Ringing In the New Year, Toddler style

With a sippy cup toast of course. Caroline actually partied pretty hard tonight, staying up until after 10! She showed no signs of being aware how late it was when we left our friends' party, and was still awake and insisting it was not bed time when we got home. We left Ben at our friends' house for a sleepover and I got a kick out of telling him, "see you next year" :) Happy New Year, all!!

New Year's Eve Day

To get the kids out of the house this morning while the cleaners were here, I took them and my laptop to the book store. I was able to get some work done and they had a treat and browsed for books (I let them each pick out one to buy). Then we headed on a long-ass errand over to Fuel Pizza, the closest of which is about 20 minutes away, to pick up a gluten free pizza and drop it off at Caroline's preschool for their New Year's Eve party (or Noon Year's Eve as they call it, because they have a little ball dropping ceremony at noon followed by a pizza lunch). Since Caroline cannot eat regular pizza but loves pizza, I did not want her to be left out. After that we came home and now Ben and Rebecca each have a friend over to play until 4. Then at 5 we are heading over to spend New Year's Eve with friends - busy day!! And, Joel and I are both working today although Joel only worked this morning and is now at the gym.

The Belk Bowl

Joel was invited to accept a check on behalf of the hospital at today's Belk Bowl college bowl game between UNC and Cincinnati. He got 2 free tickets to the Gridiron Club so he and Ben enjoyed heated leather seats, free food (Ben apparently helped himself about ten times to everything from nachos with pulled pork to cake to hot chocolate) and an open bar. Here is Ben getting acquainted with the Tarheels' mascot. 

Girls Afternoon

With Joel and Ben at the Belk Bowl game, Becca requested pottery painting as her activity of choice. Keeping Caroline from breaking anything was priority number one; other factors like not making a mess we had to be a little more realistic about ;)

Wardrobe Malfunction

Caroline is learning how to put her coat on by herself by laying it on the ground, putting her hands in the arm holes and flipping it over her head. She will not allow anyone to help her and about half the time she ends up with an upside-down coat on.

Great Wolf Lodge 2013

We spent our fourth Christmas at Great Wolf Lodge this year. This year we also took a trip there in July with the cousins (minus Caroline and Joel), and Ben also got to go there on a sleepover/birthday party for his friend Jared. The extra visits this year did nothing to dampen their enthusiasm though! Also, Ben's best friend Jared and his family also decided to do Great Wolf Lodge for Christmas this year so that made it extra fun for the kids. Jared's younger brother Evan is a year older than Becca, and baby Josh is three months older than Caroline and is in her class at preschool. So all the kids had a buddy this year.

This year was also slightly different in a couple other ways. In previous years Joel had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and was also on-call both nights for phone calls. This year although he had to go in to round both days, he was not on-call for phone calls. He actually finished up at work on Christmas Eve and made it to Great Wolf Lodge a little bit before the kids and I got there. We upgraded our accommodations to the biggest room they have, which has two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a living room area. Joel and I stayed in one bedroom, which had a king bed and private bathroom, and Ben and Becca stayed in the other bedroom which had two queen beds. We set up Caroline's pack n play in the living room. So everyone was able to get some decently private sleeping space. This was the first year that Joel stayed overnight with us there, since we had the bigger room and he was not on call.

This was also our first trip to Great Wolf Lodge with a gluten-free Caroline. I was a little nervous about it, and packed a cooler of snacks and food for her. But it turned out to be a really easy place for her to eat. At the Christmas Eve dinner buffet, the chef came out and walked down the line with Joel and pointed out all the gluten free items to him -- and there were a lot of them, including roasted chicken , baked ham, lots of veggies, mashed potatoes. The next day at lunch I talked to the waitress about Caroline and she told me that they have a separate gluten free prep space in the kitchen and could make her a gluten free kids hamburger meal complete with a gluten free bun and french fries that are prepared separately in dedicated gluten free fryer oil. She also sent the head chef over to our table, who said hello to Caroline and explained again about the kitchen set up and how I would not have to worry about her food getting contaminated. He also said next time we come we could get a special allergy wristband for Caroline if we wanted, so all the staff would be  immediately aware that she had food restrictions. So it was a big relief! Here are some pictures from our trip.

The kids checking out our upgraded accommodations:

Ben and best friend Jared at the Christmas Eve dinner buffet:

Becca and Caroline enjoying the water park:

Weekend Highlights

Some other highlights from this weekend

1. Becca conked out after yesterday's super long birthday party:

2. Ben had a new friend over to play on Saturday. They are in the same class at school. Ben is starting to call some of his friends by their last names. So his new friend is "Hobs" because his last name is Hobson. So cute! LOL.


3. Caroline is learning how to pedal!