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)

It's Christmas!!!

    Christmas came and it was great! Of course I'm writing this on New Year's Day, so it seems like a distant memory now, but I'll do my best to recollect. 

  Santa came and brought good gifts for everyone. 

At first Cooper walked past the tree and when I asked if Santa came, he said "Not yet." Then I told him to turn around and when he did he saw the gifts.

Cooper was excited about his dump truck. 

I finally got Cooper away from his dump truck long enough to look at his stocking and he hurried through the goodies to get back to the equipment. This is him dumping the stocking to avoid the slow process of taking each item out.

I think Ace liked his gift too, although he's had to battle Cooper for playtime. 

     Then it was on to Mere Mere and Popsey's. We all went in our PJs (except Dalt) and opened gifts with the family. It was a little bit crazy with paper and "Thank You" flying all around, but very fun. 

Dalton got a new belt buckle with the Pitcock brand on it…very nice. 

Even though the night before we couldn't keep Coop from tearing into gifts, Christmas morning he seemed a little overwhelmed and just watched and then wandered off. After a couple of minutes we heard water running and found Cooper 'washing dishes' in the kitchen. Ace just crawled around looking for paper to chew. 

Of course we had to get a picture of the boys in their matching Christmas PJs. 

The best part is we didn't even know that we had bought the same ones!

Ace was really checking out his new bouncing ball toy.

 Cooper couldn't wait for the guest to arrive. He had to sample the food ahead of time. 

Something must have been really interesting down there. 

 Aunt Rita and Cooper were getting cozy.

     It was a special Christmas because it was a white Christmas! It was really cold, so we didn't get out much, but we stayed out long enough for Cooper to play and to get a few pictures.

Daddy and Cooper racing to the fence.

 After playing in the snow it was time for a snack. 

 "Mommy, are you sure I can't use your new camera?"

Cooper started playing a game on my phone late in the afternoon and fell asleep. I could see the phone dropping lower and lower until no fingers were playing. 

 Ace decided to take a nap too. 

 What a peaceful 30 minutes on Christmas day…much needed for us all. 

 We finally loaded up and got ready to head home. We hated to leave because it was such fun, but it was time to get the tired boys home. Cooper loaded up with all of his toys in his lap, along with his milk of course. 

The boys slept all the way home and we figured we'd just put Cooper straight to bed, but as soon as I got him in the house his head popped up and he was ready to play with his new toys. That lasted about 30 min and then it really was time to bid Christmas farewell. 

The next morning I woke up feeling so depressed. Mom says it's because I really love Christmas. I agree, and with all of the anticipation and fun with the kids it just seemed like it went by so fast! The good news is that it will come around again in about a year. Yeah!!

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

Christmas Eve

   

     This Christmas was so much fun I can't fit it all into one post. So, I'll start with Christmas Eve. The day dawned with excitement and business as we prepared for the celebrations to begin. I made iced sugar cookies, like I do every year, while the boys slept then played. Dalton got off of work early..yeah, and was home by lunch.

     I let Cooper open a gift from the Echols that morning and it kept him occupied for most of the morning, except that I had to keep telling him not to take it outside. He wanted so badly to take his new skid steer to the dirt pit, but I don't want these to be outside toys.

     After naps, we rushed to get ready, stopping long enough for a visit from Jan and Michelle to drop off a Merry Christmas wish and a couple of gifts for the boys. Cooper got a John Deere camera that he clicked all evening long. Then we finished getting ready and headed in for church. Dalt was playing during the service so we dropped him off to practice and went to an, oh so busy, United. "What are all these people doing here?" I thought as we rushed through the ailses looking for those few things that I needed for the holiday. So funny how strange it seemed for everyone else to be at the grocery store on the Eve, but not for myself.

     Back at church I found a row midway up and parked myself and the kids next to another family with kids. Because Dalton was on stage I knew I needed reinforcements to make it through the service alone….especially with Cooper, who was dying to get on stage with his dad. I won't say that I got a lot out of the service, but we survived and even managed to sing the songs. Of course I had to sing while giving Cooper looks and telling him to stand up, get down, stay in the row, don't leave the pew, etc. At one point he snuck out of the pew during prayer, but thankfully someone grabbed him and returned him to me before he made it to the mic.

     At one point Cooper and the other kids were sitting next to the mom of the family I sat next to and she handed out skittles to keep them quiet. It wasn't long before one hit the floor and started bouncing away (skittle…not kid). Then a few seconds later we heard another ping. I couldn't help but laugh because it's so funny to be in these situations with kids. If I wouldn't have laughed I would have probably been embarrassed and upset, but what's the use in that. Overall it was an enjoyable service…I can't say the same for those sitting behind me though. I hope they looked on us with grace.

     Once we finished saying our Merry Christmas's there we headed to Mere Mere and Popsey's for a quick visit and dinner. We had yummy enchiladas, which Cooper helped serve. Then it was off to the house to open our gifts. We tried to keep Cooper awake on the way home but it didn't work. We had to revive him a bit once we got in the house but it didn't take long for him to get into the gifts.

     I opened mine first…I think Dalton was more excited about me opening my gift than I was, and for good reason. It was camera!! A really nice camera…woo hoo. I was excited and so thankful. What made me even more thankful was knowing that he used his bonus money to buy the camera for me instead of getting his gun scope or boots that he wanted. What a guy.

    Cooper was excited about opening. He ripped into the paper and wouldn't open the boxes until every last shred of wrapping paper was off the box, no matter how tiny. Then he opened the boxes, looked and smiled and was on to the next one. It didn't matter to him whether they were his presents or not, he was ready to open them all.

    Ace, on the other hand, didn't really like all of the comotion…he was a little tired for all of the excitement. He did like chewing on the paper though and it was a constant battle to keep it away from him.

     Finally the last gift was opened…Dalton got a tent! We are going to be a camping family now, or so he says. I made sure to get a big one so there's plenty of room for us all to roll around and get comfy. I have to admit I'm pretty excited about it too.

      Once we'd put the paper away we talked about why Christmas was important and put Baby Jesus in the stable. Cooper played with them a little, and at one point he was holding Mary looking at Jesus saying "It's going to be ok." Sweet.

     Then we set out cookies for Santa and headed to bed. That night, Santa came…..and I must say Santa had a good time setting out the presents and filling stockings, oh what fun.

"And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." Luke 2:7-8