Vaca!

We went to EI again this year and it was fantastic!! We did so many more things this year then the last time and had so much more fun! The girls both LOVED the beach, and getting Livi out of the ocean was certainly a chore :) V loved walking through the sand (eating it!) and going down in water so the waves would get her. Totally needed the relaxation as well!

Heeellllooooooo......

Ok it's been awhile. Not just awhile, but more like *ahem* a few months. MONTHS?! Wow.

The girls are getting bigger and learning more and more each day! Livi's front tooth is just about ready to come out....a little tug and I believe it would be gone. But not from me. No, uh ah. I get all queasy just thinking about it! Ha!! I swear I have become the woman with the weakest stomach! The other day the girls at work were talking about rings being tight on their fingers....and me? Yeah I got all light headed and had to sit down since the world around me was going black. Nice.

Violet is almost a year. !?!?! Crazy times!!! She's standing on her own now and trying harder then heck to walk around and keep up with Livi. It's adorable!

Well that's it for now...I have more online shopping to do :) I have entered the crazy addiction known as Matilda Jane. ::shakes head:: I have placed more orders for Naartjie, Mini Boden, and MJ lately then I ever told myself would be possible. Bye bye money it was nice knowing you while you were here!......

So here it goes

Diet. Exercise. Eat right. Go to the gym. Yadda.Yadda.Yadda.

And I have. And I'm doing pretty well if I do say so myself. I've lost 20 pounds which is 'real' weight loss...something that I've had to work at to get rid of. I've been going to the gym in the mornings at 5 (yeah....), and doing what I can at night after work. And I've gone down a full size....almost can start squeezing myself into the one after as a matter of fact. :) But it's starting to not be 'fun' anymore. I feel the crack starting, which to me, as in the past, is where I start "shutting down" as far as everything goes. And I'm trying so very very hard to stay on track... to up my progress actually. But I don't know if it's working. And it's consumed me. I think about food constantly. Not just what I can or can't eat, but food in general. I think about what I should be doing, and what I'm not. I think about sizes, and numbers, and carbs. It makes me want to scream. I'm happy with where I am have gotten, and I'm happy thinking about where I can go. I've seen others overcome their weight and get to where they want to, and OMG does that make me so happy! Both for them and for myself...I CAN do it! I CAN be the smaller size that I used to be...I CAN push my body to become what I want it to be! It's so much more motivating then they probably realize (Kim, you in particular!) to see what determination can do.

I may falter, and I may sway, but I'm going down the right path. Mike is constantly telling me how much he can really notice about my weight loss, and for the first time, I had 2 customers comment on how well I look and have I lost weight? It feels FANTASTIC!

So I will tredge along, and push myself harder. I will make this happen and I will make this become fun again. I will not take credit for making this change on my own, but rather thank those who have made me see what I can do. :)

Wordless Wednesday....

We got IN!

Ok, so techinically Livi did, but OMGOODNESS we're SO excited!!! We never even entertained sending Livi to a Montessori school before about 4 months ago.....and then we went to an open house, asked around, talked to people, did our research, and you know what? I wanted her in one. BAD. The problem? Kids are enrolled from all over Erie County....it's a pretty big playing field for only a handfull or so of spots to fill. So once we submitted her 'application' it was a waiting and praying game. Because we put all of our eggs into this one basket.....
And then the letter came....
"To the parents of Olivia Kraus".....
and it sat there.....
we ordered food.....
it sat there.....
we ate dinner....
it sat there.....
we cleaned up.....
it sat there....
you would have thought that we were waiting for a college acceptance letter to arrive! I was so nervous that I made Mike open it. I mean, what if she didn't get in?? Where would she go? I don't like the Erie schools....I don't like the Millcreek schools....county schools are just too far to drive to and from every day....etc, etc, etc.
But...
SHE GOT IN!
We were stupid little children dancing around the kitchen with the kids and dog just looking at us like we lost our minds....we probably did....it was awesome!
And since she got in, Violet can get in no problem. AW.E.SOME!
Kindergarten here we come!!!

Can we say Naartjie?!

