New Year's Eve

Happy New Year!  If I were the type of person to set New Year's resolutions I would probably make a goal to blog once a week.  In my mind that's how often I do it but it's funny that it never happens that way.  My intentions are good but my execution is terrible.  Sadly this applies to nearly every aspect of my life.  I think my unofficial goal for 2019 {if I don't make it official I don't have to feel like a failure when it doesn't happen and yes, I know that is a very flawed way of thinking} is to stop feeling so overwhelmed.  If I let myself I could have a panic attack thinking of all the things I have to get done, all the things I'd like to get done, and the small amount of things I actually get done each day.  A life coach would tell me overwhelm is just a feeling and I get to choose my feelings.  So 2019 is the year I'm choosing not to feel overwhelmed!  There I made a goal.  Sort of. 
We rang in the new year with our traditional New Year's Eve party.  It was fun and much less stressful for me as I realized that everyone is so happy we have this party and they always have a great time that I lowered the bar on the party prep this year.  However, Randy significantly upped his game, thanks to the convenience of Amazon.  He ordered a big plastic ball and lights which he strung on the flag pole for our midnight ball drop.  He thought I'd be annoyed with it but I thought it was hilarious {and only a little annoying because it wasn't cheap}!  We invited a few new families to the party which is always fun because they come expecting to leave early because they don't plan to stay up until midnight with their kids, but then they stay and party the night away.  We had so much food we barely touched any of it, played a fun game with just the adults, and the newspaper ball was bigger than ever. 
I'll let the pictures tell the rest....

Henry snugging with me just before I put him to bed.  He slept the party away.  Another great way to ring in the New Year if you ask me!

The giant newspaper ball which should be renamed wrapping paper ball.  The kids are almost as excited for this as they are on Christmas morning.

Some of the kids partying hard

Randy explains the rules to the ball and takes it very seriously.

Little James worked hard to find a prize and no one got hurt this year.

The aftermath is a mess of paper, toys, candy, and people.  We filled 7 garbage bags with the wrapping paper!

This picture doesn't do justice to the awesomeness of the disco ball dropping down as we counted down to 2019.

Fireworks are illegal in Sammamish.  But that didn't stop Randy!

A blurry picture of Landon and best friend Luke.

Some of the crowd and our driveway/parking lot. 

Within ten minutes of the new year the house was completely empty of guests, and we wasted no time getting to bed, after teenager Marcus returned from his New Year's Eve dance of course.  I made him go and he was glad because he had a good time and started 3 different dance circles around him.  I guess that's a measure of success. 
The next morning we went over to our friend's house for the annual polar bear plunge and I'm happy to say that I took the plunge!  I'm not as cool as you may think though.  I only did it because Henry woke up early so I decided to take him for a run in the stroller while everyone else was asleep.  {Let me insert that another unofficial resolution I made was to run more so I started 2019 off right!} When I got back there wasn't time for me to shower so I decided to throw on my suit and jump in the lake instead.  I'm a novice.  I jumped high and far which meant I went deep into the water and had to swim back to the dock.  It was painful and oh so cold!  But at least I wasn't a side-line Mom.  My boys were proud of me for jumping in, even if they didn't wait so we could go in together.

A beautiful day for a swim.  Trust me, it was cold.  The dock was icy and slippery!

Yes, I plugged my nose, just to make my kids even more embarrassed.

Happy New Year!