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| Hope your New Year smells like teen spirit! |
The New Year is here! We don't have a lot of traditions set in stone when it comes to New Year's Eve. It hasn't really felt like the ideal "family" holiday, given that there is almost no scenario in which I want my children to be awake when the clock strikes midnight. In fact, these days there are few scenarios in which I want to be awake at midnight either! How the times have changed... But this year we decided to start some low-key traditions to make the New Year a special holiday for our little Hs. After all, the end of one year and the beginning of the next is a milestone worth recognizing!
New Year's Eve day was a work day so, since Harper's school was closed for winter break, she was thrilled that she got to attend school with Hunter. As an added bonus, she was able to hang with her best big-girl friend, Taylor, who was also off school for winter break. Taylor is one of the sweetest, most loving little girls we have ever known, and both Harper and Hunter admire her so much. She is such a special friend.
I finished up at work earlier then Dallin so once he came home, we headed out for a dinner reservation at PF Chang. Hunter's "horsey" obsession went to the next level with the giant horse statue out front. That was probably the highlight of our dinner though. The kitchen mixed up our order, and we ended up having to wait over an hour for our food, at which time we discovered they had lost the kids' order altogether. Not the ideal restaurant situation with two kids under 4. Thank goodness we came equipped with coloring pages and the iPad! Otherwise things could have gone very, very wrong... The bottom line is that I got to eat their delicious chicken lettuce wraps, which was really the main goal for me.
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| Dinner was underwhelming, but the giant horse statue at PF Chang was almost worth the wait! At least for Hunter... |
Back at home, we rushed through the bath time routine so that we could get to celebrating. Netflix has a fun on-demand countdown so you can pretty much simulate midnight at any time you want! 8:30pm in our case. We got our party hats and blowers out, and we partied like it was 2016--which it almost was.
The next morning we had brunch with our friends, the Staples and the Hsiehs. What better way to kick off a new year than with friends by our side? We are hoping this year will be a good one for our family, and we are looking forward to new adventures together. Again, hopefully these adventures will include our awesome friends.
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| Different year, same cute friends! |
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| Little h tumbles into the New Year with Maddie, Maxie, and Teddy |
As a happy accident, when I was looking for activities for kids to celebrate the New Year, I stumbled upon these "interviews" that we did with Harper and Hunter. It was a neat opportunity to capture their current favorites, talk about what they want to accomplish in the year ahead, and just generally see this milestone through their eyes.
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| Hunter's 2015 in review |
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| Harper's 2015 in review |
I especially love their 2016 resolutions; they are so pure and matter-of-fact. As a grown up, I feel like I tend to make lofty or abstract goals. I can learn from these simple resolutions, which are reasonable, measurable, and also sweet.
Harper's 2016 Resolutions:
I'd like to get better at - riding my big girl bike
I'd like to share - my friends with my new baby
I'd really like to - go to the park
I'd like to learn how to - count
I want to read - Beauty and the Beast
I really need to - practice reading books
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| Harper's New Year's Resolutions |
I'd like to get better at - sharing toys with friends
I like to share - my horseys
I'd really like to - play cars
I'd like to learn how to - ride a bike
I want to read - The Very Hungry Caterpillar
I really need to - practice swimming
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| Hunter's New Year's Resolutions |
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| Ain't no party like a little H party! |
