Shakespear Shuffle

Bringing in the New Year

Happy New Year 2014!!!

We are starting some new traditions this year with New Years.  I love having traditions with the kids.  I want to give them fun things to look forward to on the holidays but I only like doing things that are really simple & don't take a lot of craftiness & organization from this Momma.  So I think we've found some good traditions that will fit our family.

My sister in law found a cute idea on (of course) Pinterest.  The gist of the thing is to have a different activity planned for your kids leading up to midnight on New Year's Eve.  Of course our "midnight" was 7:30 & bed time was 8pm.  Heck I don't even make it to midnight anymore!  Every 30 to 60 minutes you pop a balloon & find out what the next event will be. (Yes I know my writing is upside down on the balloons-oops!)

1st balloon was to help Daddy build a fire in the fireplace to get all cozy.

Ahhhhh...

2nd balloon was roasting hot dogs in the fireplace for dinner.

3rd balloon was making noise makers.  We colored paper plates, stuffed them with lentil beans, folded & taped them together.

4th balloon was making a special treat - cookie & ice cream sandwiches

The 5th balloon said to play a game.  I saw another idea somewhere else where everyone writes down 3 favorite things that happened in the year & 1 least favorite thing.  So we all wrote or drew pictures & then went around taking turns telling everyone else.  We all had to guess if it was a favorite or least favorite.  That was actually a lot of fun & the kids really got into it. Some of our favorites are: school, swim lessons, jump house, going to the beach, living in a small town, having Thursdays off of work, going to the Cheese factory, going to the Great Wolf Lodge, riding a scooter, Christmas & having more time to read (that was Hyrum).  Our dislikes included: going for walks without riding something, paying expensive rent, hitting other kids (ahem, Justin), going on long trips, playing "boy" stuff (ahem, Emma) & being cold.

The 6th & final balloon of the night was a balloon drop from the ceiling & a rowdy & crazy dance & noise making party!  Whew!

For New Years Day we hosted the 1st ever Shakespear Family Olympic Games.  Hopefully we will have one each year.  The first event was donut eating on a string.  That was the tastiest event by far.

The second event was an obstacle course.  We asked Hyrum to make it out of these panel things they got for Christmas & he came up with a great idea.  There were two mazes (one was filled with balloons) & the kids had to army crawl through them, jump over two sets of stairs & then go down the slide.  They each did it several times trying to beat their own score.

Notice that trundle bed in the corner?  A super nice couple in our ward just gave that to us with the mattresses-they got it from a neighbor who was moving!  Jeremy & I have been having the bunk bed verses trundle bed discussion for years.  I'm grateful they made the decision for us because we may never have decided otherwise!  We tend to talk about things for years before deciding.  We talked about a flat screen, my sewing machine, a food processor etc. etc. etc. for years before getting them! We've been talking about getting Netflix for 8 years & we still haven't gotten it.  Hmmmm...does anyone else do this or are we just weird?

Cheese!

3rd event was the 3-legged race

4th event was the ever popular pillow case hop.  Although Hunter & Hyrum basically ran - there wasn't much hopping going on there.

The 5th & final event was apple bobbing

Everyone got a unique award & they were presented with their medals at the close of the ceremony.

Shakespear's brought home the gold!!!

 

 

We went to get $1 ice cream cones from the Candy man after lunch & walked along the Promenade in Seaside.  On every holiday this year we've been able to play outside & we always end up at the beach.  I don't think this is normal winter weather around here but we will take it while it lasts!

Here are some pictures from in between Christmas & New Years

Hunter genuinely loves babies & babies love him back.  All I have to say is that whoever his wife will be is going to be one lucky gal.

We went to a Nature Center in Hillsboro with Brigg & Hava.  We will have to go back.  The Nature Center is one of the things we miss most from Springfield.

 

Dallen & Vincent enjoyed sharing a stroller

 

My little super hero & his books

Ta da! Our newest member of the family.  2nd car paid for in cash. Jeremy test drove lots of cars but decided to stay true to the Honda family.  This used baby is one nice ride!  I was talking to my Dad & we realized between them, my brothers & us we had 8 Honda's in our family.  And nothing else.  Now I'm hoping that we won't have to buy any more cars for a very long time!