Moore Fun on New Year's

   
     I know that you are tired of reading about Christmas, that distant past holiday, so I decided to put a tricky title to draw you in; and technically it was closer to New Year's when we celebrated. I won't go through an agenda of how the visit went and what we did, I'll just hit the high points and funny parts.

     Sunday morning, as we were getting ready for church I heard a knock on the door. I ran to open it, not sure who it could be, and it was my brother Garrett!! He'd left at 3:30 am to get to our house early so he could spend the entire day with us, instead of coming that afternoon. It made my heart swell with happiness and love that he would do that for us. I quickly put him to work watching the boys while I finished getting ready.

     After church we met Mere Mere, Popsey and Mern for lunch to celebrate Mere Mere's birthday. Ace fell asleep almost instantly, thank goodness because he was a pill in church! Cooper was his usual entertaining self and kept breaking chips into little pieces and saying 'Chips for everyone!' The birthday meal wouldn't have been complete without singing watistaff and as a bonus Mere Mere got to wear a big sombrero. As uncomfortable as she was, she handled it all with much grace.

     When we left, we drove around and showed Mom, Dad and Garrett a couple of pieces of land we'd seen that were for sale. I wanted their expertise on land, real estate, etc. and it was fun to look and imagine, even if realistically we probably can't afford anything right now….darn diapers are breaking us. They gave us some good info and Garrett even called the realtor to ask the questions we didn't even know to ask. At least now we're more informed.

 Discussing real estate

Showing off his new trucks..the blue mouth is from a dum dum

     Then it was time to go home and get in the warm house…it was a chilly day! Mom and Dad couldn't wait long to show Cooper his Christmas surprise, and we were excited to see it too. Dad and Garrett made sure it was ready to go, then Cooper walked outside and right past it, because it was covered with a blanket. Once we got him turned around he found it, pulled the blanket off and revealed a John Deere tractor!!!!

 The look is priceless!

     Instantly he was on it and driving around the yard. It didn't take long for him to figure out how to go forward, backward and dump out dirt. He was thrilled and told Papa it was the "Best surprise!"

 Loading up 

I see a little brother in that wagon before too long….

Thank you for my 'best surprise' GG!

     Later that night it was time to exchange gifts. Now at Thanksgiving we'd decided not to do any gifts, only to make donations somewhere if we wanted, but no gifts. Well, we figured out that Mom and Dad were not going to follow that policy, so we had time to prepare some meager gifts to them.

Cooper was camping out on the big present

    Garrett was really funny and Santa-like. First he told Mom and Dad he felt "real stupid" after learning that they'd bought him presents; you had to hear the way he said it, funny. Then he brought in his bag of unwrapped gifts and started handing out the gifts. He bought the boys little foldable chairs in theme with camping (heard I got Dalt a tent) and they were excited. Ace especially likes his.

 Trying out their new chairs

     Then for Dalt and I he pulled out a new game…Minute to Win It! Good choice. He handed out Mom and Dad's gifts and sat down.

Housewarming and Christmas from Gma

 The boys got a couple of classics from Brian and Amanda..can't wait to read them!

     Next Mom and Dad passed out a few gifts from their family and then we opened our gifts from them. They got us sleeping bags that can be a full size bag or individual bags…we are ready to camp now. I just hope I can get Dalt to wait until the weather is a little warmer!! Garrett got a recliner for his new house. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

I think I've perfected the super excited look…

 Garrett and his recliner

 Metal construction equipment ornaments from Gma…decorative and fun

Ace is over the gifts…he's ready for milk

     After the gifts were opened we played a little minute to win it. It was pretty comical. Dalton had to tie a bean bag banana to his belt with it grazing the floor and then spin around fast enough to knock some balls off the table. I confess I didn't think he could do it, but he did. Dad attempted to pick up marbles with pencils and Mom and I blew feather across the room. Then Dad and Garrett attempted to use their bellies to hold a pencil and ball and let it drop in a box. It was pretty entertaining to watch.

 If you look closely you can see the banana in mid air in front of the horse.

