Christmas break and New Years Eve

I think I mentioned this last year but New Years is steadily moving up on the list of most enjoyed holidays.  We started celebrating with a countdown at 9:00. I picked some new minute to win it type games and had them in envelopes.  Jared and Lydia took turns opening one each half hour.  At 12:00 we went outside for our silly string fight and toasted the New Year with our first bottle of sparkling cider.  This years games were:

 Marshmallow Toss, Cotton ball Transfer, Straws and M & M's, Categories (with the spray bottle), Candy in the flour and Penny stack.  I also had some New Years Mad Libs, BINGO cards, and 2017 fill in pages ready for Jared and Lydia. It was a fun morning and went by super fast! I remember my family celebrating New Years with the Rose Parade, football and lots of snacks.  One snack I always looked forward to was queso.  It was one of my favorite things up until about 5 years ago.  Now I eat it and still like it but don't love it like I once did.  I did make some for tradition sake and ma glad I did.

This did not end well for Lydia.  She made the candy fall so had to fish it out and sadly took a deep breath when her face was right by the flour.  Flour is quite light and she inhaled a good mouthful.  Poor girl was not amused.

Lydia was quite adamant that she did not want to have any silly string sprayed on her so she was more of an observer.  She enjoyed spraying her silly string on a tree by us.  Awhile later we had friends come over for our winter picnic.  We were lucky in that it wasn't exactly warm out but it was around 50 degrees so it was pretty pleasant by the fire.  After our picnic complete with "summer" type games we went in to get our fondue ready. We had a really great selection of items to dip in the Fondue this year.  We got everything ready and then the adults sort of looked at each other and one person suggested we eat without the kids which I thought was brilliant so the adults enjoyed some delicious uncontaminated fondue.  After a little while Lydia came up from the basement to see if the fondue was ready and came to join us.  At first she started turning around to go and tell the other kids it was ready but we persuaded her to come eat some with us.  Eventually we had the other kids join us and they enjoyed dipping and eating.

After fondue we headed down to the basement for our New Years Glow dance party which was a hit.  We love getting the light up balloons and rocking out.  We played a few rounds of not letting the ballon hit the ground and then headed up for a New Years Toast with more sparkling cider.  We are looking forward to lots of great memories in 2017.

While we were out of school we drove up to Harrisonburg one day. We stopped by Hobby Lobby and then headed to Funky's for some Roller Skating. Man I love roller skating!  I am so grateful I married such a good sport.  Mark was such a trooper and Jared and Lydia seemed to have a great time.  I'm glad we could head up.  Roller skating and Hobby Lobby is definitely a good time for me.

We also went over to Monticello one day. Mark had been given 3 free passes + himself while attending a tour for Social Study teachers and they expired on December 31.  I think he got them back in March?  Both Mark and I had been in the house (Mark has gone at least 3 times and I don't think he has paid once!) but Jared and Lydia had not. We had a great tour guide and really nice weather.  It was fun to go and see it with Jared and Lydia.  They did a great job in the house.  We stopped and played in the discovery museum for a bit before our tour and checked out the displays under the house.  Jared was fascinated to look at a nickel and then look up at Monticello.  I am not sure Lydia loved it but she also didn't complain at all.

We have some fun things coming up in 2017.  Lydia will start Kindergarten.  Jared will be baptized and for my 35th birthday we will be heading up to NYC to check out the Macy's Thanksgiving parade or at least the balloon illumination the night before.  I have wanted to go ever since I was a little girl and 35 seems like a great year to make it happen. I am slightly torn because I for sure went to see the parade but all the lights/decoration won't be up and NYC at Christmas time seems pretty festive but there is always next year.  My Mom is coming out to visit and will be here for Lydia's birthday which will be fun. Its' a party year for her, her first official party with friends (and Jared too since he is turning 8) and she has been talking about a penguin party for months so we need to start planning that.

Mark and I have talked about different goals for our family besides personal ones and 2 of them were to have him and Jared study the scriptures together before school to help him get in the habit and prepare for baptism and to make our FHE's more meaningful.  Jared's birthday is in October so I am looking forward to seeing how it plays out all year.  So far they have done great and its nice to have them both up and ready by by 6:50 so our mornings aren't as rushed. I hate cutting out any sleep for Jared but know this will be good for him and Mark.  Talking about these goals was kind of funny.  They were both things I really wanted to happen but don't really have the time to do. My evenings are pretty filled up. I am most likely going to keep working at Kohls, I have gospel doctrine to prepare (although I have it on good authority a 2nd teacher is getting sustained Sunday, Happy day!!) and preschool to plan so that leaves very little spare time.  As I mentioned, I am very blessed to have married such a good sport and someone who is willing to fulfill goals for me!!

Cheers to 2017!