New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve fell on a Sunday... which happened to be a "Lindblom" night. 

We had the usual dinner then gradually ended up outside with the kids throwing pop-it's and lighting sparklers. Olive had a very love/hate relationship with those fiery sticks! 

Once we had burned through the bottle rockets and mild fireworks, a big game of speed ensued. I haven't played basketball in years and years! Everyone was in on it... kids... grandpa.. aunts! I was sore for days afterward! Sprinting, shooting, lunging... these are not verbs that describe my everyday life. But it was SO fun. Craig brought out the Blockrocker and we busted The Greatest Showman soundtrack on the driveway while the little girls (and big girls) danced. Party poopers Goodmans left around then to play with neighborhood friends, but our fun was just getting started!!! 

We headed inside and learned a new game from David called "Shaggedy Shaggedy Sha Po Po". We cleared the furniture out and made a huge circle in the living room. David would start with a random body movement that would "pass" to the person next to him while everyone chanted "shaggedy shaggedy sha po po". He would be coming up with a new body movement to "pass" with each chant. Slowly, the movements made their way around the circle. So you had to be watching your neighbor to see what you would be doing next. It was kind of a brain twister and super funny too. If you messed up on your turn, then you were out. It took us a while to get it figured out, but it was really fun and had everyone "dancing" and laughing the whole time. 

 Going off of that game, we decided to play "Ninja" next! That's the game where you stand in a circle, bow to the middle then take a stance. You have to stay frozen. One at a time you get a chance to smack your neighbor's hand to get them "out". You can only move to protect your hand or when you're on the offense trying to hit someone's hand. It's another funny one. On one round, Christopher was reaching across me to hit my hand and completely nailed me in the nose! It hurt, but not "sting your eyes" kind of hurt. He felt so bad but I was really fine. It was sore for days... along with my hamstrings and quads from basketball, haha. There were consequences to this rowdy night! Completely worth it!

 I don't even remember what Collin said or did but whatever it was, had my dad laughing so hard he was red in the face! 

Finally, it was time for some lying, yelling and accusing in a lively game of MAFIA! Hahahahaha. I love it. Even Jael played! Mom and dad were throwing each other under the bus at every turn. Lots of laughing and mafia even won a couple rounds!

Before we knew it, it was time for the countdown!!!

We ran outside with our whistles, party blowers and cups of sparkling cider!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!

Let the party START!!!

We blasted Party Like it's 1999 which turned into Party Rock Anthem, then Party in the USA and on and on and ON! We were all dancing like crazy people in the club. It was so dang FUN!!!!! The kids were banging pots and pans, my mom would honk the car horn, and even grandpa would come out and sort of dance along with us with his hands in his pockets. I'm sure we all looked drunk. And I sort of felt like it.... I don't stay up this late!! Hahahaha. We danced until we were going to pass out. I seriously haven't had that much fun EVER. I love my family so much! There is no one else I'd rather party all night with! We have the best time together. It was extra fun having Christopher and his family there to join us!

The party wasn't over! The Shumways have done waffles at their house for 10+ years but I guess they all had the flu so Grandpa busted out the waffle iron and it was second dinner or "brinner" at 12:45am! We chatted around the table, slowly falling into food comas. My boys had made it to midnight, but Olive conked out on the downstairs couch around 10pm. While the waffles were being made, Weston found his way to a couch in the living room. Tanner had been asleep in a pack n play since dinnertime. We gathered up all our sleeping babes and headed home sometime after 1am. This was a New Year's Eve for the record books. I don't know how it could be topped! 2018 must have great things in store!!!