New Years

New years is usually a big let down holiday.  But for some reason this year I had so much fun! Actually-I know why- here's what happened.  Paul got invited to a party with a family in the ward, and Kyle and Ellie also got invited to a friends house.  Gabe fell asleep about 6:00pm and slept till about 11pm so Darren and I were home alone from 6 -11!  But that's not why I had a great New Years.  We had a great time hanging out and watched a Redbox- but I was so lonely!  I couldn't wait for my kids to get home.  I want to spent a holiday with my kids! So when I got a text from my friend saying, "Ellie and Kyle want to come home before midnight.  They said you have a tradition of banging pots and pans outside and they don't want to miss it."  It made me so happy! Family traditions are where it's at.  I remember as a kid doing the same thing.  So I went and got the kids, and then Gabe woke up and we let him stay up.  We had so much fun at midnight running around banging pots and pans yelling "Happy New Year!"  Gabe was in a daze wondering what in the world was going on.   I was so thankful to have my kids home.  That's why I had a great New Years.  We were together.

Then we took a bunch of selfies, and Darren and I kissed.  I love Darren so much.  Then I kissed all my kids to make sure I was the first one to kiss them this year.  I felt so happy just being with my husband and children. 

Oh yea! The true signs of an awesome family party!

Gabe kept trying to throw the pops but couldn't throw them hard enough to get them to pop.  So I pulled out this cookie sheet and gave his this wooded thing and let him have at it.  He loved it! But he kept saying that he wanted to go outside and say, "Happy New Year!" again.  That was his favorite part of the night.  My older kids begged to try and stay up ALL night.  I thought about it- hmm, kids sleeping all the next day? Sure.  I said OK- just be quiet and don't wake me up.  I ended up going to bed around 1 or so with Darren and Gabe.  When I woke up the next morning at 8:30am Ellie and Kyle were still awake!! They had an entire night of uninterrupted Mine-craft and Xbox games!  Ellie was soo happy she had stayed up the entire night!! Kyle had fallen asleep from 4-6 am.  And Paul figured that staying up all night was stupid and went to bed around 3.  I told all my kids to go to sleep! So they went to bed and slept till about noon.  Not bad- but I thought they would sleep longer.  But the next night they all slept like 12 hours!  I guess they had a great time!