New Year's Eve

(Yes, Miss E's pants really were that dirty. What can I say? The girl is busy during the day)

This picture could also be titled "3 little girls sneaking M & M's". Tonight was our friends annual  (2nd and maybe to become annual?) New Year's Eve party. 4 couples, a college kid (maybe a little older) and 7 kiddos. And boy were those kids excited and LOUD. So very very loud. Fortunately our friends have a playroom-basement so we could just yell "get in the basement" every time they showed their faces upstairs. Ok, not really with the yelling part but kind of. But nicer. A little. The kids did get to watch a movie downstairs (Despicable Me, which apparently has a fart gun in it and fart guns are the height of humor amongst this set) and we all hung out upstairs stuffing our faces with guacamole and cookies and wine and beer. At 9 (that's midnight East Coast time in case you were wondering) we all watched the ball drop, yelled happy new year and kissed everyone in sight - that we were related to. Then we went home, the kids crashed in the car and Peter and I didn't even stay up until mid-night. Wild and crazy we are. WILD AND CRAZY.

Also, earlier in the day Miss E went rock climbing for the first time and thought it was awesome. We are now looking into a membership at the rock gym for her. Pictures to come I am sure.

Now, we are on to a new year. Honestly, after a few bad years, 2010 felt like a getting our bearings year. Things got better. Our family runs smoother, our marriage is more stable, our parenting is more stable. Financially it wasn't great but hey, there's more to life than money right? I have high hopes for 2011 as a year of great growth for everyone in our family and our family as a whole.