New Year's Eve

With all the canceled activities and social distancing, perhaps I'll finally be able to get caught up on my blogging! ;) It's fun to reminisce about when life looked a little more normal!

As per our usual tradition, our family hosted a New Year's Eve celebration at the end of the year. Not all the family was in town to attend, but those of us who were here enjoyed our time together. I chose 8 different activities, wrote these descriptions on paper, and then stuck the papers inside balloons. The kids took turns popping these balloons to uncover each consecutive activity. 

First, we played Team Charades, which is like the game Telephone. The kids thought it was hilarious acting out things when they weren't even sure what they were acting out! We got a lot of laughs out of this one.

Then, each child partnered up with an adult to write silly stories. This is an activity that my sister and I LOVED doing with our cousins when we were younger! Each child/adult pair wrote one sentence at a time and then passed the story to the next pair. You're only allowed to look at one previous sentence each time you receive a new story. The end result is, not surprisingly, a very choppy, goofy, mixed-up story!

When our stories were finally completed, we read them out loud to the group. Some of the kids were laughing so hard, they couldn't even finish reading!

Next, we played Broom Limbo. We were pretty lenient with the rules on how the kids could shimmy under the limbo stick. :)

Then, it was time for dessert! I had baked some cupcakes ahead of time but left them unfrosted. The kids used a variety of frosting colors and toppings to decorate 2 cupcakes each. We definitely ended up with some unique desserts!

The next three activities didn't lend themselves to great photos. We played a family game of Careers (trying to guess each person's mystery occupation), brainstormed our favorite memories of 2019, and played a quick game of Head Down, Head Up. After that, each child paired back up with their adult partner from earlier in the evening to create a "Ball Drop" with gumdrops, spaghetti noodles and a marshmallow. It was much harder than it looked to make these free-standing!

Finally, the evening ended with our New Year's Eve Countdown (for us, at 9:00 rather than midnight!) and our balloon drop.

I had seen this balloon drop kit at Wal-Mart and thought I'd give it a try this year. It looked easier to assemble than my typical tablecloth ball-drop. Unfortunately, the rip cord on this balloon drop just tore the whole thing down from the ceiling, so Jason was our designated balloon distributor! ;) I'll go back to the normal ball drop idea next year! 

With balloons going everywhere, and noisemakers loudly blowing, the kids didn't seem to mind the ball drop mishap though!

Before everyone headed home, we celebrated with some sparkling cider.

Happy New Year 2020!!

Walquist Family Activities

This Christmas was our year to celebrate the holiday with the Walquist-side of the family. We attended worship together on Christmas Day, enjoyed a yummy Christmas meal at my parents' house, and then chose two nights during the kids' vacation week to spend the night together as a large group at Grammy and Papa's house. We had a wonderful time and planned a few special activities together.

Silly Supper

One evening, the kids and dads ordered their dinner from a "silly supper" menu that we had created. They ordered items like snowflake, manger, angel, or sled-- without actually knowing what these items stood for. The ladies of the family served the meal in 3 courses. The kids found it quite hilarious to see which items they received on their plates each time. The food combinations were often very bizarre. Also, the food usually came without silverware, so the kids had to get creative with how they ate. It's always a great meal when you get to eat ice cream with your fingers! ;)

Urban Air

Another day, we went to a trampoline park together. Jason, Uncle Matt, and Uncle Andrew devised a little competition on one of the long trampoline runs, and multiple other jumpers who we had never met joined in the competition as well. Everyone wanted to try to jump all the way down and back this trampoline run in as few jumps as possible. It was quite entertaining too watch everyone jump their hardest-- and often fall in the process!

The kids enjoyed the challenge courses and playscapes too. What a fun place!

Even Adley happily played for a couple hours without getting worn out.

I tried out the high ropes course with Aunt Kim, Abby, and Cody. Some of the ropes actually hurt our feet to balance on, but we made it through the whole course! 

Jaden liked battling Uncle Andrew in this gladiator foam pit.

We all definitely got our exercise that morning. Most of the adults woke up the next morning with sore backs and necks! ;)

Flag Football

Both Ryan and Jaden received flag football sets for Christmas, so the cousins were eager to play some football together. These four boys challenged Jason, Uncle Matt, and Nathan to a game at a park near Grammy and Papa's home.

Both teams had real plays that they followed! It was a gorgeous December day and a fun little competition to watch.

Other Playtime

We enjoyed a lot of relaxing downtime at Grammy and Papa's too. Uncle Andrew hooked up his Nintendo Switch, so a few kids played MarioTennis and MarioKart in the mornings. Ian even taught Grammy to play MarioKart one day!

We played a fair share of card and board games too, including Dragonwood, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza (a hilarious new card game!), Crackers in My Bed, Karuba, and Kingdomino.

And of course, with all these wild kiddos, there's always a wrestling match or two that takes place!

Nursing Home Music

Another day, we visited a memory care facility so the kids could share some Christmas music with the residents. This was the same facility where I had taken the kids over the summer, so we recognized many of the residents and employees.  I invited my neighbors who take piano lessons with me to join us as well. The kids all did a fantastic job with their performances and brought many smiles to the faces of the residents. Many of the residents even started singing along with the carols! This was a little challenging for these beginning piano students, but they still made it through their songs. It was a great chance to serve and share Jesus' love.

Cody's two songs were O Come All Ye Faithful and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Jaden played Angels We Have Heard on High and Little Drummer Boy.

Ryan was a little nervous about playing, but Grammy convinced him to play his songs as duets with her. Ryan and Grammy sounded great together!

Since Nathan doesn't yet take piano lessons, he sang a few songs with Aunt Kim. He sang boldly and clearly-- so cute!

Ian has become quite an accomplished trumpet player this year, so he shared a few songs on his new instrument.

We were so proud of all these talented musicians! 

Thank you, Grammy and Papa, for letting us stay at your home over this break and for providing us with many wonderful meals and a great getaway to relax! What an enjoyable way to spend our Christmas vacation!