New Year's Eve

Today, we got to work on our schoolwork before heading to the dentist.

All 3 kids had a cleaning and all 3 kids had ZERO cavities.  What a relief.  The last visit there was 7 cavities - 5 for Andrew and 2 for Cairn.  Andrew broke one of us baby molars that we are going to keep an eye on - broke it probably because he is such a grinder.  Skylar has her 6 year old molars coming in - those are permanent teeth so they will get sealants soon.  Cairn is getting to lose her first molars and Skylar has loose teeth too.  Very fun visit.

Afterwards, we ran a couple errands to get supplies for our New Year's Eve celebration.

Groceries for cheese and chocolate fondue and all the yummy dippers.  Glow sticks. balloons and champagne glasses for our midnight celebration.

When we returned home, C came over and we started preparations.  First, we had to blow up the balloons for our balloon drop.

 Then we had to make our Happy New Year signs.

 Andrew just hung out and played during the sign making.

 Dad came home early and wondered when we were having chocolate fondue.  "tomorrow night, just like you requested."  Oops, mistake - he meant tonight so after our dinner, I put together the fondue and we gobbled it up.

 No, that is not a fondue pot in the middle of the table - it is just a pot.  In my quest for simplicity in my life so I can enjoy life more - I don't pull out all the stops anymore, just a few so I can enjoy things too.  Not putting the fondue into another fondue pot saved me lots of dishes and extra dishes.

Starting at 7 PM, we started playing a new board game on the hour.  The first hour we played Cadoo.  We didn't have to play the entire hour and not everyone had to play but it was a fun activity that kept the kids awake and occupied.  C LOVES her games.  She was always up to play a game.

8 PM was Candy Land.

9 PM the kids were watching a movie so we skipped the game.

10 PM was The Word Game - a great spelling and reading practice game.

By 11 PM, everyone was getting super cranky and tired.  So we decided to do our midnight celebration now and then put everyone to bed.  We played with our glow sticks, did our balloon drop, taught and did a champagne (sparkling apple juice) toast and went to bed.

At midnight, everyone was still awake and C had never seen the Times Square ball drop so we watched it, turned the lights off and everyone was asleep by 12:05 AM.  Can't wait to see what happens in 2014.