This afternoon Mark & I dropped the kids with Grandma & Grandpa and headed out for some couple time. We started with lunch here. They sat us directly in front of the kitchen so we asked our server if we could be moved away from the kitchen (not a good idea - remember when I saw an IHOP waitress TASTE food on someone's plate before serving it! ick!) he said sure - and then moved us directly BEHIND the kitchen. Nice. Don't you just wonder sometimes if people are just that stupid....or if they are just that rude. Just to be safe, his tip reflected the former. I ordered the BBQ Ranch burger - yum!

From there we headed over here where we bought this (with our 20% off coupon of course) and this (I'll let you know if it actually works). I also picked up a cute Christmas basket with liner clearance for $5. I had been looking for something to put diapers and the box of wipes in for downstairs. We've been just throwing a pile of diapers on the couch...not a good look to the already cluttered area. This works perfectly! It fits the box of Pampers wipes along with about a dozen diapers and the tube of A&D. Woo-hoo! Love those Christmas clearance sales for items you can use all-year round! Speaking of which - gotta get me some more of Target tomorrow. A little birdie told me Christmas clearance over there is now at 75% off. (salivating). Last year I picked up Ziploc storage containers with snowmen on them for cheap. Of course I caught flack from people in July when I was storing food in them - but who cares? I hope to score some paper for next year, some tape and ziploc bags with holiday designs on them. Actually, anything like that - Kleenex, ziploc bags, storage containers - whatever we'd use all year anyway.

Ok - I digress. After BB&B we headed here where we took our sweet time flipping through sale books, children's books - all of it. All while sipping on a delicious peppermint mocha complete with whipped creme and red sprinkles. =-) (hey - resolutions don't begin until tomorrow, right?) I picked up a 3 for $9.99 deal - two gifts and one for me. I picked up another book Bailey wanted to gift to her friend and this book for my cousin, Krista. I hope she loans it back to me when she is done - it looks like a good one!

After that we headed back to pick up the kids...and none of them were crying. Woo-hoo! A great afternoon I'd say, wouldn't you? Now I'm tired - no way am I making it til Midnight.

I'll leave you with a recap of 2007:

* Lauren turned 2, Bailey turned 12
* Grant was born!
* We got our house ready to sell, put it on the market for 4 months and then took it off the market again - shwew!
* We painted three rooms of the house, moved Bailey to the basement, moved the toy room to another area of the basement and prepared a nursery for the baby.
* Lauren started "school" two days a week - more like a morning play group - but great for her.
* Saw dozens of family members throughout the year - sometimes we traveled to them - sometimes they came here but we always enjoyed the company!
* Watched approximately 10,000 episodes of both Dora and The Backyardigan's
* Gave our dog, Sadie to a nice family outside of Iowa City where she now enjoys another dog and an acreage!
* Joined a new church
* Had Grant baptized
* I turned 36 (moved from "in my 30's" to "pushing 40" status - boo)
* Celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary
* Mark turned 42 (sorry - had to...you know..to make myself feel better about two bullet points ago)
* Got a new HDTV and HD Dish (lovin' the HD!)
* Decided who I want to be our next president =-)
* Enjoyed another year in my book club - almost had time to read one whole book this year...but hey - still love the club.

I'm sure there is more - but that's all I can think of right now. The year was busy, filled with another year filled with changes, but 2007 was another year where we have been completely and totally blessed. I don't know what 2008 will hold for us - but I can tell you it WILL NOT be another one of these. =-) Done and DONE!

Happy New Year Everyone!
-- The Mom of 'Em