The New Year Is Here

Well, it is now well into January, and time is flying by too quickly. I can't believe that the holiday season has already come and gone. It all happened so fast that I didn't have a chance to even send out Christmas cards. (I still plan on it) We were very busy from the beginning of October until now. After John got home from his Fathers funeral in Phoenix ,(in the middle of November) we tore out a wall in between the kitchen and dining room. We tore out carpet in the dining room, and made it one big room, replaced the floor, and repainted the whole room. We also got a new stove 3 days before Christmas. We finally finished painting the ceilings throughout, yesterday. We were preparing to move, and updating out house What an ordeal the whole process was. Now that we did the remodeling that we've wanted done since we moved here, we will be staying here in Pennsylvania, and not moving after all. I am relieved, and a little sad. Moving is always a great adventure.
Christmas was great! John's mom Carol spent a month with us from mid Dec to Jan 8th. It was great having her with us, and not just because she does the laundry. The kids had a great time with Nana, and Jackson loved having another person to dote on him.
We tried to do a mostly homemade Christmas. I made some pottery mugs for everyone, and crocheted little stuffed animals for the kids. I also sewed blue jean quilts for the kids. They turned out great. We did, however buy some gifts as well. JT finally got his coveted nintendo DS. That is all he has talked about for over a year. Mackenzie got some art supplies to become a painter, she had the paints, and now she got canvases, paper, brushes, and a nice easel.
The new year came and went, and we were our normal exciting selves. John worked early that morning, waking at 3:30, so he fell asleep on the couch around 8:00pm. Carol and JT and I watched movies and drank egg nog at the stroke of midnight. Mackenzie went to a party at her friends and spent the night there, so she stayed up later than everyone. What can I say, we are just wild party animals.
Now that the kids are back in school, and things are back to normal, we are as busy as ever with the daily grind. I hope you all had a great Holiday season and we wish you all the best this new year.