The balls are on the table. 

Oh, and Dalt got new jeans for Christmas..he's trying them out

 Belly to belly…

 Almost there….they did make it!

Lets just say that Dad won't be eating Chinese for with chopsticks soon

     Then it was bed time. The next day we rested, ate our New Year's meal, shared resolutions a little early and watched Cooper ride his tractor. That afternoon we played another game that was loud and harder than you'd expect. You had to shout out words that fit a certain category and started with a chosen letter. Sounds easy, but not so much. Mom was the funniest because she would shout out a word, then someone else would say another one and she'd shout out the same one again…..just in case we didn't hear her the first time. Later the boys went to Carter Bend, Mom and I cleaned up the house and we all met at Possum Hollow for dinner. Ace was in rare form and really wreaked havoc. He was screaming because he could, wouldn't sit still, and then managed to grab his pouch of baby food and squirt it all over. He settled down a little by the end of the evening. Cooper headed to the man playing a guitar after dinner and danced around to the music. Another little boy was dancing right in front of the entertainer and so Dalton told Cooper he could go down there too. Well, Cooper must have mistunderstood because he headed straight past the boy and under the rail to the man playing. Dalt had to quickly go get him….the poor man was playing his banjo, singing and looking at Cooper hoping he didn't get any closer.

     Everyone was tired once we got home but I was determined to play another game…I have to take advantage of game players when I have them. By the time we got both boys to bed, another boy was sleeping too……

Too much New Year's fun

    But I wasn't going to give up. I talked loud enough and pretended like I was going to pour water on him and he opened one eye. I knew I was risking creating a grumpy person that wouldn't play anyway but it was worth the risk. And…..yeah he played!

Hmmm…what would I be doing right now if no one was looking?

Gathering and reviewing the answers

     We played Loaded Questions. The premise is that a question is asked and all but the roller writes down their hypothetical answer. Then the roller guesses who's answered matched who. There were some pretty funny moments….

First question of the night: If no one was looking, what would you do?
Answers: 1. sleep  2. doze off  3. go to sleep  4. eat 3 cookies
Not the best answers to hear when you are the one who wanted everyone to play….if you haven't guessed my answer was eat 3 cookies. I resisted the urge to be offended that everyone else would rather be asleep and moved on.

Q: What's something valuable that you disposed of unintentionally?
A: Chicken strips.  I laughed and laughed because this was Dalt's answer. Why? Because I had overreacted the other day when he threw away some leftover chicken strips from Chicken E. (I was really upset about something else and it leaked over into the chicken situation)

Q: What were you teased about in school?
A: My sister. Garrett's answer, oh how he loved to make the game funny and interesting. : )

Q: If you went to psychologist, what syndrome would you be diagnosed with?
A: Goofy wife syndrome. Guess who's answer that was? And he's probably right

Q: If you could be legal counsel for a company, which company would it be?
A: Moore Hunting Enterprises.  Garrett has always been a big dreamer and positive thinker

Q: If you could perform one heroic act, what would it be?
A: Save a Life, End government corruption, Impeach Obama, Kill the devil
That's right…someone answered kill the devil. Guess who? Garrett. Just when I think I'm doing good spiritually and thinking Heavenly Kingdom minded, then this happens. He was the only one that answered spiritually…go Garrett!

Q: If you could be responsible for one world changing event what would it be? (This was a reversal so only one person answered and we guessed what they'd say)
Our guesses: Reformation, Writing Constitution, etc.
Mom's Answer: creating Facebook (her defense to the shallow answer was that she wrote down the first thing that came to mind and that she was tired)

    So those are a few of the funny answers we got that night. The answers, mixed with sleepiness and a sugar high from dessert made for a silly but fun game….Dad won if you were wondering.

The next morning, New Year's Day, we sent them all home with best wishes and leftover Apple Pie. What a great weekend!

Look at those big front teeth!!

"A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit." Proverbs 15:13

"What is impossible with man is possible with God." Luke 18:27 (Our first memory verse of the year)