A New Year

We hope that all of you will have a great year filled with happiness!!

In typical New Years Eve fashion, we stayed home, although this year was very different that last year. It was a typical quiet evening (and for all of you that have not been to our house recently, that means uneventful, not free of loud noise =). We played with the kids, had a visit from Mom after she got off work, had a visit from Carmen, our close friend and neighbor, and then put the little ones to bed. After they were in bed, we broke out the few remaining fireworks we had from a pack we have been working on for about 6 years =) We love to shoot them, but usually do just a couple. Emily defiantly got a big kick out of them this year and was left wanting more. After fireworks, we got Emily ready for bed and she asked to be able to sleep with me, she loves to have one of us sleep with her. I agreed, even though I know going it it will be a long night =) and we headed up to bed. John stayed up for a while doing some work and watching tv since he was not ready to go to bed at 8:30. Emily and I settled in for the long night as expected (this is due to the fact she is all over the place in her sleep, kicks in her sleep, and winds up smother you). The next morning, we arose bright and early (translation into Emily time is pre dawn =) and got ready to visit the Jefferson side of the family. We made our way over to Gran's house around 9 and were greeted by Mr. and Mrs. J. Alli was just getting up and Gran was still asleep. We had a nice visit and exchanged Christmas presents since we had been out of town during Christmas. Emily enjoyed spreading out the sparkly tissue paper and the little ones enjoyed picking it up. Around 10:30, we packed up and headed to Mom's for a New Years traditional lunch. When we arrived, Emily was excited to see Mom. The girls had a lot of fun playing prior to lunch. We all sat down in the dining room around 11:30 for lunch. John and I fixed our plates with the traditional items, black eyed peas, corn bread, pork roast, and rice. However, nether one of us would touch the collared greens. I know the tradition goes that they will bring you money in the new year, but I have to say that if that is what it takes, I will be pretty poor =) In fixing the little ones plates, I thought I would give them some. When we sat down, Dave tried to coax us into eating them by saying it would be just liked fresh spinach. Not a good analogy in my book =) Ansley picked at her beans and corn bread. I tried giving her a bite of the collards, but I barely got it into her mouth before she started spitting it out and violently shaking her head no. Since she is my pickier eater, I still tried Bailey. Lets just say that she pulled the same routine as Ansley. Everyone laughed since she will normally eat anything. After lunch the girls played a little while but were really very tired so we packed up. Emily stayed with Mom since they were ready to catch up from us having been out of town a long time.