I am a huge fan of Naartjie. Huge. And I've been patiently awaiting their summer 1 release....and the day is finally here! My husband thinks I'm crazy, as do probably most other people in the world (HA!), but I am beyond clothing obsessed for the girls. And Naartjie in the summer, well, it's beyond ridiculously cute! So move over Gap and Boden! Naartjie is once again taking over! ::insert evil laugh:: ....or more like insanity??
Anyhow....
In case you were wondering...and I'm so sure that you are!.....here are the items I got today since the quantities are already running low!
For Livi....

For Violet....


And yes, Livi has 2 in purple....but I didn't say I was done now did I :) I still have a bunch of KK (Kids Kash....kind of the equivalent of Gymbo bucks) that start next week....so that means more Naartjie for us :)

Snow!

Here in Erie we have our fair share of snow.....but honestly, not really too bad. We usually get pounded, but this year was really mild on us. Yay for that! But we went over to Mom and Dad's this past weekend in Summit.....only 10ish minutes away from us....and jeez! There was a freakin ton of snow! Dad spent the morning moving it around so the kids could have fun outside, and there were piles that were feet higher then our Kia. Crazy! The kids had a ball out there though which is about the only good thing about snow......
Even V came out with us, but she wasn't really too interested in playing around :) And after the kids were fully in the frozen state, we came in to enjoy a very yummy birthday cake and cupcakes (Mike's birthday, yay!) De-lish!

Award time! :)

I love awards! Thank you to Paige at The Baby Dust Diaries for honoring me with the Pretty Beautiful Blogger Award! Yay!

Ok, so here are the rules for this award meme:
1. Thank the person who gave it to you - check.
2. Pass this award on to 15 bloggers you've recently discovered and think are fantastic.
3. Contact the bloggers to let them know they've won.
4. State 7 things about yourself.


So, first 7 things about myself:

* I am terrified of the dark. Like sleep-with-a-nightlight-against-the-wall, afraid. It was always a running joke in my family growing up that my Dad would give me $100.00 if I could walk (no running allowed!) from the house to the barn in the dark. I just can't do it.
Here is the distance we are speaking of....pretty far huh? Ssssooooo many things could happen to me while getting there....


* I took ice skating lessons from Caryn Kadavy

* I hate chocolate

* I could eat Chipotle every day for every meal for the rest of my life. No lie.

* I have enough heels to wear a different pair every day for a month and a half. And we're talking 7 day weeks here.....

* Fools Rush In is my all time favorite movie. I could watch it for days on end. And the best part? It's now one of Livi's :)


* Snuggling up with my girls and Mike + listening to the rain = the absolutely best thing in the world!


And, well, Paige listed all the blogs that I would list so I really don't have any to add, lol. So if you don't have one, create one! Blogs rule :)

Some pics

Ok, so for some, this is probably the 3rd or 4th place that I have these, LOL, but I need to AW them again :)

Insomnia

Ahhh.....what else is there to do at 3 in the morning besides blog???
For about the past week/2 weeks I've had such horrible insomnia. To the point that I am so mentally drained during the day I can't function anymore. I get up to be at the gym by 5am (yes that isn't a typo!) for about an hour, come home, shower, get ready for work, get the girls ready, and am at work until between 5-7pm depending on what's going on there. (and yes, I work at the bank....great 'bankers hours' there huh?!) Then during the week we have gymnastics, swimming, and another gym night before some relaxing. All of this and I'm usually in bed between 9:30 and 10pm....and up by 1am. Every.single.night. I know it's a sign that I have too much on my mind since that is usually what wakes me up.....and keeps me up. On a good night, I'll toss and turn until 4:30....on a bad night (*ahem* tonight) I get up because I just can't even lay there anymore. Ugh. It sucks.

Thumb sucking...

::sigh::

We are a binky family. I don't like thumb sucking, and (thankfully!) Livi never had the interest...just give her the bink! And when people would state that their child sucked their thumb, because "they just wouldn't keep the binky in their mouth" I would do a silent eye roll and think, well yeah, it pops out....just put it back in for them!. But now it's all come back to bite me in the butt.....

V sucks her thumb. She takes a binky, no problem. But the moment we look away, the binky gets thrown across the room and thumb goes in the mouth. I think she does it to mess with us....

She'll even go as far as holding the binky with the one hand while sucking on the other. Then when we look at her she'll laugh. Like she's just too smart for us at 6 months old. Little booger.

So.

I have a thumb sucker

::silent eye roll:: at me.

Bah.

