10 New Years Party Ideas and the Weekly Block Party Link-Up

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas as much as we did! It's now time to think about New Years, and with that comes New Years Eve food! We've rounded up 10 New Years Eve food ideas to inspire you for whatever party you might be throwing or attending, even if it's just you and the kids cuddled up on the couch watching the ball drop.

6 Tips for a Fabulous Hot Chocolate Bar | World's Best Artichoke Dip | Quick and Easy Eggrolls | New Years Clock Cupcakes | Easy Peasy Pizza Dip | Five Minute Bruschetta | Fillo Wrapped Chicken Parmesan Meatballs | Easy Two Ingredient Stuffed Peppers | Stuffed Mushrooms | Brown Sugar Bacon Wrapped Sausages

Tiffany here from Making the World Cuter hosting today. January is a great month in our house, with mine, my daughter and my husband's birthdays all within 10 days of one another. So after all these holiday parties, we just get to keep partying into the new year! Excited for what 2016 brings, and lots of fun posts coming up on Making the World Cuter!

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Happy New Year and Moments that Matter Most

Moments are the molecules that make up eternity. ---Elder Neal A. Maxwell

It is not so much the major events as the small day-to-day decsions that map the course of our living. ---Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley.



My main goal for this coming year is to focus more on the things that matter most and pray that I will have the wisdom to recognize what they are.

Happy New Year!  What goals are you working on?

And in case you missed them, you can see some of my Favorite Projects from 2011 here.

Last Minute New Year's Clock Cupcakes

I don't usually do anything in the way of decorating and such for New Years, but this idea was too easy to pass up.  I saw an idea on My First Playhouse's Facebook page for making a clock with iced sugar cookies.  When Firecracker asked to make cupcakes yesterday, I figured we could make a clock with cupcakes.  (Much easier in my opinion than cutting out, baking, and frosting sugar cookies.)

Ours didn't turn out quite as picture perfect (mostly from my lazy piping), but Firecracker made the cupcakes on her own, and it only took about 5 minutes to frost them.

Favorite Projects from 2011

I had something else planned for today...but I've been seeing "Top 10" posts popping up all over, and thought it would be good to remember some favorite projects from the year.

Some of my very favorite projects from the year are things I made for Christmas, which I haven't even posted about yet...but I guess they can go in a top 10 list for next year.

So here are some favorites projects (or categories of projects) in no particular order.

I think my all time favorite project this year was making these Front Fracing Book Shelves.  Hubby and I made them together, and they were pretty easy, even with our limited woodworking experience.  Click the link for a full tutorial.

I also really love one of my most recent projects.  I've been planning on making this Hand-Painted Nativity all year.  I just posted the tutorial for it a couple days ago.

Helping Little Hands Goals for 2011

I've been reflecting over this past year of blogging and the Christmas Season.  I always hesitate to make New Years' Resolutions because they sometimes seemed kind of artificial to me.  On other hand, it can be good to take a step back and make some goals and reset our priorities.  This is an especially good year for our family to step back and reprioritize some things since hubby is finally settled in a "permanent" job and we expect to be here for a long time (as opposed to the last few years when he was in graduate school, graduating, looking for jobs, and we moved a couple of times.)

 

I'm working on setting some measurable checkpoints for each one to help me at home, but here here are the general goals:

• Spend more time focussed on my kids, helping them explore their own interests.
• Be healthier...eat better and exercise more...for the whole family.
• Plan better to bring more opportunities for Gospel teaching and learning in our home.  (i.e. more regular family scripture study, more Gospel oriented preschool lessons, better planned Family Home Evenings.)
• Prioritize the craft projects to make sure everything up higher on this list comes first.
• Make computer time more focussed...meaning be faster at doing blog stuff and don't get distracted by other things on the computer, so I can focus on everything up higher on this list.
• Finally make the play kitchen (I've been gathering the stuff for a year and a half) for Sweet Pea's birthday in March.
• Get started on Christmas gifts early...seriously...I'm going to start soon. I did better this year in terms of being realistic about what gifts I could get made, but it was still too ambitious.  I saw a project that I think will work for quite a few people on our list for next year, and if I get those done early in the year, then I can focus on building fun memories and traditions, and not making gifts the last couple weeks before Christmas.
• And maybe clean up my sidebars a bit...I know they're kind of a mess. :)

And if you're curious about some of the random projects I would love to find time to get to...you can check out my sidebar.

What goals do you have for the new year?

Helping Little Hands in 2010

I love the "Best of" posts that pop up around the new year when my favorite bloggers repost their best stuff...just as a reminder or in case I missed it the first time. 

Very Hungry Caterpillar Outfit and Cupcake Cake
My most popular post of the year was Sweet Pea's Very Hungry Caterpillar Skirt that I made for her first birthday in March.  Since she's on the small side she can still wear the outfit, although the shirt is getting a little small.  You can find the caterpillar applique here, the cupcake shirt applique here, the tutorial for the upcycling the skirt from a pair of jeans here, and the Very Hungry Caterpillar cupcake cake here.

It's been quite a year! Here comes 2010!

Well it's been quite a year at our house!  During the last year, we welcomed Rebecca to our family, Firecracker has been learning to read, Boy has learned to talk...a lot, and Sweet Pea has her first three teeth and is close to walking!  Hubby has graduated with his PhD, and we've the family moved back to Washington. 

(This is what the universary handed him when all his paperwork was turned in. This is what you get for 6 1/2 years of blood, sweat, and tears...Well, this and PhD on your transcript.)

We've been looking forward to some of these things for YEARS and 2009 was the year they happened!  Hooray!!  Can't wait to see what 2010 brings!