The Lee Family: Happy New Year!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!

For New Year's Eve I decided to make our somewhat "traditional" breakfast of orange cinnamon rolls, which my Aunt and Uncle make every year and I've made several times. I actually don't have their recipe (yet) but have experimented with a different one each time I've made it. This year, I think I finally found a keeper. They have all been good, but this was the perfect combination of sweet and orangey. Of course, I had my little helpers. Sofia loves to roll out the dough (although she tends to roll it out too much and then just wants to play with it). Olivia isn't much on helping but loves to climb to the top of the step stool and check out whats going on. I made a double batch since we planned to go to Marco and Stacy's house to celebrate the arrival of 2013 and Marco's birthday.

We arrived at Marco and Stacy's house around 7pm since we weren't sure how long the gals would make it. Marco made his signature sausage and bell peppers which is delicious, as well as shrimp and scallops and his famous pizza margarita. It was all delicious! The kids ate first and then we enjoyed our last meal of 2012 together. Marco and Stacy invited another couple over who don't have kids yet and they were a lot of fun, and a good addition to the evening.

After our meal, we sang Happy Birthday to Marco and enjoyed a pistachio ice cream cake which he requested! It was really good.

The kiddos were getting tired, so we set up their pack-n-play in the downstairs guest room and CK laid Olivia down. We weren't sure how she'd do in a new house and without her usual "routine" of bath, stories, bed, but she went right to sleep! Sofia was tired too, so Stacy told her to go lay on their bed, which she did and was asleep by 10pm. I really expected Sofia to want to stay up until midnight but she wasn't interested. We hung out and talked and then just before 11pm our time, we turned on the tv to watch the ball drop in NYC. We toasted each other and kissed our husbands, since we were all getting tired and weren't sure if we'd make it to Texas' midnight! I remember growing up in California and watching the ball drop at 9pm our time and then just going to bed at my usual time. Midnight on New Year's eve was never a big deal to me. Anyway, we stayed up for a little longer and then CK collected Sofia and I picked up Olivia and we headed home. Both girls woke up briefly but were back to sleep as soon as they were cozy in their beds. What a fun night and a great way to welcome 2013!

Today we enjoyed our orange cinnamon rolls and then I made cornbread and Hoppin John - another good new recipe that called for a lot of kale. It was delicious and hopefully brings lots of health and good luck in the coming year! Happy 2013!

Making orange cinnamon rolls