Happy New Year 2013

 My

I did it . . .I stayed up until midnight!!!  Someone needs to write a rule book all parents can refer to that says "if you are not in NYC you can fake celebrate the ball drop at whatever time you want and tell your children that it is the proper way to celebrate New Year's Eve."  Luckily, Adelaide was completely done with all our games and food and celebration by 8:30 pm and went to sleep like a dream.  Avonleah on the other hand just got wilder, and louder, and more talkative, and more fun as the night progressed.  She is going to be a handful of fun for her roommates someday, she is definitely the life of the party!  Sometime around 9:30 or 10:00 we shot off party poppers (notice Avonleah's somber face . . apparantly the "loud noise" startled her heart too much . .. ahhh) after doing a super lame-o countdown with no sparkly ball dropping but still really cool because that's what we are . . super cool parents!  We took our midnight party face pictures and sent Avonleah off to bed, where she probably "flashlight read" Harry Potter all night.  Scott and I really wanted to go to bed but our delightful third child had ideas of her own about the New Year and was determined to stay awake no matter what. . .until 2:30 am *sobbing facepalm*  We did feel a little sad we weren't with family playing rounds of Nertz or crying over games of Pit gone wrong (sorry about hitting you because you refused to trade the wheat card Regan), but it was fun to be together and it's always nice to have someone special to smooch at the stroke of midnight!  Happy 2013 . . .time for some resolutions that I'll keep for a week and then wish I hadn't written down so I don't feel like a loser failure!  How about this year I don't make resolutions and instead just be the awesome mom that I am? You know, the one that leaves treats on the table at night so in the morning the kids have a snack while they watch a show and I sleep an extra thirty minutes. . .I am that mom, and I'm also the mom that sometimes feeds my kids popcorn and oranges for dinner . . .and if they're still hungry I tell them to add some goldfish cracker.  See how awesome I am!  I'm just gonna keep being awesome in 2013 and then when I do something super amazing y'all will be so pleasantly surprised I'll just act like it was on my resolution list all along.  Sheesh I got this resolution thing in the bag!  I rock!