New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve--the big holiday that is always a challenge for parents! We spent the day outside playing and then we all went into town to eat at one of our favorite places, Soda Pops. The kids were all thrilled about getting their own sodas, as well as the great burgers and fried food.

That evening we went on a family snowmobile ride--just the five of us. (I have to laugh at these pictures because I was telling the kids that it didn't matter if they smiled because we all had helmets on, but clearly you can still tell who was smiling and who wasn't....whoops!)

Coby and Cooper Kuch got these headlamps for Christmas and they were the envy of all the kids. Sadie and Maddy were hilarious trying to get them figured out!

I had to take this picture of Blake--he fits perfectly in this spot between the staircase and kitchen and I know it won't be this way for awhile, so I wanted to have a picture to remind me!

Sadie performing--as always!

Blake makes this hilarious face when he's pretending he can't hear what we are saying, and I was fortunate enough to get a picture of it. He thinks he's hilarious when he does it--closing his eyes and smirking just a bit.

Maddy saw no reason to put her pants back on while she figured out the headlamp once again....she actually ran around with her pants around one leg for quite awhile and it was so funny!

More food....lots and lots of food!

Wyatt had a few shadows of the weekend--mostly Coby Kuch, who thought Wyatt was the greatest kid and did absolutely everything Wyatt did, but also Danny a bit as well. Wyatt was playing a game on the iPad and the boys were right there watching him the whole time. But Wyatt did great with all the younger kids and played with them all weekend, happy to tailor whatever he was doing to be age-appropriate for everyone. SO thankful that he is (mostly) a good example for the younger kids and can be trusted to lead them. Praying this continues as he grows up.

We decided to play a few more games to end the year....the classic toilet paper-mummy-wrapping game as well as a full-out dance party followed by a talent show.

The kids piked all the TP on Andy, who quickly returned the favor and attacked the kids with all the toilet paper.

I didn't take any videos of our dance party as I was too busy dancing myself. But we did get a few videos of the talent show that I will try and upload soon. It was definitely the highlight of the weekend that we all agreed needs to become an annual tradition! Thanks to the Lutzs and Kuchs for making the weekend so memorable. What a great beginning to 2013!

OK..one video clip thus far..hopefully more to come. Sadie wanted to dance to "Call Me Maybe" and Coby Kuch was kind enough to be the spotlight operate, as you will see. You'll also notice how Wyatt feels about the dancing after a bit...

Everyone left on the 1st, but we stayed through the 2nd since Matt had taken off work. We watched the Rose Bowl (so sad for our Badgers, once again) that night and then Grammy took some time to show the kids how to use the sewing machine she had gotten for Sadie for Christmas. Sadie is like a little 'mini-Grammy'...she loves being creative and using her hands to do just about anything. Grammy was so excited to show Sadie, since none of her daughters have taken a liking to sewing. The kids were so intrigued and both practiced making straight lines. We have been SO busy since New Year's, but hopefully now that we are home for awhile, we can get it out again and do some projects!