We won’t be with our kids tomorrow night, so we had our celebration tonight. I’m feeling a little under the weather, so we kept it really simple (in past years, we’ve made hats, elaborate hors d'oeuvres, and made big signs with the year on them, made it more of a party etc.)
For dinner, I made shrimp using this recipe, a Pioneer Woman recipe modified for the crock pot. I’ve made it two years now while on vacation in Colorado, and the boys (mostly Matt) have requested it at home too. It feels like a special occasion dinner though, so this is the first time I’ve made it at home. It’s really easy, but expensive b/c it’s shrimp…
After dinner, I typed up 11 favorite memories from the past year, and we played charades. Last time we did this, we each (Luke, Matt & I) contributed memories (we divided up the year so there wouldn’t be any overlap). But since Tobin is old enough to participate, I just did all of them myself this year. Then Tobin & I acted as a team, but I didn’t guess, since I knew what all the things being acted were. I wondered how it would work with a 3 1/2 year old, but Tobin LOVED charades, and he’s a pretty funny actor. (I already knew Luke loves it – he’d play charades every night if we could.)
It was a really fun, easy activity – and a fun way to talk about our favorite memories from the past year. I tried to include some from each season/part of the year. And some that included different members of the family. Here’s our list:
- Splash Mountain (Tobin’s favorite ride @ WDW)
- Hiking in Colorado
- The big slide in Colorado
- College World Series
- Snow Days (this was the first one Tobin & I acted out – he wanted to be a snow man.)
- T-Rex Café (Spring Break in Kansas City)
- Tobin’s DIRT party
- Luke striking everyone out at Baseball
- Luke being really scared to go on Mount Everest, then enjoying it
- Going swimming at the outdoor pool @ the YMCA
- Stinky the Garbage Truck (Tobin’s favorite Christmas present)
While we were playing, brownies were in the oven (again, I didn’t plan ahead at all – we happened to have a brownie mix.) We had brownies and looked at pictures and videos from the past year. We laughed and laughed – some thing we all remembered, but others we had completely forgotten until we were watching videos (Tobin’s Spring obsession with “Pants on the Ground.”)
We finished with talking about what we’d like to give to Jesus in this new year (Mom and Dad would both like to exercise more and eat healthier, and be more patient with their sweet boys!), and prayed and thanked the Lord for the gift of 2010 and the promise of 2011. Yay!
I’ll leave you with a few more pictures I don’t think I’ve shared here, and which gave us a good laugh tonight…
Tobin being silly… during the potty training days, I’m sure.
Luke and his friend Zane on a climbing trip with Matt to Palisades.
Tobin “helping” Daddy with yardwork this summer…
I don’t even know. Tobin in Luke’s old Captain Jack costume… In August.
And with our friend Kate when her mom Holly came over to make flowers for a wedding their family was in. Needless to say, Tobin wanted to try the flowers out too… Aren’t they the cutest??
What a fun year it was :). Blessings on your 2011!
