So Far Behind!!!

Long time, no post. I know. I'm not alone though. I've tried to catch up with my other friends who "blog" and I think we've all been so busy with the holidays, it's too overwhelming to keep up. That being said, we had some great highlights this December. We started out with a surprise trip for Jeff''s 30th. He knew he was coming home and going somewhere. The Stauffer's have a house they like to rent in Montreat, NC (GORGEOUS place). It is twenty minutes from Asheville. We surprised him at a special lunch there. His brothers (Chuck, Tom), us wives and kids were all there. We then went on to spend the weekend in the Montreat house. It was so much fun. Margaret surprised Jeff with a "boys' trip" of fly-fishing with a guide for the day, and a candlelight tour of the Biltmore for us adults, minus her. She volunteered to stay home and babysit the THREE kids (not an easy task, given the ages!). We really enjoyed that and would highly recommend this...it wasn't one bit crowded and was nice to see the house at night. At the height of our recession, it was ironic to see such a miraculous home, vacation home at that.

Christmas was so much fun this year. The girls are each other's best playmates, for better and more often than not, for worse. But they loved the spirit of church, family time and fellowship, and of course, opening gifts. All of it was new and exciting for them. Do you all have the Elf on the Shelf? I would highly recommend this neatly devised Elf. He saved us from some bad, bad behavior. I wish we had Kip year-round. Even MS still talks about him. We need an Easter, Halloween, etc Elf.

We finished the year with our second annual trip to (same Montreat home mentioned above) the mountains with our dear friends, Jennifer and Derek. They have two kids similar in ages to ours. It was a great time. I would highly recommend a mountain trip for New Year's. It is a way to relax with friends without the hassle of babysitters. Well worth it all!!

So, Happy New Year to all of you. I hope for health, happiness, and prosperity in these trying times. Hopefully I'll be better about our blog in the New Year. I love reading all of yours!! Cheers to 2009!