Happy new year!

We had a pretty low-key, but lovely, New Year's Eve. We went out to dinner and then took the boys downtown to the family-friendly celebration at Marion Square. Not a good picture, but a picture of all of us for a change...


And me and my boys...quite a handful!


It was a beautiful night.






The boys enjoyed listening to a African dance choir. Parker was dancing along as best as he could. I tried to take a video, but ran out of memory. So you'll just have to take my word for it. It was cute.

Then we stopped to listen to a band as we were heading out. Parker and I stayed and listened, but Trey followed Thomas, who ran off to see some boys who were playing football. I watched from afar, worrying that the boys would be rude and dismissive to Thomas. They were much older (probably ages 9-12). Yet I must say I was so pleasantly surprised that they were not. One boy really took Thomas under his wing and kept making sure Thomas had a chance to catch and throw the ball. Thomas had a ball running around with them, even if his catching and throwing weren't too impressive. And that one little boy just touched my heart. They could have easily told him to get lost, but they didn't and it just warmed my heart. What a great start to the new year (or a wonderful end to the old!). I made sure (as did Trey) I went over and thanked the boys, especially that one, for being so kind to my little guy. I hope we, as parents, can do such a good job of raising our own boys.

Anyway, we didn't hang around too long before we decided it was time to get the boys to bed.




So another year has passed and I'm so thankful for all of the joys that came to us in 2009. The boys have grown by leaps and bounds in so many ways and I continuously feel blessed to be their mother. For as much as they exhaust me, they also bring me joy so great that words cannot possibly describe.