Welcome, 2012!

2011 was a pretty good year for us, so we made sure to give it a proper send off on New Year's Eve. Once I got my work schedule and saw I had a morning shift that would allow me to be home on New Year's Eve night, Joe decided that we should have a little party with Charlie and Lily at 7:00pm. He called it "Happy New Year's, London!" since 7:00pm would be midnight there. Joe went shopping for decorations and came back with a giant bag of goodies - streamers, balloons, hats, glasses, noise makers, and even sparkling cider. Charlie and Lily had a lot of fun helping him decorate - they dictated where each balloon should be placed.

We asked the kids who they wanted to invite to the party and Charlie's response was, "Cake!" So we made some cake. I gave Charlie and Lily each their own 9" round cake and let them go to town frosting and decorating it.
This was bound to happen.
The mini M&Ms were fun to place on the cake, but both Charlie and Lily preferred to decorate with sprinkles.
Yay, cake! (And yes, that jar of sprinkles wound up on Charlie's cake.)
Watch out, Cake Boss!
And they tasted good, too!
After cake, it was time to party!Glow sticks are apparently an awesome form of toddler amusement. Lily chose to wear all hers as necklaces and bracelets.While Charlie enjoyed taking his out of their packaging and them putting them back in over and over.
Then 7:00pm arrived! Happy New Year!
We ended the night with a sparking cider toast, and by calling our family members so that Charlie and Lily could wish them a happy new year. Charlie started each and every call off with, "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Happy New Year, Mom-Mom/Pop-Pop/Crackers/Aunt Jill, etc."

We're excited to see what 2012 has in store for us, and we wish you all a happy and healthy new year!