A new year and a new update

I tried to type an update last week, including sharing how wonderful my anniversary was, but blogger wasn't playing nice and my computer was having issues. Sadly Santa did not bring me a new computer for Christmas, so I will have to learn to live with my outdated computer a little longer. :( Here is a little of what is going on at our house:

• We are still alive and well and are enjoying some much needed warmer weather. Though my kids think it is okay to play outside in short sleeve shirts just because it is 50 degrees warmer than it was a little over a week ago. It is only 36 degrees out right now. It is amazing how perspective changes. A few months ago 36 degrees would have felt awfully cold. Today after surviving 2 weeks of below zero temps and wind chill factors well into the 60 below zero range, 36 feels surprisingly warm.

• Scott and I celebrated our wedding anniversary on December 19th. After I threw a fit a while back whined a little about how we never go anywhere or do anything exciting for our anniversary, Scott surprised me by making plans to go away for the weekend. We stayed in a nice motel in Spearfish (about 45 minutes from Rapid City). My brother and sister in law kept the kids until Sunday so Scott and I had Friday afternoon through Sunday morning all to ourselves. It was absolutely wonderful!

• We had a very nice Christmas. We tried a new strategy this year. The few days leading up to Christmas we let the kids stay up late. At our house 9:00 is late. We went really crazy and let them stay up to 10:00 even. Then on Christmas eve we let them stay up a little later then we typically do on Christmas eve. The idea was to have them pretty worn out by bedtime. It worked! They didn't come upstairs until just before 7:00 am. Santa actually got to sleep in a little bit Christmas morning. Very nice! Even better, the next day they slept until 9:00! I don't remember the last time they slept in that long!!

• My favorite part of Christmas morning is hearing the kids come upstairs. We tell them they can come upstairs and look but they can't touch. I love to hear them whispering to each other about what they find under the tree.

• I love our Christmas morning breakfast tradition. Our Santa brings boxes of sugary cereal that I typically don't let my kids eat throughout the year. The kids love that they get to eat the "good stuff" and I love that I don't have to worry about making a fancy breakfast on Christmas morning. It is a win-win situation for us!

• Remember that i-pod that I was trying to earn by going without chocolate for 90 days and then I decided that I didn't really want after all? Well, my husband got me one for Christmas. I love it! I am slowly figuring out how to use it and I am anxious to get back to the gym so I can take it with me. Yay!

• Tomorrow is a very important day at our house. Not only is it the first day of the new year, but it is the first day of the month of January. My birthday just so happens to be in January and I like to take the entire month to celebrate it. Hey, if I have to grow up and get old, gray and wrinkly then I might as well enjoy it right! So the celebration begins tomorrow.

• The day after tomorrow is when I plan on starting my weight loss program once again. I lost 13 pounds last year from January to June. I have managed to gain 4 pounds back, plus I wanted to lose an additional 5 pounds. On Monday when the kids go back to school I will be heading to the gym with my new gym shoes and my new workout clothes that I got for Christmas and I will be hitting it hard. After a month of hardly going I am sure I will be feeling it! I will be resuming my Friday weigh in, that is if I actually have results to report.

Happy New Year to all our friends and family!!!