March Inn: Happy New Year!

I'm going to take some time and catch you up on our life. If you want to hear what we've been up to grab a cup of coffee and read on. If not, check back in a few days and maybe I will be back to the day in day out details of our boring life.

Our life is full ~ always! Late November and December are always more full than usual. On any given day, I have difficulty balancing all the demands I place on myself - family, friends, house, church, volunteer opportunities. From Halloween until February 1, I run full steam ahead squeezing in many more obligations than normal. This year was no different! Often I wish I could just say "no" however I learned a long time ago that is just not my personality. As usual, some things were left undone, many things were marked incomplete, but most things were checked off of my ever growing list of things to be done. Here are some highlights! Maybe I can expound on certain elements later in the year. My pictures don't do it justice but at least you get a taste of what we've been up to.

Since my last post we celebrated Thanksgiving. It was again just the seven of us which can sometimes seem like any old Tuesday night. However, I did a few things that made the days leading up to Thanksgiving Day a bit more special and I hope to repeat in future years. I put a "Thankful Tree" on our dining room table. The children were caught on more than one occasion filling out cards to hang from the tree. There responses made me smile! On Thanksgiving Day, I set the table with these place settings {so simple}, and after the holiday, I gathered up their Thankful cards and various pieces of artwork and created a Thanksgiving scrapbook. See I really can complete thoughts and even ideas!

So after our Thanksgiving meal, I got sick. So much for decorating... Frank and the children did it and it was AWESOME! By the Iron Bowl I had rallied.

I guess it is a good thing we are house divided. Most were happy. Some were not. Betsy is the only standout. When asked, she says she cheers for Big Al's team. I'll take it.

Frank took Walker to a UAB basketball game. It wasn't just any game. It was the game where UAB defeated a ranked UNC team.

Frank and I made a quick jaunt to Atlanta to the SEC Championship game. It was a fun day!

We had a party! A cookies and cocoa party - just the girls. I feel strongly that I need to get to know the parents of my children's friends so Mary Frances and I invited the girls and their mothers to decorate cookies and drink hot cocoa. Fortunately, our Alabama temperatures dipped a bit so they enjoyed the cocoa.