MO

We made our bi-yearly pilgrimage home for the holidays(ish).  As always it was a fun and food filled time with my favorite people. Here are the highlights.

• On Sunday Silas was a car riding champion and made barely a peep except to point at every gas station and ask "Missouri?"  

• On Monday we attended the Blue and Gold Tournament to see one Trevor Roebke dominate the court with 17 points including an and-one shot with seconds remaining to win the game.  There were subsequent news articles and t.v. broadcasts declaring his fame. (Not even a lie.)  So we enjoyed spending the rest of our time in the presence of greatness. 

• On Tuesday we enjoyed a light dusting of snow and ventured to the lake to rescue the dock and  then on to Table Rock Dam to see a record amount of water flowing through the gates after all this rain.  There was also more basketball and dinner at Nakato where the manners of my nephews were beyond compare and quite entertaining. Trevor is not only effective on the court but also in the realms of child manipulation.

• On Wednesday we dined with Grandma Cain, opened stockings, cheered on the Indians, selected prom date hopefuls, and watched the premiere of this sequel I have been waiting on for what seems like years!  Trenton Roebke: He can weld, he can play the ukulele, and he can make movie magic! For real my brothers are the coolest!

• On Thursday, we went to an escape room.  Turns out those are super fun, plus we made it out! It helped that we had about 47 hints.  We also spent the evening ringing in the new year dead asleep.  

Why I bought this ill-fitted shirt is a mystery in and of itself.

• Friday was our drive home and the end of our lovely vacation and subsequently this post.

Christmas Present Play-by-Play

Out of the gate at 7 with the opening of stockings, Dad's headlamp starts as a front runner followed closely by the Halloween themed fake glasses from his fashion 5 pack.

Time out for a requested pizza breakfast that we were able to indulge due to leftovers from the night before when our non-napper feel asleep at 6 and missed all Christmas Eve festivities including dinner, a visit from grandparents, and the putting on of pajamas.

Breakfast was followed by the sporadic opening of gifts, most of which were domestically themed leading to the grand finale...

Notice our lovely plywood floors.

Outdoor fun was not neglected as we broke in the rain gear with some providential puddle jumping and hunted (not too hard) for treasure in our new sand table.

Festivities turned to the broader family where his favorite gifts are summarized in the picture below.

So it seems that it is the two dollar glasses for the win!

Christmas Preparations

Hanging of the greens.

Play-doh fireman hat by Grandma.

Parade!

Santa at the zoo with Parker.

Cookies with pals.

Cookies at Meemaw's.

Lights at Saluda Shoals with Kristin.

Playing with some "snow".  At 80 degrees we sure aren't getting a lot here.

ALERT holiday party with these cute colleagues.

Stage Debut

Greeting the fans and cast party.

Book Review

I recently received a hot-off-the-press copy of the new book, Into the Woods.  Let me tell you, this variant of the classic man vs. wild tale did not disappoint!

First I'll mention the binding which was sturdy and elegant.  The simple cover left it up to one's imagination what would be waiting inside.

The story begins with unforeseen obstacles...not one, but two gates bar their entrance.

Daredevilry on a fence and the restraining of dogs.

 There are beautiful moments taking in the splendor of nature,

and scaring it away.

 Brave treks through uncertain waters.

And one who would choose the path less traveled.

Our heroes scale a tree.

There is some language near the end, however I think it is necessary to convey the proper mood.

(s)crap metal...the finding of trash or treasure?

 In the end the boys have taken one step closer to becoming men as shown by the well placed mustache.

The illustrations and narration work together to create a masterful work that will please a variety of audiences as many times as they choose to indulge themselves.  We are up to 12.

Thanks Malachi, Eli, and GiGi!  This made our day!  Silas can't wait to be on the next adventure!

A Cut Above

We had a little out patient surgery on Tuesday.  The communicating hydrocele has been shut down. Nothing left to say, let's hope.  It was a bit disconcerting that all the toys in the pre-op room were labels OPS.  One O short of a problem.  We waited long enough for Silas to let down his guard and think the place wasn't so bad.  Big mistake.  Poor guy got lead off with strangers to get cut into.  We waited in the waiting room named "The Lion's Den".  The mouths remained divinely shut and after about 30 minutes we got the call he was out and everything went well.  He was sad and hurting quite a bit in the anesthesia recovery room and that continued through discharge.  Once we got home he seemed better.  The next day I think the meds kept him down, but once we were off those he was back to himself.  Potentially too much so.  Lets hope we keep the stitches intact and don't find our way back to OPS with an oops.

 

Turkey Hats

And this cute one of my Turkey Trotting family in Missouri.