out of the kitchen, redo the cabinets and paint all the baseboard and doors. I. Can't. Wait. :) Inch by inch, right?

Other resolutions are to post more here! I enjoyed posting for the first twenty five days of December, even if I didn't say a lot within those posts. There are so many sweet moments that I want to document but never get around to it. Speaking of people that aren't at a loss for words, check out this blog. Beth is a friend of mine and she and her husband have five kids. She is hilarious has me laughing out loud all the time. (No pressure Beth.)

So...happy new year and happy weekend!