Happy New Year to all

First, we want to wish our friends and family a very Happy New Year. 2008 is going to be a great year. I'm sure of it.

We had quiet holidays spending time with the kids and resting. We snuck in some work too. We caught up with a stuff in the house. Since Bob is self-employed he has lots of trouble slowing down.

Bob worked too much and we squabbled about it. The kids alternated between being very demanding or becoming zombies by television. We rented DVDs and tried to fit in some time outside when it wasn't raining. We limit them to 1/2 hour or less a day with more on the weekends. It's just not feasible on a very wet long winter break.

We did more cooking and eating than usual. We made some treats and some traditions. We made Latkes to instill the tradition even though neither of my kids like them. We made cookies and brownies--big surprise--they do like them. I made a few experimental journeys in the kitchen. Thanks to Cooks Illustrated, I learned how to make French Onion Soup from scratch and Almost No-Knead Bread. The soup was amazing and I will make it again. The bread was still too much fuss for me. Since bakeries with good bread abound, it is better to leave bread to the professionals.

We caught up on some reading and crafting. The kids did some painting with watercolors and of course I knit. I'm catching up on several projects and trying to resist starting new ones. Even so, I started a simple Aran vest for Owen. I'm nearly done with the back. And, Zoe is really enjoying the Harry Potter books. She is deep into book five.

Bob & I celebrated the anniversary of our marriage in style with two kids in tow at a local fish restaurant. No, it was not romantic, but at least we were together. We will have many more with just the two of us. Our kids will have their own agendas. For now it's the awesome foursome.

Of course there were some missing things, first we missed all of you. And, we wished for snow. Even though we desperately need the rain here, we were sad that it didn't snow.