New Years 2013-2014

Happy New Year!

For a few years now, I have been spending New Years with my aunt, uncle, and cousins. Last year, I spent New Years with some friends which, to be honest was not as much fun as it would have been with my cousins. 

A little before Christmas, I told my aunt that we should each make a fondue for dinner on New Years, two cheese fondues and then for dessert I could make a chocolate fondue. We decided on a white wine cheese fondue and a craft beer cheese fondue. I went to New Seasons to grab up some bread to dip in the cheese, little did I know that my aunt Shawna also grabbed up two baguettes from WinCo. We ended up having four baguettes and one wheat levian loaf. Before I arrived at my aunt's, I drove all over Clackamas, and Damascus, and into Sandy to pick up things, and drop off my sister. I felt that I drove all over the world!  Not a bad thing because I love to drive. When I arrived at my aunt's, the girls were getting ready to take a glow stick bath! You don't break the glow sticks so the glow fluid comes out, you don't bathe in the glow stick fluid, you just go in the water with the glow sticks glowing. Kind of neat!

I took a picture of the tub before the girls stepped in. 

Makes me want to be a little kid again and take glow stick baths!

While the girls were being entertained by the bath, Aunt Shawna and I began making our fondues. We grated the cheeses, and let the whine and beer steam. We cut up the bread and then had a feast with a veggie tray, and little smokies. It was delicious! 

We both found our fondue recipes on Pinterest, from these sites: A Night Owl blog for the beer cheese fondue, and KitchMe for the white wine cheese fondue. 

We scooped the cheese into individual containers so we could double dip if we wanted to, and to make the eating process easier. I double dip... don't we all at some point? I only double dip if I have a personal container, I'm no pig! 

It's a common courtesy.

The girls loved it! They loved their mom's white wine cheese fondue the best, and I'd have to say it was a winner. Mine was pretty good, just a notch below the white wine cheese fondue. 

After dinner, we cleaned up a bit, and then I made the chocolate fondue. Way easier than the cheese fondue. The cheese fondue wasn't tricky at all, it was just a lot of steps. 

With the chocolate fondue, all I did was heat up some half & half in a sauce pan til it bubbled, and I added in some chocolate chips, then some sugar. All done! Dig in!

These pictures crack me up. Look closely at my cousin Raelyn, she is the little girl in the blue hat. She cracks me up, look specifically at her face. The expressions she makes are hilarious.

A chocolate goatee is always acceptable when eating chocolate fondue. These pictures are killer cute.

After chocolate fondue, I finished cleaning the kitchen, and then I wanted a picture with the girls. 

As you can see, we were really excited for the new year.

Then the girls, my Aunt Shawna and me all watched Wall-E. It was on TV, and we LOVE Wall-E. 

My Aunt Shawna made up a little cozy area for them to lounge in while we waited for the new year to arrive.

Pretty soon, it was 11:56, and Wall-E was almost over. We switched the channel over to Ryan Seacrest's Rockin' New Years Eve 2014 show. We watched the ball drop, and as soon as it hit 12:00, we had a mini party. We were making noise with noise makers and throwing around glow sticks. The girls had so much fun.

Look at little Raelyn's face again, and the things she is doing. Oh my goodness, she cracks me up! 

Raelyn is the one is the little blue pajamas with the red cups on them. I was kind of sad that Isabelle didn't really have an expression on her face. I'm happy that they would even take the picture with me at all.

In this picture, Raelyn looks to be shoving the noise maker up her nose. 

A few minutes later, we put Raelyn to bed, and my Aunt Shawna let Isabelle sleep out in the living room with us. We watched some cartoons with her, and my Aunt and I were on Pinterest (of course).

It was a busy night.

The next morning, my Aunt Shawna was taking down the Christmas tree, while I entertained the girls. I played Crazy 8s and Go Fish with Isabelle, and watched Raelyn "sneak" marshmallows left over from last night's chocolate fondue.

Happy New Year everyone! May this year be a wonderful year for all of you, I know I'm planning on a very wonderful year.