New Year's Eve, Toddler Style

Happy New Year! We had such a fun time at our New Year's Eve party last night. Our friends, Laurie/Bob/Ethan and Gabriel/Nicolaas/Calliope/Baby Sappho came over to celebrate with us and the kids just went nuts with all the fun. Jackson, Calliope and Ethan are all almost two and definitely took over the party with their two-year-old antics. I think they collectively had about 8 pretzels, 6 animal crackers, and maybe two bites of chili for dinner, so we don't know what their fuel was - other than each other!

(The adults delightfully dined on more than two bites of chili, cornbread casserole, gourmet cheeses, hummus and olives and homemade breads including a fruitcake that could make one a bit tipsy from all the rum!)

Gabriel and Nicolaas brought a big bag of arts and crafts supplies to make New Year's hats. The dads didn't miss a beat and dove right in to help the kids. Ethan and Calliope happily modeled their hats, but Jackson was a little too hard to pin down to try his on.
The New Year came at about 9pm for the kiddos and we had a big countdown and celebration with music ("Auld Lang Syne" a la the Red Hot Chili Peppers, bagpipe style) and confetti (shredded bills and receipts). As you can see, the kids LOVED the confetti.

The parents' activity for the evening was to record a few things about 2007 on calendar sheets that we had laid out. We wrote down sad things that we wanted to be done with and happy celebrations that we wanted to commemorate. After all of us had had our go, the pages were filled with a year's worth of tears and laughter.
In order to properly usher in 2008, we needed to officially say goodbye to 2007. What better way than to burn the pages? We all got a little smoke in the eyes but it was fun and exciting for everyone! (The burning occurred on the front step, since we don't have a fireplace and the kids could not be trusted!)

The revelry continued for a bit longer, with the confetti getting sufficiently spread throughout our entire downstairs. Once the kids started to lay down and roll around in the mess, we realized that they were pretty much drunk on New Year's debauchery, toddler-style. PJs were donned, boots were traded back (Ethan had worn Calliope's for most of the night, causing Jackson to also want his boots on...they looked like a couple of Napoleon Dynamites!), and the goodbye kisses commenced. These kids were loving on everyone, even each other!

Calliope's new baby sister, Sappho (just a month old), slept for most of the night and traded arms amongst most of the parents while blissfully ignoring the noise and fun. None of us could believe that our crazy little toddlers were ever so small. Next New Year's Eve, she'll likely be running around with her big sister tossing confetti around with the rest of the kids!
Jackson was asleep almost before his head hit the pillow and we were not long after, though we did manage to stay up to the official stroke of midnight, if only because we were in the kitchen cleaning up. A sleepy New Year's kiss and hug and we were off to dreamland too.

We all slept in until the late hour of 9am and stumbled downstairs for Daddy's pancakes and U2's "New Year's Day" on the iPod. Today the Christmas tree comes down and life starts to get back to normal. How we love New Year's Day! The newness of the new year is irresistible. We don't put much stock into resolutions, but just love "starting fresh" each January. And with a certain someone's 2nd birthday this month, there's still a lot to look forward to!