New Year's Eve 2013

Tonight's NYE celebration was fun!  A group of 12 adults went to a restaurant in Clayton called The Libertine.  It was really good food with fancy names.  I ordered a salad, 1/2 a lobster tail, and crispy pig tails.  Yes, you read right, pig tails.  To me, they tasted like pork rinds with a kick.  Allan had a huge pork porterhouse.  We were fortunate to have Makalya H.,  and Sydney, Maddie, and Ana K. come to babysit.  My girls love them!

 Rachel, Jen, Krista, Judy B., Julie W., and Ness

As per tradition, we were back by 10 to relieve the sitters, then Basement Olympics commenced.  It was the first year in the new Rudd house, so some changes have been made.  This year's activities were  2v2 dodgeball, floor Bounce, and a Kinect face-off for the top two couples.  Allan and I stunk it up as usual.  The Joneses won dodgeball, the Buschs won Bounce, and then the Buschs won the ultimate face-off.

  Rudds vs Buschs

 Allan was the judge and protected himself with the dodgeball tub.

 Ness and Craig were victorious despite Ness getting bombed twice in the head by Erin!

 Ness worked up a sweat.

 Vanessa

 Craig

 Erin

 Josh

Happy New Year!!

 A family selfie at midnight.  Harper had fallen asleep on the couch in the bonus room by then.

 As the winners, Josh and Erin, were awarded this obnoxious trophy made my Allan.  First, Josh had to drink something out of it, then they had to sign it and take it home to display until next year.

Beautiful Day to be Outside

Today was an unseasonably warm December day (in the 50's) so we took a trip to the airplane park.  The bubbies were sick with influenza A and confined to the house, so we invited Alayna to come with us and get out of the house.  As we were finishing up lunch at Wendy's, I got a text from Debbie saying that they were also going to the airplane park.  It worked out perfectly for us to meet them there!

Harper, Alayna, Delaney

Harper, Alayna, Delaney, and Cate

Liz called us this morning to tell us about an event she saw advertised on the news.  It was the Kirkwood Winter Fireworks and festival.  Since the weather was warmer than normal, we decided to go.  It was nice that the festivities started at 5 and the fireworks started at 6:30 since it gets dark so early.    We found some really convenient parking and didn't have to walk far at all to claim a good spot.  While waiting, we went over to watch the news reporter on live TV.  Harper stood in the crowd, but I don't think she was actually on camera.  Delaney chose not to try.          

A Mommy-Delaney selfie

Mama being silly wearing Harper's hat.

We were so close to the fireworks and they were pretty loud!  It was nice that the air is clear and not humid in the winter because the smoke didn't stick around and cloud our view.

They were so loud that both Mama and Delaney held Delaney's ears :).

It was such a fun night.  We will definitely go again next year!

Merry Christmas from the Cochrans!

Birthday Party for Jesus

We had our Birthday Party for Jesus tonight.  Our small group tries to do it every year, but I think we missed last year.  This year only the Rudds, Buschs, and we were available, so we also invited the Dunnills.  Good times.  We started by eating cupcakes that the girls and I had made earlier in the day.  

Next, Delaney and Tyler took turns reading a book about the real meaning of Christmas.  It was hard for the younger kids to sit through it.  All they wanted to do was play.

Colin and Lucas fighting over who gets to sit in the chair :)

I think both Harper and Krista enjoyed their snuggle time :)

Mrs. Erin brought a popsicle-stick manger craft for everyone to make.

Allan and Hayes entertained the crowd with some tunes on the keyboard.

Visit with Shara

My very best childhood friend, Shara, along with her parents and kids, came to visit St. Louis this weekend.  They came over to my mom's house to hang out and reminisce this morning.  We had so much fun looking at old pictures and laughing at ourselves.  Of course, we took a bout a zillion pictures (Shara loves to pose!) and even tried to recreate  one of our famous poses from when we were 13.  Shara's youngest daughter, Brooklyn, is 7 and my girls loved playing with her as well.

Delaney and Brooklyn

Harper, Delaney, and Brooklyn

Wild Lights - Finally!

The Wild Lights display at the zoo was open tonight!  It was a little bit rainy, but the Joneses and us were brave.  

Making a luminary craft.

Playing a game.  Claire was a bunny, Harper was an owl, and Delaney was a lemming (?).  They had to hunt for food.

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