Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year!

Are you overloaded with photos this week?  I think I've posted more photos related to my family this week then I have all year but with all of the fun celebrations, how can I not share? 

Yes, today, when you read this, it will be New Year's Day but I wanted to share our New Year's Eve Traditions and activities.

First up, today was a really nice day - it was fairly warm and the sun even peeked through the clouds.  The forecast on the horizon (Like for TODAY) is a pretty big storm coming in and bringing with it some arctic temps so we took advantage of the weather and headed outside to play take down the Christmas lights, roll up the hoses, clean out the truck and . . well. . play a little too!


 Even China the dog was enjoying the lack of snow and some play time outside.

 The boys enjoyed getting out all of their "trucks" and lining them up.
 The boys helping out Darryl put away the last of the summer things that hadn't been put away yet.

The boys begged to go for a ride in the stroller so once we were done working, we took a walk around the block and we were all cold by the time we got home!


We also played with some new toys - since we finished undecorating yesterday, I was able to put together Josh's last gift he got for Christmas.
 Papa and Nana got him this great art desk.  The best thing is that it has a light and discs that shine down on the paper so he can trace out shapes to draw and yes, he has already done it.  (Granted what he draws doesn't look like the shape but . . he's trying!)  Both boys love sitting on that little stool and drawing.  Nate also got a little desk that the boys enjoy too :-)

Then, one of the things on my wish list was a new Video Recorder.  The one we have had for about 3 years has given us some trouble including errors on disc's causing the loss of several months of video.  So, we did a little looking and then ran up to Walmart today to pick up this little cute thing:

It is so cute and small and it works like a dream!  The reviews were fantastic and it was on sale which made it perfect!  I'm so looking forward to taking more videos and even being able to share videos too! 

I don't have any other pictures of our evening but, we added a new tradition to our evening - Meatball Subs for dinner!  This happened quite by accident.  I had leftover frozen meatballs from a few weeks ago so I decided to try a recipe for Meatball subs.  Well, they were a hit so I've made a note to cook them next year for dinner :-)  After dinner, the kids pretty much begged for baths and bed (seriously, Nate was stripping off his clothes and trying to pull of his diaper saying "bath, please mama?" HA)  They went to bed and Darryl and I just relax.  We actually rented a movie  (a tradition from years past) but never watched it - we watched the Dick Clark Rocken' Eve Special instead.  We did have our typical snack fest though :-) 

We tend to be home bodies on New Year's Eve - when it doesn't fall on the weekend, Darryl has to work anyway (and I always did until I was able to stay home!) so he's usually pretty tired by the time 9:00 hits!!  We do stay up until Mid-night though :-) 

As far as plans on New Years Day - this year, we'll be watching football :-)  Otherwise, we'll just be low key. 

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year and I look forward to some wonderful things this year!  I will be posting my Theme word soon too!