Happy 2011!

The first post in a year without a starter photo, weird!!!!!! Still getting use to the idea of not having to blog daily... so even though I wanted to post yesterday, I didn't just to get use to the notion of not needing to. Haha.

We had a wonderful new years, hanging with our good friends for a fabulous fondue party. Yes we went crazy with a cheese, oil then 2 different chocolates and a berry pot of pure goodness for dessert. I didn't take many pictures since I was giddy playing with our friend's fancy new camera... drool! They got a great shot of Ken and I so I will post it when I get it from them.

With the amount of eating that happens at a party such as this, the time goes by quickly and before we knew it the midnight hour was minutes away. The kids all had fun banging pots and pans, although Xander was a tad freaked by the whole thing. He snuggled in and went to sleep shortly after midnight, while Ariel continued to party until we left close to 2am. Yes we are party animals, haha.

The next morning we all slept in till past 10am... woot! Ken then spent the day animating and I packed up the Christmas stuff and organized. I managed to collect a garbage bag filled with decorations we didn't need anymore or that were broken to discard or donate. Also hit a very empty London Drugs and picked up a bin for Ariel's new princesses to live in, a pouch for her new felts and a folding file folder for my paper work for my business. I am finding with things picking up so much I really need to keep things organized with my receipts and what not.

Looking back prior to new years, we had fun visiting with friends during the week following Christmas. Had a great visit with Darrel, Maureen and their kids. Its hard to believe they are teen/pre-teens now. When Ken and I were first married they were our kids age! Wacky! Then we had dinner with Pat and Phil along with with Michelle, Jug and Kaelyn. Finally after 2 cancelled dinners we had well kids, haha.

Its been super sunny which is awesome but its soooooooooooooo cold! Every time I take the kids out we have to bundle them up in everything. The new scarfs, hats and mittens from Grammy were perfect... and cute!

What we refer to as the 'dino' hat. Haha.

Today was church, a chat with Grammy and now slowly preparing for routine returning. Xander and I are doing a mommy and me class at the pool, Ariel's ballet starts in a few weeks, and preschool is back in full swing tomorrow. Ken is back to work and yet still has a tight deadline for finishing some freelance animation by the 10th. Its looking so good and I wish I could share more but its top secret till its done. Me, well I have a sewing project to do, got a few bookings already and the regular daily stuff to do.

Now for our exciting news! On new years eve our family decided that we wanted to take on a special project together, so we decided to sponsor child from the Dalit Freedom Network. Ken had brought it up after our church supports the Dalits and he discovered that we could sponsor a child for schooling. Get this, she loves to draw too! How perfect is that? Ariel is excited to send her drawings and this little girl who is only a year older than her. We look forward to hearing from her in the coming year and what this teaches Ariel about giving and helping people far away.

Thus ends another Christmas holiday... hope yours was just as special as ours. Blessings!