New Years Day

It was well after 3:00am by the time our heads hit the pillow.  So everyone slept in and we were all up in time for "little smokies" for lunch.  (I personally couldn't sleep past 10:30, but everyone else slept in 'till lunch.)
It was a BEAUTIFUL New Years Day.  Especially for these parts.  So we had to jump on the sun shine while we had it, and get my love up on that roof.  If we didn't do it that day, who knows when the next time the stars would align and we'd have no rain on one of his days off.
So outside we went.

Isn't he just amazing?  I think he is.  Christmas lights are NOT his thing.  If our lighting decor were left solely up to him, we would possibly maybe have a plain strand or icicles going across the top.  But despite what HE would do, he humors me year after year because he loves me so much.  We put all sorts of lights up and he doesn't complain a bit.  But even more valiant than that, he climbs up on the roof for me.  AND, when it comes time to take them down and put them away, he does way more than his fair share of getting them all put away again.  (Especially the year shortcake was born.  By the time New Years came around there wasn't a spec of Christmas to be found.)

The twins got roller skates for Christmas.  Growing up, we had a sidewalk that went clear around the block and was great for having a place to skate or bike.  But our neighborhood doesn't have sidewalks.  We do have a paved driveway, but it's got like a 10% grade.  Ain't no skating gonna be happening there.  So lucky for the girls, my love does an amazing job of keeping the garage clean.  (We wouldn't even be able to park in there if it were left solely up to me.)  So we pulled the car out and turned the garage into a makeshift skating rink.  Even plugged in the radio for some tunes.  It worked great.  The girls got to use their skates while my love and I worked on de-decorating.  (Yes I know that's not a word but I like it.)

The only trouble is, shortcake didn't get skates.  She has a little trike with a big adult-push-stick-thing on the back.  So she sat on that a little.  And we brought out her little sit-on-push-with-your-feet lion thing.  But she really didn't spend much time with that.  Knowing her I'm sure she felt it was below her abilities and interests.  (Ya I'm talking about my 2 year old.)  Despite not having much to play with herself, she was surprisingly content.  She went back and forth from watching her sisters in the garage, to watching mom fight to keep the lights untangled.  My only complaint would be that she kept taking off her coat.  It was freezing!  But rather than fight her on it, I figured she would realize on her own that it was more beneficial to wear a coat.  No, not her.  She was coatless for a significant portion of the afternoon, but whatever.
All in all, I couldn't ask for a better way to spend the first day of 2013.