Happy New Year

Every year as New Year's Eve approaches I decide I'd really like to have a party. To do something, anything, fun to celebrate. Every year we end up not really doing anything.  This year our kids were old enough to try to celebrate with them.  So we planned our own little family party.

New Year's Eve day our neighbor across the street, whom we met at church, invited us to their party that evening. The couple have six kids but can't be much older than we are.
 They had one other family over...a family from the ward (the Jones').
There was Little Caesar's pizza and tons of snacks! We brought apple juice and chips with dip but our chips were not needed.
Between our three families there were tons of children playing, chattering and moving around the house!

From 6 to like 7:30pm we were there and it was a bunch of fun. It was freezing outside! Walking just from our house across the street in our coats was so cold! When we left the party there was a light snow fall coming down. 

For our own party we moved the three little mattresses we sleep on into the living room making one big bed. We got into our pjs and pulled out the snacks. We watched Monster Vs Aliens together. Ty fell asleep not too long after his bedtime. Sterling and I fell asleep maybe just after 11pm. And Luke was awake past midnight watching movies. We are all so predictable.

I woke up shortly after midnight and made Luke go to bed. He complained...wanting to stay up watching tv until dawn (probably).

It was a ton of fun! The next day, New Year's day started out fun. I cleaned the house and we had a family from the ward come over for a play date. The whole family came; mom, dad, two little boys and a new baby boy. They left around lunch time. Sterling had been working on cleaning the fireplace in preparation for painting it so we can reinstall it into our downstairs. We're not sure if it was the cleaning or something he ate the night before...by lunch time he was sick. The whole rest of the day he was so sick!!! Poor guy.  I could not do much for him.

January 2 turned out to be the first day of school after the Winter Break. Odd that it started on a Thursday. The school is in our neighborhood not far from our house. If the weather is nice it's a good walk. While Sterling was at work I took my little boys to the school to register Luke.

Valley View Elementary...It seems like a nice school. When I was in the office registering Lachoneus the principle came out and offered to give me a tour of the school. After the paperwork was filled out the boys and I went with the principle to the library, gym, cafeteria, music room and then Luke's kindergarten room. Everyone was so friendly and the principle kept interrupting everyone where we went, introducing Luke to them.

In the Kindergarten room of Ms Richards there were a lot of kids! They all gave Luke a united happy welcome encouraged by his teacher. I am really happy with the school and people so far.

He did not start school that day. We went home for a snack then to the mall to meet up with some friends. My friend Brenda brought her two sons and we hung out at the kid play area of the mall. We get together about once a week to catch up and let our boys play together. They are first friends we made here and the boys all love playing together.

We ate lunch at the court yard, potty break and then said goodbye. 

I took the boys with me shopping even though I was tired. We don't live by the shopping areas so I wanted to get all our errands done in one trip.
We went to Michael's craft and then walmart. I had a lot of fun but the boys, so hyper as usual, made it kind of difficult.

Sterling was getting over being sick but did go to work that day. He was home and had some alone time before we came home that afternoon.
Then we all went out for a trip to Cabela's to use that gift card we got for Christmas from Sterling's brother Jon. We bought the Wii game Big Game Hunting and flashlights for all of us. The little boys got Cars themed head lights. Ster and I got some awesome little lights...mine for my keychain so I can always have a flashlight with me when I'm in the car.

Sterling was feeling much better. We relaxed and watched a show while the boys played with their new head lights. 


We have scheduled Athena's induction for January 15. I wanted it to be the 14th but Sterling has an all day work meeting that day.

2013 was a crazy year. Moving from Italy in July. Being separated from Sterling August-December. Not having a home or most of our belongings while staying with family. Moving to South Dakota. Finding a house to buy. Preparing for the birth of Athena. Christmas without decorations or furniture.
We loved living in Italy. We loved coming back to America to visit our families! And so far we really like the area of South Dakota we are in. We really like our house and are excited to close on it.

2014 should be a year of getting settled down. Luke starting Kindergarten... all day Kindergarten! Athena joining the world. Ty learning to be a big brother and helpful to mommy. Settling in our new home, making friends, setting a routine and schedule for ourselves.  It should be an amazing year.