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!

Happy New Year!

I'm so excited for 2018 because that means 2017 is OVER!  My top three worst years were 2008 (Lindsey died), 2010 (Mom died) and 2017 (we built/opened a practice, had a baby, had skin cancer/radiation all at the same time).  I have a feeling 2018 is going to be a good year but still hard as we work our tails off getting the practice running at a pace where we actually make money off of it.  But that's a post for another day.  I was all about celebrating our survival of 2017 so this was our biggest New Year's Eve party to date.  Plus, I'm a sucker for tradition so I had to throw this party even though I really just wanted to skip it and go to bed.

We invited a bunch of families over and I figured some of them would have other plans but everyone ended up coming.  Plus, they brought all their kids.  Usually the teenagers are off doing their own thing but since it was a Sunday this party became a family party.  I did a headcount and we had 60 people at our house.  A new record!

Randy made two, yes two, newspaper balls full of candy and toys.  One ball was for the younger kids to rip into and the other was for the older kids.  No one got hurt and only a few kids cried.  The cleanup of all the paper filled seven garbage bags.  That's a lot of wrapping paper (Randy doesn't use newspaper so I guess I should call it wrapping paper balls instead).

Bean (with the help of Marcus) ripped that thing to shreds.  I was a little embarrassed by their ferociousness.

The cute little kids ready to go crazy on that ball

Parker went CRAZY!!  He got more loot than anyone.  I was surprised.  He usually holds back or lets his brothers fight for him.

 We played Kahoot.  It's an online quiz game that you use your phone to lock in your answers which meant all the teenagers thought it was fun.

Marcus's team won but I'm not sure how since they didn't get as many questions right.

The teenagers playing Bang.  ( a Mafia type card game)

Then we kicked all the kids out and the adults played our 80's Trivia Game.  We had some good laughs and I impressed everyone with my impeccable knowledge of 1980's television sitcoms.  Apparently my mom let us watch a lot more TV than everyone else.  Bless her.  Or maybe I just have a good memory but that's doubtful.

Randy decided we needed a bigger ball to drop so he wrapped a sled in lights and rigged it up for the midnight ball drop.  It was hilarious and very Clark W. Griswald.

Our driveway full of people, cars, confetti, and noise.   And the sled of lights on the flagpole turned sideways so it looked even more pathetic.

Here's our final countdown and I'm the worst because I turned my camera sideways so you'll have to turn your head.  Oh well.

Happy New Year!  It's going to be a good one.  I can feel it!

The Best 80's Birthday Party There Ever Was

Surprise!  It was my birthday.  The bigger surprise:  Randy pulled off the most radical 80's themed surprise birthday party.  It was totally awesome!  Randy doesn't do anything halfway and the party was proof of that.  To keep things a secret he invited guests using his navy email account, opened up a new Amazon account, and had everything shipped to my friend's house.  I never suspected a thing!  Well, not until a few hours before the big surprise when Randy came home from work and started cleaning.  The only time Randy cleans is when people are coming over so I asked him if he invited anyone over and of course he lied and said no.  I was still suspicious and changed my clothes before leaving for Marcus's Friday night football game.  At the game, my friends barely talked to me {turns out they were worried they'd give the surprise away} and made it clear they had other things to do and left immediately after the game ended which made me feel like a total idiot for thinking there was a party for me.  Randy and I drove home in separate cars with Randy driving like a mad man to get home before me.  I pulled up to the house, not a car was in sight, and walked inside while I was texting my sister, completely unsuspecting. Everyone yelled surprise, then threw on the lights to reveal the biggest surprise of all.  It was an 80's party!  I couldn't believe it.
After I got over the initial shock and got done admiring everyone's outfits, Randy took me upstairs to change into my 80's clothes.  He bought several different outfits for me to choose from and even got me shoes in the right size.  I couldn't stop laughing! 
I can't even begin to tell you about the hours and hours Randy spent making this party unbelievable.  He thought of everything.  He decorated with 80's movie posters{Ghostbusters, Ferris Bueller, Goonies, Karate Kid, Back to the Future, Footloose} and put together an 80's playlist.  He set out sunglasses in every shade of neon you can imagine and had piles of jelly bracelets for the guests to wear.  He came up with an 80's Totally Tubular Trivia game where we watched clips of 80's movies, sitcoms, commercials, and sports, and then answered questions.  At the end of each round, any couple who got the question wrong had to slow dance in the center of the room.  It was hilarious and awkward.
Randy set the bar awfully high for all future birthday celebrations.  The guys are already scratching their heads as to how they can compare.  They can't.  My boys are thrilled to have their own disco balls in their bedrooms along with a giant Ewok cutout, enough PopRocks to last until Christmas, and a whole case of Tab soda in case they get thirsty.
Randy is The Man!

The Guys

The Girls

The Decorations

The Photo Backdrop with Ronald Reagan and Wicket the Ewok

Slow dancing with Marcus

Have you ever seen a cuter 80's cake?  Chocolate with cheesecake filling.  Thanks Rachel!

Hanging out in our 80's clothes

80's food:  Tab soda, Pop Rocks, Reese's Pieces, and Pac-Man Candy

What a nerd!

We turned down the lights for the dancing but the pics wouldn't turn out without a flash so picture a dark room with lights from the disco balls spinning around.

Rachel looks like Exercise Barbie.  Seeing her dressed like this made me so happy!

I love Tami's legwarmers!

This Air Force couple came as Top Gun.  So cool because all he did was wear what he wears to work everyday!

The winners of Totally Tubular Trivia and the proud owners of the Ronald Reagan cutout

Ethan and  his new friend