Monday, January 01, 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

Boy, I didnt think I would be the first one to send out Happy New Year wishes...(Steve??!!) Guess everyone was either too "out of it" last night to do so, or still in bed this morning, recovering. This was the first New Year that Trisha was awake for, and the first one in quite a while for myself. We've been hanging out down the street at friends of ours for the past couple of years now, which makes it easy if I have to bring Trisha home early and the boys want to stay; they just walk home. The holiday week has been our typical hectic, family time, cleaning up the decorations and toys and trying to get more organized. I am so anxious for our yearly neighborhood yard sale! The boys loved staying up late every night and sleeping in, however, that ends today as school is back in session for them on Tuesday. Did you hear that "yippee"! I am looking forward to the New Year, and continuous good health, happy times, and making new memories. I have every intention of actually starting the kid's scrapbooks and that means developing all the pictures on the digital camera in less than a year. Yes, I still have pics on from Xmas 2005 that have not been developed! I am looking forward to getting Trisha potty trained before she is 3, April (3 birthdays in this house) will be the last birthday that I plan on having and Jake will turn 13! Brad & I will enjoy our 15th wedding anniversary, somehow without the kiddies in June, our annual 2 weeks in Myrtle Beach in July, and then to another football season and Trisha starting pre-school. I wish the same good health and happy times to each and everyone of you! Now it's your turn; share your party info and excitement for 2007!

19 comments:

Steve Freeman said...

I was thinking about posting, but did not want to be called a "blog hog", so I just sat back (since 6:30 - even though I did not go to sleep until 1:45) and waited. I am about to set up for the PSU v. Tennessee game. It is after 10, and I am the ONLY one up in the house (kind of nice). Even the dog is still sleeping.
Last night was the first our two boys stayed up past midnight also. I hated the last 8 minutes before (that's when my sister-in-law gave 6 kids ranging in ages from 4 to 10 the noise makers) midnight, b/c I thought I'd gone deaf from the noise. Hope we all do more this year than the past year. "Aim high, reach higher", that's what I'm saying this year. T-shirts and hats to follow.
Oh yeah, E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles! I'll be in the Wachovia lot preparing at this time on SUNDAY! Robb/Sandman, you guys got tickets, I do. They are sealed in my china cabinet. (I wouldn't allow the seal to be broken until it was official - right after Dallas got BEAT BY THE FREAKIN' LIONS - Thanks Matt Millen.

mathbach said...

Happy New Year folks. for us too it was the first year all the kids made it til twelve, we've been getting together with the same group for almost 10 years now and done the transition from shots of knob creek to sippy cups of juice. one of those people we've been doing this with all those years is a good friend of ours from college. at our graduation his little brother came out in the crowd and sat on his brother's lap next to me. that little brother just returned from his second tour of Iraq as a marine. which means he just finished 7 months straight of night patrols. if an area is too dangerous for the trucks because of IEDs, they just drop off a team and have them patrol it on foot (at night because of snipers). every night for 10 or 15 days in a row, then 2 days off, then repeat. he has another year to serve but it looks like he missed the cut-off for having to go back over and will remain state side. i asked him how it felt to be getting on a plane to return home. "Bitter sweet, so friggin happy to be out of there, but worried for the guys who will take his place".

this was not meant to be a downer, but talking with him helped me appreciate all we have, and keeps me from taking any of it for granted. cheers.

randyg said...

Happy New Year to all!!!!
This is the year the Big 40 arrives for me and I am not too excited about that.

We had a nice evening with friends and did our traditional bowling at Hampton Lanes in the afternoon with family.

Steve - congrats on your Eagles. What can I say.....Steelers Suck this year.

Looking forward to the hockey game with some of the guys from our class in two weeks.

Hope everyone has a wonderful year!

pauko27 said...

Where was I when the new year turned?

Traveling just south of Harrisburg in rainy weather in a van packed to the gills with luggage and toys (plus storage container on top) and kids and dogs and having to listen to Baby Einstein. Eventually, the kids fell asleep, Cathy and I took turns to drive every couple hours, and 10 hours later, we were home in SC. But night is the best time to travel with the kids sleeping. We have learned to deal with the long trip.

It was all good though, as I had visions of the Eagles win dancing in my head (and another embarassing Cowboy loss) and we had had a very good time visiting both grandparents and families over 10 days. Lindsay and Benjamin don't get to see their cousins too often, and they had a lot of fun playing with them. Cathy and I laid around a lot...we don't have any relatives in SC to give us a break...and only got out one night to AC for some poker playing. Robb, sorry I didn't get back to you for Sat night...couldn't make it happen.

Hope everyone had a good holiday. It would be great to hear from more people.

Vicky said...

Happy New Year Everyone!

I'm embarrassed to say that none of us saw midnight. :-/ We were invited to some friends but declined the invitation and it's a good thing, because we were all asleep by 10 p.m.! We'd planned a quiet night in, and it was more quiet than we could have imagined.

A safe, happy, healthy 2007 to all of you. Maybe this will be the year I'll get to see some of you face to face.

mj jones said...

