Saying Goodbye to 2012 and Hello to 2013

To wave adios to 2013 and hello to 2013, we hosted our 3rd annual Nova Scotia new years party. What, you may ask, is a Nova Scotia new years party? It is a way for those of us with young kids to ring in the new year at 8:00 (midnight in Nova Scotia) and get to bed at a reasonable hour so we don't start the new year off exhausted ... at least, no more than usual.

We hosted a pasta dinner and invited our guests to bring their favorite sauces—an easy way to ensure everyone likes what they're having for dinner. We also served homemade meatballs (recipe courtesy of America's Test Kitchen), salad, more appetizers than anyone could eat, and champagne cupcakes for dessert.

Our house was filled with 6 families (totaling 12 adults and 10 kids, ages 2-15) and there was activity and noise everywhere! The kids raced around like their lives depended on it; if only we could harness that energy! At one point, our nephew even created a treasure hunt game for the smaller kids to help give them direction; it was really sweet to have him play the big kid during the party! I was shocked by how our circles of friends overlap and people we didn't realize have a connection know each other. It's a very small world at times!

At 8:00, we broke out the champagne and sparkling apple cider, donned our hats/tiarras, and counted down to "midnight".

It was such a treat to spend an evening with good friends ... so many smiles and so much laughter.

Happy 2013 to all of our loved ones!

Rachel, Eric, and Nat catching up

Nikhil having a rare still moment

The Russells

Staci and Kat having a quiet moment

Elaine and Mamatha

Nat sporting his new years hat

Anne and Nicola

Grace enjoying her cupcake

Troy doing dishes ... I'm sure he's dreaming about being at the cabin!

Rachel and Liam playing

Kiran sporting a frosting face

Happy 2012

Another year has amazingly zipped right by us.... how did that happen? 2011 was a year of definite highs and lows for us, but I'm happy to announce there were more highs than lows.

The kids astounded us almost every day of 2011 with new things they learned and accomplished. Both kids' language skills went to new heights; Annika now shocks us by using more parts of speech correctly (the kid correctly uses adverbs... I'm one proud mama!) and Conor is now able to put together 5-6 word sentences that we can even understand! Over the year, the kids really developed into play buddies and enjoy spending time playing together. The only friction arises when Annika gets frustrated with Conor when he doesn't play what she instructs when they do imagination-based play. Some other highs include a couple of trips to visit my sister and her family in San Diego, Eric and me celebrating our 10th anniversary in November and celebrating a week later by going to Apple Cup with my siblings (Go Dawgs!), Annika thriving in her swim lessons and proving that she's part fish, and Conor turning one year old and showing his ability to eat us out of house and home (I shudder to think what his appetite will be like when he's a teen!).

Our year did have a couple of lows, unfortunately. Our sweet dog Riley died in March; it was really hard to lose him and our home definitely felt a bit emptier without him.  He was a part of our family for almost 11 years. We also lost my dad in December; we had a really nice send off for him and we know he would have loved so many people gathered in his honor. My sister's mother-in-law said something to my sister that I think was quite beautiful and touching; she said, "Now your dad is reunited with his memories."

We had a busy hectic chaotic holiday season in 2011, but feel so blessed to have spent the holidays with our extended family members and friends. We look forward to what 2012 has in store for us. So far, it is off to a great start!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!