Ten on Tuesday.

1. Happy New Year! I still have a few 2011 posts to share, but we'll just move right along for today, into 2012.

2. I woke up on New Year's Day and after thanking God for the blessings in my life, I started thinking about all of the books I want to read in 2012!

3. While parked outside of Alla's school this afternoon I saw a group of teenagers walk past our car wearing sweatshirts. It was 28 degrees. And breezy. Every single one of them was wearing a sweatshirt. And looked cold. There is no way that a sweatshirt was the right choice for today's weather.

4. Please let my kids not be dumb teenagers. Let them wear jackets, hats, mittens, and boots.

5. We have a teensy amount of snow on the ground now but it will likely be gone by the weekend. This is highly unusual for Minnesota, especially with less than three official months left of winter.

6. I thought I'd have to break my self-imposed wine fast this evening after spending two hours at the table with Alla on a single word search for her homework. Goodness that girl hates her weekly word search. I'm pretty sure she's convinced the words will just jump out in flashing letters at her.

7. The mama and kids of this house haven't had haircuts since September. At least one of us is in dire need.

8. So much to look forward to in 2012 - hello, Summer Olympics! I remember thinking in 2008, Wow, Alla will be seven during the next Olympics. And here we are in the year she'll turn seven, and my baby who slept during the entire last Olympics will be older than she was then. Time is a strange thing.

9. Fisher started a new session of swimming today and had a grand time.

10. So glad Parenthood is back on!