Happy New Year

Quite a few things have happened since Luke's Birthday - here is a re-cap:


Thanksgiving 2011 - The usual Jos and NoJos were here plus a few guests.  Paul's teacher (and Luke's former teacher), Mrs. S, joined us for our Thanksgiving feast.  Bree's brother joined us for the feast and the game.  Rebekah's friend - I can't remember her name now - joined us for the feast.  The Jos won, if we count the "safety".  If we don't count it, we tied.  The game was eventful and I think there was at least one injury (Ross) - perhaps more?!  I had my best game...we scored on a play of my design "The Martha" and I caught some passes.  Did I score?


My Birthday - I had a wonderful day and my family surprised me with great gifts.  Luke bought me some slippers, Ruth gave me some Christmas socks, Paul gave me flashlight/nightlights and Richard gave me a Kindle Touch.  All terrific gifts!  Much of this day was consumed with planning...


Trip to Pennsylvania - Richard's 100 year-old (almost 101) grandmother died and we made a quickly planned trip to her funeral in Philadelphia.  We flew into Dulles, rented a mini-van and drove (through INSANE DC traffic) up.  We stayed with Richard's Aunt S and Uncle D and had a really nice visit.  One day, we went to the Please Touch Museum  and the kids had a terrific time.  It is a really great children's museum - I was amazed.  One day we spent with family at the funeral service and lunch that followed.  It was a very nice service and I think everyone enjoyed spending time together.  On another day we spent time at Richard's cousin's house...the kids all played and, once again, we had a nice visit.  If you ask Luke and Paul, it might be a tough choice, but I know one of their favorite things was seeing and operating the train layouts that both of Richard's uncles have in their respective basements!  The day before we came home, we drove to NJ and took the ferry over to NYC. We stopped in Grand Central Station, walked by some store windows all decorated for Christmas, went to the Top of the Rock and met up with my high school friend M and her family (who drove in from Connecticut) for dinner.  After dinner, we all headed over to the madness that is Rockefeller Plaza so we could see the tree.  It was fun, but overwhelming - with soooo many people.  Once we caught the bus back to the ferry and got on the road back to PA, the kids fell asleep instantly.


Christmas - We came home from our trip to realize we were easily a week behind being ready for Christmas!  I had to finish up the semester, Luke and Paul had their last week of school and Richard had 2 more weeks of work.  We had put up the tree before we left, but the rest of the decorating needed to be done and the shopping and baking too.  Time marched on and we plugged away...and, of course, we got it all done and had a great Christmas.   We went to church on Christmas Eve and then to our traditional Christmas Eve dinner at On the Boarder.  Once home, the kids opened their new pajamas, we read The Polar Express and Twas the Night Before Christmas, put out cookies for Santa and headed to bed.  Christmas morning was an exciting time...Paul wanted to help everyone open their gifts!  Paul was happy to get VeggieTales DVDs, a Bob hat and shirt, and Thomas toys.  Luke was excited to get the Lego Garage and various other things.  His "Star Wars Laptop" arrived after Christmas, but he was excited once again when it arrived. Later on Christmas morning, Richard's family and MawMaw came over and we visited, played, had lunch, did another round of exchanging gifts and generally continued the Christmas celebration.  The next day, we headed up to visit my brother and his family...which included visiting, playing, eating many fine meals and exchanging gifts.  We stayed for 2 nights and then headed back to be home for the foreseeable future!


New Year's Eve - We spent the late afternoon at Target letting the kids spend their gift cards from their Aunts and Uncles.  We got home, got Ruth her dinner and to bed and then we stayed up with the boys.  We watched a Thomas movie and played a new game that Aunt M, Uncle B and Cousin E gave the kids.  It is a fun game, but we didn't get to finish it because we did not budget enough time...we had to get ready to watch the ball drop!  Champaint (as Paul calls it - which was Martinellis Sparkling Cider), party hats, noise makers, confetti poppers, ticker tape - all needed to welcome in 2012.  The neighbors behind us had sparklers, so we went out and watched them for a few minutes - then it was off to bed.


January 1 was a lazy day.


Richard went back to work today, Luke goes back to school tomorrow, Paul goes back next week...so things are returning to the "normal" routine.  Ruth is adding words to her vocabulary and still mostly takes 2 naps a day.  I have to give her credit...she has had a major jolt to her routine more often than not since Thanksgiving and she has pretty much rolled with it!


Let 2012 be a great year!