Happy New Year - 2013

Woo Hoo, Madeline! STRIKE!! (Playing Wii)

New Years Eve always seems to be the wind down of the Christmas chaos, the Christmas festivities as well as the overindulgence in goodies of all kinds.  Before children, David and I often rang in the new year by celebrating with friends at overnight hotel package galas in Niagara Falls.  We have been know to fly through the hotel hallways (at God only knows what hour) riding on luggage carts and have slow danced with a blow up doll that was being thrown around a dance floor, in the manor that beach balls are tossed around the crowd at a concert or sporting event.  We've had our share of dancing the night away and partying into the wee hours of the morning.  Since children, life has slowed considerably and we are also greatly enjoying this change of pace as well.

Appetizer night

What's THIS??  A noise maker?!?!?!

David and I love our kids to pieces, yet we also thoroughly enjoy kissing them good night, tucking them in and enjoying our own quiet time.  We had a laid back kind of celebration, starting with an evening of Wii (a Santa family gift).  If I do say so myself, my Buffalo roots shine through when it comes to playing Wii Bowling.  For dinner, Madeline and I had gone out shopping earlier in the day and picked out a number of goodies for an "appetizer night".  Although David is not a huge fan of appetizer nights, I enjoy (way too much) the ability to "graze" and Madeline was super excited about being able to stand (because of the type of dinner) while eating.  Anyone who knows Madeline well, knows that she is a ball of energy that seems to run on a motor. And so, Madeline being excited about being able to move as she eats is kind of comical.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! (Notice the time).  Looking at this picture,  I can just hear Jonathan yelling, "yeaah!"

As I previously stated, I love my children to pieces, yet I am of the belief that there is absolutely no reason they need to stay up until midnight.  Why try to have them hold out on their bedtime when, most likely they will not make it until midnight??  The only thing I would be doing is having my children (who would still get up at their normal time) be sleep deprived both late on the 31st and be grumpy munchkins on the 1st.  We opt to celebrate New Year's Eve early and send the kids to bed, maybe only just a tad late.

Party overload!! Bedtime to begin in 10..9..8..7..6..5.....

With the rest of the evening to claim as our own, you would think that David and I would find an exciting way to ring in the new year.  Well....I guess we "old timers" just aren't as exciting as we used to be.  Despite the lack of excitement, our evening was still enjoyable.  We sat on the couch and watched the ball drop in Times Square.  What the heck....good enough for us!  We stayed awake until the East Coast New Year......and so we went to sleep shortly after 11pm.

Getting ready to ride "Diego's Rescue Rider"

New Years Day was another low key day.  We decided that we should do some sort of activity with the kids but, due to the holiday, our options were limited.  David and I would've loved to take the kids to a movie, but Jonathan is still too young for that.  We decided the good ole standby - the Mall of America.  The kids were as happy as could be to go on some rides and David & I were happy to snag (unknowingly) a "Kids Eat Free" deal for dinner.

Merry-Go-Round time!

Wednesday morning came and the 12 day stretch of having David home from work came to an end.  In the morning I got David off to work and Madeline off to school as I tried to (with little success) make some sense out of the tornado that hit our house during the Christmas season. Yet, unbeknownst to me, there was one more New Year event awaiting me.  After the kids were in their PJs and ready to watch a nighttime TV show, I decided to hop into the shower before I changed into my own pajamas.  As I settle into the warmth of my relaxing shower, from the glass shower door in my bathroom I could see Jonathan toddling in.  I knew David wasn't far behind.  Sure enough, David comes into the bathroom with the unopened bottle of champagne from the night before.  "How nice", I thought. We can put the kids to bed and share some of the champagne that was not touched on New Years Eve.  David pops the cork and.....here is where time began to stand still.  I see David shake the bottle, open the shower door and spray chilled champagne all over. I am fairly certain that the neighbors heard me screaming as I ducked and dodged the cold champagne that was spraying into the shower.  I was screaming, Jonathan starts mimicking my scream, Madeline comes tearing through the house to see what is going on and she starts screaming as well.  As the champagne bottle stops exploding, David merely says, "Happy New Year!", gathers up the kids and walks out of the bathroom.  Nothing like causing a raucous before bedtime!!!  Some people might have been ticked off at that entire exchange, however, I decided that was a great way to kick off 2013.  In fact, I look at that and hope that our (and your) entire new year is like that - fun, playful, exciting, spontaneous and full of laughter.  Happy New Year!