Here is a shot of our White Elephant Party with our neighbors along with a few shots of Scott's Birthday party at Dave and Busters. Scott turns 13! Have you ever seen a 4 way air hockey table? That was just crazy. They even have a roller coaster simulator(bottom photo). 



So it looks like we survived another year! Regardless of what the Mayans thought.


We started off the New Year quietly and at home(imagine that). We spent New Year's Day watching the Rose Bowl Parade, walking the dog, cleaning, doing laundry and putting away Christmas gifts. That is because most of the stores we would have gone to were closed. And it was fun to sleep in! Plus I had spent most of New Year's Eve shopping. Scott desperately needed some new dress shirts for his school uniform since he has decided to outgrow all of his clothes before the school year ended. So I had the opportunity to drag him off and have him try on shirts and gym clothes since the store was open on Monday. And we were in search of sparklers and poppers for New Year's Eve.

But on Weds the kids were back to school. Scott started his new Boy Scout Troop. Tom took him so he could sign up as well. So now Scott needs a whole bunch of new patches sewn on his scout shirt. I think we will all enjoy this troop a bit more since they are a bit larger and more organized. And Scott knows a few boys in the troop from his school which helps.

We were all pretty tired by the end of this week, even if it was a short one. I worked Weds to Friday. The kids had school Weds to Friday. And Tom actually had the whole week off. He stayed home on Weds and ran a few errands, as well as installing his new sound bar for his large tv. He had purchased a sound bar online before Thanksgiving and the speaker started buzzing(seems to happen when you buy a discount rebuild). So fortunately the company he bought it from replaced it with a brand new sound bar. As you may or may not know, the new tvs are so skinny, they have no place to put big speakers. So you have to buy and install fancy Bose speakers in your wall, or you can buy a sound bar and put your tv on top of it so it sounds like stereo(I just love technology!). Anyhow, it does sound better(and no more buzzing).
So Tom was looking at two more days off work and I mentioned I needed a closet organizer installed in Allison's closet, and he discovered that he really needed to go to work because he had so much to do there! But at least he did not have to use any vacation days.

We were pretty pooped out by the time we hit Friday, but our schedules did not slow down. Allison had to go to work, so Tom and I decided to drop her off and go see a movie around the corner from the Roller Rink. Tom has been itching to see Django. He even invited our neighbors to join us. And he was very happy to finally see it(even though it was 2 hrs and 45 minutes long). He was so anxious to see the movie, we arrived an hour before it started. And it did not start until 30 minutes later after all the movie trailers. (We were running a bit late to pick Allison up from work). And even though it was your typical violent Quentin Tarantino movie, we both still really liked it. Now we just need to see Skyfall and the Jack Reacher movie and we will be caught up with all the hit movies.

It was a busy start to a busy weekend. Allison got up early on Saturday for her piano lesson and had work Saturday night.  I was off grocery shopping and running errands. I invited most of our neighbors over Saturday night for a White Elephant party(you bring a gift and pick and steal from each other). Gifts can be nice or nasty. It is a good way to regift items if necessary. I always like to pick up discount holiday items from Costco or Sam's Club. My gift was very popular and was stolen 3 times-a gift bag full of chocolates, including chocolate liquors. Also a small leg lamp night light from The Christmas Story was passed around several times. Tom liked it so much, he went and bought his own since someone stole it from him. Sometimes the gifts can get pretty crazy, but most everyone was pretty calm this year. And by the way, no kids! Not all the neighbors could come either since many people were still away on vacation or had other parties to attend. And rather than serve a big dinner, we all brought appetizers and dessert to snack on. Thanks for the wine and beer Laura and Dan. It came in handy for our party! I just wish someone had told me they dropped an entire bottle of red wine in the kitchen! I don't usually mind putting on parties at our house since it is a good excuse to give the house a big cleaning. But I prefer not to have to do even more cleaning after the party is over! We all decided the next big neighborhood event will be an outdoors block party in June.

And the parties did not stop there! Sunday Scott was up early to altar serve, and then we were off to Dave and Busters for Scott's Belated Birthday party. They have video games, plus pool and bowling along with lots of food and drink. Little did I know that it was in competition with the Ravens/Colts football game. The place was packed with Raven fans, a few Colts fans and even Redskin fans since the DC team played right after. No matter. The kids all had unlimited video game cards for the day, so Tom and I sat and enjoyed the football game at the bar while the kids played(we even took some time to play a few video games ourselves, along with air hockey.)  And the day was even more exciting with the Ravens win over the Colts!

So now we are all exhausted.