Happy New Year!

To say that our New Year's Eve was tame is an understatement. The big excitement of the night was homemade chocolate fondue. The Soden ladies loved it:

I think Steve was a fan, but he was too busy being grumpy that I was documenting his every move with my camera :-)

2012 has been a good year. It's hard for me to pick out the best moments, but it is very clear that our family is lucky. We have our health, a roof over our heads, a loving extended family, a great group of friends, and most importantly, we have each other.

So here's to you, 2012. I can only hope that 2013 will be as good to our family.

Friends

Today we made the trip up to Berkshire to see our friends, the Wysockis. Our visit was low key, fun,  and full of good food and drink. Really, what else could you want?

Tammy, Marc, and Keenan were nice enough to get the girls two perfect Christmas gifts: books and tutus. It doesn't get much better than that!

A big apology to the Keenan 10 years from now -
I had to!

We then headed outside for the Caroline's first sledding experience. Steve took one for the team and was the official sledder while I watched and provided encouragement and timely adjusting of gloves and mittens. It was fantastic ...

Keenan being a gentleman and helping Lucy up the hill

Love this picture!

All bundled up and ready to head outside

Steve looking really happy about pulling Caroline up the hill

Failed attempt at a group shot

Lookin' good Keenan!

Lucy and Tammy - such a sweet pic!

Marc giving Steve a big push

I should say, it was fantastic until Caroline lost interest in sledding. And wanted to walk around at the bottom of the hill.  With me and only me.

So, on the tube I went and headed down to walk around in 6+ inches of snow with running shoes and jeans on.

Eventually the girls got too cold and wanted to come in. I certainly was not going to complain! Marc was nice enough to set up a bed and DVD for the girls to watch while everyone else enjoyed football on the tv.

Not a bad set up

A big thank you to Tammy who took all of these pictures. (I, once again, forgot the memory card for the camera at home in my computer.) And thank you to the entire Wysocki crew for putting up with us for an entire day. We are constantly reminded of what great friends you are and how lucky we are to have you in our lives. Love to you all! xoxo

Christmas

Christmas was very uneventful for our family, and yet Steve and I were exhausted by 10:30 am.

Below are some pictures of the girls opening presents. Caroline was fairly uninterested and Lucy would have preferred to rip through all of the presents in 5 minutes. It was a delicate balance.

So happy with her new Belle doll from Santa

Ripping open her stocking

Boog and Steve bonding

Steve is applying a ridiculous number of stickers while the girls
wait patiently

Lucy and Steve building a marble tower

Ready for Santa!

We had a great night at Coach G's house tonight. The girls had lots of fun eating a ridiculous number of chips and desserts and playing with their new purses (more pics of that at a later time).

When we returned home the girls got into their new PJs and I tried to snap a few pictures.  It ended like it usually does:

Smiling for Mom

Isn't one picture enough, Mom?

Losing interest

Hey, what are you doing?

That looks like fun!

Ham

This child loves the camera.

Trains and Such

When Cookie and Grumps came to visit, Grumps was nice enough to bring his train for the girls to see (and possibly destroy). They LOVED it. Even Boog got into the act by trying to bite the train as it raced by.

I love this picture anyway, but it makes me laugh every time
I see Boog in the background acting as though he is reading along.