We brought in the new year at Dave's brother's house, followed by what has become a traditional dance party. Man, his family has the moves. Have I mentioned that before?
(I'm pleased as punch to be behind the camera for that action.)
But first, we headed to dinner with all the in-town adults:
We so missed those who weren't here.
And then we went to a nearby church to play Frisbee dodge-ball (at least I think that's what it's called...).
This is the second time we've done this (once two years ago) and it doesn't seem to disappoint.
To start with, all the frisbees lined up in the middle and the teams are divided one on each side of the gym:
When the in-charge-person says "go!", each team runs to the middle and tries to grab as many frisbees as they can.
Then they try to pelt each other with them.
I know, fun right??
If you get pelted with a frisbee, you have to be out on the sidelines:
But if someone on your team catches a frisbee, a team member on the sidelines gets to come back in.
Yeah, I was pretty content on the sidelines with these folks:
Dave, not so much....
I love how competitive Dave's family is.
...but they are nice too...I mean, let's take a closer look at that above picture here:
Look at those smiles and Dave putting his arm around his brother.
Heart melter.
But then again, they were on the same team...
After that they started a crab-kick-ball game for the kids, but I don't know how long that lasted cause I ran to put Lu down for bed where we were having the real party (she was howling in exhaustion by then).
At the party the kids played some intense game where you have to chew a bunch of skittles at the same time:
Then we played charades.
...and a myriad of other games.
A favorite is called "three-deep."
Everyone gets a slip of paper that has two "counterparts" you have to find. For instance, if you have the word "red" on your paper, you are most likely looking to match up with people who also have colors. If you get a paper that says "Snow White," you are probably looking for other people with Disney Princesses.
Before you start looking for your partners, you "mingle" with everyone to switch the papers all up. Then someone yells "go!" and you take your little paper and yell out what you have until you find three things that go together. 
And believe me, it is LOUD with all those people yelling their heads off trying to find their partners.
Once you find each other you sit down "three-deep" according to the letter on your paper ("B," "M," or "T" which stand for "bottom," "middle," or "top.")
The last ones to find their partners are out.
Here's a video to illustrate...all those people on the couch were already out by this time.
Then everyone broke out in dance.
...and then we watched the ball drop.
...and hugged and kissed.
...and then the teenagers were in the groove and couldn't stop dancing.
Grace was pretty excited about the new year.
I see a lot of problems with the fact that ringing in the new year meant we move to 8:00 church. (Yes, that is 8:00 in the morning.) There's getting everyone bathed and spiffed up on Saturday night. There's an earlier curfew for the teenagers so they can get their beauty rest. And Dave and I having to cut our own Saturday date-night short. There's doing all the heads of girl-hair we have in our household.
But to top that off was the fact that New Years Day was on a Sunday. Which meant after going to bed at 2:00 in the morning we had to drag everyone out of bed just a few hours later.
And the only thing worse than that, was that that night happened to be the only night we got to have the Utah cousins sleep over at our house. Talk getting the short end of the stick on that one. We were all walking, grumpy zombies the next day.
Instead of hanging out and really catching up we had this:
...and this:
(Yeah, that's the kitchen floor he's zonked on.)
But hey, we'd still do it all over again in a second :)
Happy New Year. May it be a great one.Labels: Pothiers
We so missed those who weren't here.
When the in-charge-person says "go!", each team runs to the middle and tries to grab as many frisbees as they can.
I know, fun right??
Look at those smiles and Dave putting his arm around his brother.
Then we played charades.
And believe me, it is LOUD with all those people yelling their heads off trying to find their partners.
The last ones to find their partners are out.
Grace was pretty excited about the new year.
...and this:
(Yeah, that's the kitchen floor he's zonked on.)