Finally, the New Year!

Are we ever glad around here to ring in the new year! Without rehashing the entire crazy holiday, I will mention it was an interesting one to be kind, with our family almost losing our precious Emma, Ethan having 8 days of high fevers (spanning Christmas) that topped out in the 105's, and last but not least, a fire in the yard on New Years Day! Now, of course we are able to recognize that things could always, always be worse, and are so thankful they are NOT! Things are looking up around here! Big changes are coming this year. We are putting our house on the market on Sunday, and have been looking for houses in an area of town with some of the best schools in GA. (Our current school district is... not good.) After all, Lauren will be starting kindergarten in August (WHAAATTT????) and Ethan is only two years behind. So, a move, starting real school, a few marathons, a summer at the lake, future medical challenges with Emma as we wean her meds... lots of things coming up in 2009. We are buckling our seat belts for this ride!

Here are some pictures from our New Years Day fire. The fire was caused by our neighbor, who was heavy into fireworks New Years Eve after LSU won. The firemen said the embers smouldered over night, then with the drought we've had and 20-30 mph winds on Jan. 1, the fire started and took out his lawn completely. Of course, the winds were blowing right at our house, and the fire was coming right at us SO FAST. When it started, I was wondering where the smoke was coming from, so I went at looked out the window and first saw the fire. I yelled, "FIRE!" and ran outside and started up the garden hose. Eric helped me unroll it while I squirted the flames. Then he disappeared and came back out with Papa and two fire extinguishers. Nana was inside with the kids and didn't start taking photos until the flames were out, so you won't see fire, just the black grass. It was coming right at our house!