Happy New Year's Eve!

Going out on New Year's isn't really realistic for us at this point. We would have to find a babysitter, pay her, pay the inflated holiday prices to go out, and then figure out safe transportation home when we don't live near any place that has New Year's festivities. So we stayed home. This year I did activities in the form of "New Year's Crackers". They had times to be opened on them. I made them from a kit and they went really well except I taped the poppers and they didn't always stick to the cracker. Next time I would glue them with super glue. All the kids loved the pop and it was fun.

We started out getting glow sticks. Joshua got a glowing sword that he really liked and the girls got necklaces and everyone got bracelets.

Then we moved on to dinner. As we normally do, we had appetizers and fondue for dinner and the kids got sparkling cider all night.

Then we decorated our "New Year's Tree". In preparation for this, Jason had taken the Christmas ornaments off already and I made photo ornaments of many of the things that happened this year. We then hung them on the tree. The kids don't necessarily enjoy reminiscing as much as I do, but I like this activity a lot and I think we'll do it again in the future. I made about 100 ornaments so it did take awhile to find the photos, order them, and then cut them, but I found it worth it.

Next we played a game. We have a few the kids like at this point, but we went with the cube game. The kids throw the cube (taking turns) and then we read a card of the corresponding color and they do whatever it says. They think the cards are fun. They say things like "clap 10 times" or "make a sad face" or "quack like a duck", so things they are excited to do. After the game, we ate dessert and watched The Jungle Book. Disney is kind of hit or miss because some of their movies are really pretty scary, especially the older ones. Like I can't imagine showing my kids Snow White and they made me turn off Peter Pan within ten minutes because the dad is so mean and then Captain Hook almost immediately shoots (!!) a guy. But The Jungle Book went well and has catchy music. It isn't my favorite Disney movie by a long shot, but it was enjoyable.

After the movie, it was time to celebrate the new year. We had a mini dance party, which Clara especially loved, but they all loved the music Jason had bought one year and the mini disco ball.

After the dancing, it was time to count down and say "Happy New Year!". The kids had a fun night and stayed up a little bit late. We put them to bed and then stayed up to ring in the new year.

NOTE: We will soon be posting our Top 10 posts of the year as well as the Awards and Stats post.  Following that, we'll post the invite to next year's blog.  Stay tuned to this blog for now!