A belated Happy New Year!

We had a nice but uneventful New Year... that's the way we like them as parents. ;-)
Our oldest spent the night at a friends, child 3 spent the night with her cousin and we had just 2/3 of the crew. I think I was in bed by 11. Call me a wild woman. LOL.

I am not really into resolutions, but my sister did call me and ask to help keep her accountable. She wants to eat healthier and exercise more. We agreed to email one another with what we ate. DANG! I hate that accountability thing. :) Sure, she lives 700+ miles away and won't know if I "cheat" - but my jeans will know. AND my daughter put the fear of shopping into me earlier today. You see, Steve's brother is getting married in May. Brandy asked me if I was going to wear the dress that I wore for the work formal in 2008. Well, it was a bit big then, and I am about 5lbs less now, not to mention it is a winter dress. So, no. Then she said "But that is your only nice dress." AHHHHHH! She is right.

I look in the closet when we get home. I have a handful of nice-ish dresses that will pass for a wedding. But, I will need to lose some poundage. Be disciplined, go shopping, be disciplined... Yeah, I'll take no cake, cookies or ice cream for $300, Alex.

Not really looking forward to the wedding. Don't get me wrong, I am excited for Ken and his girlfriend. I hope they have a long and happy marriage... just not looking forward to the formal wedding bit. I feel the noose already. I do think I was spoiled by the last wedding I attended - It was an outdoor ceremony, performed by a minister from the Church of Beer. How could that not be a fun wedding? Campsites were set up. No one needed to leave after the reception - just a big ole party on a farm. The upside to this wedding is that Brandy is somehow going to be in it, Jr. Bridesmaid maybe? I don't know, but she is looking forward to being in a wedding and dressing up. And she will look adorable. :)

Ok, since this has turned into a gripe about the relatives post... how 'bout them grandparents? One set hasn't come out since the Beat was 2 weeks old (she is 25 months old now) but are ok with complaining about how rarely I get out to see them. Um, 700+ miles x 6 kids = 4200 reasons we don't visit regularly. (For the record, I was out this summer, made the trip alone with the kids - then I flew back a mere weeks later for my gpas funeral). And the other ones, oh, the other ones...notorious drive-thrus. The last one was in Jan of 2009 after MIL's mom died. They are seriously here for one, two at most, nights. There are 10 grandkids here. Being here for only one night ensures that we are all in one place for their visit. Then Oma tells us that the kids are a "little overwhelming, aren't they?" Hmm, you come out about once a year for an evening visit, the grandkids get 4-5 hours to visit with you for the whole year. They are all excited to see you, they want to share all kinds of things that have happened to them over the year, that they have planned... [think, the show-off, crazy stage, kids go through for the first few minutes when a loved babysitter comes over for the first time in a few months. Now, multiply it by 10.] Overwhelming, probably, but you set yourself up! Come more often. The kids aren't like that with Laura and Paul (the cousins other grandparents)... oh, wait, they see L & P about once a month, sometimes more. There isn't a year of stuff to share.

I better stop as I am obviously PMSing and a bit pissy to boot.