Our New Year's

Look who made it until midnight! I was asleep about ten minutes later ;)

Hey, hey! Happy second day of 2014! We are currently getting pummeled with snow here in Boston so I am crossing my fingers for a serious day of sledding tomorrow. Sure it is easy to hate on the snow with the awful commute and crazy cold temperatures, but c'mon - sledding! hot chocolate! naps!

I hope everyone had a fun and sparkly New Year's Eve! Both our evening and day were really lovely. We ended up getting a NYE party invite to our friends' house outside of the city where there were a ton of other kids, delicious food and great company. We let Madeleine dictate how late we should stay and she ended up making it until past 10, which is pretty awesome for a kiddo with a 7:30 normal bedtime. She had so much fun running around with the other kids and being spoiled by all of them who thought she was the cutest thing they had ever seen. It definitely pooped her out; she was sound asleep before we even got out of the driveway and transitioned without a peep into her bed, leaving us with about twenty minutes to wait for the ball to drop and (quietly) pop the champagne we thought ahead to buy. Guess that wasn't just a wishful thinking purchase after all! It took a couple of pokes to keep Matty awake, but we did it and after a quick midnight kiss we got right into bed knowing that a certain someone would probably be up early. 

Getting ready to head to the party!

New Year's eve and New Year's Day drinks!

Lo and behold, we were up first, and even had to take Maddie to church in her pajamas for the 9:00 mass that I had to read at; she was still snoozing on the couch as I was trying to get a coat on her to leave! Party animal toddler!
After mass we went to our favorite little breakfast spot in our neighborhood and had a wonderfully huge breakfast to start the year. We sat at the counter, which ended up being the perfect height for a highchair and the waitress threw on Sesame Street for Maddie to watch while she worked through her plate of beeboo pancakes. This kid gets star treatment all the time - it's pretty beneficial being so stinking cute and sweet to everyone!

Mama and Maddie top knots!

PJs and puffy vests at the breakfast counter!

After breakfast we rushed home to get some layers on to go see the ice sculptures left over from Boston's First Night Celebration. I really wanted to see the one at the Marathon finish line with the BAA logo and have a chance to use my new zoom lens, so we drove down and even managed to find an amazing parking spot. But, alas, a certain tiny, sleepy, cold toddler had a twenty minute expiration date and was in full meltdown mode before we could make it over to the Common to see the other sculptures.

The calm before the storm, on our way to see the sculptures. Oh, you didn't know that 2014 is the year of upside down sunglasses?

But hey - I got my pictures! 

We made it home and quickly slipped back into our pjs so that Maddie and I could take a three hour nap. Yep, three hours. That makes two Wednesday holidays in a row where she and I have had some serious snuggle-filled naps together. We woke up to a visit from my sister-in-law and then I spent the rest of the afternoon reclaiming my side of our desk to have a better spot to work on this here blog. We ended the day with an AMAZING dinner of seafood stew and baguettes all made from scratch by that wonderful husband of mine and then I watched episodes of Nurse Jackie until I was summoned to bed by Maddie, who had a terrible night of sleep last night. I swear she knows when we need to get sleep the most because that is when she decides to be a total night owl. 

This stew was SO good.

So here is to a lovely if not little slow start to 2014 (I have not been being good about my training schedule thus far, but I am committed once we stop having all of these crazy midweek holiday). I am home, watching the snow fall outside while the smell of homemade popovers beckons to me! Dinnertime!