Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year

I personally think that staying up until midnight to say happy new year to whoever happens to be around is a little over rated. Party pooper, I know, "every party has a pooper that's why we invited you, Meeeghaaan Beatttttie."
We turn a new page on the calendar just like any other month and we have to adjust to writing 2012 just after I finally got into the habit of writing 2011 not 2010 and my three little alarm clocks (Brayden, Sydney and Madison) are pretty consistent no matter what time they go to bed. However I do enjoy taking the time to reflect on the past 12 months and think of all the things we've learned and accomplished. 2011 was a pretty big year for us Beatties and I'd like to share a few our accomplishments with you:

*We are a diaper free family! Yay. In the first half of the year Maddy was potty trained. No pull ups at night or anything. Toilet only family.
*Ryan made it to 5 years in the Philippines with Focus. 5 years in the Philippines
*Ryan started a new job
*We packed up and moved back to Southern Alberta, Canada. No more whirl wind weekend adventures exploring Southeast Asia
*Brayden and Sydney started their first year in the Canadian school curriculum and are truly thriving
*Along the way with our experiences I gained a greater appreciation for individual trials and that mine are mine
*We added a member to our family, Sage the cat
*We finally got our first HD TV
*We also finally got a van, and not just any van but a fully loaded beauty of a van. Worth the years of waiting
*Somehow I fell even more in love with my little family

Looking back at all the different things we did and learned throughout the last year I feel so thankful for everything I have been blessed with and extremely grateful for all the different opportunities that have been put in our paths and all the support we've been given along our way. Not to say that our lives are perfect or easy because that is far from the truth but in the end things have always seemed to work out to benefit us just how we needed it to. He truly does know what we need and what we need to learn.

SO, our new years eve was pleasant and uneventful. We brought our fondue stuff out to Invermere, B.C. with us for a feast on New Years Eve. We had an enormous amount of food and dips and just pigged out. It was awesome. After the kids were done with their grub we dumped them all in the tub with glow sticks, turned off the light and left them to enjoy (thanks to pinterest for that idea). They loved playing with the glow sticks and they were in the tub forever. While they were playing around we took advantage of the lack of kids fondue sticks filling up the pots and let the oil reheat and ate some more.
Glow Sticks in the TubFondue Action
Some how I managed to stay up until midnight when we facetimed with my sister Kait who was in downtown Vancouver. She gave us a tour of Raw Canvas, where they were spending their new years. We lamely counted down and wished them a happy new year from the night club (Raw Canvas) her boyfriend Matthew manages (I hope you guys appreciate the Raw Canvas plug) and then I went downstairs straight to bed.
Cheers 2012!