The Happiest of Years - 2014

I've decided that the Year 2014 is going to be a fabulous one.  For my New Year's Resolution, I have chosen to pretend like having 3 kids ISN'T difficult for me.  You heard me.   NO, I am not choosing to live in denial.  However, I have felt recently that the more I reaffirm it's a challenge for me to raise 3 children, the harder it feels.  It's like the more I focus on the 10 waking hours that were stressful, the less I remember the 2 hours that were blissful...of course, the 2 hours never occur all at once - it's usually accumulated through MOMENTS here and there.  But the truth of the matter is that those moments DO come, and those are the moments I live for.  Perhaps those moments wouldn't mean so much to me if they didn't come with such a large price tag.  It takes everything I have to be a mom, every day; I know for Mitch, it also takes everything he has every day to be a dad.

So because yesterday was New Year's Day, and we had Mitchell (and Tyson) all to ourselves, we had a great day!  Truth be told, it really was blissful for the majority of the day - so blissful that when the applejuice spilled all over our stroller when we were in the middle of the mall, I was able to say, "No big deal!  It's just apple juice!"  Instead of, "Uuuugggh!  Are you kidding me?"

Here's how it started:

That would be a sparkler that he's holding!  I love this crazy child!

Thank you Aunt Ashley, for the incredibly amazing beanies that couldn't be found at a store if we tried!

Yes, Miles stayed up ALL THE WAY through the New Year's countdown - he did rub his eyes a few times - can you tell he's a little dazed by the late night & fireworks?

Tyson had a blast hanging out with the older kids - we are glad Logan is still alive after his collision over a fire-work!

Yes.  That IS Cherryl "ringing in the New Year". With hand bells.  For 31 minutes.  I laughed the whole time.  Okay, maybe not for 31 minutes straight, but it made me happy to join in the New Year's parade around their culta sac!

Alisa was the hostess of the New Year's party we attended.  Lisa, Bruce, & Cherryl are to the right of me.  We had a fantastic time.  We didn't know what we were going to do for New Year's Eve, and about the time it was too late to invite ourselves somewhere, and simultaneously a little too late to plan something of our own, we received a text from Alisa's family...it actually made me teary eyed - we had somewhere to go & I didn't have to stress about making a party of my own!  Between the hours of 6 and midnight, there were probably 80 people at their party.  It was awesome!  Mitch made bacon wrapped smokies to share - I'm pretty sure it's going to top the list with everyone we know, right along with his world-reknown kettle corn. :)  One of the most memorable moments of the night happened when we had everyone surrounding the fireworks - 5 or more were going off at a time for 45 minutes to an hour.  Out of the blue, I saw a teenager named Eli jumping over one in the middle.  I was shocked and immediately told my little tykes, "Don't you DARE ever do that."  THE SECOND I FINISHED MY SENTENCE, who did we see FLYING towards us through the sparks?  None other than MITCHELL JAY BORDEN.  He landed and everyone laughed at my futile scolding attempt with my usual, "Mitchel Jay!" voice.  He smirked his well-known mischevious smile, and immediately looked the boys in the eye & pointed, "Don't ever do that!"  *Sigh*  There are no words for the irony and personal shock factor I endured in that moment! 

 

 

After we survived the night, slept in, and worked a little, we headed out as a family to brave the mall.  We met up with Nick & Ashley, and enjoyed one of our most favorite places of all - The Sea Life Aquarium.

And for the first time EVER, we visited the Rainforest Cafe.  It was everything we dreamed it would be!  Flashing thunderstorms, aquariums, animatronics on the elephants, leopards, & gorillas, exotic food selections like "Jurassic Tidbits", and an all around fabulous family environment.  Not to mention, we had fun company & our kids were so excited to eat there since they adore animals.  Not to mention, it was only $2.99 for a kids meal on Wednesdays.  Cha-ching!  Can you say Happy New Year?

 The timer went off early, haha!