Day 698: Party Like It's 2011!

Today was pretty chill, for the most part.  We attended a little birthday party for the daughter of some friends.  That had some Joyful Moments, but then Baby B just started screaming and throwing fits--making the birthday girl cry--so, we left.

HH did some much needed cleaning out in the shed and garage, which I SUPER appreciate.  And I did a lot of cooking and baking.

We had a fun dinner of shrimp and cheese fondue.  Not together.  The shrimp went in the cocktail sauce and lovely French bread chunks went into the fondue.  This was my first time making cheese fondue all by myself.

Note:  Even though it may have amazing reviews online and you think your kids will like it better, a Cheddar/Swiss combination is nowhere near the deliciousness of different varieties of just Swiss cheeses. Not even close.  And when only 33% of your children like the cheddar/Swiss combo, then really becomes not worth it.

Still, it was a fun dinner and yummy.  Even if it wasn't as yummy as it could have been.

Then we put the kids to bed and picked up the baby sitter and headed out for a little get together with friends.

I might have mentioned before that we have really fun friends.  So, the night was full of Joyful Moments. They even made me feel good about my stuffed mushrooms, which I felt were a bit heavy on the sausage side.  I blame HH for that.  But they gobbled them all up, anyway.

Part of the fun was a White Elephant/Yankee Swap (depending on where you're from).  Good times were had here.

We scored a Scooby Doo popcorn popper.  Totally random, but we're excited to give it to Sweet P for her birthday on Monday.  The kid is obsessed with Scooby and The Gang.  I might have had to lay on some serious guilt to hold onto that popper.  It's a winning technique I learned from grandma.

Technically, the popper was HH's and I wound up with this freakish bunny.  You'll have to click on the picture to get it big enough to really be able to see it's scary scary face.  I had HH photograph me with it because I  was positive no one would steal it.  Shockingly, my friend who is so sweet she never steal a gift from anyone took it right at the end!  And I wound up with this bizarre book cover made from flame-patterned neoprene.

I am not kidding.

Anyway, it was a super fun night, chock full of Joyful Moments.  HH and I left a little early, so we wouldn't have our babysitter out on the Sabbath.  And then we rung in the New Year with just the two of us.  And being with my very favorite person in the whole world, beginning a new year together was the best Joyful Moment I could imagine for that moment.

Wishing you all Joyful Moments with your favorite persons!