December 31st

This New Year's Eve was not quite our typical New Year's Eve... but it was pretty darn close. We're homebodies on NYE... I absolutely hate the thought of being out on that night. So, over the years we've developed our own celebration. We typically have lots of appetizers, Shirley Temples and plenty of games. This year was different because it was just the three of us (Jeff had a NYE wedding to attend in Michigan). Because it had the makings of a long day, we signed the kids up for a day camp that day. Alex went to a retro sports camp and Clara to an art camp (thankfully they were both at the same place). I had the day to myself before I had to pick them up at 3:00. Since we were already out and it was pouring rain... we stopped and had an early dinner on the way home. Around 6:00ish... we got our party started.

First up... a game on the wii...
We had gotten the game Disney's Guilty Party for Christmas...
.... we really got into and had a great time playing it! It's a mystery game, where you collect clues and try to figure out who committed the crime. We loved playing it... the first time. Last night we tried to replay some of the levels so we could teach Jeff the game.... it was supposed to switch up each time you played... but the two levels we replayed were identical to the first time... bummer. :-(

Here's Clara modeling the hat she made in her "art" camp....

.... not sure it was as much of an "art" camp as it was babysitting with craft supplies... oh well. She enjoyed it though! One of her friends from church was in the camp, and her brother was in the camp with Alex.

Somehow one of our traditions is to have food/treats on the hour. At 8:00, I made our first round of snacks.... and at 9:00, we broke out the supplies for banana splits....
mmmm.....magic shell and caramel sauce....
We had entirely too many toppings options available in the house from the holidays and our gingerbread house making....

Clara's creation....
And Alex's....
Digging in....

After the banana splits (would any of you be shocked to know that neither kids ate their bananas?), we switched up games and played Disney Scene It....
While we played games, Mango played with her "baby"....

10:00 was another round of appetizers and 11:00 was Shirley Temple time....
You've seen the video in the previous post, but here are some photos of the giggle-fest...


At midnight we counted down the with the tv and did some confetti poppers (freaked poor Mango out... Friday didn't hear a thing) and welcomed 2011.....
I was done at this point and so ready for bed! Mango was still freaked out from the poppers and the fireworks we could hear going off so she got a special treat and got to spend the night on Clara's bed. We sure missed Jeff.... but we had a good Radtke family party anyway!!

Happy New Year!!