new year's eve celebration-part 2

On New Year's Eve, we were invited over to a friend's house.  There were five families there with kids that the boys go to school with.  We arrived a little after 7 p.m.  There was tons of food and treats.  The boys were keeping themselves busy playing Wii with the other boys that were there.  There were girls there too, but they mostly played upstairs in the one girl's room.

The adults retreated to the family room in the basement.  It was very nice to have some adult conversation while the kids had the freedom to play with their friends.  Periodically, SJ would come down the stairs to tell the adults how many more minutes we had until the new year.  Then, he would promptly run back upstairs.  When it got close to midnight, the host's daughter gave out party hats and noisemakers to the kids.  They started to come down to the basement about 10 minutes to midnight. 

I was a little concerned with SJ's reaction to the noisemakers going off at midnight.  To my delight, he was counting down with the rest of the kids.  When the clock struck midnight, all the kids were cheering and blowing their noisemakers.  SJ joined right in, but I did notice he was plugging his one ear.  (At least he wasn't screaming for the kids to be quiet.)  They all took off upstairs and ran outside to ring in the new year.  They stayed out there for a few minutes and then made their way back into the house. 

I knew the boys were going to be tired, so I was surprised when they didn't want to leave immediately at midnight.  Around 12:45 a.m., SJ came to get me.  "Mom, I am getting tired," he sighed.  My husband was having a great time with the adults, so I told SJ we would leave in few minutes.  "Three?"  he asked.  "Maybe a few more than three," I replied.  At 1:00 a.m., I told my husband that the boys were ready.  We said our goodbyes and thank yous and headed home. 

That was the first time in years that we had been out for New Year's Eve.  I am thankful that we were invited by our friends and I am thankful that the behavior was great that evening.  Maybe 2012 will be a year filled with typical behavior from SJ!  Happy New Year!