New Years Eve 2018

Waking up this morning, on the first day of 2019, feels great! Probably because Brian let me sleep in until 10:30... WHAT?! GREAT start to a new year! Thanks babe, you're the BEST! We are excited for a new year. We have been so greatly blessed in 2018. We had to replace almost every single appliance in our home (talk about one thing after another), I had a health scare (bur turned out all good!), Brian's new job, Penny starting preschool, our amazing trip to Hawaii as a family for the first time, a new nephew, parties, parties, parties, dealing with a new turn on Carter's nut allergy, Bentley and Penny rocking Swim Kids Calgary, so many summer adventures. The list goes on and on.

It's easy to focus on all the hard things that 2018 threw at us but the reality is, we have a home, our family and our health. 2018 has been good to us.

I am excited for 2019. I wonder what adventures we will have. Resolutions are a hit and miss for us. A couple of years ago, Brian and I gave up "pop" for the year and we stuck to it for the entire year. Probably because we did it together. Other years, I have made goals and stuck with it for 2 weeks and then it was over. This year, Brian and I have many goals for the year but no real "life changing" resolutions. Keeping things realistic and maintainable is what works best for us.

I do love a fresh new start though so January 1st is one of my favourite days of the year! New years eve was fun too. Brian worked in the morning and the kids hung out, watched TV, played games, made LEGO and just relaxed. We spent the afternoon as a family. I set the NYE table for our special (kids pick!) dinner....Quesadillas and homemade sugar cookies for dessert!









Each one of us gave a little toast and it was SO cute to hear what each one of our kids had to say about 2018 and what they're looking forward to in 2019.





We set up a Photo Booth at home and took some fun photos to document our NYE and to welcome a fun new year!































We of course couldn't miss doing our "2018 Year In Review" pages with the kids too.





















For the evening, we headed over to the McCollums house to ring in the new year. I really didn't think with the kids that we would make it to midnight. We told them that we would stay as late as they were able to last. They all did GREAT! There was no fighting, whinning or crying until 11:45pm! We pushed through the last 15 minutes and then headed straight home to bed. Everyone was EXHAUSTED! Bentley was so tired that when we got home he started crying about how he wanted us to buy a hot tub... uhhhh.. what? Despite us all being a little crazy after midnight, it was still such a great day and night. It was fun to hang out with friends and play games.





I cannot find enough words to express how much I love my family. They each are so special to me and collectively we make a pretty spectacular team. I am so excited to see what 2019 holds. Happy New Year from our family to yours!