Ringing in 2014

L led a toast to the new year last night after she and her friends ate some homemade pizza. They toasted with sparkling grape juice. L decided she wanted to have a New Year's Eve party and invited some girls from school and her neighborhood friends, E, her sister B and their cousin S.

L did all the decorating and preparation for the party herself. I was pretty impressed when I walked downstairs and saw how she had the room set up with snacks, pop and decorations.

Here the girls are playing a musical chairs-type game. If the music stops and you're still dancing, you're out. L was playing DJ for that game and being the judge. E, B and S had to leave at about 8 p.m. so L and her friend, J, and her new friend, E, walked them home. They were blowing noisemakers the entire way there and back. Then the girls rented "Despicable Me 2" and watched it downstairs.

E could only stay till 10 p.m. because her family was having a party so the girls decided to ring in the new year a bit early. They even put a new year's hat on August, though I don't think he liked it much. J stayed to sleep over.

Getting the bargains

L and I went out to Target today for a few necessities and couldn't resist walking through the Christmas aisle. I didn't think there would be much left, but I did find a few nice rolls of foil wrapping paper marked down from $5 to $1.50, some gift tags for 30 cents, bows and other odds and ends. L's big find was a reindeer Webkinz for $1.50 that she bought herself with money from Grandma Barbara's Christmas lottery. We also stopped at Old Navy and although L didn't want to go in there, she found two pajama bottoms and a sweater she had to have. Funny how that works. And best of all, everything was on sale.

The gang's all here

You know you're in the midst of winter break when the basement has been overrun with kids. In this picture, B is with two of his friends and L has three friends over. And, of course, E is somewhere in the house too.

Cousins' party

Tonight we went to the annual Christmas party hosted by Andy's cousin. All his cousins were in for the holidays so it was a full house. We brought the tomatoe and mozzarella bites I made for our family Christmas party, but we doubled the recipe. For about 20 fresh mozzarella balls (ciliegini), you mix 2 T. olive oil, 2 T. white balsamic vinegar and 1/4 t. of each: dried oregano, salt and pepper; marinate overnight in the refrigerator, then thread them with grape tomatoes and fresh basil leaves onto a skewer. L spent most of the evening playing the cousins' slot machines, while B and E played pool with their cousins.

On the way home we had to drive by this home. Who knew Clark Griswald lived in Berwyn?

One last look

It was a week ago today that Grandma Barbara signed the papers and closed on the deal to sell her house on Gunderson. Andy went in that morning, at my suggestion, and took a few pictures of the house all cleaned out. It was sold to a family in the neighborhood and I can't wait to see it after it's rehabbed.

We celebrated on Christmas with a toast and Grandma gave everyone her own "lottery tickets." Everyone was a winner. That's the kind of lottery I like.

Discarded present?

When I went to pull the car out of the garage this morning, I noticed this basket sitting on top of our recycling bin in the alley. Inside it was a snow-covered doll wrapped in a towel. The tag said, "To: Sophia, From: Great Gramma and Papa Joe." I have no idea who Sophia is. Apparently she's a little girl who didn't like her new doll.

I forgot about this until I was cleaning out my purse this morning and pulled out the bulletin from the Christmas Eve service. When we were in church Christmas Eve we were listening to Luke 2:8-14. B leaned over and said, "I recognize this." I said he should. "It's from 'Charlie Brown,'" he replied. That kid needs to pay more attention in church.

Another funny kid moment over the holiday was when L was asking Cindy and me to pick her up ingredients to make a pie for Christmas. Reading from the recipe, she said she needed "pulling" and "tobbing." She meant pudding and topping. Time for an eye exam for that one.

Family party

The table was set in silver and red waiting for the family to arrive.

We had the usual appetizers - crackers and cheese, meatballs, veggies and ranch dip. My new addition this year was tomato and mozzarella bites, a Caprese salad on a skewer. Yummy.

The younger kids ate downstairs while the adults and the older kids were in the dining room.

After dinner we got the cousins together for a picture:

There's always one kid who has to mess up a group photo. In our case, that's usually L:

This is probably the nicest picture we got of the kids with Grandma. And the big celebratory ending to our evening was Grandma's toast to mark the selling of her house on Gunderson. Cheers!

Before and after

This was the Christmas-morning aftermath. Below is ready for the family Christmas party. What a difference.

Merry Christmas!

It's 8 a.m. and we're done opening presents. E and B were up earlier and had already gone through their stockings. They had to wait for L to wake up before opening presents. She sauntered into the living room at about 7:30 a.m.