More tests...::sigh::

So I had to take Livi for (yet another) EEG this past week....this one was a 24 hour, ambulatory EEG....so basically she had to be 'monitored' for a full continuous 24 hours. Sound like fun? Yeah, not really.

We got to Hamot for our appt at 11:45 and got right in to registration. A shocker, I know. Livi was beyond less then thrilled in being there, and honestly who can blamer her? ...last time we were at Hamot was for her MRI in the not-so-past, past....and IV's from hell. I wouldn't want to be there either poor girl.

Here are the fish....the "entertainment" while we were waiting to be called back. Livi proceeded to 'talk' to them in her best fish voice.....telling them how she used to have fish but they all died. I'm sure the fish were thrilled, lol.

So we get into the room and get 'scolded' by not having Livi wear a button down shirt. Well, ok, maybe it was a little bit of common sense I suppose, but I didn't think about it. Sue me. So she'll have to wear the shirt she had on overnight until the next day. I think she'll survive thank-you-very-much. The nurse/Dr/I-have-no-idea lady informed us of all the things that were going to go on....again, we brought on the common sense. No bathing. Uh, really? She's getting live wires attached to her head. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't think of submerging my child in water. ::eye roll:: Yet the sad thing is, I'm sure there's a reason for saying not to bathe your child while hooked up.......

After marking her head up with a red crayon, she starts attaching the wires. Not too bad, Livi is sitting still, being good....everything is going well. But then the tech lady starts talking about the glue. The wha?? Oh yes, they have to glue each of the wires to her scalp to make sure they stay on overnight. Yippee. And the glue? Well it smells like glue that you build model cars with. Oh yay I say. Let's just skip past the next TWO HOURS and just round it up by saying it didn't go too well. Livi was GREAT, don't get me wrong. She stayed still (we "glued" her back to the chair so she couldn't move, lol. It worked!), listened extremely well, everything. But the glue smell got to her. She was coughing and gagging, and the last half an hour was begging and crying to go home. Nothing breaks your heart more then when your child is sitting there, crying and looking at you to make it better. She begged to not have them do this anymore. And it took everything in me not to take her away from there. :( This is from halfway done.......

When she was finished attaching everything we had to unhook the wires from the one box, and attach them all to another, smaller box, that Livi had to carry around with her. Then we tested it. And tested it again. And once everything was correct, we were free to go. Fast forward to home.....

(The big giant teddy bear that Mike bought her that day!)

First off, that box she had to carry around was pretty heavy. It held the mechanism that attached the wires, and a big battery pack thing. And it was on a shoulder strap that just wouldn't stay up for her. So her night was spent on the couch. Which was easier for us making sure the wires didn't move. And we had to journal everything. Every single thing down to a burp or hiccups we had to write down the precise time and how long each thing lasted. That way they could compare it to her brain activities at that time. We had her sleep with us that night, although I use "sleep" extremely loosely. There was no sleeping at the Kraus house that night. Well, except for Violet that is. :) But we made it through, and into the next day. We had to be at the hospital at 2 to have them removed. And OMG the amount of glue that was in her hair was ridiculous! Livi was beyond ecstatic to go and get the wires off and never complained once while they were pulling and tugging on her hair to get the stuff out. I think the girl just wanted it done with, no matter what pain she had to get through to end it. And by the time they took the wires out, boy oh boy was that head of hair a sight to be seen! Unfortunately I never took a picture of immediately after....but trust me....it was bad. Worse then bad. Horribly bad. So we slapped on a black hat, and off we went to try to maneuver it back to normal. Ha! Were we wrong! We spent the next 1.5 hours working on it....and not much progress. Well, I'll take that back. We did manage to get most of the glue out....but here it is 2 days later and there's still glue throughout her hair. It's going to take a good long while before it's all out. We tried everything they said too....acetone, hot oil, conditioner, baby oil, olive oil......nothing. Poor girl looks like she has a skin disorder where her skin is all flaking off.....it looks pretty bad.

So we survived another test....and hopefully this one will tell us something about her seizures. We won't find anything out for about 2 weeks though....and I'm fairly certain all they are going to tell us is that they didn't find anything conclusive to why it's going on, and to start her on medications. And our answer will remain the same....absolutely not. If you can't tell us why this is happening or anything of the nature, then why am I going to medicate her? And I truly in my heart of hearts believe it is over. That she has outgrown them, and it's all in the past. Or so I pray.....

