Ringing In the New

I spent the last day of 2004 riding around in a blizzard in a car full of tired, feverish, hungry toddlers observing the handiwork of my sweet and talented brother in law, Mike (he is a mason and he does fancy custom rock work for billionaires at ranches and ski resorts). My instincts told me to keep my virus-ridden, whiny children home, but I succumbed to the peer pressure and joined all the in-laws on the trek to Big Sky (and we were all sorry, although it was cool to see Mike's work). The day ended with absolutely fantastic pizza at MacKenzie River Pizza in Bozeman (if you're ever in Montana, find a MRP and eat there--you'll thank me later).

We rang out the old by sleeping over at the in-laws.' Most of Rich's siblings were there and we planned a big board game olympics while we waited for midnight. Alas, our overtired kids did not cooperate, so we had one round of Taboo, then wrangled kiddies until midnight. We toasted with some Martinelli's, smooched and hit the sack 10 minutes later.

New Year's Day was equally exciting--we slept in, ate breakfast burritos, and I did about 5 loads of laundry, then brought my still-sick kids home to my house for a nap. After our nap, we ate chicken enchiladas and green beans for dinner, watched some TV, got ready for church on Sunday, and went to bed (or so we thought--the kids were up all night, and I got up with Heidi at 4:56am...we took a shower, ate breakfast, and THEN she was ready to sleep for an hour-- until 8am). I toyed with the idea of not going to church--I felt sick this morning, too--but I just couldn't miss my Adeline's first day in Primary!! (Primary is the 2nd and 3rd hour of church for kids age 3-11...they have a little Sunday School class and then do music and sharing time all together...the kids can start going the first Sunday in January after they turn 3).

I still feel like warmed-over death, but it was nice to be at church (even though I could hardly concentrate, what with the axe-in-my-skull feeling I had). I just fed the monkeys leftovers and Heidi had her first little pureed meal--turkey, rice, and vegetables, instead of just single fruits and veggies. It'll be intersting to see how that goes down. I always hate the part where you've got a kid who's still in diapers who eats meat. Ugh!

The pillow is calling. When I get this axe out of my skull I will talk about my aspirations fo 2005. They aren't real lofty--at this point, I'll be happy to keep doing what I'm doing--keep my kids alive, finish the *%#*#* house, take better care of my ol' bones, and enjoy all my blessings. Like a big overstuffed king size log bed on Sunday afternoons.