Goodbye to 2006 !

With this, I bid a fond farewell to the year formerly known as "2006." So long old friend, you have been good to us !

To welcome in the new year, we had some friends over to help us celebrate the arrival of 2007. In all, we had 8 adults and 2 little ones us at our house this evening. Earlier in the day, I was determined to have Elaina lay down for 2 naps which she did willingly. When our friends brought over their daughter, Maddie, I knew that was the right decision. I was as excited as Elaina that she would have a playmate for the evening. Maddie must have felt like the luckiest girl in town today as she celebrates her 2nd birthday today also. She had a birthday party earlier in the day and an evening celebration at her friend, Elaina's house too.

Maddie and Elaina were best pals tonight. They played well together and were so busy keeping up with what the other one was doing. I almost dared to take pictures of my living room, before and after "Hurricane Toddler" blasted through, but I was too embarrassed for anyone (even lurkers) to see the aftermath of the destruction which took place in my own home. Nothing got broken, everyone had fun and that's all I really had hoped for. (The multiple spills, however, are nothing I want to remember - and that was from the grown-ups !) Around 10:30, Elaina began to show signs of wearing down. I took her upstairs to get her jammies on and as I hugged her in the peace and quiet of her bedroom, I asked her if she wanted to go night-night and when she didn't make a peep, I lay in her in her crib, turned her Glo-E bear on and stroked her hair. She apparently had her share of the party. She was down for the count.

After the ball dropped and 2007 was made official, we sat down for a midnight feast of pork roast, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. After pizza, chicken and potato wedges for dinner, appetizers, dips, junk food and dessert all evening, everyone of us was full enough to just want to burst. In fact, "bursting" would have probably been a good feeling after the load of junk I consumed throughout the evening. Our final guests left around 2:00 and (if I didn't mention it before) my neurotic self began a cleaning spree to take care of the majority of the mess. By 3 a.m., the dishes were done, the food was put away, the toys were picked up and the house looked about 200 pounds lighter without the clutter of what had been our party.

Although this evening was enjoyable, I'm fairly uncertain that we'll have a 3rd year revival, making our new year's party a tradition at our house next year. Any offers of wanting to host 2008 ?