happy new year!

we had a wonderful new year's with jonathan and tammy and kids. we love ringing in the new year with our dear friends! and as the kids get older, it gets even more fun. we arrived at their house after dinner, and the kids got right to playing. before long, natalie, joseph, and ethan went crazy on the couch-- i don't even think anyone got hurt!


caroline thrilled on playing with natalie all evening. i told tammy that i need a 7 year old girl at my house!! at one point, the boys headed back to the kids' room, and they came back quite dismayed at what was posted on the door. i am chuckling thinking about joseph explaining the sign in detail: "and there was a picture of a boy on it with a line through him!"


the girls had made a hideout in the bottom bunk. my daughter was loving it! and it looks like natalie didn't mind entertaining a three year old!


so the boys were determined to make their own sign. joseph was so so cute in his striped pjs, writing so intently. ethan stood nearby coaching him on how to spell "no girls allowed", but they of course needed some help after "no"!


tammy and i quickly constructed a hideout for the boys, and ethan and joseph were prepared to defend their camp!


the kids scrapped their hideouts in time for the ball drop. here they are in anticipation as we counted down! (and according to joseph, 2010 is the year of the monkey???) :)



and here's the gang in their pajamas. (sorry, ethan... your cute pjs were in the washer. and my girls' pjs have owls on them, which i thought was fitting since they were night owls this night!)

ethan- 4 1/2, joseph- 5, claire-2, natalie-7, amelia-11 mos., caroline- 3


"check it out mom! weeee're smiling!"


natalie has obviously let her guard down in the whole baby's-gonna-pull-my-hair department (and she'd better brush up on her skills because there will be a new baby at her house this summer!). as you can see, caroline has become an expert in fleeing amelia's hair-pulling grip!


here we are in 2010! man, i was really slacking with my "0" this year. i have been a "0" every year... you'd think i'd have it down by now!


i still laugh every time i see this picture! jonathan didn't get the memo that we were doing the kiss shot. :) maybe this will be the next "mac vs. pc" commercial!


jonathan goes and goes all day, and when he crashes... he crashes hard and fast. here he is after the inevitable hit. i think i have a picture like this for every new year's! his daughter was not too far behind him!


before i go, look at these cute glasses that natalie and joseph made on new year's day. we were all going to make them on new year's eve, but with all the hiding out and the ball dropping, we just never got around to it. i am hoping to make them with my kids before january is over, but just in case we never do.... here is my precious flower girl in her 2010 glasses!


hope your 2010 has gotten off to a wonderful start!