Belated but fun

You may recall that we had to postpone Harper’s birthday party at sky zone.  We were able to go today instead.  Harper consented to Saige and Quincy going along, as long as they played on opposite ends of the place!  They were also not allowed in the birthday party photo!   This was my first trip into sky zone.  It is a trampoline park but also has zip lines, an obstacle course and a rock climbing wall.  

I’m pretty sure that the girls all had fun.  I am judging this by the fact that I sat in a chair and read a book without any interruptions whatsoever!  

After their jump session, we also visited Dairy Queen because birthdays need ice cream!   We made it through and home in time for Saige’s basketball practice!  Accomplishment!  

Side note - this was my first experience using groupon.  I got the tickets for a pretty good discount, the check in with a bar code was fast and easy, and I will be doing this again.  I think it saved me roughly $60 today.  Worth it for sure!  

That's a wrap

We officially celebrated at our last Christmas party of the season with Jim's side of the family yesterday.  The kids had fun practicing their gambling skills!

The big boys had fun watching football. 

And the baby hogs had fun snuggling on Cyler.  We won't mention it to Evelyn - who had to miss the party since she is still not feeling the best.  

And I may have stolen a photo from my sister-in-law's facebook page (thanks Heidi) because I love this one of Harper and grandpa Ken.

It was a fun day.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention "nothing is over like Christmas!"  :)  

Christmas break project

When we bought this house 5 years ago, I loved the house, loved the space, loved the lay out.  And hated a lot about the former owner’s decorating.   I figured it was just a little bit of labor and some weekend projects and then we would have it looking more like our own.   One of the things I hated the most was the hunting lodge motif basement.   One wall full of life size ducks and deer, fake cammo sponge painted on the other walls.   And some fishing border to complete the hideousness.  As much as I hated it,  I still took 5 years to get rid of it.  It was in the basement after all, a space that the kids hang out, but aside from the laundry, and an occasional storm warning,  I generally don’t.  Jim and I bought the paint several weeks ago.  I was planning to work on it over Thanksgiving.  That never happened.  

When everyone left after Christmas was over and I was a little sad over it, I decided that it was time.    Preston agreed to help me move furniture, but refused to tear down the wallpaper because he said he loved it.  We all know he has no design skills.   

Harper was all in to help!   She was amazingly helpful as a matter of fact!  We slayed the wallpaper.    We started the painting, a nice KSU theme, complete with zero wallpaper!   We still have to paint the hallway down there, and a little bit of trim,  but the living room is done.  Mallory came over and helped me roll while I trimmed edges.  It went really fast.  It feels pretty and I think doing laundry will be a lot more fun now - you know....without the deer staring at me while I fold!  

I do love a good project!   I have a lot more in mind!   Jim will be so excited!  

Evelyn is officially 1!

My sweet granddaughter officially turned 1 on Tuesday.   I am overwhelmed by how fast the first year of her little life went by.  I guess I should know by now how this works. But for real wham!  Here we are.  Evie has been sick.  Although she isn’t running as high of a fever, she still isn’t back to her happy, sweet, easy going self.   Hopefully she will feel better soon! 

I remember the day they called and surprised me with the news of her unexpected birth as if it was 5 minutes ago.  I also remember when I told Jim I didn’t know how I could have a grandkid and not go see her.  His response “book a ticket Hope and go, I’ll hold down the fort here” meant the world to me.  I remember walking into the NICU and looking down at this tiny, fragile, tube covered baby girl and falling madly in love with her!  I remember calling Jim and telling him how beautiful she was, and that her head was the size of an orange!  I remember sending Jim no less than 12,000 photographs and crying like a crazy person when I had to leave.   I remember the calls, prayers, and the waiting to bring her back to Kansas.  I will never forget, and I will be forever filled with gratitude that our prayers were answered.   I couldn’t be prouder of the progress she has made, or of the job her parents are doing with her.  I don’t know how we could have gotten so lucky, but I am thankful and blessed!  Happy birthday sweet Evelyn!  We love you!  

Christmas with the crazies

We have had a very merry Christmas here in our neck of the woods.  We started out with Christmas Eve mass, my all year favorite!  Preston did a great job serving, and Quincy did a great job helping aunt Karen with setting up and getting the rest of the decorating done.  

Colin, Mallory and Cameron were all able to come home last night to spend the night.  I am sure my days of having all my kids wake up here on Christmas Day are limited, so I am cherishing this day.  I love having all the kids under one roof!  

We are especially thankful that our Evie girl is healthy, happy and here with us. 

Jim’s co-workers all chipped in and got him Christmas pj’s that light up.   He was a little too excited to wear them while opening gifts this morning!   

