sooo it's 2015 now

we had another nice long weekend to ring in the new year. thatcher worked a little on wednesday and friday, but otherwise we had lots of time together/with the kids! here's  what we've been up to in the first days of 2015 (and new years eve): 

new years eve we were supposed to go to our friends liz and joe's for our (nearly) annual family sleepover with them and their two boys. i always look forward to a fun night of food, games, movies, and hanging out. it's also nice to not have to worry about getting home for bed time. unfortunately they had to cancel the night before because joe got sick. azalea was devastated. poor girl. although, i do think it's good for her to learn how to deal with little disappointments in life. plus we are planning on rescheduling once everyone is healthy, so all is not lost!

luckily, we ended up being able to take advantage of another new years invite we got to hang out with a different group of friends with young kids. our friends ryan & lisa hosted at their house. there were 8 adults and 7 kids under 4 there! we ate appetizers, chili, and dessert, drank champagne, and the kids had a great time playing together. we even did a little countdown at 8pm before the meltdowns ensued ;) my kids actually made it until almost 9:30 when we decided to head home. thatcher and i were in bed by 10:30. party animals! :) these are the only pictures i took from the night: 

friday morning i was home with the kids, so our friends carolina, naomi (3) and adella (6 months) came over for a play date. the girls always have fun together and carolina and i love to catch up, so it was a good time. i can't believe our girls have been playing together since they were 2 and 4 months old! a & a waiting patiently...

saturday morning we met up with our old next door neighbors ryan, becka, and carson (2) at an indoor play area in minnetonka then had lunch at chipotle. it had been wayyy too long since we had seen them, so it was nice to catch up. i miss them living so close! :( during nap time, i went to homegoods to use a gift card from christmas that was burning a hole in my pocket. i got a few different funky, colorful frames for my mantle. i wanted some new ones to go with my new living room decor and it was extra nice not having to pay for them. i'm planning to print some of the photos from our session with our photographer at the end of december. i can't wait to see them! 

my friend kelli and her boyfriend jake stopped over and played santa by bringing my kids tons of christmas/birthday gifts. they were way too generous and of course, azalea and ashford were thrilled! azalea got a new princess castle tent (thank god for our basement - ha!) and she's basically been living in it ever since. ah, to be 3! nice cheese face, little girl...

saturday night we had a family movie night (well, ashford was in bed) and watched shrek. i bought it at a thrift store for $1.50 recently and thought azalea might enjoy it. she is sort of a stinker about watching new movies. she usually protests the idea and doesn't love the movie the first time she sees it, but i'm sure it will grow on her as others have. 

we ended the weekend by having my parents over for dinner on sunday night. they are heading back down to florida tomorrow. :( we are going to miss them mucho, but luckily we'll be joining them down there for a week in not too long. our trip can't come soon enough...it's been way below zero lately and i am ready to escape!