I’m a little ashamed to admit I spent a little too much time scouring my archives for my recrap, umm…I mean recap of 2008 post and I didn’t have a lot of time for blog surfing. So this week’s Linky Love is a little lean…like how we’ll all be in a few months after following our New Year’s Resolution to eat less and actually exercising instead of just calling the Wii Fit dirty names. So here goes…

Scribbit gives us some tips on getting through some blogging speed bumps.

They had a dorky little Christmas over at DadCentric.

Mocha Momma reminds us who to avoid in the new year.

Cynical Dad came up with this year New Year’s Revolutions. Yes, revolutions.

Jessica Knows moleskine mom hacks. Very clever idea.

Last night we got a glimpse at what girl’s night out may be like down the road. Girl’s night out, the old lady edition where none of us can remember a damn thing.

The night started out innocently enough. We met up at a local bar to celebrate Stephanie’s birthday. Like usual, I was running late and everybody got a little head start. Lori started a tab. We drank a few drinks. Ate some really greasy bar food. And then we were ready to move on to the next bar.

We stood up and said good-bye to some friends. We were just about out the door when the bartender hollered, “Lori!” Yep, Lori almost walked out on her tab. Well not really because the bartender had her debit card. So she almost walked out on her debit card. That would have really sucked come today when she was trying to fill up her gas tank or get groceries for dinner. Luckily the bartender had her back.

We hit a few more bars before settling in at a brand new bar in town. We drank some more drinks. Had some great laughs. Got in to a very serious discussion about good (or not-so-good, as the case may be) neighbors. And then we decided we were hungry and in need of some yummy breakfast food.

We bundled up and stumbled our way out of the bar. We were half way across the street when one of the waitress came out the door and started hollering at us. “Did one of you leave your purse?” I looked down at the empty space on my side where my purse should be. Yep, forgot my purse in the bar. Now that would have really sucked. Not only would I be missing my debit card, but also my cash, credit cards, inhaler and much, much more. Thankfully the waitress had my back.

If this is how forgetful we are in our thirties, imagine how we’ll be in our eighties. We’ll set up a night to meet in the cafeteria of the old folks home and inevitably one of us will forget our teeth and another will forget where the freaking cafeteria is…even though we were just there for dinner not a half hour before. And I’ll probably miss the whole thing because everybody will be taking their evening nap by the time I finally get my butt down to the cafeteria. *sigh* Getting older sucks.

Here at casa Bean we celebrated the new year in style. With non-caffinated soda, tootsie rolls, and board games.

We started with a couple of games of Apples to Apples (the Junior addition). Very fun game. If you don’t have it, get it.

Then we switched over to Nick Scene It? Spencer was the winner.

The kids clearly watch way toooo much Nick. Lee and I were pretty clueless on every question unless it was a Spongebob question.

We ended the game just minutes before the ball fell in Times Square so we switched over to Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve with Ryan Seacrest and began to count down (even though it was only 11pm our time).

Then the ball turned red. But they didn’t show it falling. My kids wanted to see it fall. (Luckily Fox had our back. They showed it falling at midnight our time.)

Just like last year, there was some awkward old people kissing. Watching Dick Clark kiss is like watching your parents kiss. Ewww.

Happy 2009!

My kids brought in the new year with Lionel Richie. I never thought I’d say that.

Ryan came in from the cold and Dick Clark was all “stop complaining about the cold you big pussy.”

Kellie Pickler from American Idol talked to a few firemen who were trying to figure out who this ditzy blond is.

How did you bring in the New Year?

I was sitting here trying to reflect on 2008 and I realized I can’t remember a gosh darn thing that happened in 2008. Must of been a pretty exciting year. Thankfully I have a blog to remind me of all the crazy shenanigans we got ourselves in to this year. Let’s take a little stroll through the archives and see what we did in the last 12 months.

We rang in 2007 with a wild and crazy New Year’s party. At our house. With the kids.

Then I got my panties in a wad over some moron’s comments about teen pregnancy. And again over that lunatic, Shirley Phelps-Roper.

Speaking of lunatics, I sent a completely crazy email to my professor. Maybe this is why he left (and moved out of the state) right in the middle of the term.

February began with me locking myself out of my van…hypothetically.

And then my heart grew 10 sizes when I committed a random act of kindness and let a poor college student go after she rammed her car in to my van.

But it didn’t stop me from being a bad mommy.

And February ended with me stuck in a snow bank. Good times.

In March I wrote a letter to my body for BlogHer.

Spencer completely blindsided me with a sex question.

Just for fun I spilled my guts about all of my firsts…boyfriends, cars, roommates, etc. And my love list.

Turns out the mom wars will never end.

In April the tornados rolled in…along with pot smoking weathermen.

As the weather started to get warm (and then cold and then warm and then cold) I bought Skyler a new bathing suit from Old Navy…that came with a little padded surprise.

We got Justis a car for his 16th birthday…well, a matchbox car.

May was an exciting month. Caleb turned six (and wanted spankings for his birthday). And Lee turned 38 with a wonderful day of everyday tasks.

Caleb reminded us about the innocence of childhood.

I tried to be all healthy and environmentally conscious by riding my bike to work and ended up face first in the pavement.

June brought my 34th birthday and floods like we’ve never, ever seen in Iowa before.

Not that I was surprised, but Lee proved just how darn stubborn he can be. Twice.

After much searching we finally got a Wii Fit.

In July we saw Wall-E and were shocked to hear that Wall-E hates fat people.

Vonage stole $30.57 right from my checking account.

And I got a little too drunk at Lee’s 20 year class reunion and ended up taking down a friend in a photo attempt.

In August Keaton turned 14.

I fought Vonage and I won.

In the course of two days MADD completely ticked me off. And then Dubuque Right To Life turned in to a big flaming drama queen.

September was a pretty boring month, but I did admit I’m totally sexist and convinced my daughter she was too girly for wrestling.

In October Skyler & Spencer turned 9. Just one year from double digits. *sigh*

I almost killed myself while exercising.

Skyler got her ears pierced.

Skyler accused me of taking a picture of her rash just for blogging fodder.

In November Caleb lost his very first two.

Lee and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary with tattoos and a porno.

Caleb got a big ol’ black eye at school…right before vacation.

We left for our big family vacation to Disney World.

In December we lost our precious kitty cat Jasper. And our hearts are still broken.

The spirit of Santa Claus was saved by us being tightwads all year long.

And the Wii Fit and I broke up.

I can’t wait to see what 2009 brings. Happy New Year!