Where's Waldo?

We made it up to my parents' house for a quick visit New Year's Eve, which was a topper to my holiday season! We ate lots of food and the kids played with the dogs, toys and play-doh. I got to chat with my parents and sisters, and we headed for home, just as Ryan was finishing making some homemade pasta sauce to top his homemade ravioli. My aunt kindly brought up mom's rocking chair, as it wouldn't fit in our trunk. Mom was so happy with how it turned out, and I'm sure was happy to finally get her rocking chair back! JB let the kids sample some Martinelli's before bed, and their faces were hilarious. Boo said, "I don't like that. I just want some milk." Of course you do!

I picked up another cold after Christmas (doesn't seem fair), along with JB. Yaks has gotten the worst of it, and Boo finally came down with it today. We've had many sleepless nights either due to our own congestion or the kids' discomfort. No fun. So I rang in the New Year by crawling into bed just after 10(PM). I gave JB a hall pass to go to a family New Years' party without us, and he had a good time, which made me happy. No reason he should have to stay home and watch me sleep! He did make it home at exactly midnight and gave me a New Year's kiss. Sweet.

We've had to get creative with our entertainment with all this sickness going around and the cold weather outside. JB took Boo to the library for their date night several weeks ago, and he picked up a Where's Waldo book. Every night since then, Boo makes it a ritual to sit in bed with him, their heads glued together, pouring over the pages in search of Waldo. It's cute to watch. Last night I joined in on the fun, helping look for Waldos' grandpa, his mommy, his brother and the Waldo's dog's tail. It was fun, and I felt my heart pumping in my chest, wanting to be the first one to find him.

One particular page has given JB trouble for several nights. It's a page with nothing but Waldos, all dressed exactly the same, but one of them was missing one shoe. Yikes. I searched with him for a few minutes, but my eyes started seeing stripes, so I had to stop. He finally found the shoeless Waldo last night at 8:22PM. Now we can officially begin our New Year! Hoo-rah!