New Years Eve in Paradise

Last Family Party of the Year

As I was putting together the annual photo album that I give my mother-in-law every year, I found myself feeling very grateful that she brings the family together on such a regular basis. I had over 300 pictures and at least one get-together every month of 2008 to put in the album. My sister-in-law, Colleen, has the last birthday of the year:

We usually end up celebrating Colleen's birthday in January, but this year we actually managed to squeeze it into December. During the party, Marreen sat down on the couch with her arms around Cody and Kelsey. Of course, I had to take a picture. . .

Gloria and McKenna joined in the Kodak moment. . .

. . . followed by Jeanie. . .

. . . and then Colleen.

There was still a little room left, so Zach jumped in to complete the picture!! It's hard to see it without enlarging the picture but from the look on Kelsey's face, Zach isn't as light as he looks!!

I creatively cropped the picture to better reveal Kelsey's feelings!!:

Sweet little McKenna was just bursting with energy. . .

Gloria decided to make good use of all of the ribbon Jeanie used to wrap Colleen's presents with. . .

Pretty in Pink:

After beautifying Jeanie, Gloria moved on to Uncle Tony who seems to let her do just about anything. . .

Gloria loves to take advantage of the situation. . .

He's such a good uncle. . .

When Tony escaped his bonds, Marreen used the ribbon to simulate a "puzzle" that she has used at work. Somehow, the two participants have to separate themselves from each other without removing the ribbons that connect them.

It was pretty funny to watch. . .

Matt and Jeanie couldn't solve it, so Gloria gave it a try. . .

They didn't have much luck, either. . .

Cody was the one who finally showed us how to solve it, but I'm not sure any of us really got it. . .

It was a fun way to wrap up a year of birthday's and family get-togethers!

Gloria's Party Part 2

During the sleep over the night before, Gloria and her guests (mostly Selena) tried to convince me that I should just drop them off at the mall and meet them a couple of hours later. Granted, Selena is almost 13 but Gloria and Megan are 10 and 9 respectively so there was no chance I was going to just leave them on their own in the mall (even though my own dislike of the mall made it very, very tempting. . . ). I told them I would make myself scarce but would be keeping them in sight the entire time. Selena sighed a great sigh but knew it was a losing battle. . .

They had fun trying on necklaces, hats and glasses. . .

. . . and, funny enough, all three of them kept trying to get my attention even as I was pretending not to know them!! Selena, especially, seemed very interested in my opinion on everything. . .

They made it very difficult for me to ignore them. . .

After getting the girls settled with their lunches, I sat down with my own lunch at a separate table. Selena immediately complained and begged me to sit with them!! I told her they might embarrass me and I'd just as soon sit by myself. . . It was good to know I wasn't as lame as Selena must have thought.

After lunch we headed for the Y to go swimming.

They had a great time at the pool and could have spent a few more hours enjoying the slides and the diving board but all good things must come to an end. I think I can safely say that Gloria's 10th birthday is officially over!!