Musical mayhem

As most of you are doing the same, we are trying to get back into the swing of things after another Christmas. I must say, this Christmas actually involved less traveling than usual, but with it coming on the heels of the accident, it felt kind of the same as always. BUSY. And while I do love the holidays, I am ready for some normalcy.... and to get this giant cat of a Christmas tree out of here! Yesterday I vacuumed and vacuumed under the dang thing, and every time I bumped a branch it'd shed more needles. 'out of trees'... my eye!

It looks pretty... but don't touch it!

Of all the activities and gifts this year, there is one memory I just have to document. The day after Christmas, we decided to engage the kids in a game since Grandma and Grandpa and little Breck were trying to rest. We all headed into the dining room and set up for some UNO action with Uncle Casey and Aunt Jill. Jill was seated in between Charlie and Ben at the end of the table, and the rest of us scattered around the remainder. The game got off to a good start, with lots of draw 2's and reverses and skips, sending Charlie into a realm of little kid excitement. He could hardly sit still in his chair.  A few minutes later, Jill jokingly remarks to me "How can you stand this"? Huh? I wasn't sure what she was referring to. She motioned with her eyes in Charlie's direction where I could see him visibly bouncing and doing miniature dance moves on his chair, while making popping and fake weird music noises with his mouth. 'Eh', I just shrugged. Nothing new in that department.  

A little while later, Jill put down her cards, faced Ben and said "OK Will you STOP that already?!" Huh? Ben, of course knew exactly what he was doing - making a relatively high-pitched, slightly sickening sounding humming music - to random tunes while he played cards. Again, I hadn't noticed. Of course, that was exactly the reaction he wanted, so he kept it up... only a little louder especially for Jill.  I chuckled. 

It wasn't long before Will, on the other end of the table, started in on his electric guitar sounds he frequently makes with his mouth. And it was me this time who set the cards down to do a double take. With all the popping, dancing, humming and electric guitar noises coming from all around the table, it was definitely noticeable, and pretty amusing at the same time. Each one was doing their own mildy-intrusive thing, not paying any attention to the other... but as a collective unit, it was annoying as hell! I started giggling and making comments about the ensemble, and Jill and Casey quickly joined in. It wasn't until little Jakey picked up the closest object sitting near him (which happened to be a toothbrush) and sang in an elevated, high-pitched voice, "TOOOOTH-BRUUUUSH" - that we all busted up laughing. It was pretty ridiculous. With all the noises and laughing going on, we had forgotten momentarily about the nappers, and started trying to focus back on the game and quiet everyone back down... which was working - except for little Jake. He caught on quickly that making noises and singing was getting a reaction, so he did the next logical thing. He reached down inside of himself for his loudest voice ever, and with one fist pumping in the air, belted out "FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!!" 

That was it. How could anyone concentrate on UNO after that? Laughing kids started disappearing from the table, and we started cleaning up the game. A few seconds later, a sleepy grandma emerged from the hallway, clearly curious about all the commotion, and with a voice that said "you've got to be kidding me", said "Fire in the hole???"  YEP. I was sorry we woke her up, but it was hard to convey that while I was laughing at the same time.  

OH WELL. 

FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!