Happy New Year!

We planned a nice quiet night at home for our New Years Eve. We got makings for won tons and had the kids all help in rolling them up. We ate and then got an invitation to the Stimpson's house for a family style party. Then we got another call inviting the older kids to a sleepover at the Dowd's house. They've got kids the same ages and they all get along great. So at 7:30 we dropped them off and headed to our party with the little ones in tow.

First off I have to say that I just adore the Stimpson family! Beth is such a sweetie. We got to team teach a class together a while back and it was so fun working with her. Plus she shared her delectable coconut bread recipe with me after bringing us some for Christmas! YUM!!! Marshall is a kind and generous man. Despite having so many projects going on at home with the home addition, he took time off to come help Richard get the Rover running a couple months ago. The guys stood out in the rain in the dark together trying to get a stuck piece off of Rover. The Stimpson's are the kind of family who will gladly sacrifice for others and I am grateful we know them!

The Stimpson's have been remodeling and adding onto their home for a while now. It is BEAUTIFUL what they have done, and a lot of it they have done themselves. We had fun touring the house with them! They have four kids, two of whom are similar ages to Joseph and Annalina and they had a bunch more kids there as well, so the kids had a blast. Several other familes arrived shortly after and we had fun playing some games and visiting. Around 10:30 Joseph needed to go potty. He still has a thing about potty's not in his own home. We tried to talk him into it, one bathroom had only been finished earlier in the day, what could be better than a brand new potty?? Donal even tried to bribe him with a dollar, but he looked at her warily and slunk away. The new carpet was far too beautiful to allow an accident on, so we took the kids home to celebrate the last hour of 2008. Joseph used his buddy the downstairs toilet and then curled up in a ball next to me and fell asleep, I mean DEEPLY asleep. Richard lined up a bunch of fun music and he slept right through it. After a while I slipped away from him and we played a fun domino game we got for Christmas. We decided to let him sleep downstairs till after midnight, then he wouldn't feel like he missed anything. Annalina loved the attention, since she was the only child home and concsious!

Shortly after midnight we all went to bed and Joseph slept in till 9 this morning! Which meant that I got to sleep until 9, and I was so tired even my earlybird bladder couldn't wake me, it just waited patiently for me to wake up! Annalina got up at 11:45. I teased her and said she was just like a teenager and she said, "no way, when I am a teenager I am going to get up early and get stuff done!" There!! I have it in writing, although I should probably get a video recording of that, huh?

It was a fun night! The older kids got home today and they had a great time last night too. The year of 2008 was a full and happy year. I am grateful my sister got me into blogging so I can so easily go back and reflect on many of the great times we have had as a family. We are truly a blessed family.