New Years Day

Well, 2013 is here, although it still seems hard to believe the time has flown by so fast.  None of us in the Rowe household actually made it awake until midnight to celebrate, despite Julia's constant need to leave her bedroom in terror over the Timber-Wolves from the latest My Little Pony episode.

And judging by the ensemble Julia chose to sleep in, I'm guessing she was either covering her hands with magic mittens so the Timber-Wolves couldn't bite them, OR she was dressing this way because of the fact that she doesn't have a heating grate in her bedroom:

Whatever the reason for these sleeping accessories, I'm kind of digging the bohemian hoodie and mittens camping-out look.

This morning, we celebrated the New Year with a pancake breakfast.  The girls ate their pancakes on the couch while watching "Barbie: Princess Charm School."  You can see how deeply Madeleine embodied the character of these refined princesses, eating her pancake with all the grace of a true gentlewoman:

I mean, really, what can you expect from the children of a father who opts to wear owl pajamas as a bandanna while he eats his own breakfast?:

We also took down our Christmas decorations today and said good-bye to our tree, which Ethan decided to toss out the window rather than lug it down a flight of stairs to the backyard.  Julia, ever the morality police, was freaking out over whether or not we're allowed to dump a tree out our front window.  As she explained, after all was calm again, "It just didn't really seem like a great idea.  It just didn't really seem like it would be that SAFE.  Like, I got in my head, like...it would fall in the road, and a car would be coming."

I think someone needs to explain the laws of physics to Julia.  It's not like Ethan was throwing the tree like a javelin or anything.

Thankfully, Julia's worries were for naught.  The tree landed safe and sound in the pile of snow on our lawn, and Ethan was able to drag it easily to our back woods:

We are now about to go check out the New Years Ice Sculpture in the town green, followed by a quick sledding adventure at the high school.  Unfortunately, our departure has been delayed by Madeleine's need to poop on the potty (entailing she pull off all her clothes,) followed by Madeleine's break-down, whilst on the potty, over the completely nonsensical complaint that "I have KETCHUP in my EAAAAAAR!"  Now, finally off the potty, she is prancing around the house giddily, buck naked, chanting, "I'm a Lady Royal!  I'm at Princess Charm School!"

Again, may I point out her extremely stately, poised and elegant behavior?  If anyone was fit to be a princess, it's Madeleine, all right.

Happy 2013, blog-readers!!