New Year’s Eve {2016}

12 / 31 / 161 / 6 / 17

I’ve been a terrible blogger this year… Between adjusting to life as a mama of two and having a baby who cried for the first several months he was home and hasn’t slept for longer than a couple of hours at a time {at most} for the last several months, some days I feel like I’m just keeping afloat. These days I’m lucky if I get my post into CBC Parents each week and post something here every week or two, but I’m hoping that’ll change this year. We’ve got a new plan in place to help our sweet boy master the art of sleep and if we’re successful, I should finally have a little bit of extra time during naps and after bedtime. We’ll see, but I’m hopeful!

So with that, I’m kicking off 2017 with a peek at our New Year’s Eve… Doing so means I can’t soon forget all the fun we had today – the insane snowfall we got here in Vancouver, how much our girl adores reading at 6 years old {and how much her baby brother looks up to her}, our first ever outdoor silly string fight, and the deliciousness that is our annual NYE fondue night {yum}.

Here’s our NYE in iPhone photos…

plans in place

NYE Plans

12 / 30 / 141 / 17 / 15

Early this morning, Miss G and I sat down together and planned out how we’d spend our last day of 2014 as a family… Here’s what we came up with. Skating beneath the castle {we’ve been waiting to do this!}, some celebration science, the opening of our highly anticipated NYE surprise ball, then a pizza dinner followed by a dark chocolate fondue. By far my favourite part though? At the very last moment, Grae decided that she’d better plan our breakfast too. I was expecting something elaborate for the final day of the year, but her pick? TOAST. Hah – consider it done, my love. ☺

New Year’s Eve Surprise Ball

12 / 23 / 141 / 12 / 15

After creating a NYE celebration kit {that Miss G loved} last year, I knew I wanted to do something similar this year… I loved the idea of a collection of small things to make the evening extra special, but I wanted to present it differently just to change things up a little. That’s when the idea of a New Year’s Eve surprise ball came about. While I’ve admired the surprise balls I’ve seen on the lovely blog And We Play {Valentine’s ones | turkey ones}, I’d not tried my hand at making them until just recently, and I’m so glad I finally gave it a go. Making one was easy and fun and I already know that Miss G is going to love it, so I can totally see them becoming a special celebration ‘thing’ in our house.

New Year’s Eve Celebration Kit for Kids

12 / 22 / 141 / 12 / 15

With our vacation under way and everything Christmas basically prepared for, I’ve been thinking about New Year’s Eve recently… I’ve got something fun tucked up my sleeve for this year’s celebration {coming soon to CBC Parents!}, but I also really love the fun New Year’s Eve celebration kit I put together on a whim to help Miss G ring in 2014. Obviously, NYE isn’t the most kid-friendly holiday with the big celebration taking place at midnight and all {waaaaay too late for our little in bed at 6 p.m. gal}, but we surprised Miss G with this fun little kit early on in the evening last year and she had a total blast with it.