Holiday Happenings

As usual, we had a great Thanksgiving this year. Thanksgiving was at our house and we celebrated with Martin's side of the family. Of course, the food was amazing and I ate way too much in the last few days. Oh well!

So we tried to carry on the new tradition I started last year in going to KC to see the lights at the Plaza. Last year wasn't very successful so Joe was on it to make sure that this year would be a for sure good time. Thanks Joe for making the reservations to GoJo's two months in advance.

GoJo's is a hibachi restaurant and was oh so good. Unfortunately, my stomach was bothering me all weekend. It started on Thursday and I was convinced it was just because I ate way too much food. Friday I was okay, but by Saturday morning I was sure it was a little more than over eating. We started Saturday out by celebrating Papa's birthday at JJ's before we headed to KC. Sorry Papa no pics of you, but I had to rush home after we ate!

Aunt Brittney. Isn't she gorgeous? Her and Byron might be starting their married life in the military. I guess it's a really good opportunity for them and they don't have kids. We'll see. It's already a for sure for Byron, but Brittney's decision is still up in the air. Either way, they will be military brats (are you still a brat if you are adults or are you only a brat when it's your parents that are military?). Good luck guys.

We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather. We didn't even really need our coats. Of course, I had all of my family in layers! Oh well, better safe than sorry.

Heidi and Joe, we love you guys, you are awesome. Thanks for letting us bunk at your house and starting a new tradition with us. I'm so glad you got transferred to KC Joe. We need to start some Fall traditions with the many festivals you speak of during the fall in KC.

So, I guess I had this image in my head that the plaza was decorated with tons of amazing lights and packed full of family fun. After this weekend, I've concluded that it's more of a girls, shopping weekend. We made the most of our time there however. It wouldn't be a trip to the plaza without some Cheesecake Factory now would it? I got the peppermint bark because peppermint is supposed to soothe the stomach right? Nothing keeps me away from food.

What a goof!

We decided to ditch the Plaza and head over to the Crown Center. I would highly recommend this over the Plaza for any family interested in making KC a part of their holidays. Santa is there and there is a lot more family fun than at the stuffy Plaza.

I'm glad we went however. It was great quality family time and the food was great. I so do love the holidays. Now I've got to get the Christmas cards done, bake, decorate, shop, wrap presents....

Thanks-giving

Okay, so, I haven't posted a mushy, sappy, over the top, are you serious, make me gag kind of post for awhile now. I figure what better time than now, Thanks-giving. Have you ever really thought about the name of this holiday? Thanks-giving. People were so grateful and thankful for what they had been given. How appropriate. So, further more, have you ever really thought about what you are thankful for what you have been given? Now I know there are those moments when you are thankful for your home, your family, your health, etc, etc. But seriously, why are you so thankful for these things. It's not the home, or the family you are really thankful for is it? For me it's the specifics that make me thankful.

Everyday when I wake up, I have a warm house that surrounds me and protects me and my family from the elements. It doesn't matter what the house looks like, it's what we call our home. It's safe, full of love and everyday, the people in it love me unconditionally, without fail. They rely on me and myself on them. We believe in each other and encourage each other to be the best we can be. When the rest of the world turns it's back on us, we have each other.

I have the freedom to be whomever I choose to be. It doesn't matter how much money I make doing this or where I'm at in the organizational chart. It matters what makes me happy and the sense of accomplishment I feel at the end of the day. My mind is healthy and allows me to make decisions I see as the best for me and my family and distinguish between right and wrong.

I'm not faced with decisions so overwhelming I don't know how I'm going to make it through another day, where my family will get their next meal, if they or I will heal. I can care for myself, by myself. I know where my children are, I know if I need help all I have to do is make a simple phone call.

I so enjoy being with my family and friends and want to thank all of you for being by my side, listening to me over and over through this trying time in my life and sharing the joyous moments. Just being there. Thank you. Most of all, and most importantly, I have my faith. It is my faith that makes this ride, experience, whatever, tolerable. It is what makes all of the above possible. It's something I have come to appreciate and understand more this year and what I am most thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving to all my peeps. Enjoy your family and friends and take a moment, I'm serious, to really reflect on what you are thankful for.

Ok, so this post is long overdue. But, I wanted to get it up because it was a lot of fun and I wanted to talk about how it would make a great family vacation. This, of course, is one of the places we visited. If you know my husband you know he is a huge Jim Beam fan. I'm glad we went, it was really neat. Fall is a perfect time to go to Kentucky, it is beautiful country. Isn't this fire truck cute?

