Cheers to the New Year

I know I haven't posted anything in awhile. I've tried a couple of times but didn't really know what to say. Getting "back to normal" has actually been much harder of a transition than I thought it would be. Part of it is that I now have three kids instead of just two and never really figured out how to do normal things with three, because we couldn't really do things. Part of it is also that the holidays are crazy for everyone. But another reason is that our lives kind of stopped for a year but everyone else moved on, so I just feel kind of behind and out of the loop. That being said, I also feel like, 2 years ago we moved here and it took a lot of energy to get connected and involved and then last winter we had to get un-involved and lost connections. Now that we are "back" I don't have the energy to get back involved and build new connections. So the normal I was looking for just isn't there and I need to find the motivation to start over. I am hoping that the new year will do that for us all.

First attempt at grocery shopping with 3 kids by myself.
I learned not to do this again after a snow storm.

So, 2016 here we come! I'm praying that God has lots of good things in store for us this year. Praying for health. Praying for less stress. Praying for (hopefully several) vacations. Praying for relationships, new and old. I am looking into starting my own Norwex business and sending Ben to part time preschool. Tim is really enjoying his new position at SMA as product manager and is looking into getting back on to a worship band at our church. We are trying to join a new community group while we process starting up our own again. I am looking forward to MOPS and Bible study starting up again in January, and hoping I can adjust to taking all three kiddos with me. Ben is already looking forward to his birthday (still 3 months away). I just realized that I am/can look forward to Maelyn's first birthday (she only just turned 7 months). I'm also try to plan our big summer vacation to NY and trying to convince Tim that we also need a family beach vacation. We've also decided that we are going to make a CO bucket list and actually do things this summer.

Riding the train with Santa.
Georgetown Loop, check!

Even with a weird transitional phase and all of the looking forward, we had really great holidays. We were invited to our friends house for thanksgiving with a bunch of other friends who didn't have family in town. It was fun - delicious - craziness with 8 adults and 10 kids. It was great to feel so welcome and like we have a CO family. Some of Tim's family came to stay with us for Christmas and New Years. We had an abundant Christmas and they are helping us check off some of our CO bucket list.

Merry Christmas