2011 is here!

As I sit here on the 2nd day of 2011, I reflect back on what has been an extraordinarily stressful and challenging year.  I have to say that I hope 2011 will be a little less about adapting to multiple changes and more about enjoying the life I have been given.  A little less about putting out fires and organizing dramatic chaos and more about routines and fun exploration.  I started 2010 excited about the change that was to come and I ended it exhausted and thankful that the family survived and was having fun during the last moments of the year.

I sit here realizing I need to get a notebook to start my lists of to do for next year.  Wil and I go back to work on Tuesday, while the girls still have 1 more week of vacation.  The decorations are down inside the house...we may work on the outside today as it is warm and rainy, then I need to put them in the storage area.  My first project for this new year is to pick a small part of the house each week and go through it thoroughly and organize.  There are alot of areas where stuff got put as we were unpacking and we don't know what is there..so I am going to go through it, find out what is there, organize, clean and get it done.  It will be interesting to find out what we have forgotten we have.  (Pic is of Simba...he was playing with stuff in the cup holders and then just sat there like that for the longest time)

We spent the first several days of break painting Tabitha's room.  She loves twilight..so she wanted red and black.  So that is what she got.  It was her first time doing a full project and she learned some good lessons, but her room is very pretty.  We are looking for a border to go around the middle so it is not quite done but it is nice.

We had a nice New Years Eve.  We had a friends daughter come hang with us for a couple days so we got up on New Years and took the girls skating.  Tabitha had skates and we bought Tiana skates on Boxing day so it was 2 bucks a person so we dropped them off at the rink and then Wil and I went looking for skates.  We didn't find them in time to skate but we are going skating today so they will get used.  Then we went and hung out at home.  We had pizza and I made a couple dips for crackers and such and just munched the night away.  Tiana's boyfriend came over and we watched a movie, played some rock band, played some games and then started watching the countdown.  It was my first year where I was in the same time zone as New York City.  Then a little before midnight we went outside.  It was a gorgeous day and a warm evening so we took some sparkling wine outside..and we got the fireworks left from our mosquito failed 4th of July celebration and lit off some fireworks and toasted the new year.  Then the girls did some 2011 hot tubbing and we all went to bed.  (if you look close in the pic...you will see Wil behind the hot tub cover)  Overall a very fun last day of 2010.  Yes for all of you who remember it was also our anniversary.  Wil and I talked a while ago and we have decided to make it a family anniversary and hopefully spend it as a family for the next couple years while the girls are around...we will do something just the two of us at another time...maybe just combine with Valentines..we'll see.

This next week will be about getting back into routine.  Wil returns to work on Tuesday as do I.  The girls have another week.  There will be some ice skating and then they will be going skiing/boarding with their youth group and I am hoping to go see the new Narnia film at some point.

I had forgotten to mention that on Christmas we skyped for the first time.  My mom was at my sisters in the Portland area and so we skyped with my mom, sister, brother in law and niece.  It was very fun. Tiana has also skyped with her big sister.  What a neat technology.  If you ever want to skype...let us know.  The family account is tusanadah (a combination of USA and Canada with a t for Thomas and an h for Hutchings).

So, overall we survived.   It wasn't easy, it wasn't fun and it wasn't pretty but we did it.  I am very proud of what we have done, I am proud of how the girls have done although I  am not proud of how I have handled it all the time, I did my best.  As we look towards 2011, we look forward to more change but hopefully not quite to the degree as last year.  Wil will get his posting in March and we should find out when and where he will go to sea.  We think it will be July and we are hoping that it will be to Halifax (close enough to come home on long weekends).  We look forward to a family reunion in June and Tiana will make a trip to Colorado and I hope to join her for a quick trip home.  That is all we know but we know that there is more in store...God just hasn't shown us all of it yet. 

 

Happy New Year everyone...thanks for your support and your comments and your emails and texts.  I treasure them all and couldn't have made it through without you.

 

2011 HERE WE COME!!