Welcome 2014, by Alidia

Good Bye 2013, during this year….
I turned... 6 years old

I saw... a snowman

I learned... that frogs turn into "frogcicles" in the winter

I read...How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Harris and Me, and Josefina books

I went to... Las Vegas and Arizona and Nevada

I watched...Frozen

I played... Ticket to Ride

I wondered…. if we could go see Frozen again

Hello 2014, during this year….

I will turn... 7 years old

I will hopefully... go to the beach

I want to learn... about matroyshka dolls

I hope to read...about princesses and fairies

I hope to go to...China

I hope to see... polar bears

I will try to... climb a tree

 

Welcome 2014, by Cole

Good Bye 2013, during this year….
I turned... 10 years old

I saw... people gamble in Las Vegas!

I learned... about Nelson Mandela

I read...Who is Steven Spielberg?, Series of Unfortunate Events (3-6), Harry Potter (2-4), and lots more!

I went to... Haiti and Las Vegas

I watched... The Bourne Trilogy and the Hobbit : Desolation of Smaug

I played...soccer, track and my favorite, x-country

I wondered….about 2014

Hello 2014, during this year….

I will turn... 11 years old

I will hopefully... see my cousins James and Conner

I want to learn... about Walt Disney

I hope to read...The Hunt for Red October

I hope to go to... Los Angeles

I hope to see... Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

I will try to... win the 3k in the district meet in x-country

Welcome 2014 - by Aviana

Good Bye 2013, during this year….

I turned... 8 years old

I saw... The London Bridge

I learned... how to finger knit

I read... Weird but True

I went to... Arizona

I watched... Epic

I played... Ticket to Ride

I wondered…. when I will go to Paris

Hello 2014, during this year….

I will turn... 9 years old

I will hopefully... build a treehouse

I want to learn... how to cook!

I hope to read... Harry Potter

I hope to go to... Georgia

I hope to see... the Nutcracker

I will try to... run a 5k

New Year

I loved the way this idea turned out. Simple and fun for all ages. At the designated time, open the bag and all the supplies for that activity are contained inside.

There was just a bit of prep for me early in the day and it made the evening activities so relaxing and seamless.

 We had a shortened evening, hence the half hour increments for our suprise bags. The kids have all been varying degrees of sick for the past week, so we wanted to stick to normal bedtime for their sake. But we were finally well enough to hang out with friends and we took full advantage of that.

We pulled the globe out and talked about what time the New Year reaches different cities, this is the biggest reason I think an all day party would be so much fun. Your activity bags could have activities from around the world to coordinate with their New Year's time!

Here's what our bags contained this year:

6:00
A book, to set the stage for the celebration. Happy New Year, Pooh.

6:30
Cupcake decorating supplies. I made the cupcakes earlier in the day, hiding a coin inside the batter per the Greek St. Basil's Day traditions.

 
7:00
Party hat making supplies!

7:30
Noisemaker supplies!

8:00
Sparkling cider and a box of pop-its left over from 4th of July. We went outside, saw some nearby fireworks and hooped and hollered Happy New Year, Argentina!

We each filled out a New Year's Reflection card with questions about what we did in 2012 and what we expect for 2013. 

And of course, there were plenty of indulgent snacks to overeat throughout the evening and kid-friendly games for all the in-between times.

Last of all, we had also set up a photo backdrop and pulled out some choice dress up items to have for photos throughout the evening. A big hit and worth the time spent hanging all the streamers!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Random Stuff

In January we spent a long Saturday up at the U for the Lego League Expo. This year's theme was about food safety. So we made a three part model with a garden, a refrigerator truck, and a grocery store. The kids are pretty great at coming up with what they want to do and putting it all together. I think the hardest part of coaching is forcing yourself to stand back and let them do it on their own. I think next year we are going to upgrade to the Lego WeDo programming stuff. Aviana has taken a huge interest in computers and Jeremy has been doing some basic programming with her, so it should be fun.

 They also had their first taste of basketball this last winter. Cole is getting agressive in this picture. That was his best asset. He may not have been the best at dribbling or shooting, but he was definitely one of the best defenders on his team (takes after his mama!). Aviana was the only girl on the team and also the youngest. So she was a little unsure of the whole thing, but when she played she did really well.

 

Alidia was a champ, spending a lot of Saturday mornings playing with her dolls on the floor of the gym. There were always good snacks at the end that made the whole endeavor worthwhile.

 

 

And just in case we didn't have enough animals around here, we recently acquired a new pet rabbit. It found us really by appearing on our porch one day. But we of course caught it, caged it, and took it in to our ever growing family of furry friends. We diligently checked for lost bunny ads, but after 2 weeks we went through the emotional drama of choosing a name. And "Nutmeg" became a member of the family. (Kookaburra, Cocoa, and Brownie were other close name contenders.)

 

That brings our house total to: 5 chickens, 1 dog, 1 fish, 1 frog, 2 gerbils, 1 bunny, 1 cat and 10 humans.