New Year's Eve 2014

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

My parents came over to ring in the new year with us. My sister and her family were invited as well but they had some sick family members so they decided not to come. We worked on some puzzles and played some games.

I bought some noise makers for the kids and when I went to open up the package to hand them out, I noticed that apparently they are only for ages 14 and up! Sorry kids I guess those things are just too dangerous for you to use - maybe when you are a little older! ;D

New Years Eve 2013 revisited

December 31, 2013

Christmas Break

December 26, 2013 - January 2, 2014

I don't have any pictures between Christmas and New Years so I am hoping there are some on DH's camera.  I know that the day after Christmas, I woke up feeling miserable.  I had no energy to do anything and I had no desire to eat anything.  All I wanted to do was hideout in my room and sleep.  I apparently came down with some type of flu and it was really bad for that one day and then I started to gradually feel better.  Looking back I think I started feeling sick on Christmas Eve.

If I remember correctly, we took the TRAX train to downtown Salt Lake City to see the Christmas lights on temple square Friday evening - so I was at least feeling well enough by then to do that.  On Saturday, Mom N came down with the flu and was out of commission for the next day or two as well.  No one else really came down with much for which we were all grateful for.

New Years Eve we played games at our house and then had New Years dinner at my parents.  I think that Mom N flew back home on January 2.

New Year's Eve 2012

Monday, December 31

The kids and I celebrated New Year's Eve at my parents' house this year.  DH was out of town so I took the kids over after dinner and we stayed the night and came home the following evening after a New Year's dinner.  M&M was considering attending the youth dance but in the end decided to just come with us.  I think if we had stayed at home she would have gone.

MJ and Kay enjoyed sitting around eating all of the goodies that Grandma had out and the rest of us played some games.  I finally was able to get MJ to sleep around 11:00 and then the rest of us stayed up until the New Year.  We were able to Facetime DH just after midnight.

Trying out our new game called Headbanz.

Kid talk

I am not the type of parent that makes a big deal out of my kids staying up for New Year's Eve.  My feeling is that if they want to stay up, they are more than welcome to, there is no special age required for our kids.  Apparently Kitty does not remember/know why we stay up on New Year's Eve because when we were getting ready to play some games this year I asked Kitty if she was going to stay up and her response was, "What for?"

Happy New Year 2012!!

Saturday, December 31, 2011

My parents came over to our house for some New Year's Eve fun. We had a couple of tables set up so we could have more than one game going at a time. DH at one point started a puzzle downstairs too. We didn't take a lot of pictures this year. I'm just glad to I was feeling well enough to have some fun with everyone. (And can I just say that it is torture watching Dick Clark every year... Do you really think he enjoys doing the New Year's celebration still???)

Happy New Year 2011!!

My parents came over to spend New Year's Eve with us. We had a lot of fun playing games and eating goodies. This year we introduced the kids to the game Pit and everyone had a blast playing it. The best part of the game was when Blondie hit the bell indicating that she had won the game and the rest of us looked at each other in disbelief and asked to see her cards. She really had won! She couldn't quite hold all of the cards in her hand while she was playing so she would organize them face down in front of her in groups so she knew which pile she was trying to get and which ones she wanted to trade.

Happy New Year 2010!!

My parents came over on New Year's Eve to bring in the new year with us. All of the kids managed to stay up until midnight and we all had a lot of fun playing games!

Trying out M&M's new game, MouseTrap:
Playing Jenga:
Waiting for the ball to drop on T.V.:

Happy New Year 2009!

We had a fun new year's eve celebration at our home with my parents. The kids all stayed up playing games with us until midnight (with the exception of Baby K). The kids and I made some popcorn and fudge for the party and apparently I ate a little too much chocolate because Baby K had a little bit of an unhappy stomach the next day. M&M helped get her to sleep while I was busy making a potato dish for dinner at my parents' later that day.
It's nice having older kids around to help with the younger ones...

Happy New Year 2008!

My parents were able to come over and bring in the new year with us. The kids had fun playing games - the problem was keeping them all involved in a game since there is a wide range of ages. We ended up setting up a second table and having 2-3 games going at once. At one point I was playing two different games at the same time.

I tried to get Blondie & Kitty to bed before midnight but Blondie was in tears because she couldn't understand why she had to go to bed and M&M & Luke were allowed to stay up and play more games. She was also upset that she hadn't had a chance yet to play a game with Grandma S. So I brought Blondie back downstairs and when my mom heard that Blondie wanted to play a game with her, she took her to the other table and played one. After the game was over Blondie announced that she was tired and went upstairs to bed on her own. :) Kitty on the other hand didn't want to have anything to do with bed and ended up falling asleep in DH's arms about 10 minutes before midnight...

On New Year's Day we went over to my parents' house for a ham dinner with my parents & sister M & her boyfriend R. We also played a few games while we were there. I grew up in a family that played games all the time and it's starting to get fun now in our family since the kids are getting old enough to play more advanced games (it gets a little mundane having to play Candyland or Chutes & Ladders all the time). It was fun this New Years Eve to teach the kids a few new games and to take the time to sit and play with them. When I am caught up in the busyness of everyday life I don't take the time as much as I should to play games with my kids.