Happy New Year to all!!! I did manage to stay up till midnight with the family but was in bed by 12:02. Last year was a great year for us so I can only hope this one will be the same. After going on my Dream vacation in 06 I am just not sure where to go this year. Any ideas for fun family spots welcome.

kristen said...

mj...suggesting again that you make forrest travel further south to myrtle beach...we have all kinds of websites with lots of info if you can convince him...

mj jones said...

actually he is not the one who needs convincing I HATE long car rides. The beach is great but I am trying to possibly find something else this summer. Some thoughts were Maine, or Tennesee.

kristen said...

i would love to go to maine, also...brad's been to Tennesee-Nashville (with school) and he loved it, wants to get me there someday too...would love that too, as we enjoy the country music scene.

kristen said...

and the drive to MB really isnt all that bad...if you can split it up, leave fri drive 5-6 hours and then get up sat morn and drive the rest, would suggest that...but once we're on the road, the time flies and before you know it, we are there...we've had intentions of stopping 1/2 way thru but always end up going on

mj jones said...

We actually went through parts of Maine on our honeymoon and it was great. I am just concerned there might not be enough to entertain the kids for a week. I have to admit since we went to Cal. last year and Disney the year before nothing else seems like it will be as good. Everything else I want to do costs so much......Hawaii, Alaska, Carribean....one can dream. At least I found out today we can still go to Canada without passports so we will most likely do that in July and then maybe just keep saving for something bigger later.

Jamie said...

Hey Kristen...can you tell me some of the websites for Myrtle Beach. We definitely want to go on vacation this summer...it will be the first one since our honeymoon and everyone here swears Myrtle Beach is the place to go. Although I was thinking VA Beach...since it's closer. Anyone been there?

Vicky said...

Jamie, my brother and his wife live about 100 miles north of you and they go to Nags Head every year. They love it! I've never been to Nags Head or Myrtle Beach. I'd love to go though! We're spending two weeks in France this August, and I'm worried about a 12 hour road trip with a toddler! Kristen, how did you keep Trisha occupied during your road trips?

Jamie said...

Vicki, we just had a 7 hour road trip to TN. The dvd player helped this time. Last time, Ida just screamed that she wanted it off. We also brought a bag of dollar store stuff to whip out and entertain her. The biggest hit was one of those mini doodle boards. And ofcourse, we kept the snacks going. I'd think a trip to France would be well worth the 12 hour trip. Hey, you could always give him Benadryl or Dramamine;o) I have to look into Nags Head...thanks!

mj jones said...

We have gone to the Outer Banks 5 of the last 7 years and LOVE it. It is very low key, laid back and great for kids!!!

kristen said...

jamie-as far as websites go, the hotel sites we use are condolux, grandstrandresorts and condo-world.com...you can get all kinds of info mailed to you thru northmyrtlebeach.com and by just google-ing it you can find tons of info...we stay in North MB in the windy hill section, much less crowded than other beaches. if you stay in the heart of MB it is much like OC, Md in the summer which i hate! consider going with your sister or mom&dad, as they have 3 & 4 bedroom condos on the beach, to split 2-3 ways for a week will run you about 7-800 each..we like the Windy Hill Dunes...there are tons of mini golfs..amusement parks..shopping centers (check out Barefootlanding.com and broadwayatthebeach.com) there is an aquarium which we get to every other year and a show called "one" at the Alabama Theater that Ida would probably enjoy..we will be taking trisha this year...if you decide to go i can definately recommend restaraunts (its all about the food)and things to see & do....as far as the ride goes, the kids are actually better than what we anticipate..the boys have their own tvs in the back of the van which they hook up video games to and trisha pretty much had the run of the van dvd player, although the headset issue was a bit of pain for me having to reach back and fix all the time, that should be better this year...we too keep the snack box within everyones reach and trisha loves the color wonder books & markers, as do i, no mess...and trisha just got the Fisher Price Star Station headset which is a mini-walkman type thing with cartridges of kids songs, she thinks she's got her very own i-pod...that should keep us from having to listen to Old McDonald a gazzilion times this trip!

Rayban said...

Sorry I haven't chimed in much lately. Sounds like everyone had a great Christmas and safe New Year. I did as well, I wish everyone the best this year and I will try to do a better job keeping up with the blogs.

Hey Steve congrats to your chickens! Good luck this weekend!

Steve Freeman said...

Hey Ray, I was being nice leaving your Chefs out of it. I wanted them to win (Larry Johnson) and thought they'd run all over the Colts. I guess they don't read the papers that the Colts run defense sucked.
Anyway, we know things are much slower in KC and it takes them a bit to catch up to us Easterners. Glad your back, brother, and let's get some posts (anything would be nice).

Rayban said...

I appreciate the "bieng nice" about the chiefs. That was quite frankly the ugliest game I think I have ever seen in any sport. I will be cheering for the Eagles the rest of the way out!

I'll work on the posts and get back into the swing of things. By the way I got a phone call from Steve Smith over the holidays and he left me his number. I will call him shortly and get him directed to the blog.