Ringing in the New Year

we have a New Year's tradition in that we go over to the Sevin's to celebrate New Year's Eve.  Brendan's brother and family also come so it is small party that does not lack any fun!  We made several trips over as we had lots of stuff to bring, they may have been afraid we were moving in!  Caden and Cora went over on trip #1, and when I came back with the 2nd load she was all dressed up in Charlotte's Tinkerbell outfit!  I think I like Tinkerbell so much because she wears green.

Kelly played Mother Goose for a bit before dinner.. the kids had real food.. the adults had apps and desserts.. the main event was a fry bar.. we fried french fries, mozzarella sticks, poppers, and Oreos!  the next morning we made donuts in the fryer.. no more fried food please!

After dinner we ventured outside for some fireworks and sparklers.. note to self practice taking pictures in the dark, I deleted every single one.

Poor Katrina!  Her growing baby is sucking all her energy away!

Mmmm.. Kelly was very busy making several flavors of homemade ice cream!  yummy! Sundaes all around... can you tell the theme of this event is food?

Oh Cole you are so silly!

To wind down the evening the kids watched a movie...

.. or just played

.. and then they had popcorn.. MMMmmmm

  

Somehow they actually all wound down and fell fast asleep almost instantly!  And when they woke up, it was a brand new year.  A fun night with fun friends! 

Happy New Year!

I'm not sharing the picture of Kelly and I sleeping at the stoke of midnight :)

Sledding and more sledding!

The blizzard didn't drop as much snow as I had hoped, but it did leave us enough for some sledding!  We started out in the yard with our little his made slightly bigger with a mound of snow at the top!

Caden is a dare devil when it comes to sledding he loves to go over jumps and to wipe-out.

This picture of Cole S. makes me laugh because I'm not sure that he could see!

Charlotte joins the boys this year on the hill.. Cora was napping this day.

Here Cole makes me laugh again... looks like Caden was taking a little too long for his liking!

Here he goes!  My speed racer...

Do you see the crazy eyes?!

Cole is our snow lounger... he likes to be in the middle of the track, much to the dismay of the other sledders.

Poor Charlotte, Caden and her were sledding with their sleds linked, they broke apart and Caden was pushing off to gain speed, meanwhile kicking up snow back in Charlotte's face!

 I think Cole S. had called it a day at this point! as he rammed his head repeatedly into the snowbank :)

 New Year's Eve Day we went to Mack's where we crashed the Sevin's playdate! (Thanks for letting us!) Here is a wide angle shot of all the boys going down the hill.. and of course Cole standing in the middle.

 Miss Cora assesses the situation ahead of her, she had sledded with Daddy on the front hill and was not a big fan.  I pulled her up the hill on a sled crying the whole way.. but once she went down once she was a in love!

The big kids

  

Here she is!  Biggest smile every time!

There's just something about when kids carry sleds on their head that I love!

Cora had it made!  She actually walked up the hill most of the way just about every time, getting carried only at the the top where it was a bit slippery and she kept falling.

 Crazy Caden after skidding to a stop

So serious!  With his tongue out in concentration.. probably not the best thing to do on these bumpy hills!  I've noticed that when Cora is concentrating on something she also has her tongue out.

Ah! My love for Charlotte's pigtails!  Some day Cora!  In the meantime maybe Kelly will let me do some french braids at her house...

Caden would bomb down the hill yelling "Oh Yeah.. Oh Yeah!"  kinda funny.

Cora in her big girl stance looking up the hill.. and now the snow is mushy and practically gone, at least where any sledding was going on.. we wait anxiously for the next storm!