New Year's Eve
We did do the "balloon countdown" that you may have seen floating around a few places. You write down some fun (and simple) things for the kids to do on strips of paper and put those inside balloons. You then write times on the balloons and every hour on the hour, the kids get to pop a balloon and do an activity inside. It was a fun way for them to countdown...
Some other things...call grandparents and wish them a happy new year, eat an ice cream sundae, read a book in front of the fire, color a picture with your left hand and dance to your favorite song! The balloons only went to 10pm and the girls had a great time with this! We, too, had a fun night with friends playing games, laughing and ringing in the new year together - awake!
We love to make a big deal out of birthdays around here! This year, we were all geared up for Ellee's "Popcorn Party!" I must say - I was very excited about pulling this one together! I was going to make these cupcakes...
(aren't these so cute!! those are just cut up mini marshmallows on top!)
We had bought several plastic popcorn holders for goody bags, located a popcorn machine, bought some popcorn flavored jelly bellys and done a few other things to get ready for this!
So then why did I call it a {not} birthday party?!?
About a week before Christmas, Ellee was invited to a birthday party and was so excited to go! In the slight chance that someone reading this may know the family, I won't divulge too many details of the party. I will say this - when I picked Ellee up from the party, total chaos greeted me at the door. Seriously - it was CRAZY!! Kids everywhere, barbies flying, girls jumping off the couch, fights over polly pockets and no adults in sight! A sweet mom did eventually emerge from the back and passed Ellee off to me. I took one look at her and knew my baby wasn't going to report great things once we were in the car.
Me: "Ellee, how was it?"
Ellee: "Terrible! It was too crazy."
Me: "Well did you have fun even though it was a little wild?"
Ellee: "No. Kids my age are not ready for parties like that!"
If you know my Ellee girl at all, you know I'm not making this up! She really felt like kids her age should only have "adult" parties. She declared right then that she didn't want a popcorn party and she only wanted a few adults to go to dinner with her. I encouraged her to take a few days to think about it before we cancelled everything. A few days later...
"No Mommy, no party. Just adults."
So we gathered up some adults (not just any adults - close friends and grandparents!) and did just what she wanted!
(little brother looked on and waved every time the girls rode by)
We had a great night celebrating Ellee's birthday at her adult party! :) I'm hoping she'll be ready for a popcorn party next year!
A funny story that I must share....**It's worth noting that the lady in this story had on pajamas...in the middle of the day...in a public office.
I was sitting in the pediatrician's waiting room the other day with Sam and a lady looked at me and said, "Is your baby mixed with Chinese or something?"
"No ma'am, he's full Korean."
She then proceeded to say "Oh, well can he walk?"
"No ma'am, Koreans don't walk, they hover from place to place."
Ok, ok - so I didn't actually say the last line. I just politely nodded my head and said, "Yes."
Unfortunately, you're not able to get the full affect of the story because you can't hear pajama lady's tone of voice. There is no doubt that she was making a link between being Korean and the ability to walk.
Outside of being asked if we were going to tell Sam that he's adopted (yes, we've really been asked), that's probably the most interesting conversation I've had with a complete stranger about my sweet Sam.
I say that with caution because I'm continually amazed by people and the words that come out of their mouth!
