Happy New Year!

All 23 of  us at my house for the holidays had a terrific time ushering in the New Year. 

New Year's Eve we enjoyed being at the pool.  We didn't stay super long, but it was fun to go swimming in the winter!  If the water would have been warmer we would have stayed much longer!










We did a little shopping that afternoon before heading home.  We wanted to check out post-Christmas decor deals!




New Year's Eve is yet another party.  Yes, this is our third night of partying!  We had some fun foods, people worked on puzzles, watched movies and of course played Monopoly.


Lois creamed us in Monopoly.  Last time she played at New Year's was over 10 years ago....can't remember.  Maybe she'll play again next year?  I last a little while but eventually was too poor to stay in.  It's tradition to play this game every year.


We signed up for cable TV just for over the holidays (which we never got on time! but that's another story) and of course tuned in to the ball drop at Times Square.  All of us were up except I think Maggie.  And she fell asleep a couple of minutes before mid-night.  It was quite the party!


New Year's kiss...tradition!


Happy New Year!  We are in the future as Sheldon and then below, my brother Sam, are still back in 2015.




A bit random, but one day that we were out an about we saw a horse and buggy.  There is a huge Mennonite population here.  Always fun to see a horse and buggy out. I must say, I love the clip-clopping of the hooves!


For breakfast, I guess more like brunch, we had Scotch Eggs!  So yummy.  It's  a hard boiled egg, wrapped in sausage, rolled in crushed corn flakes or Ritz crackers.  I should request these for Mother's Day or something.  They are sooo good!




So far the new year is going well!  And thankfully no one else got strep from Haley. I love the beginning of a new year.  We made some changes to our take home pay to hopefully help us save more money to either buy/build a building for Lee's practice, or to buy/build a larger home.  Right now we're leaning towards doing something real estate wise for Lee's practice.  We are saving up too for a different vehicle and I'm determined to save for it with the money we will take home every month.  Usually we take home all earnings every month, except for retained earnings.  This year we will do a set income each month.  Though of course if we make less than expected one month, we'll take home less. But living on a set income is going to be different for us!  Lee and I have talked about different expenses that will come up during the year and are trying to plan accordingly.  It will be interesting and challenging to see how this year turns out!  We are a little slow on goals this year (money goals included) and we need to set some specific ones this weekend. The year is already passing quickly!

 It's gonna be a great year!  The best yet!