Hello friends. Before I forget, I am late at announcing a winner for a great Epson All-in-One printer over at Momformation. My lateness, your gain, so hustle on over there and leave a comment to be entered....

We are finally getting back in the groove here on the home front. Dan had the day off yesterday, so today was the beginning of "the rest of the year". I feel like our winter has been spiked with little illnesses here and there, which has made school progress slow and a bit frustrating. And we seriously lost our groove.

{ However, it does lead to some interesting new opportunities for play. Especially when you have a willing patient who will happily drink your antiseptic potions (aka water) from a syringe and chew on your stethoscope while you search for a pulse. }

I find, in these situations, one of the best aides in regaining that enthusiasm for school is a good clean-out, inventory and rearranging.

We spent most of yesterday in the school room which had also become storage for Christmas decor, wrapping paper, cardboard boxes, and junk mail. We cleaned out desks and wiped them down. We took all the books that are part of our curriculum and went through our checklist to make sure nothing was missing. And we rearranged all the desks.

And suddenly today, it was like all things were fresh and new again.

I pretty much love the turning over of a new year. I love the beginning. The promise of new ideas, new resolve, good intentions. It feels positive and full of potential.

I hope you all have had a great start to your new year, as well. And are enjoying all the potential and excitement this new beginning holds.