I never could stay up until midnight on New Year’s Eve.

But I did remember to say Rabbit Rabbit first thing in the morning, so that ought to count for something. (I NEVER remember to do this, so saying it on the first of the first was extra exciting, not that I’m in any way superstitious.)

We had a fun week leading up to the big day. KC was able to take an extra day off, besides the observed holiday weekdays, which made me just all around content. Besides having fun just lounging around, or going on little outings together (or by myself!), We also had some fun plans lined up.

We were invited to the Millers on Thursday.  The Murphys also made their way over for the fun. We really missed some other friends that couldn’t make it. We all became really close when were were newly married, but are not in the same ward anymore, so this reunion was such a blast.  I even let the kids stay up extra late, I was having such a great time catching up with my girls like old times, and that doesn’t happen often. While the kids were overstimulated and clingy at times, and dinner was kind of crazy, even with their boosters and a movie playing, we were still able to truly enjoy ourselves and. Molly made delicious stuffed shells for dinner, which my kids also really liked when we finally got them to calm down and eat. There are more toys than my kids have ever seen at their house, and an awesome back yard as well. Since Molly’s kids were allowed to walk around with chocolate covered faces, I cautiously let mine as well. But I mostly followed them around to prevent chocolaty hand prints everywhere. The ride up was a bit on the whiny side at times, but the ride home was heavenly. The only thing that came out of their mouths was exclamations about all the Christmas lights they saw, and then saying goodbye to those lights when they were out of sight. Though a couple hours late to bed, they went down as quietly as I’ve ever heard them. We were so glad we made the trip.  

We were also invited to another little gathering at a friends house on Friday night (the youth were having a dance on Saturday, so to make it easier to get babysitter, they made the party for Friday, which we appreciated), where we were expecting to see a lot of the same people. Since many of them were planning on bringing their kids, and the hosts kids had bronchitis, the crowd was considerably smaller. But the group there was great fun, and the food was so delicious. We stayed much later than we had expected, and had a great time, catching up, and playing dominos and garage band.

So on the actual New Year’s Eve, KC and I got to enjoy our quiet night together, eating shredded pork nachos (I’m still thinking about those…), and toasted to the new year with a little bubbly, of course, and some cheesecake. After our movie, and finished folding the mountain of laundry that had been neglected for the last week, I was off to bed. At about 9:30. Call me a party pooper if you want, but I call me practical. There was really no point in staying up past midnight, just to be grumpy when the kids woke me up at 6 am. Someday, when the kids are old enough to enjoy it with us, we’ll all stay up late, watch the ball drop,  and band pots and pans at midnight like I used to.

I continued my family tradition to have the New Year Baby fill the kids’ shoes after they went to bed. I always loved this growing up. It’s softens the blow of the holidays being over a little bit. We don’t give them much, just some little toys. My parents always did something like a fun drink, candy, and a trinket of some kind. The babies love Penny’s mini massager so I got them each their own (which Ruby calls “new toy” since I told them there were new toys in their shoes). They like to turn them all on and watch them rattle and make noise on the hardwood floor. I hid them when they weren’t looking to get a break from the noise. We’ll have to only get those out when the downstairs neighbors aren’t asleep! They also got their little yearly calendar notebooks that KC’s mom picked up for me. Every year I get new ones and take notes in them as they hit milestones or say funny things, so I thought I’d throw those in, even though they’re mostly for me. But the kids “read” them as if they were enjoyable books. So easy to please (sometimes). Also, those tub crayons have been a big hit!

We had a delicious hootenanny (aka German pancakes) breakfast, with pumpkin spice hot chocolate (which the kids mostly enjoyed because of the whipped cream on top), which made us all have a happy start to the day. I can never settle on just one topping choice. Then is was off to church as usual. The kids were little angels in the meeting. It might have helped that I had some new quiet toys to keep them busy, and the strawberry Frosted Mini Wheats, that we had to vacuum afterward. Oops. We finished off the night we a delicious grilled pork tenderloin dinner, and went to bed happy to start a new year.

The fun continued on Monday with KC home from work. We thought it would be fun to take the kids out to eat. I don’t believe we have ever done this with just our little family, now that I think about it. The experience couldn’t have been better. There was no wait, there was room to bring the stroller all the way to our table (always a bonus with less adults than toddlers) the kids colored happily on their place mats, ate everything on their plates, and hardly needed any parental intervening. It opened my eyes to the  possibilities that this year will bring as they get older.  Of course, when I had ample time to get some good shots of the well-behaving children, I didn’t have my camera on me. But my mind has stored the images of this big milestone for us, so that’s enough for me.

So, that about wraps up all the holiday fun. It was low key, but just right for us at this point on our lives. I will miss being excited for the mail to come to see who’s Christmas cards came, and hearing Ruby singing jingle Bells as my ring tone, but over all, I’m relieved that the holidays are over. I like the feeling of starting fresh with a clean house, and a clear mind full of goals. Though, I never really set actual, formal, resolutions, I do always feel like I have a clean slate and I feel all kinds of motivation to get started with the new year on the right foot. 2012 is gonna be good, I can feel it! Happy New Year!