Oh! It feels so weird typing in 2011 for the date… I haven’t had to write it yet, so I’ll have it happen all over again. This is the hardest thing (usually) about starting a new year…
Anyway, we had a good new year’s eve – went up to Wendy’s house, as usual, when weather permits. She does a good spread and always makes us feel at home. This time, we got to see all the work and the extension they did on their house… I’m jealous. LOVE all the improvements, but most especially their master bath floor. They did a riverstone that feels absolutely wonderful on your feet… I wonder how long I need to wait to do work on our house? Though, we’ll probably start with the kitchen.
So, yeah, lovely time. I do like doing a more “low-key” sort of celebration now… and this year was by necessity a bit more low-key. And although it’s “low-key” it’s still an affair – dress up, good china and crystal. We had a great dinner, (yum!) then opened presents. Teagan stayed up until around 10:30, offering everyone tea and hugging her new Brobee doll, listened to a story with the other kids, and fell asleep almost immediately. We played Apples to Apples while waiting for it to be time for the ball to drop. Toasted and kissed, then called to wish everyone who wasn’t there a happy new year. I made sure Stu had at least two glasses of champagne. It does make him a bit giggly. Fun! We then played a bit more and hung around just chatting. I’m amazed that I was able to stay up as late as I did.
It was a lazy sort of morning, once others woke up – Teagan decided that she was done sleeping at 7am. Ouch. Steve, Wendy’s hubby, is a fantastic baker… banana bread, pecan bunt cake, along with good coffee. Yum. A good breakfast.
After just chilling out for the rest of the morning, and some of the afternoon, Teagan decided she was finally ready for a nap so we took off. She slept most of the drive home, which was nice.
We haven’t turned her car seat around yet, and she didn’t protest too much for this trip, though, to be fair, she did sleep at least half of each direction. We’ll see how it goes this week.
Anyway, although we still chilled today, most of the vacation laundry is done, as well as a bit of house straightening/cleaning. Mail is sorted and junk mail is gone, leaving just the medical and utility bills to deal with. Kitchen and surfaces (mostly!) are cleaned off… The house is slowly getting back under control, which is a good feeling.
I’ve also pulled all the pictures off the camera, but only went through the New Year’s Eve pictures – Lala was very eager to see Teagan in her party dress. I’ll go through the vacation pics and get them up as quickly as possible, then hit the videos. (I didn’t take any videos on New Year’s, though I should have. Oh well).
Yesterday as we arrived home, we all went to look at the sunflowers. They’ve gotten so big, they’re almost up to Teagan’s shoulders! Teagan was quite excited, clapping and jumping around when she saw how big they were. I took a little time to show her the bud, the proto-flower, explaining that it would get bigger and turn yellow over the next weeks.
Ashlin enjoyed the walk to the side of the house, even with the hill, and tried several times to escape. She could have cared less about the sunflowers, they really didn’t excite her, even though they were taller than she was. Then again, just about everything is taller than she is. She would not stand still, her mind still on escape it seemed, while I tried to take a picture of the two of them in front of the sunflowers. I seem to be able to get a shot of one of the two of them looking good, the other looking goofy, or blurred. I can get great shots of just one of them, but never both at the same time. Oh well.
