Run the New Year- Marathon into 2026!

 We had a great time celebrating the new year in Mountain Home. Sadly, Chris was still in D.C. on military assignment so he missed it. But we rang in the new year with the cousins and all my siblings, except David and Michelle. 

This year our theme was centered around a marathon since we are entering 2026 and there are 26 miles in a marathon. So we all wore sweatbands, race medals and we were all ready to ring in an energetic new year. 

We had the best time playing games all night. I had planned a bunch of "minute to win-it" games and the kids loved it. We all participated and it was hilarious. We played a cup flip game, cup staking, ping pong ball tossing, gift bow scooping and a few others. 

The games were hilarious and had everyone laughing but also very competitive. We played games for about 4 hours and then we ended the night by doing a Saran wrap ball. This was probably the highlight of the night. We had wrapped a bunch of small gifts and treats in Saran wrap over and over again until it grew into this huge ball full of all sorts of fun things. 

So you play by sitting in a circle and passing the ball around and when its your turn you try to unwrap the ball as much as you can, all the while the person to your left is rolling dice trying to get doubles. Once they get doubles, you pass the Saran wrap ball to them and they pass the dice on to the next person. It actually got quite involved but the kids actually did so great with it. There was no fighting and after they got to the "core" of the ball, the game was over and the kids all traded their prizes and it was so cute. 

I love watching these cute girls giggle together all night. 

We ended our party by doing the human knot twice. We were laughing so hard the whole time that it took us a while to figure it out. But it was lots of fun and the perfect way to end the night. 

At this point it was almost midnight and we poured everyone some sparkling cider and turned on the ball drop. We counted down into the new year and celebrated together. 

We had a great night and everyone lasted until after midnight- I couldn't believe it. It wasn't that long ago that we were celebrating "midnight" at 8 pm. And now the kids are staying up later than the adults. They are getting so big. 

So here's to 2026. It's going to be a great year!!!