What to do....what to do....

Welcome to the Weekly ADM Blog Hop. Anyone can join in! Just blog on topic between now and next Monday, include the MckLinky code (below) in your post, and hop on over to your fellow bloggers!

This week's topic:

Here in Cleveland (Erie!) we are snowed in but everywhere has days where cabin fever can creep in. What are your favorite indoor activities to do with your kids?

We're big into imagination here. Barbies, babies, school, shopping, super heroes, etc....really anything will do. Now don't get me wrong, Livi loves sitting down to a board game, or a puzzle, and I'm not going to lie and say we don't watch a fair amount of tv.....we do. But it's the imaginary games that arouse the most fun at our house. :)

Mike and Livi love to watch Powerpuff girls, Teen Titans, Batman, etc....so they've developed their own 'super powers'. Livi has ice, Mike has fire, I have air, and V (yes she's included as well) has water. Now for those who are wondering...everyone is on the same playing field....not one power is more powerful then the next. How to win? You have to outsmart your opponents. :) We'll make tents in the living room, have a safe spot on the bed, her bed tent is used as a hospital, etc. Whatever we feel like for the day. Then it's each for their own! (and usually poor "water", aka Violet, gets drug all over the place with either "fire" or "air" lol) We aren't concerned with being 'proper'....and couches become perfect for diving off of and hiding behind. Arms crossed in front of you? You block. Eyes shut? Concentrated power. It's become a very unique system that we all seem to understand quite well. And Livi? Well she has a ball and a half! :)

~Sincerely, Air

Parenting Kraus style

Welcome to the weekly Blog Hop! Anyone is free to join in. Simply enter your information in the MckLinky at the bottom of this post, repost the MckLinky code in your own post on the topic, and enjoy your fellow bloggers' posts. Remember to leave some Comment Love!


This week's topic: What aspects of your parents' parenting do you want to continue in parenting your own kid(s)?

Well it seems almost like a loaded question to me....given that I am one of the most relaxed parents that I know! I feel like I parent differently in so many aspects of parenthood then my parents....but a lot I have carried over as well......

....and I don't mean to offend anyone....everyone has different ways that work.... :)

First let me start off by saying that my parents were strict. Very. Gosh I wasn't allowed to go to the mall with my friends until after high school! And some of this went over well growing up....I learned to absolutely love school, and *tooting my own horn* never saw anything less then an A my entire k-12 career. I had perfect attendance, and was on many academic activities...i.e honor society, debate team, model u.n., etc. LOVED school. Plus I had a job that I worked at every day after school, and on the weekends. But it never seemed to be a challenge to me....it was just expected. Now don't get me wrong...I was never the 'head in the books-no fun-boring' girl. Yes I was pretty naive up until I started working....then wow did I learn a few things! But I regress.....high school was fantastic, loved every minute of it! But then I went off to college several hours away....and BOOM! My world was turned upside down. I drank. I smoked. I had sex. I would lie. I would skip class. Etc. My perfect 4.0 GPA went straight down the toilet....to an astounding 0.86 GPA! Yes, I typed correctly. Here I was a Biology Pre-Med student with all the potential in the world, bringing a .86 GPA my first semester at college. (My parents still do not know to this day, oops!) Looking back on it, I can understand more of what it was that happened. (and not totally blaming my parents mind you, but these are the facts.....)
Things that we are going to change.....
1. My parents were uber strict. Uber....like completely ridiculous. I had a 9:00 curfew up until I was a senior....then it went to 10. (With the exception of work that was, then my Dad would be there waiting for me once the restaurant closed.)

2. We never talked about sex. Ever. So it was a taboo thing for me to test out and see what it was all about. Is it sad that the first time I ever went to the obgyn was my 2nd year of college, with my best friend, and I just cried the entire time terrified my parents would find out?? I went on the pill for about 3 months.....then stopped because I would have had to go back and get a refill. Nope, not happening. The next time I went back was about 6 years later when I was pregnant with Livi. Nice huh?

3. Favoritism. My brother is the middle child out of the 3 of us, and it was completely apparent in everything that we did, that he was favored by my Dad. I could go on forever quoting examples and different stories, but I'll spare everyone. But lets just say it was pretty bad.

