Happy New Year!

It's after 9:00 in the morning and I'm the only one awake.  We all stayed up til the ball dropped last night to welcome in 2011 as a family. 

Momma's little party animal

It was, by far, my most favorite New Year's Eve that I can remember.  And it was the simplest.  What was so wonderful though was the fact that it was just me and my boys.  We didn't do anything fabulous, we were just together, the four of us.  I was thinking yesterday that how you spend New Years Eve can really set the tone for the coming year.  I wanted to set a positive tone, a healthy tone, a family tone because I really want to focus on my family this year.  Not that I don't normally, but it's different, it's not just about feeding, housing and clothing them, it's not about meeting their physical needs or even just their individual emotional needs, I really want to nurture our connection.  I want to find ways to inject more fun in our day to day.  I want to seek out opportunities to bond with both of my sons as well as my husband-all of us together at the same time.  That might seem like such a simple concept but it's actually difficult when you have the family make up that we have.  The boys are separated by 8.5 years and Dimitri is only with us 1/2 the time, so it's easy to slip into a divide and conquer approach to the weekends and the fun stuff.  Rene and Dimitri do one, teenage appropriate, thing while Paulo and I go off on a separate, kid friendly, adventure.  That's something I really want to work on this year.  Don't get me wrong I love to see Rene spending time with Dimitri one on one, but I also know that it's really important for the four of us to be together.  Last night showed me that loud and clear.

Cheers from the Rodriguez Family

It was such a simple night.  We watched the special edition of Avatar we gave Dimitri for Christmas, plus all the deleted scenes-yeah it was about 4 hours of Avatar-then when it got close to midnight we switched on Dick Clark and the good old Rockin' Eve show and waited. 

Torture time!

To kill time, Dimitri tortured his brother a little.  That always helps pass the time you know?  I always enjoy seeing them play together, despite the fact that inevitably the noise level in the house skyrockets!

Love

We played a little Uno and had some fruit and cheese while we waited for the big moment to arrive.  Paulo screamed out the countdown (in typical Paulo fashion) and then he yelled and screamed and celebrated the new year by beating his chest like Tarzan!  Oh yes, he's a zesty one!  It was, all in all, a perfect end to 2010 and believe me, I'm happy to say goodbye to 2010.

Last year was hectic.  It was stressful.  It was far too fast paced for my taste.  This year, I need this year to be different.  I know I cannot keep running at that frantic pace for much longer, I know deep in my heart, that I just can't.  I know I need to regroup, circle the wagons so to speak, and come back to what really matters and that is those three sleeping boys upstairs-my family. 

If I want them to be kind, I must show them kindness. 

If I want them to be patient, I must show them patience. 

If I want them to be loving, I must show them I love them every single day. 

I want them to be able to come home and escape from that frantic energy that fills our world and really feel like they can recharge, that home is a safe haven from the stress of life, not that it adds to their stress.  I want them to know that they are loved and special and welcome in both heart and home to be themselves.  I want this year to be different, for all of us.  Happy New Year to all my wonderful friends and family, may 2011 bring you joy, peace and love because really that is all that matters.