Happy New Year!

We spent the last day of 2013 the same way we spend many days-Ray was at work & the kids & I did school. Ray DID get home from work early and around 8:00 we went to spend the evening with friends.

Before we left the house we pulled out some sparklers.

Richard & Katherine opened their home & we had a fun time eating good food, talking & playing! We did miss a couple of the families who had to stay home due to illness.

There were quite a few kids there & they had SO MUCH ENERGY! Most of them were outside most of the night, running around on the porch & playing on the swing set.

Jackson stayed up past his bed time but I put him in the guest room a little after 9 & he slept the rest of the time we were there.

Party Time!!!

Something that Richard & Katherine planned that was a lot of fun was celebrating the New Year each hour leading up to our midnight. At 10:00 we celebrated New Year in Brazil & gave the kids noise makers. To compensate for the noise we counted down in sign language.

At 11:00 we celebrated new year for Eastern Canada & counted down in Mi'kmaq (spoken in that area).

The Ladies!

Shortly before midnight we played a game of figuring out which flag belongs to which country & the capitol of that country. Let's just say it made me want to pull out my flags of the world flashcards to study when I got home!

With 15 minutes left of the year we read of scriptures, sang & prayed. There's no better way to end one year & welcome a new one!

Most of the kids made it the entire night but Audrey finally succumbed & passed out on the sofa.

It was a great night! We wrapped up & went home around 12:45. We had a lovely grey, cold day today (the highest it went was 60) & Robert & Briana came over late this afternoon. We had a potluck dinner & Robert helped Ray begin to install new screens on our windows. They'e in dire need & we appreciate the help!