I think when I went to college and could do my own thing, I exploded into new territories. Being so tightly reined in growing up never taught me how to be on my own. I wanted to experience everything that I haven't yet, and took it to the extreme. It took a llllooonnnnngggg time to make that GPA up let me tell you.....

So back to the girls. I won't be like that. I'm so afraid of sheltering them I was that I think I take things too far the other way sometimes.

* Livi has never had a bedtime. She goes to bed when she wants. Of course this has always been by 10pm, so maybe that's why it hasn't been an issue. But I'm not going to be strict about it. Not now at least. If we do tell her to go to bed, she does. Not a huge deal. But I won't be the parent that makes my child go to bed by 8pm.

* We have an open relationship. I want my girls to be able to come to me with anything that's on their mind, and any questions that they might have. I'm not dumb, I know they'll probably be having sex, and drinking while they're young. But I want them informed. I want them to feel like they can come to Mike or I and talk about birth control.

* We give them opportunities. This is one thing that I'm partly taking from my parents....let them be in activities. I was in so many things growing up and I loved it! And so far Livi has been in dance (hated it), and now does soccer, gymnastics, and swimming. And I suppose you can count piano...but I'm teaching her that at home so it doesn't really feel like an outside activity I suppose.

* We're not medicators. There are so so so many people that rush to the Dr for every little thing. Then they get their prescriptions and drug up their child. No way here. And you can tell if you are one of 'these' people because right now your thinking, 'well they had :insert random diagnosis: ' Yes they did. Because that's what you wanted the Dr. to tell you. Your child probably has a cold. And yes, they can get better without medicine. Maybe it was growing up with a Mom that was a nurse....but come on people! People medicate WAY too often anymore. There are several other alternatives out there....

* My kids don't act up in public. I'm sure everyone can relate to being out, and there's a kid misbehaving/crying/etc....and the parents just sit there. Do you not hear your child?? Or you have those that just threaten....over and over and over again. You know what?? Until you follow through on that, they are never going to believe you, and they are going to just keep on acting out. Drives.me.crazy. For this reason alone we don't like going out with certain couples.....

* My kids had (and will continue to have) bumpers in their cribs, blankets to stay warm, and be forward facing in their car seat before they hit middle school. (haha) If bumpers were so freakin dangerous, they would quit making them. If blankets killed every child out there that used them, they would ban them. And for car seats....well, I could go on for awhile. But simply put, look back at yourself growing up...did you even have a car seat. I didn't. And you know what? I survived. And so did millions of others. (and yes we use car seats....but they are not stuck rear facing for years upon years....)

I want my girls to grow up and be ready for the world. I want them to have parents that they can go to, and know that they are loved unconditionally. I want them to be happy and successful, and know that they can do anything that they put their mind to.

Food!

A local (non-local?) mommy group that I belong to is doing a Blog Hop....and this will be our first post of the hop....
I suck at keeping up my blog so hopefully this will give me the push I need to blog regularly.

This weeks topic: What is your child's favorite and least favorite foods? Are you Happy about it? What do you do to promote a diverse palate?

Ahhhhh food.
I love it. Mike loves it. Livi....well, not so much. Well I guess I could take the blame for her being so picky, since I am myself, but I won't. :) But boy-oh-boy is she! When we first started table foods, she was a freakin vacuum! Anything and everything went into her mouth, no care in the world if it was edible, clean, covered with dog hair. ::barf:: So when she started to ask for certain things, I was ecstatic! This little tiny person is actually expressing an interest in what she is shoveling into her face....I must oblige right? And from there it's just been a steady, downhill slope. And one that Mike and I just cannot agree on...or even really see eye-to-eye a lot of the time. See, I grew up a little, eh, spoiled, when it comes to eating. If Mom was making spaghetti, and I wanted chicken, she made spaghetti for the fam, and chicken for me. And if my sister wanted burgers, well, we had spaghetti, chicken, and burgers on the table that night. And we never had to finish. Clean plate?? What was that? I loved dinners in our house. :) Now Mike on the other hand, wow it was different. What was cooked was what was had....if you didn't like it, you had the choice of either just eating it to fill your stomach, or you just didn't eat that night. So needless to say, he is not picky at all. But I regress....

Livi.

