Reflection on 2010 and Hopes for 2011

Selena and I thought it would be fun to have a sleep over on New Years Eve. So we made up a bed in the living room. We asked Papa to find something good to watch on TV. He chose a basketball game. Not our idea of something to watch on a sleep over.

Selena did her best to draw Papa down onto the floor with us to enjoy the sleep over. Papa however was too involved in his basketball game. Selena and I laid there for sometime, but Selena grew restless. She finally decided this was not what she imagined a sleep over would be, so we ended up putting this bed away and put her in her bed.

After she was all tucked in and had fell quickly off to sleep, I explained to Papa what her idea of a sleep over was. It did not include watching basketball. He admitted he thought just being in the room with her would be enough. We have to train Papa to think like a child again. We will try this again another night here and Papa promised we will watch something more family oriented and not basketball.

We did have a good New Years Eve though. We had our usual crab and shrimp dinner. Selena has now decided that seafood isn’t all that bad, though I did make her some french fries to go with hers. Believe me Papa and I can eat a full crab each and a full pound of large shrimp easily. We do love our fresh seafood! I love the way Selena always has to examine the crabs so closely before I clean and crack it. She didn’t know if she liked how the shrimp looked before I pealed and deveined them before I cooked them. I was a little surprised that she tried it.

With 2010 behind us, which while it had many good times, we also had some rocky spots to get through. Papa came home from our vacation to discover that his job wasn’t as secure as we were led to believe due to the State cutbacks. We truly did not know what to expect. Just as it seemed that things were working out with the aid of some Federal funds, the State decided to close down the unit in which Papa worked in totally. We figured that this meant his job would be cut totally. We lucked out and they kept two people on to do the work of six, and Papa was one of the two to stay. He did get a promotion to lead over the other person, but no raise, instead we actually had to take a pay cut through a furlough day a month. We are however, very thankful that those who were told they would not have a job, did get transferred to other facilities within the State, so while a few were laid off, not as many as expected.

We do have to say that all our outings with Selena, and especially our vacation was the best part of the year. It was so nice to see our son and watch him and Selena have so much fun together. We also enjoyed visiting with my brothers, and their families. We enjoyed having our good friends here in the area and so many opportunities to visit with them before they moved to Virginia. It just seems like we did so many fun things this last summer, too many to really list so I will just say that truly we feel very blessed for the good health, and the good weather to enjoy all that we did do in 2010.

We look forward to 2011, watching Selena continue to grow and to all the joy she fills our homes and hearts with. We are trying to plan short mini vacations for this summer, since we doubt very much we will really get a vacation this summer. We know that there are so many things that we can share with Selena here nearby that she hasn’t seen yet, that we are OK with the thought of no real true vacation. We look forward to trying to spend some more time with many of our friends, and maybe even a few date nights for just Papa and I will be in store.

I am not one to make resolutions for New Years and I am not going to start now, but I do hope that as this year evolves that Selena and I are able to share so much more on our blog with all of you.

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT IS 2011! HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! WE HOPE THIS YEAR WILL HOLD MANY GOOD THINGS FOR EVERYONE!