Dad’s Retired & New Year’s Eve 2014

I thought Autumn’s daycare was closed today, so I took her over to Mom & Dad’s.  Riannon said it wasn’t closed, but I was going to be late to work if I took her to daycare so Mom said they would take Autumn to daycare.  They never did, b/c they got busy helping Nate & Riannon unpack their shipment of stuff from Spain that FINALLY got here yesterday!  I got off work at noon b/c it was so slow in the office, and the kids were a little stir crazy so Lexie & I took them on a walk.  Andrew wearing his helmet over his big, puffy, orange coat made me laugh.

It was cold (36 degrees) and windy, so we made it a fast & short walk.  Autumn & Andrew rode all the way around the neighborhood on their bikes & beat us back home, even though we shortened our walking route.  I’m glad they can ride bikes & enjoy that freedom.  When we got home the little monkeys were climbing the trees!

Jon got here from Austin & they loaded up their stuff and then headed home to beat the traffic & bad weather.  I took Autumn to see Annie.  We ran into the Lees at the movie, which was fun.  It was a cute movie and I enjoyed it, but the original is still better in my opinion.  I was NOT a fan of Cameron Diaz as Ms. Hannigan, but Jamie Foxx did a great job.

We had chicken scarparella from Napoli’s as our last meal of 2014, and it was delectably delicious!!!  We were sitting around the table talking after dinner & Dad looked at his watch & announced that he was officially retired as of 8:00 pm!  It was so anticlimactic for such a big life event as retirement.

Autumn wanted to stay up until midnight, but she started yawning at 9:00 so we counted down at 9:10, clinked our glasses, and drank our sparkling grape juice.

2014 has been a year of ups and downs for us, just like for everyone else.  But overall, it’s been a great year.  We’re very blessed.  I’m so thankful for my Autumn Girl!

Once I got her to sleep in the special bed in Mom & Dad’s room, I started an easy 500 piece puzzle.  I left at 10:50 to go check out a regional Single Adult dance.  There were about 150 people there and the decorations and food were really nice.  I didn’t dance w/ anyone, but I saw a bunch of people I know and said hi to them.  I left about 12:10 am b/c the roads are wet & I was worried they would freeze b/c the temp was 33 degrees.  Here’s to 2015!