ringing in the New Year

Our New Year's Eve was quite an event. Oh, it started calm and innocent - eating hot dogs and mac n cheese as a family, watching Auburn football, and doing bathtime as usual. I had just brushed Eden's teeth and given her her vitamin. I asked her to go pick out two books like normal. I went to the den to check out the Auburn score when things changed.

Eden (in a frantic voice with tears welling up in her eyes): "Dad! Come quick! There's a lizard on my books!"

Me (trying to calm her down and make it seem like not a big deal): "A lizard? That's funny! I guess he wanted to read before bedtime."

Eden (still teary-eyed): "It's not funny. It's real! A REAL lizard!"

And so it was! It was just standing there on one of her books on the bottom shelf. I grabbed it quickly and had it for a moment. Then the tail came off as it ran behind the books. I moved the books, and it ran behind the bookshelf.

By this time, Ashley (who had been trying to put Lydia to sleep) was in the doorway with a wide awake Lydia since Eden had decided to share the exciting news with them. Ashley and Eden got me two cups and a flashlight. I found the lizard just in time for it to scurry on the wall under Eden's bed which would not have been a big deal expect for the fact that under her bed is a boxspring and several other things in storage.

After quickly removing the stuff from under the bed, I decided to go in - flashlight in hand I searched and found. Ashley decided it would be fun to get a picture of the capture...

 Lydia was not phased, though we think Eden may remember this one for a long time.

The night did start by having both girls dress in their new Auburn dresses (courtesy of CC, though I doubt they were intended to be Auburn dresses) - they brought us luck, too! Don't let the pictures above or below fool you, though; Lydia was off-and-on fussy all day (and still is today), poor thing

 The other exciting New Year's Eve venture was to move Lydia's crib and the armoire ... several weeks ago Ashley caught Lydia playing with the blinds while she was supposed to be asleep - not good!

We rounded out the evening by talking about our year ... amazing to think about what has taken place in 2011.

 This morning we had pancakes and got dressed for church. Ashley and Lydia stayed home since little bit is not yet allowed to be around other people {the doctor did not prescribe medicine but said she should stay home for at least a week to get over the RSV}. When it was time to leave, Grace decided to show up!

Grace is willing to smile sweetly for the camera and wanted to show off Eden's new owl bag from Ms. Lindsay ...

 After church we had black-eyed-peas, collard greens, cornbread, and onion. Then, Eden brought me her new Bible Storybook from Uncle Bobo & Aunt CoCo; we read over 60 pages before it was quiet time - we think she likes it!

We knew better than to make formal New Year's Eve plans since someone in our little family has been sick for New Year's since Eden was born. All in all, it turned out to be a nice night and a low key start to the new year.