New Year's Eve Butler Style

New Year's is not a big deal here, but at the same time it's kind of a nice reminder of when Todd and I got together. We officially became a couple on December 30, though I wouldn't admit it for a couple of weeks ;) On Saturday morning, Todd had to work and the kids were wound up. I realized that they needed to get out of the house. Todd suggested we take them to McDonald's for lunch and their playland.... while the kids were waiting, Adam was all about play dough. (Or "Cakes" as he calls it, no matter how many times you get him to say play dough, he doesn't waiver. They are cakes.) He is obsessed with play dough, playing almost every day and not happy when I finally make him put it away. Abbey likes to run up and grab his stuff and run. Of course! Adam's had a nasty cold on and off for a couple of weeks and he was feeling it that morning. He put his head down to rest for a minute while playing! He got his energy back and had Mommy making animals and dinosaurs for him! And Abbey was having a blast with some necklaces I found in a drawer I was cleaning out. Grandma Kathy had given these to the kids last Easter and I had to take them away because she kept eating them...now she loves to wear them...A LOT! My big girl...growing up too fast. When Todd got home, we went to McDonald's all four of us for the first time. I don't have photos because I just wanted to focus on having a good time. The kids ate, with Adam polishing off his chick-chick nuggeys while Abbey slowly ate fry by fry. Daddy finally took Adam into the play land and he climbed up it and went down the slide ALONE! When I finally followed with Abbey, he got less independent, not wanting to go up there and down the slide alone. I even climbed up there once with Abbey because she wanted to go SO bad, not content to stick to the little kid area. And, NO, I did not slide down I did not need to get stuck!! haha
They had a blast and then we came home for nap time. Our nephew Colin and his girlfriend stopped by in the evening, wanting a visit before they went home to New Hampshire the next day. Erin and her daughter Abby ran over to give us some awesome homemade Heath bar type candy (yeah, not the best thing around when we're trying to watch what we eat!) We ate appetizers for dinner, put the kids to bed and watched The Hangover 2 (my Christmas present from Abbey) and had a glass of wine. We actually managed to stay up past midnight :) It was a good last day of 2011.