New Year's Eve!

***This post is very picture heavy so I've tried to make it not word heavy.  If you have any questions about any of this, I'm happy to answer them.  

New Year's Eve.  It has become one of our family's favorite holidays!  We started this idea that was shared by a friend on the FIAR boards some years ago and have continued it ever since.  We have bags to count down the hours  until midnight.  Each bag has a poem and something inside that goes with the activity for that hour. 

 We started with making noisemakers.  Just something simple - paper plates, markers and some beans to go inside.
 
 I kept this activity mainly for Eliana, but it was nice that the older siblings and friends joined in too.

Here are some of the fun designs!

 The 3rd bag held some ingredients for dinner.  A taco bar.  Yum!

The 4th bag is a huge hit every year - silly string war!  I bought more this year and it still went quickly.

 I think the pictures of the string hanging in the air are fun!

 5th bag had a movie.  Some silliness going on before the movie as Eliana enjoys hanging out with her buddy Dillon.

 Rebecca and Hanna have enjoyed celebrating this event many times together.

Our movie this year was Space Jam which was a fun one.

 6th bag - Minute to win it type games.  The first game had partners -  one to be still and the other to cover his/her head with shaving cream.

 We had some really good sports!

 And then the team mate would toss as many cheetos onto his partner's head as possible.

 It was really quite funny!

 So many fun pictures that it was hard to narrow it down.

 We played this for several rounds - see the Cheeto in the air in this one?

 I hope nobody minds these pictures.  It really was fun.

 I love hanging out with my family and friends on this night - celebrating the year past and looking forward to the one coming.

 And laughing.  Lots of laughing.

 For those that know Daniel, he has come a long way in being willing to do something like this!

 Sweet friends!

 The next game was to see if you could bounce 8 balls into a cup in less than a minute.

 This was a fun one because everyone could do it.

 We played several rounds of this one - everyone having as many turns as they wanted.

 Its a great one to add if you have a wide level of skill and abilities in your group.

 Even Eliana liked trying this one though she resorted to just dropping the balls in the cups.

 Next game was to tie a kleenex box to the back of your waist, filled with 8 ping pong balls.  And try to get them all out in less than a minute.

We had jumping.

                                                                         Shaking.

 Standing on your hands was by far the fastest method!

Eliana did  pretty well just by bending in half.  (Can I say that I just love seeing her participate!)

 7th bag - and no photos.  We have questions that everyone takes time to write an answer to.  It might be nice to provide the questions in advance so people can think about them.  Most are reflective.  Things like favorite book you have read this year.  Or favorite movie.  Favorite accomplishment.  Something you would like to do next year.  Things like that.  After all have written their answers, we read the answers question by question and try to guess who wrote it down.  I really like this one!

8th bag - Again no photos.  We each take a slip of paper and write down a prayer request.  Then we each take a slip of paper and go around in a circle and pray for each others' requests.  This too is one of the parts that I love.  I love ending the old year and welcoming the new in prayer.

9th bag - Bubbly drinks to toast the NewYear.  We typically watch the ball drop on tv too.

And take group photos.

 Happy 2014!

 We had a last bag.  It was scheduled for earlier, but we ran out of time.  We really could do fun things all day long I think!  This one is also a fun tradition - decorating gingerbread men.  My sweet friend, Rebecca, made some yummy gluten free ones for us to enjoy.

 Lots of fun creating and nibbling on the m&ms too.

 Tried to get Eliana to use some frosting, but she wasn't interested.

She did love taking photos though!  She really does get some great shots because typically people are willing to smile for her.  :-)

 Looking up pictures to get their figures just right!

 We don't decorate cookies at Christmas often and I love that we have this time to enjoy it!

 Hobbit was a big theme with alot of the cookies this year.

 From the dwarves - can you identity them all?  (Can you see the axe blade in one of them?  LOL)

 Bilbo Baggins

 Bilbo again, Eye of Sauron, 2 dwarves and a gingerbread man.

 Love the intensity that the all put into their creations.

 Eliana having fun hanging out with her friend Emily.  (We loved having you join us this year and hope you will do it again!)

 Had to get one last shot with Gandalf in the mix.

We had a great time ringing in the new year and hope that you did too!

Blessings
Leslie

A glimpse of Christmas at our house!

Wanted to share some Christmas photos with you.  I'm catching up here - truly I am.  :)

On Christmas Eve we headed to church which again this year was held at the DPAC (Durham Performing Arts Center).  It was a wonderful celebration in song, testimony and message about Jesus who came to save us all!

One picture of a couple of mine inside.  Nobody really wanted to be photographed this year.  Not sure why.  LOL

Heading home by mid-afternoon.  There were 5 services this year (2 on the 23rd and 3 on the 24th).

While everyone was ready, it was time for a photo.  I liked this one best as it was a real smile from Eliana and not a forced one.  

One of our whole family - we should have been silly to get better smiles I think.

We tend to do our fancier meal on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas day.  Ham, sweet potatoes, cranberry relish were some of our foods.

We open one gift on Christmas Eve - new pajamas.

I try to find things that they will like (Joshua is a Batman fan) or that fits their style.

My two beauties.

We start Christmas morning upstairs by reading the Christmas story all together.  Then we head downstairs - photo on the steps - and open our stockings.

Stockings contain small food items, personal care, and a few fun things too.

Our breakfast is a traditional meal that we all call Christmas casserole - the egg, cheese, sausage one that many of you have had.  And juice which is a treat in our family.

After eating, we open gifts.  This takes awhile in our home as we do it one at a time and enjoy them.  Is this a look of pure delight or what?!

My children all really enjoy giving gifts to each other too.

Christopher wanted disc golf and the younger boys all went in to get him some.

Rebecca found a fun new game for Christopher.  (More soon on some new games our family has been enjoying!)

This present made us all laugh.  The bag was so big that Eliana climbed completely inside so that we could see none of her.  She then made her way out with her gift.

Christopher gave the boys Minecraft which they have all loved!

Lunch is mostly appetizer types of foods which we can snack on all day - summer sausage, cheese, crackers, fruit, devilled eggs, sausage balls veggies and hummus and pigs in blankets.

Eliana loves opening gifts and it is so much fun to watch her as she tosses paper to her left and right, little bits at a time.  (And as my sweet friend Hollie pointed out - note the leg art from her new marker set.)

Joshua was given lots of different comic books this year (he is a collector) which he loved.

Daniel is the Lego collector.  Hobbit was a fun new theme this year.

We took time out to play some of our new games  - Say Anything.

Eliana got a cupcake game.  So cute!

Can you guess who gave this to Rebecca?

Just a sweet photo!

Our birthday cake for Jesus was cupcakes this year.  So thankful for Him - the best gift ever!

Christopher also gave his brothers this basketball hoop.  Love seeing him play with Eliana!

I think I take a lot of photos of the two of them playing.

My Mom came to visit the day after Christmas.

Playing more new games - Operation.

And Elefun.

Eliana got a new doll and she is trying to feed her with my new spatula/spoon.

I got a new camera and while I was taking photos with it, Eliana used this one to take her own pictures.  She LOVES to take pictures.  Wondering if this may be a bigger role in her future.

Picture of Nana with six of her grandchildren.  So thankful she was able to come visit with us and wish my Dad could have been here too!

WE had a wonderful CHristmas season.  We all stayed healthy which was a  blessing too!  Thankful to have a loving God who sent His one and only Son to be the Savior of the World!

Blessings to all of you!
Leslie