Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I appologize for neglecting my poor blog this Christmas break. We have been a busy bunch lately. Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to....

A picture of our Christmas dinnner gathering. We hosted 16 people in our home. It was great to have my brother and his wife here with us. They had just traveled from Alaska. They are in the process of relocating to South Carolina with the Air Force. Sadly, I never did manage to get a picture of them in the midst of all the business of the evening. I did manage to have someone take our family picture which I tend to skip every year. I'm always running around entertaining and socializing. Pictures are always the last thing on my mind. Shame on me.

My hubby and I finally got to schedule a date with our daughter. It was a surprise and she loved it. We have been trying to do this with each of of kids either on our own or with mom and dad. It gives the kids a great example of what proper dating is like.

We surprised her by taking her to Princess' on Ice. She has been begging to do something girlish. She has endured quite a few sporting events. It was a real treat for her. She loved it.

Here are some photos of our New Years Eve. Every year we have a tradition in our home since the kids were just babies. I set up a fancy dinner in the living room by the fire. When the kids were babies we would even drag the high chair in there for the little ones. I usually serve steak and seafood of some sort. Last year and this year we have been doing a crab bake. Eating lots of crab legs with shrimp. I also serve yummy cheese bread. I use a cheese spread that is found at a popular fancy resturant in town. The kids look forward to this every year and always beg for more bread.

This year we also played flashlight tag with the kids in the backyard and went on a walk with our flashlights. The kids loved it and want to do it every year.

The evening is topped off with board games and movies.

Another fun tradition we have is on New Years Day. We leave the table set up from the night before and have breakfast there in the morning watching the Rose Parade. We eat french toast and sausage.

Well, sadly the holidays are over. It is always disappointing seeing the neighborhood Christmas lights slowly begin to vanish by the passing of each day. Clean up has been in full swing this week in our home. My hubby purchased and built some needed bookcases for me. I finally got to drag in a load of books from the garage. For the past few days I have been putting them into the bookcase according to theme.

As any fellow homeschooler knows one can never have enough bookshelves. This one shall soon be full too in given time. I'm just estastic to finally have all of these out of the garage .

I hope everyone is off to having a great New Year. May God bless you with a great one!!