This is the house they used to live in when they first started their establishment. Their factory is huge now. I don't remember all of the statistics and how many warehouses they have with how many bottles or barrels, etc, sorry. It's big, a lot of barrels of whiskey.

I was trying to get a picture of the label that says this whiskey, that we were sampling, is 190 proof! Knock me off of my...

This is the store and bar where we sampled several different whiskeys.

This place is the Louisville Slugger factory. We had dinner here and got to tour the place after dinner. I don't know why, but for some reason, I kept thinking of Bud, Michelle's husband, through this whole damn tour. He just really seems like he would like this place. It's full of baseball, duh, and tons of baseball statistics.

Then, there's this place! Bud, you have got to get to this place. You would love it!

I think this was Babe Ruth's bat? Not sure. I was a little distracted as the entire dinner was open bar.

Really?

This is my curly headed partner in crime, Debbie. We would get up every morning and run on the riverfront. It was awesome. We had a great time. She's also from Ashland. Her husband works with Martin, obviously.

This was one of my favorite horses. These painted horses were everywhere. Yes, I know, I was in Kentucky, I know why there were horses everywhere.

This was the first night we were in Kentucky. We were on our way back to the hotel after a long night of fun...

...at this place.

Another place I thought of Bud. Civil War site...

These are the peeps we hung out with. This sign below is not a joke. It was actually posted on the riverfront. They mean the cars will be launched into the river! It only took us 4 hours to get to Louisville and we made a lot of potty breaks! There are many more family places to go and things to do, short drive, I'm hoping we make it back there with the kids.

Halloween

Another Halloween down! We started early this year since it was on a Saturday and the kids could not wait another minute. We went to Grandma's, church for Trunk or Treat and then to Kalynn's house and a few houses in her neighborhood. After that it was off to Vanderveen. Thank goodness Addie had a stomach ache and was ready to head home after about 6 houses. Thanks to .50 corn dogs at Sonic! I was ready to go home, it was cold. I don't do well with cold. The End.

Halloween Eve

THIS is my husband's Halloween costume. Nice uh? Now would be the time to feel sorry for me because yes, he is like this all of the time. It's also true that this is the reason why I married him. Because he was always so funny and had a good time wherever we were. Now, it just seems, um, immature? Oh well, the kids love it.

Ok, so the first version of Wonder Woman. She borrowed dad's wig. This was the first thing on our agenda Friday, Alex's Fall Party. The theme was Super Heroes. Actually, the first thing on my agenda was to go to Wal-Mart and get things for the goody bags and dirt dessert. I spent $50! But, I knew if I didn't do it, the kids wouldn't have a very good party. At least this had been my experience in the past. When we walked in with arms full of goodies, the kids were so excited. So, it was worth it. Even if Alex's teacher didn't seem to appreciate any of my efforts, the kids did. Even two less fortunate kids came up to me and thanked me. That made it worth while and the kids loved the dirt dessert with eyeballs and worms.

My little actress, she's flying if you couldn't figure out what she was doing.

Version 2. The wig was too itchy. We were sitting here at the front to the school waiting for Martin to come back from parking the van and someone walked by and said "hey Wonder Woman." Addie said, "how did she know I was Wonder Woman?" After I gave her the look of are you serious? She said oh yeah, the costume! That's my girl.

After the fall party it was off to Peachtree Farms. Why did we pick one of the most windy, cold days to do this? Because we didn't have pumpkins yet, it was Halloween Eve at 4 in the afternoon. What else did we have to do?

I had to add this picture because you know how Alex is, he never lets me take his picture. Have I mentioned that the last trip to the dentist he told us to start saving for braces! I wonder why he said that? Poor guy. My sister had braces, not me. Thank goodness.

The hayride wasn't too bad even though we were freezing. Alex was being the typical older brother when the kids went into the hay maze. We told him to stay with Addie, don't leave her, it's dark in there and she can't see where she's going. What do you think happened. Poor Addie, when Martin got to her, he said she was at a dead end trying to get through a very small hole where two of the hay bales met that wasn't intended to be a way of passage. She was freaking out yelling "the hole is too small." Martin said you couldn't see a thing in there and he almost freaked out and tried to lift the top of the maze off. Good times! Guess who got in big trouble?

We then made our way home to carve our pumpkins, that we got at HyVee because the ones at Peachtree are like $18 a pumpkin! NO thanks.

Why is it that the kids always get to goof off while the parents are hard at work with the pumpkins? Of course, I was already on the couch at this point with my Shiraz! But, I did clean the pumpkins out. That counts for something.