Ringing In The New Year, Rayhorn Style...

This past week was spent recovering from the holidays. We really tried to keep it low key and relaxing. Ethan and I both came back from Marquette feeling like...well...crap, physically speaking. Like many, it was the bad combination of eating too much junky food during the holidays, and not getting in any work outs for a couple weeks. Not good. Thank goodness the New Year was right around the corner, and we could recommit to our goals. Besides trying to get over that sluggish feeling, we also tried to have some fun family time with the kids. So, here's how we spent the week...

Ethan took Anna sledding one day during Ben-Ben's nap while I took down the Christmas decorations. It's just too painful for Anna to witness. hehe When they came back Anna said, "Christmas is gone," in such a sad little voice.

We helped the kiddies play with some of their new toys this week. In the picture, Anna is using her new easy bake oven, and yeah, she's in our bedroom...it was the only Ben-free space she could find. She loved it, and shared bites with the whole family. Sweet.

The last picture above shows Ethan reading the kids a book, obviously. They both got a few new books for Christmas, and reading time was in full swing this week. I love Ethan's animated expression in this picture...such a good story teller. Oh, and Ethan and I got in some good reading time this week too, courtesy of the Clio Library. Eth read Empire and The Road (which I started yesterday) and I read The Time Traveler's Wife. I think we'd recommend all three?

I just had to include these two pictures of Benjamin. Anna got the cow girl hat from Santa for Christmas. Ben-Ben loves riding on this rocking horse, so Anna was kind enough to let him borrow the hat. He loved it and was laughing and giggling up a storm. Of course, as soon as we got the camera out, he would not keep the hat on his head. I love the picture of the hat flying through the air.

Side note - Anna has been wearing the hat everywhere she goes. She gets tons of compliments, waves and smiles, but it only confuses her. In her little four year old head, there is nothing out of the ordinary about going to the store or the library in a cow girl hat. What's the big deal? :)

Here are some pictures of our New Year's Eve festivities. We snacked, we watched Harry Potter (Anna got to choose), and we played the Wii. We let Anna stay up until about 10pm, and she had the time of her life. After Anna went to bed, Ethan and I watched some Lost, tuned in to a little of the NY Times Square ball drop stuff, and played a little Wii. And of course there was some smooching at midnight. :) A low key, but fun evening.

I love the first picture above during one of the "scary parts" of the Harry Potter movie. And yeah, Ethan is just pretending to be scared. Hehe. As you can see above, we had a blast playing the Wii this week, a gift courtesy of Rayhorn Grandparents and Great Grandparents. Anna loves it, Ethan loves it even more, and I am starting to get into it. Ethan has stayed up late most nights getting more Wii time in, because he insists he will have no time for it once the semester starts. I think he'll somehow manage to work it into his schedule.

Ooooo, a new family tradition. We decided for New Year's Day, we'll make or go out for some kind of Asian food. This year we made some shrimp lo mein, and had some egg rolls on the side. Yum, yum. We love starting new family traditions.

And finally, Anna is showing off her new calendar. This year we again told Anna what goals were, and explained our goals for the year, and reviewed our goals from last year. But, we decided to focus on helping Anna understand time - days, weeks, months, years. We thought this reusable magnetic calendar would help. Anna loves it! And the last picture shows me, giddy with the thought of making new goals, and starting a new year. Ethan and I reviewed our goals from last year - not too bad - and made some new ones for this year. We also had some fun looking back over last year's calendar. I put lots of things on the calendar, not just appointments, so it really brings back the memories when we review the year.

I won't go into the specifics of my resolutions, but just so you know, I am very excited for them. I look forward to working on my goals and accomplishing them. I know goals are so important, not just for the New Year, but always; Always looking for ways to improve and become better people, wives, mothers, friends, teachers, etc. I hope you all had the New Year start off beautifully, and that this year will be full of good things, blessings, and happiness...and that we'll all take the time to recognize it. Ciao!