The Last Day of the Year

New Year's Eve was rockin' around these parts.  (HA.)  But we did manage to have a fun (and early) and low key celebration, which was absolutely perfect.

After the kids got bathed and dressed, I asked them
to pose by the tree for a sunday best photo.

Then I remembered that I had them do the same thing in the
same place 364 days before.  Check out this first day/last day
of 2017 comparison, would ya?  Oh, my heart!
(Incidentally, it was also a first day/last day of sunbeams for the
Calster - she was pretty excited for both milestone days.)

After church lupper.

Our NYE app spread: little smokies, tortilla roll-ups,
garlic bread, greek feta dip, thai curry hummus,
chips and dip. YUM!

bonus videos!

"this just happened!"

Our sunny Sunday afternoon walk (still chilly)
turned into one of our proudest parenting
moments!

bonus videos!

"because I'm that mom"

Sam ran almost the whole way (once I got him out of the Burley
he was begging to get out of).  Little penguin keeping up with his
sis.

Some later afternoon water coloring turned into
face painting for this one.

Oh my!

"Callie rode my new bike"
(she was pretty proud, too)

And did you see the moon?!

Glowstick fun while we wait for the fireworks.

This was the result of some time brainstorming,
designing, testing, failing, trying again, and
finally asking for assistance from her inventive,
imaginative, creative father.
(She wanted a way to have the glowing angel halo
sitting above her head instead of on it.  I love what
she comes up with!)

The temps kept dropping so our plans kept changing for watching
the Nordic Valley New Year's Eve fireworks.  First we were going
to go to the ski resort like last year to enjoy them.  Then we decided
to just hop outside in our back yard for a view the minute the started.
Then we ended up driving to a high vantage point across the valley
from the resort and watching from the warmth and snuggness of
kids on our lap in the front seat of our parked car.  It was fabulous!

There's the torch light parade starting down the hill.
(It really was a better view than my camera
shows - it wasn't that tiny in real life.)

Fireworks begin! (At 7:05 pm)

And a blurry zoomed in shot.
Happy New Year (somewhere)!