Thankful: 2015

I missed some excellent photo opportunities this holiday, that's for sure.  As always, I'll share what I've got!

We had the best Wednesday-before-Thanksgiving EVER by sleeping in and leisurely putting up the Christmas decorations.  We went to the Charlie Brown movie that evening to top off an excellent day!

 

 

Thursday we hosted some of our Pioneer family and had a very Chandler Bing-type Thanksgiving by eating no Thanksgiving food.  Last week at school we roasted our own pumpkins, made homemade puree to use for our made completely from scratch pumpkin pies, and made apple-onion stuffing and green bean casserole.  I wanted to give the students the opportunity to try some dishes that are typically made largely from store-bought products, except we made them all from scratch.  It was fun--but very, very hectic.  And it left me wanting nothing to do with Thanksgiving food come the actual big day.  So we made pizza dough and topped and baked our own pizzas and finished off with root beer floats.  A memorable Thanksgiving meal for sure.

The kids and I then packed up to head to Tulsa to be with my mom's side of the family, and meet baby Olivia, of course!  (Matt had a game on Saturday night so we let him hold down the fort on his own while we were gone--and we returned to a completely deep-cleaned home!!  Wow, Matt!).

Olivia was born to my cousin, Nathan, and his wife, Brooke, on October 11th. What a little sweetie!

Everyone was kind enough to play plenty of Spot It, Memory, and Old Maid with the kids.

 

 

Zach on Uncle Duty, Olivia loves to snuggle with him.

Our Black Friday shoppers made it on the Tulsa evening news!

Corrupted by Aunt Kizzie

On Friday afternoon we all headed to Main Event Entertainment to bowl and play arcade games.

 

Fun for all ages!

Knitting and playing the organ...traditions at Grandmama and Papa's house!

Cade tried to keep up with the pedals.

Saturday was the Bedlam game...divides the family between OU and OSU fans.  Everyone went their separate ways to watch the game.  And it was a painful game.  Thankful we are only mild Cowboy fans or that one would sting a little.

The red prevailed over the orange indeed!

You can't make the trip to Tulsa at Thanksgiving without at least driving through Rhema!  It was raining (as it did the entire trip there) so we opted not to get out and walk around, much to the kids' dismay.

We have so much to be thankful for, among these things are our health, our friends and family who we love spending time with, our home that God has provided for us, and our fun jobs that we enjoy going to each day.  Thank you, Lord!

Novemberness

While there are only 30 days in November...it really seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye this year!

What?!  November is over?!  We've been enjoying cheering on the Pioneers who have started off 6-2.

One Saturday that the Pioneers were off we took the fam to Scheels.  Everyone was confused about why I would want us all to go there.  Until we got there. 

Ready to ride the ferris wheel!

Photo Opps...Matt says he's going to spend all of his Christmas money at Scheels.

It was "Backwards Clothes" night at AWANA.  The kids enjoy getting very into the themes. 

As if one sporting goods store outing in the month of November wasn't enough...we hit up Bass Pro mostly to check out the Christmas craft area for kids.  Which was pretty much just coloring pages.  But we had fun!

Practicing our poses with Santa...gearing up for a Crown Center visit soon!

We kicked off our Thanksgiving break with a trip to Chuck E Cheese with the Heine's.  It was a fun way to start the holiday break...by not having to cook!

It didn't take the kids long to spend their 30 tokens! 

 

Welcome, December!  

KC Royals World Champion Celebration

Matt had been talking about taking the kids to the parade for weeks.  Cade was excited.  As the opportunity turned into reality, I was nervous.  Not that Matt couldn't do it, but navigating the downtown area with two preschoolers in tow seems like a bad idea.

My students were asking if school would be canceled, and I thought, no way!  My response was always that I was going to come to school but that students should take the opportunity to go to the parade and celebrate if they get the chance.  Possibly a once in a lifetime chance!

Then other nearby school districts began to cancel school for the day of the parade...and I was still skeptical but hopeful.  During 5th hour we received an email that school would be canceled so that everyone can attend the parade!!  I was shocked!  And excited!  This meant I could go too!

So with the unexpected day off, we decided, why not?!  Let's do it!  Matt had to go to work for a little bit that morning so we didn't leave as early as we had hoped.  We packed a small bag with some snacks and a water bottle and headed out.  Our first plan was to go to an Olathe bus stop and ride to the downtown area.  Apparently that was ALL of Olathe's plan as there were over 10,000 people attempting to get on the buses there.  Plan B: drive to Kemper arena and take the shuttle to the parade area.  The Mapquest app was awesome diverting us around all the traffic and getting us downtown (taking the most unorthodox route) as quickly as possible.  We parked near Kemper but then opted to walk rather wait for the shuttle.  It was a long line of people all decked out in blue headed down 12th street! 

We, of course, had to carry the kids most of the time while walking since we opted not to bring strollers.  While that was the worst part, it did help us to move quicker than if they had walked.  We had low expectations but just wanted to say that we attempted! 

We found a spot to watch at a corner.  We couldn't see too much, but the kids could see when they were on our shoulders.  Again, low expectations.  It was fun seeing/hearing when the players drove by.

We rationed drinks very strictly and, get this, NO ONE had to go to the bathroom.  A World-Series-Champion-miracle for sure.  We ducked into Chipotle just before the line got bad.  We ate outside on the patio on the unseasonably warm day and really enjoyed ourselves.  We didn't attempt to get to Crown Center for the rally.  That's where the real craziness was.

We were content to say we were part of it and head back home to watch the rest on TV.  Our biggest mistake was getting on the shuttle to ride back to Kemper.  It took probably 4 times as long as if we had just walked.  At least we did get to sit and didn't have to carry the kids. #brightside

All in all a wonderful day off of unexpected fun and memories!
 
The following images from http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article42628542.html

Tricks and Treats of 2015

It's December?!  What?!?  The blogging struggle is real for me lately.  (Obviously.)  But my love for reading posts from the past pushes me on to keep blogging...even if it's very, very untimely. 

The kids had the ultimate Halloween party at Ms. Dora's this year.  She takes them to various workplaces of the parents (mostly schools, most that Ms. Dora has had students from for years and years) and they sing songs and trick or treat through the offices.  It was the cutest thing ever!  I was so proud of my Darth Vader and Rapunzel.  (Notice that nearly every boy there was Darth Vader). 

 

Rapunzel's losing her wig a bit here.  The secretaries, principals, and counselors were so sweet to give all the kids candy as they came around to their desks.  Ms. Dora has quite the traditions established at the nearby schools and I'm thankful that I teach at one of them!

Was it not the best thing ever that Halloween was on a Saturday?!  We hosted a "trunk" for our church Trunk or Treat.  Minimal effort went into our design, but we got 3rd place!  Yay!

The church had carnival games and inflatables inside.

And various characters to meet!

For Halloween night we headed over to the Heine's and trick or treated some in their neighborhood (they give out FULL size candy bars over there!!) and watched the Royals game. 

It was SO fun watching the kids trick or treat.  I know I find myself saying this all the time now, but they are just at such perfect ages!  They bring excitement to everything but with both being potty-trained and mobile and such we get around so easily.  These are the days!

 

So that was our fun-filled Halloween.  A month later...