New Year's Eve

We danced with the kids for a little bit.

Kahlan being cute.

Tristan and Aaron asleep.

The last week of the year always goes by really fast. We have so much to do and so little time.  We had some problems with our fridge and so we had decided to go and check out the place where we got it from and figure out a way to order the part for our fridge... things never go the way we want them so a decision was made to buy a new fridge and part with the old one.  We didn't really cook a big meal this year because of the fridge so we went out to Denny's that evening as part of the celebration for Shayna's birthday.  The evening was spent watching two movies that we all enjoyed a lot and eating some goodies like crackers and cheese, piggies in a blanket which were a huge success and some other munchies.  We had our traditional grapes at midnight and made 12 wishes that hopefully will become a reality or probably will end up forgetting about. The two older kids made it till midnight and the younger ones fell asleep on the floor and couch.  Shayna and Victor went out into the street to bang on pots and pans to make some noise since we didn't have fireworks, it was fun until fire ants started to crawl all over us and sting out legs... fun memories.
Shortly after we went to bed and started our new year very tired but glad that we had a good year over all, despite all the horrible things that happen, they are temporal things that will go away and we do know that being together and healthy is all we need.  I am hoping to change my attitude this year and I know that it will change the outcome of things to come.
I am so very grateful for everything we have and for the special blessing we received this past year, specially for my wonderful first year with Kahlan which was just amazing.  She was probably the one thing that kept this family afloat with her infectious smile and beautiful eyes. There is not a single moment in the day that she is not making us happy, even when she is asleep all we do is talk about her.  Of course the rest of the kids also made us very happy and we are so proud of all of their accomplishments and the awesome job they do at school.  I admire Shayna for being so strong in her decisions and finding her own voice and letting me know what she wants to do with her life so far, she will have my full support.  Victor was brave this year when he decided to come out of his element and joined the Trash Can Band at school, we all were in shock when he told us he was going to try out for it and after he got in we could see how much he truly enjoyed being part of something musical, the best thing is that he chose to do that all on his own.  Tristan has been proving everybody at school what a smart little boy he is and how far advance he is with his reading, keep those books coming because he reads them fast.  Aaron my faithful companion is also a smart little boy, he is so observant and has a great memory.  We can't help but laugh when out of the blue he will come up with some interesting conversations and they actually make sense.  I love my kids, I love my husband, if you take all the other stuff away I might just have the perfect life :)