We spent NYE at Michelle & Adam's. They have four girls between them and our other friends that also came have girls as well. There was one other boy other than Jubal & Gentry, but he was 13. A lot older than my boys. So, needless to say, my boys were outnumbered, but they had a blast.
I spent the earlier part of the day running around picking up the things I needed for punch and finger foods. It was always a tradition in my home growing up to have punch on NYE. I made sure to make it like my mama always made it, too. I looked all over the place for champagne flutes for the kids, but everywhere in our small town was sold out. Luckily, Kendra found some in her town and brought them with her.
It was seriously such a great time. My mama was able to go be with us, too, which made it even more special. We had ten kids, and 9 adults. Adam built a fire in the fire pit out back and the kids made S'mores. It was fun!
Jubal got a shiner not even 20 minutes after we got there. It was dark out already and he ran right into a post in the yard. Dead on. His little eye was swollen and started turning black right away. He cried for a few minutes, but went right back to playing. We had a few other incidents with the bigger kids getting hurt, too, but nothing major thankfully. They all played hard.
You can't really tell in the pictures, but it looked pretty bad in person. I felt so sorry for him. But, like I said, he went right back to playing after only a few tears.
We had sparklers for the kiddos, too. They were all running around the back yard with them, but Jubal chose to stand on the patio with his. He's a little more cautious than the bigger kids. I know we went through at least 10 boxes of sparklers. Fun fun!
By about 10:30, all of the kids were starting to get tired. Gentry usually goes down around 8:30, but there was just too much excitement. You can bet he was getting cranky, though, so we let the kids go ahead and make a toast to the new year with their "champagne". Jubal, of course, was right in the middle of it all. :)
Shouting "Happy New Year!!!"
Raising their glasses.
We took Mama home and made it home ourselves by 11:15. Gentry fell asleep in Larson's arms on the way to the car, and Jubal was ready to snuggle as soon as we got in the door. I swore I was going to stay awake until midnight this year, but my eyelids begged to differ. The last time I looked at the clock it was 11:34. Larson & I gave each other a kiss then because we knew we would never make it the last few minutes.
I had the best little time this year, though. I bet next year will be even more fun. I'm going to make the best out of it because I know one day they will want to spend NYE with their friends, not their parents. I just hope I give them special memories to hold on to just like my mama & daddy did for us.
Here's a little glimpse in pictures of our 2013. It's amazing how much the boys grew in a year.
Hope everyone has a great 2014!
Happy New Year!!!
