Exploration Place

Yesterday I joined Madelyn and the rest of the 2nd grade class on a field trip at Exploration Place (Science and Discovery Museum) in Wichita. Thankfully I went to work before the field trip and didn't ride the bus with the kids. I for sure would have had to add butterscotch schnapps to my coffee if that were the case. When I met the kids at Exploration Place one of the kids joyfully reported that a kid threw up on the bus! That only confirmed why I should not ride the bus with the kids. Gross!
There were so many parental supervisors that I only had Madelyn and one other child to keep track of. I'm thinking Madelyn's teacher knows my tolerance, or lack of, when it comes to kids. We were at Exploration Place for five hours, which was a little more than the 2nd graders (or my) attention span could handle. But we made the best of our time and had a fun.

Christmas Survey

Have you been naughty or nice this year? Depends on who you ask.

What do you want most for Christmas? I  have a pretty blessed life with amazing family and friends and don't have any materialistic wants that I can't go out and purchase myself.

What is your favorite food at Christmas? all the chocolate goodness that I make, peanut butter balls, peanut clusters, choc covered pretzels, pretzel turtles, etc

Have you started Christmas shopping yet? Yep I started in August

Have you finished Christmas shopping yet? I should be but I keep thinking of more things to buy. Good thing I have no budget for Christmas. Ryan just chooses not to ask what I spent anymore.

What is your favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night by Celine Dion or Josh Grobin

What is your favorite Christmas movie? Elf

What is your best memory of Christmas? Waking up very early and creeping up the stairs to see what Santa had brought before mom and dad were awake. I remember being so excited.

What do you look forward to most at Christmas? Madelyn's excitement on Christmas morning

What are you doing for Christmas this year? Spending Christmas Eve morning/early afternoon with Ryan's family, spending Christmas Eve with my family. We drive back to Augusta Christmas Eve night because Santa visits our house.

Who do you want to kiss under the mistletoe? My two fav people, Ryan and Madelyn.

What kind of Christmas tree do you have? A pre-lit 8 foot fake tree

Do you take part in a secret Santa? No, I work with a bunch of scrooges

Do you go to any Christmas parties? This was the first year we skipped my work Christmas party because it has been so lame the past few years.

Have you ever had a white Christmas? Yes and I love them

How early do you wake up on Christmas morning? I sleep as late as Madelyn will let me...we usually are up before 7:00am.

Do you still get a stocking? I still have one, but it is usually empty. :(

How many Christmas cards do you normally send out? 60

Wordless Wednesday

Foul Smell

Yesterday I made a reuben sandwich and as soon as I opened the can of saurkraut Ryan and Madelyn were complaining about the foul smell. I LOVE saurkraut, so much so that I will eat it straight from the can. It has a very foul smell but the taste is delicious. A few minutes into my reuben creation Madelyn came walking out of her room looking like this:



She just doesn't appreciate a good sandwich when she smells it.

YMCA

Although joining the Village People and singing YMCA would be a great time...... we actually joined the Y, formerly known as the YMCA. 

We have been members in the past and Madelyn has played sports, participated in swimming lessons and gymnastics through the Y.  The Wichita, Andover and ElDorado Y offer many activities and have awesome facilities. A few months ago a friend convinced me to attend a spin class at the Y. I must admit I was a bit cocky about it and figured it would be a breeze. You know, considering I have run a marathon. Ha! Was that a humbling experience when I walked out drenched with sweat and legs like jello.  It is $10 per class, which isn't terrible, but if I go once week that is as much as a monthly membership for my fam. And with the winter months upon us and my decreased desire to run outside or on the treadmill I needed an incentive to keep exercising through the cold months. We will likely go to the Andover Y as it is the closest and the newest, which makes it pretty awesome. My goal is to keep off those winter pounds that always tend to creep up and look very scary when it comes to warmer temps and boating time.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Madelyn couldn't wait to put up the tree and decorate the house for Christmas on Saturday. I, on the other hand, was seriously thinking about finding a small tabletop tree to put on the kitchen table. It is rather scroogey of me, I know, but putting up the Christmas tree is more work than it is fun. You know the saying "fake it, until you make it"? Yep I sure had to do that to get in the mood for putting up all the Christmas garb. Once I got going it wasn't terrible. Thankfully Madelyn is at an age that she really is helpful and could do a lot of the decorating by herself, if I would just let her. After the inside of the house was complete with decorations Ryan and Madelyn worked on the outside. This year the deer were put up and only one strand of lights. Ryan is more scroogey about the Christmas decorations than I am, and since he is the one responsible for the outside lights I won't push my luck.

 Being all festive wearing her Santa hat. She is festive all year round because she insists on wearing that hat to bed most nights.

Looks like I had been shopping for 12 hours the day before..hmmmm.

 The finished project. Not too shabby.

In about 10 years I'll be wishing Madelyn was begging me to decorate the tree. Just as the song goes "You're Gonna Miss This" and I'm sure I will.

Black Friday 2010

Kris picked me up at my parents' house at 4:45pm Thanksgiving evening and we made our annual trek to Kelli's house in Topeka. We started our evening with our gift exchange, then had a few beers and some wine that Kris had bought each of us. By 10:00pm we (I had to be convinced) had decided we needed to drive in to Topeka and check out the sales at Toys R Us. Kelli's husband graciously agreed to be our chauffer. Well the trip was short lived when we arrived at Toys R Us and discovered the line was a mile long. After we arrived back to Kelli's we had some pizza and then called it a night. Kris, Robin and I all shared a queen bed and that is always cozy and restful...not so much. It was a very short night as my alarm went off at 2:30am. We took showers and got around and were out the door by 3:30am. Robin and I were hoping to get the $198 laptops at Wal-Mart but by the time we arrived at 4:00am there were all spoken for by people that arrived earlier and were willing to wait in line for hours before the actual sale at 5:00am. Darn the luck. We did however manage to get the other laptops (which I'm happily using right now) that were a little more expensive, after we waited in line for an hour. We were entertained by some nifty highschool punks while we waited. After several hours at Walmart, we made our annual stops at K-mart, Target, the mall, Kohls and Gordmans.  And of course the best part of the day lunch and margaritas at On The Border.  In the morning we were making good time and figured we would be done early, however after lunch we were pretty much spent and our progress slowed immensely. We finished up our shopping by 3:00pm, all exhausted, but pleased with our purchases and of course for the time spent together.

 Happy with their new loot.

 A Kelli favorite, cauliflour, cranberries, peanuts and miracle whip (it is not as bad as you think)

The young punks at Wal-Mart. They had been there since 10:00pm and decided they needed a cot from sporting goods to use for a short nap.

 Breakfast at Target, an annual tradition. I had a stale hot dog while the gals had cinnamon that Kelli's husband bought us.

 Robin attempting a nap while waiting for Kelli to finish up shopping in Bath and Body. 

I love BF with my BFFs!! 

And just for fun..... the first one is a lady and the second one told us he had been growing that rat tail since 1984. I told him he should think about cutting it and donating it to locks of love.