NEW YEARS EVE, 2015

We've had the Kennedys over to celebrate New Years Eve since December 2012 (so Lauren has spent ALL of her New Years Eves so far with us - how crazy is that to think about?) and I hope the tradition never ends!

The kids played outside a LOT (and mostly unsupervised - it's pretty nice to have hit these ages!) despite the cold. Between the new swing and glowing light sabers, who could blame them?!

There was some Barbie/Princess play and Fort building too...

...and even a little bit of makeup fun.

Instead of make-your-own pizzas this year, we did a taco/burrito bar. Between that and the many appetizers, we weren't hurting for calories to sop up the champagne with...

After dinner we roasted marshmallows and lit sparklers.

Lauren got sleepy, fell asleep on her mama's shoulder, and was tucked into James' bed while the rest of us watched Jay light fireworks.

(This was taken immediately after an unexpected explosion occurred that blasted all our ear drums...)

After fireworks, Al headed home with Lauren (his back was in bad shape and he just needed to lay down and be still) and we set the other kiddos up on the couch while we played additional rounds of Exploding Kittens and Cards Against Humanity (and Carps and Angsty Manatees).

Cora couldn't hang through the Incredibles...

Cheers to the New Year! Now what was it we watched drop at midnight this year?... It wasn't the Moon Pie... Oh champagne, you are so fun... Surely PawPaw remembers?...

(This little guy was up snuggling until 1:00am...)

ADVENTURES WITH GRAMBOT AND PAWPAW!

Pigs in Flight children's museum, Playland, the McAuley Dr. playground, and a trip to the theater!

Mini golf, Billy Goats Gruff, astronaut pretend play, making mini mug cakes, being mechanics, digging for dino bones, and watching a movie. Little place with lots of different rooms :-)

Air Hockey! We heard there was hours of bouncing too.

 (We heard they were plotting against PawPaw "the monster")

MARTIN'S NIGHT

We can't have visitors in town and NOT take them to Martin's. It's practically our second home (we eat lunch and/or dinner there at least once per week). Tonight was Bacon and Brews, so mom and dad met us up there with the kids an hour after we got off work (we ran the nearby neighborhood with some friends from our running group to check out the Christmas lights first) and we enjoyed some bacon enhanced dishes and a few beers. Always a good meal and good times at Martin's!

THE CAT WHISPERER

Dad won Cannon's heart early in the trip and he smugly reminded me every time Cannon sat next to him for pets (Cannon only allows me to hold/pet him in the morning when I'm wearing my big, fluffy road, and only sits on Jay in the morning when he sits down on the shoebox to put his shoes on - otherwise he sits just out of reach of us on the couch). The rest of the time, he ran interference between Jude and Grambot (when he could). Poor Grambot and her cat allergies...

A HIGH END TO DAY ONE

After a quiet, relaxing, and fun day at home, we headed up to 10 South to dine high above Vicksburg and enjoy some Mississippi Sunsets (the drink, not the view, since it was already dark when we got there!)

BRAVE

While we were in Florida, Jean told us that Cora had mentioned wanting a bow and arrows and a quiver to hold them. Coincidentally, Jay and I had just order a set of bow and arrows for each kid (because one set would be fought over), though the arrows did not come with a quiver, and they're really too short for one, since they are a "whistling", foam-tipped variety. The kids were very excited when they found them wrapped under the Christmas tree, but patiently waited until today to go outside and try them out (since it rained all day on Christmas).

Our very own Brave girl!

 PawPaw thought they were pretty fun too ;-)

 Even Grambot gave them a shot (get it? ha ha ha ha ha - I'm laughing alone here, aren't I?...)

 James eventually walked away from Lego Dimensions long enough to do some target practice with daddy and the snowman: