Our New Year's Eve

Wow, I can't believe it was over two weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to posting about it!

New Year's Eve has never been my favorite. I can't tell you how many I've slept through only to wake up the next day and it was a new year even though I didn't stay awake to greet it. But...

it's important to all the other people in my house!


So a few years ago, I set out to make a bigger deal of it than I had been...which was nothing at all ;)

And you know what? It's become a favorite night for all of us! We start the evening with Todd's family recipe of paella. It was/is the meal his parents serve every New Year's Eve and he wanted to continue the tradition which is a win-win for me since I LOVE paella and I also LOVE when someone else cooks dinner! (The recipe I linked is not the one he uses but it's the closest I found. The nice thing about paella is you can toss in whatever meat you wish so our meat choices are different than the ones in this recipe).

Saffron is the key! It makes it that nice yellow color and tastes amazing!

After we eat, we play some board games. Santa added several new games to our stash this year and we couldn't wait to play them! Uno Attack and Scene It Harry Potter were the games of the evening and they were tons of fun!

Brandon kept getting the attack card that says you can't talk. He got it so often it was almost like a running joke!

Our desert for the evening is fondue. That has now become a tradition as well :) This year, because we are gluten-free, we made our own homemade angel food cake to serve with our chocolate. I was worried about how it would turn out using gluten-free flour but it was perfect!

Doesn't it look yummy?? It was perfect angel food cake! This is the recipe I used and just substituted my gluten-free flour blend in place of regular flour. We love Alton Brown! If you don't watch his cooking shows, you should :)


Fondue yumminess:

Kristen goes to a party thrown by a family we know well. I hate the thought of her out on New Year's Eve but it isn't far and she doesn't have to go on any main roads to get there so it works out nicely. They have a theme every year for fun and this year was "Bling in the New Year":

Doesn't she look blingy? Jon added his bling later...

I'm so proud of my gansta daughter and her gansta boyfriend! ;) Wait, that arm looks awfully bare...maybe I'll get her a tattoo for her birthday! ;) hehe They had a really good time :)

Meanwhile, here at home, everyone made it to ring in the New Year!

Megan could not take her eyes off the screen. She was watching that ball drop for the first time in her life and was so afraid she'd miss it! I love that I caught that moment.

It was great fun and a great way to start a brand new year!

The Birthdays

My birthday is in April and it was great! It started the week before my actual birthday with lunch with Russ and Judy. We had so much fun and the food was delicious! 

Russ and Judy, thank you for coming up to take me to lunch! We had a great time!

April isn't just my birthday though but tons of my extended family including my mom whose birthday is only a few days before mine! So we had another lunch when my dad came up to take me to his favorite restaurant for my birthday. Yes, you read that right...his favorite ;) Crackerbarrel is our tradition and I love that we go there on my birthday :)

My mom joined us and we celebrated both our birthdays at the same time. Efficiency at it's finest! I was able to capture some really sweet moments :

 My dad and Megan:

Missing from all these birthday pictures is Kristen. It stinks having a kid in college. She misses out on so much now that she doesn't get to enjoy the flexible home-schooly schedule any more. Rest assured though that she lavished me with birthday wishes and an adorable picture frame that I can't wait to fill! :)

It was a wonderful birthday :)

Thursday Night

Things have really picked up here schedule-wise. Having three kids all doing multiple things is causing me to be organized and I'm not sure I like it! ;) Kidding...but not about the must-be-organized part :) The icing on the cake was when my cellphone broke (finally) this week and I had to be without for a couple of days until I could go get another one! Running around and not having a cellphone to stay in touch or coordinate things isn't fun!

The boys started Upwards Flag Football last night and they had a blast! They have really been looking forward to this all summer. The closest church that offers it isn't very close to us but I got very lucky with their practices both being at the same time which was a tremendous blessing.

Nicholas' team did some drills then they scrimmaged! Fun!

Look at that determination! He actually threw a touch-down pass!

The cheerleaders ;)

Remember I said my old phone broke? Guess who inherited it??

Here she is "making a call". I also found out from my dear, sweet, patient friend, Jenny, who is one of Megan's teachers at co-op this session, that she is "texting" in class when she is supposed to be listening to the story! Sorry! I'm thinking the cellphone will stay in the car next week ;)

Brandon's group just did drills but he still had so much fun!

It was a very fun night! We are thankful to have such a wonderful program for our kids.

Cruising

Last Friday, we spent our family night on the lake! At least once during the summer, we take the boat to Buckeye Lake for a little evening cruise. We stop for pizza at Catfish Charlies then hit the water! So much fun!

At Catfish Charlies:

Safety first ;)

Todd has good boat helpers ;)

I LOVE going out on the boat. It's so very relaxing to me to be out there cruising around checking stuff out. I could spend the whole evening out there and am always disappointed when it's time to leave. (even though sometimes Todd drives me nuts with the whole zooming around at what feels like the speed of sound. the kids love that part ;))

Out came the fishing poles! They didn't get any bites but they were happy to have their poles in the water a bit. I think it might be time soon for a little fishing trip ;)

Megan was watching those poles closely ;)

We spent a little time back in the cove where they fish but then it was back to the open water (and zooming!).

I caught some flare in my picture!
Enjoying the water...and the company :)

Gorgeous!

Brandon got to steer us in to the boat ramp: