New Year's Eve

We haven't had a whole lot going on this month.  I sure enjoy January in Texas.  It's nice to take it easy, and get back into the routine of life after the craziness of December and the holidays.  The weather has been typical Texas - 65 degrees for a couple days, and 35 degrees the day after.  The warm days have been awesome, and we've utilized them by playing outside.  The cold days have also been enjoyed with hot chocolate and warm blankets.  It's been a good month to rejuvenate and relax a bit.

Before the month is completely over, though, I do want to blog our New Year's Eve.  We had such a fun night!  This is the first year of our married lives that we've actually done something for New Year's Eve.  Yah, we're party animals :)  This year I was planning out what I would make for dinner that night, and realized that it would be fun for the kids to have a party.  And, and much fun as parents are :), I didn't think that the four of us would constitute a party.  We had over our good friends, Holly and Joey, and their kids.  It was perfect - my kids adore theirs, and the grown ups get along pretty darn well too.  Or, at least Joey and Holly are good actors. :)  We had pizza and sparkling fruit drinks, deliciously decadent (and probably the reason for gaining a good five pounds) cheesecake, played board games and Rockband, and made some noise and wore some hats. 

They left at about 9pm, and we got our kids to bed.  I'm a little crazy about sleep.  I have a really hard time dealing with tired, cranky, whiny kids, so I hardly ever let them stay up late.  Oh, but the fun doesn't stop there!  When we do party, we go all out!

Okay, so maybe it's not all that, but it was perfect for us.  I like entertaining and having people over.  Dave doesn't enjoy parties too much.  He enjoys smaller settings with just a few people.  So, we compromised by inviting over Jonathan and Katie for a party.  My family has a tradition of having fondue on New Year's Eve, and it's one of my favorite traditions.  Something about being able to stick my fork in a pot without getting scolded was always exciting as a kid.  I also liked getting to choose the fondue fork with the coolest color on the end.  Simple pleasures. :) So, I made up a traditional swiss cheese fondue with yummy bread and veggies to dip.  We ate, played Rockband (our new addiction), then ended with chocolate fondue.  Yum! 

 

(We did actually get quite a few more pictures.  The sparkling cider must have been spiked or something, though :)  All the rest of them are not at all post-worthy!  Crazy faces, blurry shots, double chins.  Ahh!)

In salute to our boring selves, we didn't even watch the ball drop or anything.  But, we did have the exactly right kind of night for us.  Thanks you guys, for celebrating with us.  You made it a great evening, and a fun way to welcome in 2010!  Here's to a great year in store for us!

THREE snow falls in december?!

The Tuesday after Christmas, we had ANOTHER snow fall!  It sure was crazy, but a lot of fun.  The kids asked to go play in it after dinner.  I was sure they'd only last a few minutes, since it was dark and cold, but they toughed it out and we even built a snowman.  I think it's the first one either of them have ever built.  What a fun Christmas vacation!

Christmas!

Christmas day was great fun!  We enjoyed opening presents together, and having a nice relaxing morning.  The kids enjoyed getting gifts, but also enjoyed watching us open the ones from them.  We all had fun enjoying everyone's presents together.  We spent some time talking with my family via web cam, playing Beatles Rockband, Mario Kart, building Hot Wheels tracks, and playing dollhouse.  A fun morning.  We even had snow the night before, which is a first in 20 years or something like that.  The kids, on the way home, said, "Look!  It's Christmas!"

 

 

We made it over to Jonathan and Katie's at a leisurely pace, after scraping the ice off the windshield.  We had "brunch", which was more like lunch, but still tasty. :)  After that, we just continued on in enjoying the day in a very low-key way.  We have a tradition of Dave cooking Christmas dinner.  He barbecues up a bunch of different meat, and I make a few salads for side dishes.  It's a throw back to South African Christmas's he grew up with.  A very nice day!

Last of the Christmas Advent

Well, it looks like I'm back to playing catch-up. :)  Oh well!

Monday the 14th we had a special Christmas Family Home Evening.  We learned about the birth of the Savior, and talked about what we could do to be more like Him.  Tuesday, we read a few extra Christmas stories before bedtime.  I love reading, and I love reading to my kids.  The seem to really enjoy books, too.  Wednesday, we wrote letter to Santa.  Chris asked for cowboy boots, Mario Kart Wii, Lego Star Wars for the Wii, and dry erase markers.  Naomi asked for pink princess (her words :D), and a pencil.  She's easy to please!  Thursday was Christopher's Christmas program at preschool.  He did a great job singing all the songs, and doing the motions.  It was a lot of fun to watch him, and we were very proud of him.

  Friday the 18th... I can't remember!  All I know is that it wasn't what I had planned on.  I know it was something fun, but we didn't take pictures (surprise!), and I didn't write it down.  Oops!  This is why I shouldn't get behind!

Saturday we had a lot of fun going to an ice skating show.  It was really fun to watch.  Naomi was mesmerized the whole time by the spins and jumps.  We might have a future ice skater on our hands.  The best part (according to me, anyway) was that it was free.  We had a great time.  Sunday we watched a short video of the Nativity together as a family.  It's set to Amy Grant's "Breath of Heaven", and I love it.

The next Monday after that we did another Christmas Family Home Evening.  Tuesday we went to this really neat place, all set up for Christmas.  It's a fire safety town, with building all to kid scale.  They had a fire engine to drive, Santa, reindeer noses, story time, candy canes, and other fun things.  The kids had a great time at that, and the grown ups enjoyed the warm weather that night.  Wednesday we sat and snuggled with the lights on while reading books.  Thursday was Christmas Eve.  We went over to Jonathan and Katie's for some yummy food.  She made cornish pasties, which is something the guys had in South Africa, and yummy soup.  We did the usual Christmas Eve program, then brought the kids home to put out cookies and milk for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer.  The kids went to bed in their new Christmas pajamas that I made.  I did the jammy tops too, and I am kind of proud of myself for doing buttonholes for the first time.  It was something I had been nervous about, so it's nice to have conquered that one.

And, that's the end of the Advent we did this last year.  It was a lot of fun - a new tradition, I think!