New Year's Eve

The last activity we had at the Walquist Resort was a New Year's Eve party. Because the holiday was on a Sunday this year, we celebrated with an early party (ringing in the new year at 8pm) rather than at noon like we've done in previous years. After another delicious dinner (steak!) made by Grammy and Papa, we kicked off our party by letting the kids (and adults!) experiment with various dress-up items. 

At various times throughout the evening (as indicated on the clocks below), the kids took turns opening a bag. Inside, they would find a note describing our next activity.

The first activity was decorating two craft items-- #1 a confetti popper (made from a TP tube) and #2 a masquerade mask.

We took this picture of the kids and their masks the next morning, after the masks had time to dry. Didn't they come out looking cute?

Next, we played a family guessing game. I gave the kids popsicle sticks with photos of all the adults in our family stuck onto the top. Then I gave the kids a clue about someone in our family, e.g. "This person worked at a construction company during college." or "This person was taken to the hospital in an ambulance after a sledding accident."

The kids would hold up the popsicle stick picture of the person they thought fit with the clue (like Aunt Kim and Uncle Jason, respectively, to fit the clues above). The kids were incorrect on the majority of their guesses! The game was a fun way to teach the kids something new about the adults in their life, and it gave the adults an opportunity to share some unique stories about themselves.

Poor Adley ended up coming down with a fever during the course of the evening, so she spent most of the party relaxing in the loving arms of family members. 

After the guess-who family member game, we had a little family dance party. The kids danced expertly and enthusiastically to the Chicken Dance, the Hokey Pokey, and the Limbo.

We didn't take any photos of the next activity since we were all just sitting around, but it was one of my favorite parts of the evening. Each family unit shared a brief series of photos (which we projected onto the TV) that represented some highlights of their year. I loved hearing each of the kids excitedly explain their family pictures to the rest of the group. It was fun to recap everyone's year and to hear about God's faithfulness in each family's life.

The last "clock bag" activity was making ice cream sundaes. Yum!

Finally, it was time to ring in the new year. We gathered around the TV to watch the countdown video.

When the time was officially 12:00 (at least on the youtube video!), Abby was the chosen cousin this year to pull the balloon drop cord.

We celebrated with noisemakers, lots of jumping and dancing, shouts of "Happy New Year," and trying out our new confetti poppers.

What a treat to ring in the new year with so many people we love! We praise the Lord for His many blessings and for His loving presence over the past year. We look forward to seeing all that is in store for 2018.