So a few days ago, it was Annelise’s nap time and I had promised Carson I’d play with him, just me and him. I suggested Legos or airplanes, but he went to our game/craft closet.

“Play with something in here?”

Back when I was a mom of one and had more time, I once browsed Pinterest for some motherhood ideas and came across sensory bins. It seemed a like a fun idea, so Carson and I got into them for a bit, making simple bins of beans and rocks and spoons and cups and occasional toys (but nothing near as elaborate as this blogger’s). Anyway, since Annelise was born, we’ve kind of shelved the sensory bins – too many small pieces for her to put in her mouth.

But that morning Annelise was asleep, so I said, sure, why not get out a sensory bin? Carson used to love those things! So I pulled out an old one with dry beans and pasta and some cups and rocks. We had a great time playing – I forgot how much fun he had: pouring dry beans into cups, sorting out all the white ones, hiding stones and finding them again.

We played with the bin a few more times over the next few days, and once we were playing with it and Annelise happened to wake up from her nap early. Carson was having a good time, and I thought, well, maybe I’ll try it. So I brought Annelise in so they could both play.

Bad idea. Annelise wanted to put everything in her mouth. Usually I can help her learn not to put something (like leaves) in her mouth if I’m sitting right next to her, but this time, no luck. She especially liked the big pretty stones. I basically sat with my hand cupped over her open slobbery mouth while she pounded her fist, clutched around a choking hazard, against my hand again and again.

But when I pulled her out of the room, she threw a fit! I felt kind of bad that she had to miss out on our sensory bin fun, so that quickly led us to our choking-hazard-free sensory bin…or, Cheerio snack fest. ;) That’s what you can do if you stocked up on 20 boxes of on-sale Cheerios 1.5 years ago that are starting to go stale.

I just put a very reluctant Carson down for a nap. We sing to him before naps or bedtime, so I started singing “I Like to Look for Rainbows.” I know it’s one of Josh’s favorites, even though I don’t usually sing it.

I got one line into the song before Carson whimpered, “That one that Daddy sing.”

“You’re right,” I say. “Dad does sing that song a lot. Can I sing it now?”

“Daddy sing it,” he whimpered again.

So he had to make do with me singing “Families Can Be Together Forever.”

Carson can be a kind of tender kid. :)

Josh and I have now been married five years. Our first New Year’s Eve together, we had just finished an amazingly exciting (yet draining) Christmas break packed with our marriage, a honeymoon, and three different wedding receptions in three different states. We had just moved into our chilly and empty house and were sleeping on a mattress on the floor. And we both had colds. We were hopped up on NyQuill and didn’t have much energy to do more than drink some sparkling cider, eat a cupcake, and crash.

Unfortunately, going along with the trend, none of our New Year’s Eve celebrations since have been especially exciting. (Though I have to say that that first year, when we were looking in dismay at our empty NyQuill bottle and jokingly quoting Pirates of the Caribbean, was pretty special.)

Anyway, for a while now I’ve been craving a truly celebratory New Year’s. And this one didn’t disappoint. Here’s some of our favorite parts about welcoming the year 2014:

• Attending the famous maybe-almost-10th-annual Ellsworth New Year’s Eve party
• Having the kids (even though they were sick) sleep well enough at the Ellsworths’, even through the noise, so that we could party all the way through the countdown
• Chowing down on M&Ms, Mom’s traditional black-eyed-pea salsa, homemade wassail, and all the other goodies
• Winning $50 at the ginormous 8-table Bunco game (the luck is credited to Josh; he won every round except one)
• Dancing at the amazingly hip-hoppin’ dance: aka, my family’s gameroom, which my younger siblings converted into a total dance hall. We’re talking black plastic covering all the walls, lasers, fog machine, surround sound speakers, glow sticks, music so hip Josh and I didn’t know how to dance to it – it was insane. The dance went on all night long. My younger siblings, cousin David, cousin Byron (shout-out to our blog’s biggest fans!), and soon-to-be-brother-in-law Griff all have some serious moves! Josh and I are old fogies and didn’t stay on the dance floor all night, but we definitely got our fill. It was probably my favorite part of the night.
• The huge confetti party (/fight) at the countdown (this is a long-standing tradition at my parents’ house, and it gets bigger and better every year)
• Helping my dad make the quadruple batch of waffles for the big warm breakfast after the countdown (doing the math was an exciting challenge)

All in all, it was an awesome night. Ellsworths, you really know how to throw a party. Thank you for the wonderful time! And happy New Year to everyone!