Happy New Year

Updated:
I posted the video of our New Years gala here. It's long, and probably only interesting to those who were there (and my Mom), but it's worth watching it just to see my brother Dan dancing.

While not quite as exciting as Noel's New Year, we still had a good time. It was kind of an "old people with kids" New Year's celebration, but one of the most fun I can remember in a long time. My brother/sister and their spouses Dan/Kris and Kevin/Susan came over with their respective kids, giving us a total of 9 kids ten and under. Jon and Beth were invited, but decided to snub us, giving us the lame excuse that they'd just been up in Michigan, and it wasn't worth the 12 hour drive from Memphis.

We had lots of music, dancing, limbo contests and card games. The kids all joined in dancing to everything from the Peanut Butter Jelly song, the Cha-Cha, to the Macarena, Kung-Fu Fighting and a bunch of other fun songs. Even my brother Dan joined in after he got his happy feet on, thanks to his friend Mr. Jello Shots. We played a round of the card game Phase 10 (which I won), and then had a Mario-Kart tournament.

We watched Dick Clark's New Year, but it was kind of depressing. I think he'd had a stroke recently and was getting around with a walker. I felt bad for the guy - maybe time to give it up Dick. Madeline's goal was to be the very first person in the world to apply lip gloss, which she did as soon as the ball dropped. Who knows, she may have really been that person.

Right before we popped the cork, we went around asking the kids about New Year's resolutions (to which Andrew responded, "What's a revolution?") and heard everything from "Go to school less" to "Eat more Candy". Here's a good picture of me wearing my new Big Lebowski shirt from Will. I'm not wearing my gift from Brad, because there isn't one.

At midnight, the kids went on the front porch and banged pots and pans. This sounds crazy to me, but my friend Nicki filled me in that it's a South Lyon thing, and Cathie said she'd done it as a kid as well. We also called my Grandma, Jon and Beth and my parents. My Mom's New Year's resolution is to be well enough to come to our New Year's party next year.

After New Year's Dan/Kris and kids left, and Kevin/Susan and kids stayed over. The sleepovers didn't last long. Gabe ended up hanging with Kevin upstairs and Ali ended back in bed with her Mom. Kevin and I grabbed a couple of cuban cigars and hung out in the hot tub until about 1:30, at which point we went in and watched some High Def Ultimate Fighting that I'd TiVo'd until we headed to bed around 2:30. The kids slept in until around 9:30, except for Ben, who Susan was up with a couple of times through the night - which I never heard.

You can see more pictures pictures of New Years in th Jim Kurt sanctioned Kurt Family Gallery.

I posted the video of our New Years gala here. It's long, and probably only interesting to those who were there (and my Mom), but it's worth watching it just to see my brother Dan dancing.