New Year Assortment

My dad told me I was slacking off on my blog. So, in order to keep the natives happy, I will combine several posts into one. I have been slacking off, it's true. There are lots of reasons--technical difficulties (hello new blogger interface?), slow-moving computer, having a paint brush permanently glued to my hand. In all honesty, I have lost a little of the motivation to catalog every adventure, story and hilariously inappropriate comment that my little love makes. Call me a bad mom, but I'm just keeping it real, folks. Anyway, I will try and work through my technical issues and work on a better blogging schedule. Until then, this is for you, dad.

With more than two weeks off for Christmas, we had LOTS of free time. And fortunately, so did our friends. We had play dates at our house where Finn and his buddies got to try out his new swing set. We made several trips to the Aquarium and even saw The Polar Express in 4D.

Finn and his buddy Easton lunching at Taco Mamacita

Here is a great shot of Finn and Mary Daniel building their Lego village. Uncle Danny was in a terrible hunting accident on Christmas Eve and spent more than two weeks in the hospital. Finn and I went over to check on him and the rest of the Stokes gang. Finn got some quality time with Mary Daniel and Mimi and Bop while I went to the hospital. Danny is home now and doing much better but can still benefit from your prayers, so please remember the Stokes family.

This is our boardwalk on a normal day .  . .

And this is the same boardwalk on New Year's Day. Everyone is headed down to the beach for the Polar Bear Plunge. There were hundreds of people, and i would even say a thousand. It was packed!

 

These "plungers" got off easy this year. The weather was beautiful and was in the low 70's.

Next year, we are doing the plunge. . . so make sure you hold me to this. Or at least, hold Finn to it. He will go swimming in anything.

Every kind of costume you could imagine. Finn was fond of the spiderman. I sort of liked the Borat in the neon green mankini myself!

I was grossly unprepared this year. I had no idea how big this event had gotten. I won't make the same mistake next time. We will have a big partay . . . heck, you are all invited, but you have to do the plunge with us!

Here is my "superstar" on his bicycle. Isn't he a cutie? He is making progress  . . . SLOW progress. Which you will see later.

Awww, I love these pictures. "Snoring" as he calls it, on his night night. He'll give you lessons if you want . . . because there is a proper technique that must be followed in order to get the full night night effect. Do you see how loved this blanket is? A while back, after watching Toy Story 3 (where Andy leaves his toys to go to college, sniff, sniff) Finn looks at me with this serious expression and says, "mama, can I take night night to college with me?" And I said, "of course night night can go to college with you. Night night and your mama can go to college with you."