January 1, 2012 finds me sitting indian-style (or is it criss-cross applesauce now?) on my bed, wearing stripped pajamas (do you know how much I love stripes? I do.) and listening to the end of who-knows-how many Star Wars movies we consumed today. On the bed next to me are the ever-present communicators; Mo chimes in every now and then with our ongoing Words game, Facebook pings me, and those I love chirp and chime across the miles.

Down the hall, I snapped this picture of Jeffrey when I was kissing him goodnight- I love how happy he looks. Bean and Abby breathe soft and regular, snug in their messy beds strewn with Christmas toys. It’s a peaceful, quiet and easy start to the new year.

We spent the week between Christmas and New Year over in Seattle at Mo’s place, and insanity and craziness ensued. Six kids, buckets of Lego, new Wii games, and no one has a car big enough for all of us to go anywhere together anymore. It rained the whole time. But you know, in Seattle, you just go anyway. No one cares, and everyone is soggy and wet and it just doesn’t matter. We hit the zoo in the drizzle, and it was lovely.

Christmas was quiet and lovely. We were blessed far more than we had any right or expectation. We stayed home, and never got out of our jammies. I meant to get us to church, but when I finally looked at the clock that morning, it was already 20 minutes into Sacrament, and I just threw my hands up and headed back to the couch with my new Steven Peck book.

Abby did her best to show how universal and awesome Lego are, and other than a small segue with Baby Alive and the sick people at Hasbro who included “peas” in her food, she spent the day doing exactly this. I wish I had taken a picture of myself holding BA over the sink as the “peas” dripped out of her plastic behind in sick electric green blobs and the boys laughed until tears dripped from their chins. That’s a precious Christmas memory.

Oh, and Bean made a snowman. Then he cried when it rained, and the top two balls flopped down onto the lawn. It was tragic. But I love this shot and how you can see the crazy path he took to make the base snowball.

That pretty much wraps up my hiatus. School starts for the kids tomorrow, and next Monday for me. The pressure and chaos is about to take a wild upswing again, ready or not. Here’s to a bright and happy 2012.