Happy New Year!!!

 Happy New Year's, Friends!

I hope you are having a fantastic start to 2015!  I'm not a big fan of New Year's Eve, but I LOVE New Year's Day.  There's something about opening up a new calendar and feeling all the possibilities of a fresh start that I simply adore.  I've got big plans for 2015--I already know this is going to be a year full of changes for me.  I'm excited to get things going!  But first, I'm going to just enjoy today. It's 2:30, and I'm still in my jammies.  The Badger game just went into overtime.  2015--I love you already!

Among the big plans I have for this year is a goal to get back to regular blogging.  Writing has always been a positive outlet for me.  I seemed to have gotten away from that in 2014.  Project Life will make a big return this year, as will my One Little Word.  I'm also planning on starting a new cooking challenge.  Stay tuned for all the details.  But first, I thought you might want to take a peek at some pictures from last night's big celebration.

My girlie-girls decided they wanted to throw a party.  They put together all the details, and from what I could hear, everyone had a whole lot of fun.  : )  Before we had kids, John and I made a pact to be the kind of parents who always opened their home to all of our kids' friends.  We figured if we made our house fun, they would always have a safe place to hang out.  We are not perfect parents, but we did succeed with that goal.  I love being the "party house".  My jobs for yesterday were few:  I did the grocery shopping and help fill the confetti balloons.  The girls did the rest.  

The group went through 10 (TEN!) bottles of sparkling grape juice.  I originally bought 4 for the toast at midnight, but then worried (as all Hawleys do) that 4 wasn't enough, so I bought 6 more yesterday. I'm glad I did!

The theme was "Sparkle", so there were a whole big bunch of sequins last night.  Don't the girls look amazing?!?!

How cute is this picture of Maddie and Braden?  I can't believe she got him to wear a crown.  He must really like her!

There was a good mix of both Emily and Maddie's friends, but Hailey is definitely a friend to both of my girls:

 Look how sweet Emily and Greg look together:

We made a big bunch of appetizers and asked everyone to bring their favorite snack.  Hailey made these adorable cupcakes:

 I spent the night in the basement with Jack.  It was actually quite nice.  I'm thrilled that they took all of these photos without me.

I love this group.  I love that they spent the night playing games in fancy dresses.  I loved hearing all the laughter throughout the night.

At the end of the night, the girls asked their guests if they wanted to set a New Year's Resolution. They took pictures of everybody holding up their goal.  They plan on sending each person their picture halfway through the year.  Here are a few of the pictures: 

Hooray for ending the year on a high note!

And now, on to 2015!!

XO,

Vicki

PS  The Badgers just won!  Hooray!