New Year's Eve...

...or the day when sleep had to wait. Emma came home on the morning of new year's eve from her sleepover at Natalie's house. She had gotten to bed much later than usual, and it sounds like she woke up early too. Pair that with the allergy medicine we had her on, and she just kind of dragged herself around the house that morning. We tried to have Ashlyn take a late morning nap, because the plan was to skip the afternoon nap, and instead, go do something fun. She did get a nap in, but it wasn't as long as she's used to napping in your average day. Then came the fun part...

After lunch, we took our two tired girls to the (free) Imagine Eve celebration downtown to spend the afternoon running around and jumping and doing whatever else there was to do. First, I want to give a little shout out to Guide One, the company who sponsored the event. They very generously let the families of all their employees come 2 hours before the doors opened to the public. Also qualifying for early admission were all the families with students at Iowa Christian Academy (Emma's preschool), since ICA and Guide One are partnered together in some way, shape or form. It's awesome to be able to go 2 hours before the general public gets to go in. There were almost no lines for the bounce houses, obstacle courses, scooters, or anything. It's way more fun that way!

And what made it even more fun was that we ran into some friends of ours just before going in. Will is one of Emma's best friends at school, so the two of them paired up and had a great time together. I thought it was cute how they held hands while standing in the short lines to get into the inflatable obstacle courses. Will also made the great sacrifice of going with Emma into the princess bounce house toward the end.




Ashlyn enjoyed the toddler corner, with more inflatables that were just the right size for her. And she thought the games were fun, since she got to break all the rules, and go put the balls directly into the cups, or whatever the game was, to get some prizes.


There was so much to do there--rows of inflatables, scooters, games, clowns, dancers, Curious George, spin painting... and fireworks at 8pm. But we didn't stay for the fireworks.


By the time we left, Emma's cheeks were bright pink with warmth and exhaustion, and Ashlyn was in much need of a snack and a nap.


We stopped by a video store on the way home to rent some movies for the night. Then had an early dinner, the girls had an early bath, and they hit their pillows at a slightly earlier time than usual. They weren't the only very tired people in the house. I actually fell asleep on the couch for a little bit while Dakota was putting the girls to bed. We watched a couple movies and I did everything in my power to stay awake until the end of the second one. Then we dragged ourselves upstairs, got ready for bed, and slid under the covers just in time to watch the ball drop on TV. In case it's not obvious, we're just not night owls. I used to be more of a night owl in college, but those days are (sadly) long behind me now. But it was a fun way to spend a day and end a year!