Happy New Year 2009!

I did not get to Christmas cards this year due to a combination of laze, multiple demands on my time, and a deep loathing of putting paper products into envelopes. Those of you who are on Facebook or who speak to me regularly know that in the last few months I have sent out approximately 1500 letters to families of high school students in the name of dissertation (an evil being which I plan to purge from my life this year). This is a lot of folding and stuffing and labeling and stamping (thank you to my "people" for your help!). Needless to say, another mass mailing, no matter how small, was not happening for me this year.

We had a wonderful holiday this year with lots of time off work for spending with family and friends. Lilah really got into the Santa thing this year and even wrote him several letters professing her love and her lengthy list of stuffed animals she wished to see under the tree on Christmas morning. She also wrote him a letter asking how old he is and left it with the cookies and water (we didn't have any milk in the house and figured he could use some water after all that milk). Santa came through and told her he was 832 - she figured the only way a person could be that old was through magic.



The new year was celebrated in style with Nate and I in Milwaukee with his brother and wife at a comedy show and Lilah with my parents. They took her to a fancy dinner at the country club and watched the ball drop (east cost time). She loved it! Our trip was Nate's birthday present - tickets to Jim Gaffigan. It was a great trip and great show - well worth the drive. If you have more time to kill after reading this, visit youtube and look up Jim's work - it will give a good laugh! Hot Pocket!

Now it is mid-January and we are full into the craziness of the wrestling season, snow delays and cancellations, and dissertation work. We hope that this year will be one of great celebration for us, and wish the same to you. We are looking forward to a successful end to another wrestling season, graduation from University of Minnesota, and maybe we will be lucky enough that by the end of 2009 we will have added another member to our family (nothing happening yet, but we are hopeful). Happy 2009 to you all!

P.S. Lilah's new favorite pass time is dress up - every day she comes home from school and changes into an interesting outfit and puts on the bright blue eyeshadow. Why are little girls (and some big girls - yikes) so intrigued by bright blue eye shadow?

Lilah with Lexi after school one day. I guess I got to the camera before they got to the make-up.

Lilah with Ashton the weekend before Christmas - here you can clearly see her affinity for the bright blue shadow!