New Year's Eve 2011

The Plan:

Our friends offered to let us use their cottage for New Year's Eve. Nick and I love the cottage, and decided to take the kids for the first time. We expected enthusiasm. We didn't get it. The older boys wanted to know if they had cable, GracieGirl said that she didn't want to go, and E agreed with his siblings, for once.

We didn't care; we were going, and that was that.

Then Nate got sick, a very rare occurrence. Then E had an asthma flare. I also had some health issues going on, and we realized that it just wasn't going to happen.

Sigh.

So...we did a repeat of last year, with a few changes. We made our noisemakers, and instead of pizza, we made nachos, which were an easy gluten-free meal. I originally got the New Year's Eve idea from Leslie at Joyful Mother of Six Children, and well, I also borrowed the nachos idea from her! She had mentioned that her son had a nacho contest for his birthday, and I loved the idea. So we set out a crazy amount of toppings and each person went to work creating their nachos!

We had:

ground beef with taco seasoning
two kinds of sausage
bacon
caramelized onions
refried beans
corn
salsa
black olives
shredded cheese
sour cream
hot sauce
jalapenos
lettuce
tomatoes
Three kinds of tortilla chips

The kids loved it because I don't eat olives, but I wanted to win, so I piled not only olives, but also jalapenos and hot sauce on my nachos! They couldn't stop laughing, and they laughed even harder when I actually ate them!

I think this one was Nick's:

Here are a few others:

This was GracieGirl's, who thought that she
just had to pile everything into her bowl,
not realizing that she was supposed to
actually eat it, too!



I'm not sure what happened with this one!
I think it was E's!


At any rate, we were so busy eating the nachos
that we never voted on them!

Awhile later, some friends stopped by
and did some serious sundae building:

I have no idea why Jay
has a wrapped Tootsie Pop in his mouth!



E with his friends!

We also asked questions like we did last year. Here are this year's responses:


Nate (13):

Favorite book of the year: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Favorite place you went this year: Creation

Some things you're thankful for: God, family, friends, scooter, iPod

Some things you learned this year: How to install ICS, how to do a 360 and a bar spin, how to not hang out with the wrong crowd.

One place you'd like to go next year: Woodward Scooter Camp

Favorite Movie: Transformers

Favorite things you did this year: Making new friends and scootering


Jay (11):

Favorite book of the year: Little Pilgrim's Progress

Favorite place you went this year: Chinese Buffet Restaurant

Some things you're thankful for: God, family, friends, 3DS, scooter

Something you learned this year: Not to kick Nate

One place you'd like to go next year: Japanese Cartoon Convention (Pokemon)

Favorite Movie: Muppets

Favorite thing you did this year: Went to the Chinese Buffet with Daddy


GracieGirl (6):

Favorite book of the year: No Room at the Inn: The Nativity Story

Favorite place you went this year: School

One thing you're thankful for: Everyone

Something you learned this year: "You teached me the clocks and how to tell time."

One place you'd like to go next year: Indoor Inflatables Park, then Wal-mart

Favorite Movies: Muppets and Rio

Favorite things you did this year: Spending time with my family and going to Wal-mart for a toy


E (5):

Favorite book of the year: Putting the Little Brother in the Bubble (Nate got a science book for Christmas and was particularly interested in the experiment about encasing a little brother in a giant bubble. E apparently thinks this is a good idea.)

Favorite place you went this year: Skate Park

Some things you're thankful for: Lego, God, Jay, Nate, GracieGirl, Mommy & Daddy, and everything.

Something you learned this year: I did learn something. I learned I want to be a comedian.

One place you'd like to go next year: Skate Park

Favorite Movie: Muppets

Favorite thing you did this year: Went to the skate park


Nick and I also answered the questions this year, although we got interrupted (surprise, surprise!) before we could finish all of them.

Nick:

Favorite book of the year: Kisses From Katie

Favorite place you went this year: Creation

Something you learned this year: Finishing a sentence is overrated

Places you'd like to go next year: Creation and an indoor water park

Favorite Movie: The Blind Side


Me:

Favorite book of the year: Kisses From Katie

Favorite place you went this year: "Did I go anywhere this year?"

Favorite Movie: Buddy the Elf, because I slept through the others I tried to watch!

Favorite things you did this year: "Did I do anything this year?"

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Next, we popped popcorn, which no one ate, and watched Buddy the Elf. In spite of the fact that the kids have watched this movie at least 27 times in the past month, I'd never seen it. I actually watched the entire movie and stayed awake during it. Definitely a New Year's miracle...

Nate and E, who still weren't feeling well, fell asleep, so Nick, Jay, GracieGirl, and I welcomed in the New Year by stepping outside and shaking our homemade noisemakers.

It didn't work out as we'd planned, but we really had fun, and that's what's important.

Happy New Year!

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