E got two SodaStream bottles and pumps for her syrups, ninja chopsticks, a spherical ice cube maker and two nice shirts - at least I like them. She's not too thrilled with me buying clothes without her. We'll see if they get worn.

B got four new video games. First, though, we had him open slippers. He thought they were shoes. "Shoes? Why not?" he said. When I told him they were slippers to keep his feet warm when he's on his computer by the dining room window, he was a little more accepting of them.

Andy got metal collar stays, a tie, a pair of microfiber pajama pants and, his big present, a clock that also serves as a charger for his phone.

L got two Monster High dolls and an iPad mini. I'm looking forward to being able to use my iPad again now that she can use her own.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve started with E's now-California friend, F, in the house. The girls went to see "Saving Mr. Banks" at the Lake Theater yesterday and the reunion morphed into a sleepover.

We spent the day getting ready for tomorrow's family party and were pretty much done in time to get to the Christmas Eve service at church. Here I am with the kids before church.

The best part of the service is the candle-lighting, but we only have the candles lit to sing "Silent Night." I usually give the kids new pajamas to open on Christmas Eve, but this year they all received new pajamas before today. L, though, saved the night and gave everyone a present from her for each of us to open. We decided that since B is always the first one up in the morning, it gives him a bit (OK, a big) advantage when it comes to finding the pickle ornament on Christmas morning. Instead of waiting for tomorrow, we had the kids gather in the kitchen while we hid the pickle tonight. Here they are searching the tree for it:

And the pickle-finder was B, who pulled the ornament from its hanger as he was taking it from the tree. He fixed it and we gave him the present - a six-pack of Coke and three $2 instant lottery tickets. B is such a sweetheart that he let his sisters each scratch off a card with the stipulation that if they won anything, half of it would be his. No one won. He's even going to share the Coke with them.

L didn't get to open any presents tonight so she dug into the popcorn that a neighbor dropped off for us - a variety of cheddar cheese, zebra (white and milk chocolate-covered) and caramel flavors.

And we're done

I baked the last batch of Christmas cookies today - the Sugar Candy Dough cookies. I think they're everyone's favorite. E was visiting with her friend, F, who's in for the holiday from California and L was nursing a burn she got earlier this afternoon from the cookie sheet, so it was me and B decorating all the cookies. He did a great job as usual.

Back home

L spent the night at Cindy's house so picked her up this morning and headed back home. There was ice on the trees, but fortunately none on the roads. I took this picture near Springfield. We stopped at Normal and had lunch at Steak 'n Shake. E drove about 40 miles from there before turning the wheel back over to Andy. Here is a picture of the interesting clouds Andy took before we left the farm:

To the farm

We left this morning for the farm for the Bentrup Christmas with kids (and Cindy) in tow. She did a lot of shopping here, but everything fit in the car and we were off. We stopped in Normal to pick up five gondolas to eat and share for lunch when we made it to the farm. L and B don't eat gondolas so we bought them pizza breads to eat in the car. Along the way, the car reached 36,000 miles. Here are some of the pictures from our Christmas celebration. We couldn't play bingo this year because Cindy didn't think her new dog would leave us alone long enough. And Cousin A is missing because he was at his team's basketball game.

Andy got a wind-up flashlight, new battery for his power tools, some sausages, a bottle of wine and the new Katy Perry CD.

E got microfiber sheets, a comforter and Soda Stream refills.

B got a new Mario DS game, a GameStop gift card, Hershey Kisses, seasoning salt from Steak 'n Shake and Hershey Air Delight bars.

L got a Dr. Who DVD, a Hershey T-shirt and tardis earrings. I think her favorite gift though, was this Dr. Who scarf from Kevin. It's 11 feet long.

Cousin T watches his fiancee open her presents. L, who watches "Ghost Adventures," says the unexplained white dot on the wall is a spirit. They showed up in several of my pictures - eerie.

I got a digital picture frame, a double small crockpot, some wine and chocolate.

I bought Cindy the DVD of "The White Queen" but it hasn't yet been released so I gave her a makeup bag filled with Clinique samples and a compact mirror that magnifies on one side. She was looking for one in the stores while she was here. Good thing she didn't find one.

We gave mom a new sewing box, a small cast iron pan and a collage of pictures from our recent New York trip. Again, look at all the white dots on the wall.

Half-way nice picture of mom with the kids. L is making a silly face though. And the rambunctious star of the night ... Kumar the Irish Setter.

Kevin was holding back Kumar from the living room all night so L opened his presents for him. I did manage to get one picture of him: