Happy New Year!

For this year's New Year's Eve, we wanted to be at home and just have a fun and relaxing time enjoying our kids and being together as a family. And that's exactly what we did! The night was perfect, absolutely fun, and full of laughter! We invited our friends, the Johnson family, over and just enjoyed being with each other's families. We started out eating pizza and some extras! Yummy!

And then, we got out the games to play...

There was fishing!

There was Jenga...

and building and stacking blocks!

Perfection!

Even Letty got to play her own game!

And, OF COURSE, the long-awaited battle had to occur to see who the ultimate Battleship champion would be. Mr. Nathan vs. Caleb!

Can you guess who won?

Maybe next time Caleb! You are only 7! (Does Nate know how to choose his competition or what? BUT, in all actuality, Caleb is VERY GOOD at playing the game!) :0)

Then, we had an ice cream break! Yum Yum Yummy!

Next up, hide and seek!

And then, we had to get out the balloons! What's a party without balloons...

...and noise makers!!!!

Here's Owen blowing his balloon up!

Then, the kids had to keep all of the balloons in the air not allowing one to touch the ground,





but soon the adults had to join in so it was an all-out battle from there!

After this, we played some made-up balloon games where the kids would have to find hidden balloons, and then they would take turns hiding the balloons while the others would try to find them, followed by a game of charades! I love how kids can be so creative and inventive! It seemed that all of the kids LOVED playing the made-up games over any of the store-bought games! Go figure!

And, apparently, it isn't New Year's Eve unless you have...

cheese from a can on chicken in a biskit.

Apparently, this is a Johnson family tradition that they have now introduced to us!

To end our night, we made our own New Year's parade...

...and had our own New Year's countdown (at 9:45ish PM, instead of at Midnight) and our own New Year's celebration complete with balloons, noisemakers, and confetti!

By the way, do you see Caleb to the right of the picture...he picked up ALL of the confetti that we all threw on the floor (even though we told him we would vacuum it up)!

THANK YOU SO MUCH, Caleb!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

"Years do not come to be counted; they come to count." ~Author Unknown

Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom. ~Psalm 90:12