Baking Day 2011

After a year off because of scheduling conflicts we were able to resume our yearly baking tradition this past Saturday. Unfortunately Kaitlyn was only able to stay a short time due to a basketball game but I made sure to pesture her plenty while she was there. And I may or may not have left bite marks on her arm. She is much stronger than me these days so I have to resort to biting sometimes.
On the menu for baking day: peanut butter balls, peanut clusters, chocolate covered pretzels, peanut butter blossoms, pretzel rolo turtles, and sugar & spice cookies. We spent the majority of the day baking with a short break for lunch and a quick trip to the Dollar General Store for more pretzels. And conveniently mom left to go test drive a vehicle just in time for clean up. (Just kidding, mom.)



It was a fun day with many laughs and making memories.

The youngest girls actually getting a long.

Nana said to watch the cookies.

teamwork for Madelyn & Kaitlyn

 Madelyn not allowing Kaitlyn in the pic.

 mother/daughter love

the finished products

Wordless Wednesday

Gingerbread Building

Last Friday I spent the morning helping Madelyn and almost forty other third graders make gingerbread houses. There was sticky frosty everywhere, and many threats verbal prompts to not eat the frosting because there was actually glue mixed in. Obviously I didn't come up with that idea because what fun is making a gingerbread house when you can't eat it. But, I guess this activity was not about me. The kids had a great time and I enjoyed helping out and catching up with other moms. I did, however, walk away once again with great appreciation for grade school teachers. They are all saints!! No way I could deal with those pesky kids, all day, every day. Yikes!

Thanksgiving 2011

This was a very different Thanksgiving than years past. This year it was just Madelyn and me celebrating with my parents and this year we went out to eat rather than having a huge feast at someone's house. Although different, we made the best of it. I made reservations for the four of us for lunch/dinner (depends on where you live) at the Hereford House at the Terradyne Country Club in Andover. As soon as we parked we were greeted by a young man in a golf cart offering us a ride to the front door. Now that is service!! We were quickly seated next to the inviting fireplace and made our way to the delicious buffet. Although not home cooking it was a pretty close second best.

I don't know why my mom doesn't like her pic taken, she is beautiful, and should smile for the camera more often. 

After lunch we went back to my humble abode and put up my Christmas tree and outside Christmas decorations. Well, my mom and Madelyn decorated the tree and my dad put up the outside decorations and I supervised and took pics. Or at least made everyone think I was busy doing something.

TJ was a lot of help, as well.

 My parents headed home early evening, I took a quick cat nap and then took Madelyn to her dad's house and headed to Topeka for Black Friday shopping with my best friends.

Although our holidays will forever be changed I choose to be thankful for what I do have and not focus on what I do not have. I am blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving

From my turkey to yours I hope you all have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving.

G-n-R on GNO

This past Saturday I met up with my girlfriends for a much needed night out. We made plans to attend the Guns -n- Roses concert at the Sprint Center after hanging out at the Power and Lights District in KC. The concert didn't start until 9:30pm so I was concerned how I would be able to stay awake. We arrived at the concert around 9:00pm, listened to the first band from 9:30pm - 11:00pm. There were so many open seats with good reason. The first band was awful!! G-n-R got on stage around 11:00pm and rocked out until 2:00am. They did not disappoint. Axel has still got it, even though he is old and the Slash look alike did pretty well. We made it back to the hotel and crashed after 3:00am. I was pretty proud of myself for staying awake past 10:00pm, and not being too terribly grouchy, although my friends may disagree.

Here are just a few pics from the night... Sorry for the ones that are sideways.

Halloween 2011

Better late than never, right....

Halloween morning I went to school with Madelyn and helped out with her class party. They had a parade around school then enjoyed a buffet of healthy foods, decorated pumpkins, and played Halloween Bingo.

That evening we met up with the Slussers to trick or treat, we drove to a couple places and spent the rest of the time walking door to door. Ryan met up with us for the festivities too.