2008 in full swing

We had a pretty uneventful New Year's Eve. We had considered going to a party at one of the guy's houses that Carl coaches with, but decided against it. Too much work packing us all up for the small amount of time we would have lasted. It turned out to be a VERY good idea-no one had mentioned to us that it was a formal party. Black-tie formal. First of all, I very seriously doubt that Carl and I have anything in either of our wardrobes to wear to this sort of thing, let alone our kids. I can only imagine the chaos that would have ensued had we went. Instead, we stayed home, put the kids to bed at their usual 8:00 bedtime, made some yummy stuffed mushrooms, and watched the Man in the Moon. It was nice, and we were in bed earlier than usual, which is sort of funny. I think we were all asleep by 10:30!

I woke up at 4:00 to feed Si, and as I was laying there with her, I wondered why Americans are so obsessed with New Year's Eve anyway. I simply do not feel the need to stay up until midnight to see the first two minutes of the New Year. I mean, God willing, I hope to see the entire year. Who cares if I sleep through the first several hours? (Can you tell I'm not a morning person?)

Carl and I left all three kiddos with my Mom and brother yesterday, and spent a few hours in the afternoon moving boxes and unpacking kitchen and bathroom stuff. We actually made quite a bit of progress. It is so incredibly satisfying to me to unpack and organize things. I loved it, it was hard to stop to drive home. It's nearly an hour from my parents house to ours in Lakeside, so that cuts into our work time. But all the same, it was so great to get started! I want to have all of our necessities put away and accessible for when we move in. I don't want to deal with the difficulty of letting the kids adjust to a new home while scrounging around for toothbrushes, towels, etc. So tonight, my Mom and I are going to go down after she gets off work to work on it a little more while Carl handles the mob here at home. Could be interesting, but I'm looking forward to it. A little break, as well as becoming a little closer to our goal of moving in by Sunday all wrapped into one night. Yay:)

I should add that a New Year's resolution of mine that I am working on is that I am trying really hard to be more frugal with our finances. In comparison to this time last year, I am doing much, much better. We instituted a budget last January, and I have stuck to it each and every month. However, I feel that I could do better. There are so many things that we think are necessities that really aren't. This is an area that I have always struggled in-I am a spender, Carl is a saver. But I am becoming a saver-at least, I am trying to! I guess what I want to do is build upon the lessons that I have learned in this last year.