So as she grew, she started "hating" certain foods. Ok, she "hates" all food that isn't mac and cheese, or cheese pizza. And the kid never got into condiments like other young people these days...Ketchup? Too spicy. Ranch? Yuck! Jelly? Icky. And the list could go on. And poor pepperoni...poor, poor pepperoni. She hates it. Like will.not.eat it at.all. How can you not like pepperoni?? And everything is "too spicy" Wha?! I eat hot sauce like it's going out of style, and Mike is close behind me. I'll make those raemen noodle packets with Franks red hot instead of water for goodness sake, and my child hates spice.

Her favs? Well, I think they fall in line with every other kids favorite foods....mac & cheese, cheese pizza, broccoli. Probably in that order too. Although she really does love perch. Really any kind of fish though, and steak. The girl loves her some steak! Now you can't put anything at all on the steak, except for salt, but still, she'll eat it up.

I think she's fine being picky. Afterall, I was, and I turned out fine. She doesn't need to eat exotic foods if she doesn't want to. Heck I never had my first hot dog until a few years ago and I survived. Mike's view? She needs to eat what we're having. To end this constant debate, and to have more peaceful meals, we've devised a equilibrium over this.....every meal Livi has to try it. She has to take 2 mouthfuls of whatever we are having, and make her decision. If she truly doesn't like it, fine, she doesn't have to eat it. And if she does like it, well, I guess you know the outcome of that one then.... And she's honestly liked more then she hasn't. So it's been good. I have no problem with what she eats, and doesn't eat. I'm not going to freak out because she didn't eat as much today as she did yesterday, I'm not like that.

Now should I include the V'ers?

I suppose her fav is the soy formula that she sucks down constantly, lol. We've started baby food, but honestly, she's not really into it. But she's my stinky soy girl. She would never breastfeed so I had to start pumping...and did that for 4 months before I went insane with it. I hated it. H.A.T.E.D. Now I know a lot of people get all up in arms because I didn't breastfeed my child, or because I started her on formula by choice, etc. And you know what? It's sad that I had to feel bad about stopping, because they look down upon you if you *gasp* formula feed your child. Blow me. We went to formula and we were all happier. Well, I guess to be honest, once we switched to soy formula we were all happier. ;) She didn't tolerate the regular stuff well, and had issues, but once we switched, it made a world of difference.

Oh, and babies do not like meat. Particularly when they are 4 months old and the meat of choice is pieces of turkey. This is what happens when a Nana gets a hold of such a creature and the face that followed....

I'm a slacker....

I've been so wrapped up in trying to keep up my project 365 project that this blog has gone by the wayside! Lol!!! So here's the new blog in case anyone wants to keep up with our boring life in another blog, HA!
I will update this one soon! I promise!!

Happy New Year!!!!

Yay for 2010!!! I'm one of the happy ones to see 2009 and go and to have a fresh start in 2010! The best thing of 2009 was Violet being born, but other then that, the year was really bad. So I'm hoping that everything gets better in the new year :)

I even made some resolutions for this year....and I think I'm going to bypass the ole standby of 'losing weight'.....lol.....(although I AM, it's just not going to be resolution per say)

1. SAVE BETTER: I'm really going to try to save money better, and not pull out from the savings whenever a whim hits me. We're dedicating $125 per pay from me (2x month) and $25 per pay from Mike (4x month) just strictly into the savings acct that we are NOT going to touch. So by the end of the year, that's $4200 that we should have, that we just do not touch. It's completely feasible and realistic, so we're going to try really hard (ok, so it's really me that needs to quit spending!) to make it work....

2. SCRAPBOOKING: I love scrapbooking. Love. But I have fallen way behind on them, and everyday that pasts, I'm one more day behind. So I'm taking this oppurtunity to start frest in 2010, and spend more time keeping them up.

3. RUN A MARATHON: It's something I've always wanted to do, but never have. I've always been out of shape, and lazy. :) But they have some smaller ones up here at Presque Isle that a couple of us from work are looking into. So let the training begin!

4. SPEND MORE TIME WITH FAMILY: This is something that I've slacked on....majorly. It seems like Mike and I have become hermits in a sense, where we like to just sit at home and veg. Not bad every once in a while, but it's all.the.time. So since we moved back to Erie to be with family, I'm going to make a real effort to spend more time with them.

And I think I will stop at 4. Can't overwhelm myself too much this early on can I? HA!

So HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone and here's to a GREAT year!!!!!!