My kids kind of make me laugh.  Saige really only wanted rubber bands (to make rubber band bracelets), Harper really only wanted leggings, and Quincy only wanted a loft bed.  They are pretty easy!   I am thankful that Preston likes building things and got Quincy’s new bed all set up!  

Thankful, happy and blessed are we on this last Christmas of the decade! 

More from the weekend

We had a lot of little stuff to do this weekend.  When the older kids were little, Jim and I wanted to have the kids buy gifts for each other, but money was always tight.  We established the tradition of giving them a few dollars, turning them loose in the Dollar Tree, and letting them go crazy buying stuff for their siblings.  Some of the crazy things they got for each other have been the best Christmas memories.  It is a tradition that the kids actually look forward to, and not doing it isn't really an option at this point!  So on Friday, we picked up Harper's glasses that were finally in, and made a pit stop for the annual ridiculous-fest.  Armed with her money, Saige was delirious with excitement, as this is the first year that we let her go at it without a chaperone.  I stood at the door (because...Topeka) and waited.  I could hear her giggling all through the store.  It may be a weird tradition, to buy a bag of odd junk, but they all had so much fun, and it always makes Christmas morning entertaining.  Saige also used an entire tube of wrapping paper getting everything ready!  :)

Saturday afternoon, Harper's bff had a birthday party.  My intention was to go buy a new cell phone charger while Harper was swimming.  One look at the parking lots in Topeka, and I circled right back, watched them swim and ordered the charger off of Amazon!  A big old nope from me!  Harper's friend's mom offered to let Quincy and Saige swim as well, but that elicited a level of drama that I just couldn't deal with.  haha!  Harper and I did make one pit stop, to get Papa Murphy's for dinner.  Jim's fault since he was wanting pizza!  

Mallory joined us for pizza, and then took the little girls to Winter Wonderland for their annual trek through the light show.  She tried to take Preston and Quincy as well, but they were just not excited about it!  

Andrew and Madison wanted to run to town, but Evie wasn't feeling well.  I offered to watch her so she didn't have to go.  The house was very quiet, since Mallory had taken the little girls.  Quincy and I had a good time playing with the sick baby.  She is running a fever, and has a miserable cold.  I hope she feels better for her birthday tomorrow, as well as for Christmas.  Poor little thing. 

Quincy is the sacristan at church this month.  She was very happy at how many people stayed to set up for Christmas Eve mass!  Decorating by yourself would be awful!  She still has to go meet Aunt Karen tomorrow, but most of the hard work is done!  I am always impressed with this little church.  They set up a ton of stuff, got lights strung, and made everything look beautiful in a fairly short amount of time!  I will say I was relieved that someone else (taller than we are) was willing to do the ladder stuff!  :)  

Christmas is a weird holiday for me.  I have parts of it that I absolutely love.  The birth of Jesus, the quiet simplicity of the season. Mary's yes.  The family togetherness.  The baking, cooking, preparing to be together, the kid's excitement, and giving are all things I truly enjoy.  The overblown commercialization, the shopping, the days and days and days of Christmas music, neediness of the school, random Christmas programs and parties thrown into an already busy time, to me are overwhelming and take so much away from the message of the season, that I find it to be not enjoyable.  I also find that as I get older, I miss my grandparents, and the "old" days.  Christmas is a time when I find myself reflecting a lot on how things were, how things are now, and where we are heading in life.  This year, I can honestly say I have been overwhelmed with gratitude.  Our lives are good.  Our kids are thriving and healthy.  Being a grammy is a tremendous blessing.  Our dreams of owning a place in the country are being lived.  I married a man who I am still crazy about.  Life is really, really good.  I also had a thought that I have a responsibility to my kids and my granddaughter (and future grandkids) to be the person who makes their memories of the holidays good.  I want to be the kind of grandma that my grandma was to me.  I want them all to laugh about the crazy ideas I had, know and love their cousins, and have warm memories of their old days.  I may miss my grandparents, but the best way to honor them is to build traditions and fond memories for a lifetime.  

Lang gang Christmas

I can’t wrap my mind around it being time for Christmas already.  But there we were, celebrating with the Lang Gang.  We had an amazing day, and I am once again so thankful for my sister-in-law for her amazing hostess skills.  Evelyn is sick.  We were sad that they could not join in the fun!  I also realized we forgot to take the annual cousin photo.  Saige took my phone and took a billion pictures, but most of them are close ups of Lauren's nose.  Just what we needed!  It was a good day, and amazing to have time to visit with everyone!  The season has only just begun, and already we have been abundantly blessed.  :)