New Years Day

January 1st we had a family party with Jeff's, Susan's & Sherry Ann's families. We had lunch with 19 people here. We had the children all sit in the kitchen and the adults in the front room. I sat with the kids and Kristofer sat with the adults.
I asked the children to name all the people sitting at the table. Children can play with each other and not even know each others name. We practiced naming everyone.

After dinner had settled, we played a picture game and tried to get everyone to say everyone's name, both those here and the 8 people that weren't here. With everyone living so far away and not seeing each other, the cousins don't know each other.

After awhile, we had a root beer tasting contest. Ralph found 9 different root beers for us to taste. We didn't tell anyone which was which and each adult got to taste the 9 different drinks and find the best and worst and try to name the common flavors found in the big bottles. It wasn't too surprising to find that A & W came in 1st.



This is all the children except Abigail who wanted to eat and missed the picture.


Jeff's family.


Sherry Ann's family.



Susan's family.

All of us. Look how tall Kristofer is.

We had a really great time eating, playing, and talking to each other. I hope the cousins got to know each other better.

I had purchased a PS2 and another TV game system that is for younger children. It gave all these rambunctious children plenty to do.

We really missed Gary's and Deeann's families. Maybe one day we'll all be together again.