End of the Year Happenings

It's the end of 2012.  We've had a blessed year (see our Christmas letter), and here are a few activities from the very end of the year.

Family visited:  

Tom's sister and brother-in-law Chris and Jim, and his cousin Susie came for an afternoon.

 Susie's daughter Jada was a welcome addition.  The boys loved playing Wii with her, and she was also content to just watch (we really need to get more Wii remotes!)  I love that my kids know their second cousins.

Friends visited:

Russ and Karen came for another afternoon, and we loved seeing Leah again and meeting Paige for the first time.

 I finally gave Konrad his favorite Christmas-time snack:  an orange with a candy cane stuck in it.  You suck the orange juice out of the straw of the candy cane for a minty orange snack.

Tom is working on our addition.  An addition to the fort, that is.  That post on the right side is the beginning of additional climb wall area (because there isn't already enough to climb).

We had a fun "Swiss" New Year celebration.  We screamed and yelled "Happy New Year!" at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, since that was midnight in Switzerland.  Jordana can yell pretty loud, too!  Then we had bratwurst and rolls, Swiss cheese, mashed potatoes and green beans for New Year's Eve dinner.  Tom and I had champagne and the kids had bubbly grape juice.

And with every intent to stay up until midnight (not!) we played Monopoly. At 9 p.m. we stopped to celebrate New York New Year's Eve on television...and went to bed around 11 p.m.

Happy New Year!