Happy New Year!

SUNDAY we were supposed to get up at eight to be ready to leave by nine but I accidentally slept in until 8:30!  Dave got ready super fast and helped me with the girls and we were able to make it out the door in time.  We went to church with David's parents at the church where Abuelito works in Grand Rapids.  Haley was pretty excited about the nursery because it was in a huge room with tons of toys, Emily was actually in the same room with her.  I was called out towards the end of the service to feed Emily.  She had been sleeping and I told them she would be hungry when she woke up and she was.  I put her back in nursery and then went to the rest of the service.

After church we came home and ate lunch and put Haley down right away for a nap.  They must have given her a bunch of snacks because she was not hungry.  We had to make sure she had an early nap because we were heading to Aunt Judy's at 2.  Well 2 ended up being more like 2:30 but it worked out well because Haley got a good nap in and Emily just slept on the way.  Aunt Judy and Uncle Guy live about an hour away so we played the 'abc' game a bunch of times.

Emily was still sleeping when we got there so I put her in the corner.  Haley was excited to see Isabella there and her second cousin Addison.  Addison is David's cousin Sally's little girl who has passed on a lot of clothes.  Haley owes most of her closet to Addison, actually Emily does too!  Haley immediately started running around with the older girls and the rest of us retired to their big sitting room to catch-up with the family.  There were a bunch of people there:  Aunt Judy, Uncle Guy, cousin George, cousin Sally and her husband Mike and their kids Addison and Landon, and all of David's family.  Aunt Judy and Uncle Guy had made chilli and potato soup along with a bunch of sides including a shrimp and crab dip which was just amazing.

It was so nice for Haley to be playing with older girls because they gave us reports if she was misbehaving.  She only did a couple things requiring reports.  She was getting a little out of hand by the end of the night though because she hit Addison and had to sit on time out for a while.  We had a $5 gift exchange and I got a kit to make fudge and David got something that we can't remember.  We headed home around seven.  Haley and Emily both fell asleep on the way home and transferred nicely to their beds.  The rest of us stayed up and played Settlers until after midnight!

MONDAY was New Year's Eve!  We started the day by sleeping in from the night before.  Then David and I went on a date over lunch.  We fed the girls before we left and put Haley down for a nap.  It was super nice because it was our first date without Emily (excluding my Birthday breakfast which I just remembered).  We went to a restaurant in downtown Holland and had burgers and milkshakes.  We had bought a certificate on restaurant.com so it was actually pretty cheap.  The food was super good and we stayed and talked for a while afterwards.  We stopped by a couple stores on our way out and when we got home Haley had just woken up and Abuelita was feeding her a snack.  Emily had just gone down for a nap.

We hung out for the rest of the afternoon until around six thirty when we all packed up and went to a local nursing home to sing for the residents.  We went at six thirty because we were scheduled to sing as they were finishing their dinner.  We sang songs out of the hymnal and then visited with them afterwards.  Emily had just woken up from her nap so she was super alert and happy and was quite a hit with the residents.  Haley was actually about ready for bed so she was not super happy but she did give most of the people high fives.  I let a bunch of the ladies hold Emily and she got a lot of tight squeezes and kisses.  It was really fun to see how much they enjoyed her, I feel like elderly people are a good way for babies to 'give back.'

After the nursing home we came back home and ate dinner together.  Then we played games and talked until midnight when we watched the ball drop which is always kind of anti-climatic event.  I feel like that ball gets slower every year.  We ended up playing Settlers until almost 4am!  Well, everyone else did.  I actually went to bed just before three...

Haleyism:
No joke, the other night Haley said 'boo boo, bleh' in her sleep.  I thought she was awake and was afraid she had booed her diaper but she went right back to sleep and it was only wet in the morning.  She said a couple other things too but that was the only thing I could understand, it was clear as a bell.

Emilyism:
Emily has been sucking her thumb!  See the picture below.

Emily sucking her thumb

Haley in the doll crib pretending to be a baby

Haley and Bennett, a year apart

Haley and Sarah doing a high five

Emily in the doll crib

Haley and Isa were pretending that she was their baby

Bennett and Emily, they are just over six months apart

Haley hanging out on the coffee table.  David took this picture, I'm pretty sure he should have been telling her to get down! 

Bennett, look familiar Carly?