Happy New Years Eve!

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."
- Edith Lovejoy Pierce


"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves."
-Bill Vaughn



Reflecting back, it has been a busy year, but a very good year! So very much to be thankful for...

A few of the highlights included:

-Maggie's mission trip to Mexico
-celebrating Noah's first birthday
-Sunday visits with family
-getting all moved
-Robby graduated from high school and completed his first year of college
-Good health
-two wonderful church families
-Maggie's volleyball team's state run
-every day that I spent watching Noah
-Tony celebrated his 32 year as a Conservation officer
-Jordan and Erin celebrated their first wedding anniversary

Last but not least.....
the birth of our new little grand daughter
Sydney Jade Sanders


Whether you are eager to get rid of the old year, or anxious for the hope that the new year brings.... hoping that you and your family take time to count the blessings of the past year, and have a wonderful time ringing in the new one!

Enjoying the Holidays

We all had a lovely Christmas! It has been so nice to have my sister Kathy, and her husband Clark home from Texas. This first photo is of the cousins at my Mom's on Christmas evening. (minus Jordan, and John Hewitt). The photo below is Rachel, Maggie, and Nicole (our teen cousins). We spent the day after Christmas working on flowers for Cassie's upcoming June wedding.... so much fun! Our family will enjoy two weddings this year, Cassie in June and Gretchen in the fall. The last two pictures are of our new addition.... she is so precious! I haven't had time to download the pictures from my camera.... nabbed these from Maggie's "already downloaded" ones. Aunt Susan has posted some good ones from the Sanders side on her blog. Hope that everyone is enjoying this wonderful time of the year, and is taking a little time to relax!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

SYDNEY JADE SANDERS

Our little Miss Sydney Jade has arrived! 6lbs 9 oz, 19 1/2 inches. She has really dark hair and is soooooo pretty and tiny! Big brother Noah is adoring her. Last night when we talked to Jordan, he said that Noah kept sitting down and patting his little lap, letting them know he wanted to hold her again. She is the best little Christmas gift!
Addison and Brooklyn...... what precious little cuties!

My good friend DeAndrea's children Aunaka and Simeon. Aunaka is 5, and Simeon is 2. I was Aunaka's first babysitter. She was such a sweet little newborn. It is hard to believe that she is 5 now!

THANK YOU MISTY! MISTY HAS SELECTED COFFEE BREAK AS A FABULOUS BLOG. Misty is my cousin, she has a really neat blog, full of great pictures of her two adorable daughters! CHECK OUT MISTY'S BLOG AT http://fairytaleprincesses.blogspot.com
Here are the rules if you are playing along at home....Here are the rules to receiving this award:

1. You have to pass it on to 5 other fabulous bloggers in a post.

2. You have to list 5 of your fabulous addictions in the post.

3. You must copy and paste the rules and the instructions below in the post.Instructions: On your post of receiving this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them. I am going to nominate five Fabulous Blogs!

and the nominations are:

1. Erin's Life, Erin is my daughter-in-law, she doesn't get much time to blog. She is a full time student, and a wonderful wife and mother. Her blog is full of great photo's of my favorite little boy! Check it out at: http://erin-schnadenberg.blogspot.com/

2. A Day in The Life, my neice Dana's blog, Dana is also a very busy mom that doesn't have a chance to blog often. When she does get the chance she has two of the prettiest little girls to blog about! What beautiful photos! O.K. Dana.... I know that you are all fighting the flu, so if you don't get a chance to accept your award ...we understand! Check out her blog at: http:dana-tow-jones.blogspot.com

3. The Warrens, Susan Warren's blog spot, Susan is my sister-in-law, I love reading her blogspot because it helps keep me connected with what all is going on in the family! Thanks Susan, for keeping me up on the latest happenings! Check her blog at http://thewarrens-cliffandsusan.blogspot.com

4. Visit The 'Ville, Brenda's blogspot, Brenda is also my sister-in-law. Brenda is a retired school teacher, and owns a neat shop in Crothersville. Brenda's blog features interesting stories, poetry, and thoughts. Check it out at http://brendasville.blogspot.com

5. Sue's Family News, Sue lives in Montgomery. She has two teenagers close in age to Maggie. She goes to Providence Church, and I get to see her at lots of ballgames! I love reading her blog... check it out at http://suesfamilynews.blogspot.com

Now for my five addictions!

1. carbs....bread, pasta, potatoes, chips, more bread!

2. Karen Kingsbury books, love to read a couple of chapters before bed.

3. Visiting at moms on Sundays!

4. Fox News

5. diet coke

Not very interesting addictions....wish I could say jogging and exercising!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY!

Happy Birthday Tony! Today is Tony's birthday, we celebrated on Saturday evening with Maggie, Robby, Jordan, Erin, and Noah. We will celebrate the December birthdays next week at his sister Jane's. We are finally doing great... after the flu hit each of us one at a time last week! Dana and her family were hit with it over the weekend.... hang in there Dana! The tree is up and decorated, and we started the Christmas shopping yesterday. Maggie and I took Erin and Noah to Indy for the day. We had a lot of fun, and got quite a bit of shopping finished. Noah and I are wrapping gifts today! Maggie has a doctors appointment early in the morning to see if she gets to start back playing at ballgames this week. Robby finished his finals last week, Erin finishes hers today. Have a great week..... only 9 more days to shop!

The Big Move!

We are finally moved! Not unpacked yet.... that is going to take awhile. We are all exhausted, how in the world did we accumulate so much stuff? My garage is to the top with boxes that need sorted and put away. Here are a few quick pictures. The first one is Cassie, Brooklyn, Dana, Connie, and Maggie at Mom's on Thanksgiving.
Courtney and Maggie at Thanksgiving (Maggie has her braces off!)
Maggie at the Fall Sports Banquet
The "New" Kitchen

I am feeling a little overwhelmed. By now, we usually have most of the Christmas presents wrapped and under the tree. We always put the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving... if not before. Sorry to say, we haven't even purchased the first gift yet, and no clue when we will get the tree up. Not sure where the box containing the decorations and lights are stored. We have a lot of catching up to do! Hope to start all that this evening.

Maggie's knee is healing, and she should be back on the basketball court in two weeks. Noah has been really sick with viral infections and flu. He is feeling better today and should be here any minute. Noah just came in, I will post more later. Hope that you are all enjoying the "getting ready" for the Holidays!