Not your traditional toast...

Pretty huh?!?

Happy 2011 everyone! We had such a great time bringing in the new year with our friends and family. You know me... I love an excuse for a party! Especially one that involves champagne!:) This year I decided to go a little outside the box and scratch the traditional champagne toast. The toast was still there and the champagne was still there, it was just in the form of a yummy dessert! Earlier in the week I just so happened to catch Oprah(I truly don't know how I managed that, but so glad I did!) and she had these two sisters on her show making New Year's Eve Strawberry Champagne Sparkler Cupcakes that looked to die for. As soon as I saw them, I knew I HAD to make these for our little get together. Forget drinking the champagne... we were going to eat it!:) And eat it we did... yummy to our tummys! I will be writing Oprah to thank her for the great idea, and to let her know that the ONE vanilla bean it called for in the recipe was $8.00. I kid you not, $8.00. I nearly died when my Dad came in the house from Publix and told me. Truthfully, if I had been the one at the grocery store I would have just opted for a little more vanilla extract, but my sweet Daddy just brought me the vanilla bean I asked him to swing by and pick up. I'm sure he'll think twice about stopping by Publix on the way to my house next time! And if anyone ever needs to know how to extract the seeds from a vanilla bean just give me a call(thanks for the learning experience Mom!). I will warn you here, not only is the vanilla bean $8.00, it is also a gigantic chore to extract the seeds you need to use for the recipe. You would think for $8.00 the vanilla bean seeds would just jump in the mixing bowl for you, but think again. You have to work for those pesky little seeds! They sure did make the cupcakes look pretty and taste delicious though!!! Just in case you want to get crazy and try the recipe for yourself, you can find it here! Just remember to leave the champagne out of some of the mix so the kiddos have something to toast with also!!! And, although the sparklers do look mighty pretty, probably not the best idea to light them indoors. Although I really wanted to, Matt convinced me outside would be best!!! I am really glad I decided to nix the normal toast and go for this more complex one, because not only was it yummy, Mom and I had fun making them together. I'm not so sure we will try attacking New Year's dinner and champagne cupcakes all in one day ever again, but it sure was fun this time!:) While we were busy preparing, Sawyer had a great nap and Hayden had TONS of fun playing with Grandaddy! We definitely could not have had our yummy dinner(black eyed peas, rice, collards, mac and cheese, pork chops, bread) and dessert without Grandaddy entertaining Hayden for us, and I'm pretty sure Hayden would have not wanted it any other way. It was his perfect day. Tons of outside time, lots of playing with his toys, and then to top it all off, his favorite movie... none other than Toy Story! Sawyer was a perfect little angel all day long which really helped us out too. He is just such a sweet, sweet baby. Oh, and once Daddy got home from work we all got to enjoy fireworks together before ringing in the new year! Enjoy the pics...

Such a sweet little smile... Happy New Year!!!

Ready to see the fireworks!

Enjoying the last fireworks of 2010!

Hayden was so mad at me for making him take this pic!

Happy New Year 2011!

The boys didn't quite make it for the New Years toast at midnight,
but we did get this quick family pic right before bedtime!:)

My attempt to get a pic of the boys together...

All ready for our toast...

Cheers!

I just had to get a close up of sweet baby Bennett! So cute!

And poor Banks tried so hard to make it to the new year(he
made it to 11:30 by the way!), so I just had to get this pic!

Check out Sawyer's little bird mouth!!!

I'm pretty sure he was falling over here,
but he sure did make a cute little face!:)

Love that smile!

Hayden enjoyed some time playing with the train... even if he
did get frustrated when it didn't do what he wanted it to do!

When it performed correctly, he was amazed!

Here comes the train!

Our little train conductor for the day!

Sweet...

I could listen to him laugh all.day.long!

I love this one!

So excited to sport his 2011 hat first thing in the morning!

Here's to hoping everyone has the best 2011 possible! We are so excited to see what the new year has to bring for us. We had such a great 2010 and just know 2011 will be even better. Thanks to all our friends and family for helping to make 2010 such a great year. We look forward to making many more great memories with you in 2011!