Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone! Wow, where did 2007 go?!? Time sure does fly by, especially the older you get (which is something we all hear growing up but never realize until we become adults). We had a pretty fun day yesterday, but unfortunately I was a total lame-o and didn't bring my camera with me, so I don't have any good evidence of our eventful day right now. But I know there were some other picture takers out there, so I'll eventually track down some pictures and share them with you all (notice I said "you all" and not "y'all" . . . I think the southern influence I experienced is dissipating).

The day started out pretty early with a call from my friend Heather who had a cake baking question for me. This is only significant because, as most of you know, I am the total opposite of the Martha Stewart type, so for someone to be asking ME baking questions is pretty bad. But I think she had some sort of false confidence in me because of the easy cake I made for Charley's birthday, so I must have successfully fooled her. The cake was important because it was her son's birthday and she was just a couple hours away from the party, so I went over there a bit early and tried to help her fashion together some sort of cute cake that worked with a "Curious George" birthday theme. We ended up coming up with a cake shaped like a rack of bananas, and it ended up not being too bad (she took some pictures, so I will try to post those eventually). Heather pulled a banana leaf off a banana tree in her back yard and covered a cookie sheet with it. Then we cut out three banana-shaped pieces of cake, strung them together like a rack of bananas, and slathered them with yellow frosting. And I would say considering how non-Martha both Heather and I are, it didn't turn out half bad. At least everyone knew what it was supposed to be, so that's a good sign, right?

At noon the party was in full swing with a house full of kids and parents, tons of food and games, and of course a few sprinkles of rain for good measure (forcing everybody inside for a little while). Everyone had an awesome time, and afterwards we all went our respective ways to get the little ones all napped up for the evening's festivities.

Just a few hours later we headed back down towards Heather's house where there was a huge block party happening on her street. The entire street was involved, setting up tables and chairs, contributing food for a potluck, setting up an enormous bounce house for the kids, and shooting off TONS of fireworks for everyone to watch. It sort of reminded me of a 4th of July party, except it's December instead of July, and we are celebrating a new year instead of our independence. Just to make me feel a little more in the New Year's Eve spirit, I wore a knitted hat that my friend Jen gave me a couple years ago for Christmas (hey, it got down into the high 60's, was a little windy and rainy, so it wasn't COMPLETELY warm outside!), and I got a few good laughs from people because I looked like I was waiting for a snow storm. For some reason New Year's is a pretty big deal here (maybe because it's just another excuse to drink and let off fireworks, who knows), so everyone went all out for the event. Hawaii gets so excited about New Year's that they actually dedicate entire isles at Walmart and Sears for selling fireworks, which is something I've never seen before. Have you ever seen fireworks at Walmart? Heck, we even spent three years in Walmart country (i.e. Arkansas) and never saw anything like that. It was just crazy. But everyone had a really good time, and we made it until about 9:30 p.m. when most people (except for the die-hards) started putting their kids to bed. So we headed home, put the kids to bed, and were asleep by 11:00 because we knew that Zander would be up at 6:30 a.m. regardless of the events the night before (I swear he's like an alarm clock). I know, I know, we were lame, probably almost more lame than my parents, but oh well, at least we've accepted our fate as old people!

So, today is New Years and we have yet ANOTHER party to go to this afternoon. The University of Hawaii Warriors are playing in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia, so some of our friends are having a football party to watch the event. Yesterday my mom was laughing at me when I was telling her our plans for these last couple days because she pointed out that we go to more parties than anybody else she knows (I guess five parties in a little over a week is kind of a lot). While it's true that we've been to more parties in the last few months than we had been to in the last few years combined, it is a nice reminder of how lucky we are to have so many great friends here to share our time with. I have a feeling that 2008 is going to be a good one for us. :)