Happy New Year!

Well, last night we had a wild and crazy New Year's Eve bash. True, there were only five of us, six if you count the dog, and one had to go to bed around 8pm. Still, I heard one guest exclaim, "Mom really knows how to throw a party!" LOL!

We kicked off the evening around 5pm by going out to eat at The Olive Garden. We had a gift card so it was the logical choice...that and it's my favorite. Don't my girlies look ready to party?

And here is Mary Evelyn totally ready to enjoy her dinner. It was a lovely meal unless you count Betsie being whiney through most of it. So we choose NOT to count that!

We got back home just before 7:00. The next hour was for crafts and play dough. We did sand art (from an activity we never got around to when studying the desert!). We also read the pieces of paper we had put into our blessing jar for 2007. This was pretty neat and we agreed that we need to add more in 2008!

No pictures from the 8 o'clock hour. I read aloud to them during that time while Jason got Betsie to bed. We are reading These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder. They also got to enjoy a chocolate milkshake while I read.

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At 9:00, we stopped reading and pulled out the party games; 2007 pictionary and Twister. For pictionary, I just wrote down a bunch of things that would remind us of 2007 and we took turns drawing and guessing what they were. I was not allowed to guess since I knew the answers. Below, Rachel is drawing "rollerskating." For the record, I did participate in Twister, but somebody has to be the photographer.

At ten o'clock we sat down to watch Ratatouille and eat some popcorn. No pictures from that. Cute movie.

When the movie was over, there were only 8 minutes left in 2007. We headed outside and lit our sparklers, counted down the New Year, then came inside and went to bed. It was a special night and we are excited to see what blessings will come in 2008.

Happy New Year to all of you!