New Year’s Eve at the Wiles abode was a very humble affair. It consisted of one other family sleeping over at our summer house for a long weekend. There were a few party hats, some noise blowers, more bottles of champagne than four adults can usually consume in one evening, along with a surf and turf dinner (prepared by Mike) and Cards Against Humanity leading up until midnight.
My friend Emily, who is my fancy fashion designer friend, brought a bunch of sequined dresses for us to try on and take what she called a “couch jumping” shot.
“Are 40-year-old women allowed to jump on the couch in sequined dresses?” I asked.
“Absolutely,” she said.
Twenty-five pictures later, we had one photo neither one of us was embarrassed to post on our various social media accounts.
There’s also a slo-mo iPhone video taken by her husband that I would rather die than watch again.
2015 is a weird time.
During the couch jumping, Mazzy and her friend Charlie were in the other room watching Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 (“Chipwrecked” if you must know the full movie details). When I walked in, in my fully sequined attire, Mazzy’s eyes lit up like she was seeing me for the first time.
“Mommy, you look BEAUUUUU-TI-FUL.”
And that my friends, might be what makes me wear sequins at least once a week all year. Nothing like an ego boost from your five-year-old.
We had three separate New Year’s countdowns (two fake, one real) before we all went to bed. One for the little ones at 7:30pm…
One for the older kids at 10pm…
And one for the grown-ups at midnight. I’ve got no pictures because a) it was dark b) who cares about pics of the grown-ups and c) selfies tend to ruin a new year’s smooch with your hubby.
It was a low key New Year’s Eve, but also a wonderful one. It’s one of the first years I didn’t question what everyone else was doing or wonder if I was somehow missing out. I discovered you can spend it in your own home with your kids and it can still be pretty fabulous.
Imagine that.
Not to mention, everyone can drink a lot more champagne when nobody has to drive anywhere and you’ve all agreed the kids can watch all the TV they want the next morning.
I also discovered the very best house guests come equipped with both alcohol for the evening and a restaurant-grade waffle iron for the morning after.
Every new year should start with a stack of waffles.
Glad to see you all back here in the new year!
*Smooches*
Looks fun! We did a NYE family dinner a couple years back where my then 4 yr old son insisted on “party clothes” and I put on my bridesmaid dress – strapless black cocktail number – and got a similar response – it was literally like my kids had never seen me before. Which I guess they hadn’t, like that. Ego boost! And gotta ask, where is Harlow’s outfit from it is so cute….
I was actually pretty surprised that @insta2yearold didn’t have a special post about the waffles! 🙂 They looked super yummy! Happy New Year to you guys, and I’m excited to see what adventures you guys get into this year!
I’ll let you in on a little secret. Insta2yearold doesn’t always post in real time. Don’t be surprised if you see those waffles pop up at a later date 🙂
OMG … Cards Against Humanity … we played that too! The game where you need to know your playing peers REEEALLLLYYYY well and be fully prepared to be offended by everything but unable to take real offense, as really the game pretty much sums up the statement “I’m not a racist. I hate everyone, equally!”. (and sub-in “anything”-ist as it is “ist-y” about pretty much every group you can possible dream up, including boring white folks. Favourite moment of my life watching one of our guy-friends nearly have a heart attack from laughing so hard. I would say the combo but uh, no. That is a total “what happens during cards, stays at cards” or “first rule of fight club” kinda deal 🙂 And I am bragging, not ashamed, to say I played combos that were attributed to my husband until it was revealed who played what, and also that I won. HaHA!
That looks like a pretty awesome adventure to me! We started out Sunday with waffles. So we were a few days late.
Ahh I love the fact you shared NYE at home with kids! Awesome pics! We went out for dinner then partied at home for a change, kids in bed and just hubby and I. I have two babies under two so I wanted to be fresh in the morning!
You both rocked those ffrocks!!
OMG so good!!! they are adorable
We stayed in too. I mean my 13 month old was alseep by 7 so we rocked out all night long. JK… we called it a night at 11.30 and watched the countdowns we DVR’d in the morning. ha!
HAPPY NEW YEAR to every one of you adorable people. (Yes, you too Ilana! 😉 )
Low key is the key to surviving December 31st so you can have waffles on Jan 1st. At least that’s what I hear.
I am usually super happy that we live in the central time zone and can see the ball drop at 11:00, but this year we partied with the neighbors and stayed up until 1:00 a.m. That made my 7 year old’s day. She couldn’t believe that she was up until 1:00.
IDIOT IDC IF YOUR KIDS ARE 3 PUT EM TA BED AT 12:00 AND FOR THE FIVE YEAR OLDZ 10:00 REALLY PUT EM TO BED AT 12:06 UGH I STAYED UP TILL 12:00 WHEN I WAS 4
Well. That escalated quickly.
Wow. I think this might be one of the 12yos that follow me on Instagram.
Love that you did countdowns with all the kids at appropriate times without them having to miss the fun. Hubs and I were mega-boring this year as we fought off the last of holidays sickness 🙁
Will have to include the little man on the excitement of the countdown next year, the most excitement he got was lots of hugs and “happy new year” cheers the next morning.
Loved the sequined gladrags too! Definitely beats on my fleecy pjs 🙂
I’m glad I’m not the only one who prepared steak and yummy grown up food for myself and the other adults and fed the kids pizza!! We had a soiree at home also – though we let the littles stay up till midnight if they could make it. It was my first NYE off work in my adult life and it was truly the best!
This looks adorable! My husband and kid went to a New Years’ Eve party during the day at the local nature center when they count down to midnight because that’s the “owl’s midnight.” I love all of the different variations on allowing kids to celebrate without having to stay up the whole time.
[…] year, Emily scrapped her party and her family came out to our weekend house for New Year’s. We had fake New Year’s Eve a few hours early and put the kids to bed at a normal […]