Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!

What are you saying? Two Thousand Ten or Twenty Ten? I like Twenty Ten. I'm thinking this is going to be a good year! It started off with a bang, literally! We set off fireworks with my sister and family New Year's Eve. Boy did the kids love that! Too bad it was so cold and windy that night we couldn't play outside more. We started off the night with my extended family up at my grandfather's lake house in Lakeway. We had fajitas (yum) and played a really fun game called Apples to Apples. It was great visiting with everyone. (everyone = Dad Wellen, my parents, my sister and family and my Uncle Greg and family)


We didn't stay over there too late because none of us wanted to be out on the road with all those babies in the car and all those drunks on the road. We made it safely back to my house around 8:30 and let the kids stay up and play for quite a while. It was a special night so why not? Leila only made it til 9, Braelynn didn't even make it home from the Lakehouse, Brooke stayed up until almost 10 and Kaitlyn was up until 11!! She got to see the ball drop live in Time Square! Pretty impressive for a 5 almost 6 year old kid! Once all the kids went to bed we played Catchphrase, watched the ball drop (again) and enjoyed a really good sparkling wine, which I found by chance. When Melissa stopped at the firework stand earlier that day I realized that I didn't have any champagne for toasting and ran into the Exxon station in front of the firework place. The guy behind the counter didn't even know if he had any and offered me some sparkling cider and hidden behind the cider was a Spumante. I bought it thinking it was going to be horrible, but was pleasantly surprised! All in all our New Year's Eve was very tame compared to New Years of past, but was so much fun. I can't remember the last time I spent a New Year with my sister.




The next day we took our time getting our act together, watched the Rose Parade and lazed around the house. After noon we packed up the kiddos and made the trek back over to the lake house for lunch. We had a brisket (with the recipe that I am still working to perfect, but I think it turned out better than the previous ones so we are making progress!) salmon and of course black-eyed peas for good luck! I made sure my family ate an extra helping of black-eyed peas because we need the luck on our side this year. We hung out there for a while playing Apples to Apples again. That game is so much fun! Then came back home joined by my parents for a visit. We all sat around talking til midnight! It was a great visit. Everyone is gone now, our house is quiet once again. I miss them a lot!