Happy New Year, all! I hope 2014 has been kind to you and your families so far – and that your year goes from strength to strength.

As we drift into 2014, it’s interesting to reflect upon last year. 2013 was such a big year for our family. Hugo was born in the dying days of 2012, so we began the year with a new, new baby. We somehow managed to sell our apartment and move into our house.

Hugo stopped sleeping – and didn’t start again for months until our pediatrician helped us get his reflux and food intolerances under control. We eventually managed to unpack our moving boxes and start our renovation of the house. I commenced my war on the vinca – and started to make progress on the garden.

I sewed, knitted and cooked a lot.

We baked a lot. And dyed yarn.

There was some crochet and some quilting.

I opened a little store on Etsy. Elena had grommets put in. A big year.

We’re on holidays at the moment, and will head home soon to a freshly painted house (and more chaos to sort out). Such a nice way to signify starting the new year – with a blank canvas. Given everything we did in 2013, it’s settling (and unexpected) to be starting 2014 with a sense of peace.

2014 will present it’s own set of challenges. I’ll be back at work part-time from late January, so the family will have to adjust to a new way of operating. I think I’ll, sadly, have less time for sewing and knitting – but I might manage to surprise myself. I have my fingers crossed.

I have a few little goals for 2014 – to not make myself crazy trying to keep on top of everything, to get some (or any, really – let’s be honest) exercise, to get our chicken coop up and chickens established, keep the garden going, and to finally sew or knit something for myself. Anything else on top of that will be a bonus.

WordPress.com’s stats helper monkeys sent me this annual report for the blog. It’s such a little blog, without too many readers, but I still think the report is pretty neat. Thanks, too, to everyone who comes along and has a read every now and again, and to those who leave comments. I really value your ideas (and it’s nice to know there’s someone out there!).

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 13,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

I’ll see you when we’re back home with some posts about our trip away, and some pictures of the house with it’s new paint job.