Suzanne McGrath Photography

Six on Sunday

Hello!  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.  We sure did!  I'm just going to dive in because when I'm done blogging I'm heading for my bath tub.  I can't wait!

1.  We had a really special Thanksgiving this year.  Both our families were able to make it and we had 16 people at our table this year.  I was in heaven!

But let me back up...

We started out the day with a 5k.  

As you can see from the picture, not everyone participated in the race but those of us who did had a great time!  

And let me just tell you how lucky we got with the weather!  We finished in the nick of time.  Seriously.  It started pouring as we were sitting at Starbucks across the street just minutes after the race ended.  Phew!

We spent the rest of the day puttering around the house, getting ready, and cooking and/or eating.  Perfect.  

The girls helped me with the table setting and I think it turned out beautifully:

But here is what you didn't see:

I clamped the two table together so they wouldn't slip apart.  And...

Our kitchen table was a smidge shorter than our dining room table.  Never fear.  Backsplash tile to the rescue!  

All in all, it was a great day spent with great people.  Dare I say it was near perfect - we were just missing my dad.

2.  Yesterday my SIL, her husband (he's also my BIL, right?), and my BIL took the kids (including my niece and nephew) swimming at their hotel.  The kids had an absolute blast!

I loved that my niece and nephew were included, too.  As far as Sydney and Grant go, these are all their aunts and uncles, too.  Precious.

3.  After all the togetherness of the past few days, I needed a little time to re-charge my batteries.  So today I spent a few hours up in my room - alone - wrapping presents.  It was bliss.  And here is what I ended up with:

I think I counted 16 presents?  Plus, my niece and nephew's presents as well.  So I wrapped almost 20 presents today!  Sheesh.  I have all the Santa presents purchased but I can't wrap those yet.  I'm still waiting on at least one order to arrive and I need to purchase one more and then I'm just about finished. Let me tell you, it feels great!

4.  We spent most of Friday decorating the house and finished yesterday.  I need to take pictures but I can't do that until the rest of the house is presentable.  Hopefully I can snap a few pictures this weekend.

5.  This morning I met my friend, Sarah, for a run.  I stepped out onto the driveway to make sure it wasn't slippery and it was all good.  So I started driving.  I didn't even make it down my street before I noticed the rain.  I immediately texted Sarah but she was already at KC Running Company.  I didn't want to bail on her so I figured we'd just go out a couple miles and back.  No more than 4 miles total.  Well, as it turns out, it rained the ENTIRE 8 MILES!  We were going to turn back early but then neither of us was cold, we weren't miserable, so we figured, what the heck?!  And we did the whole loop. It was definitely one of my crazier runs but I needed the exercise and I felt great when we were done.

6.  We start our Advent calendar on Tuesday.  The girls are pumped - especially the Littles.  Ralph, our elf, will also come back on Dec. 1st.  I just set my alarm for every night at 9:15pm so I remember to move him.  I rarely get all creative with his poses like those posts you see all over Facebook or on Pinterest.  And you know what?  My kids still love looking for him every morning.  They're just thrilled that he moved. (He has been known to fall asleep and forget to fly back to the North Pole to report to Santa.)

And there you have it.  I hope you all have a great week!

 

Six on Sunday

I feel so accomplished!  It's not even 7pm and I am blogging.  We ate dinner as a family, too.  That is a super rare occurrence these days.  I love it.

1.  We were super productive this weekend and yet made plenty of time for fun, beginning with Friday night.  One of our neighbors came over for a few beers while our kids played together.  The girls made an awesome fort!

They were subsequently rewarded with an impromptu movie night, including popcorn.  But seriously, it was a really fun evening and our first Friday night at home, together, in I don't know how long?

2.  I am nearly done Christmas shopping.  I've done quite a bit online and yesterday I ran around quite a bit, too.  I think one more big Amazon order and I'll just have stocking stuffers left.  I also ordered Christmas cards last week, too!  I really want to be able to settle in, relax, and enjoy the holidays.  And I feel like I'm just about there.  Love it.

3.  Today the hubby and I managed to knock out a couple projects around the house.  He cut all the crown moulding for our music room:

He has since taken it all down so I can paint it before installing it.  That way I'll only have to touch up nail holes but I won't have to cut everything in at the wall and ceiling.  I hope to buy the paint tomorrow and get it up on Wednesday.  Wish me luck!

Meanwhile, I was busy installing my roman shades.  (He helped screw in the lath to the window trim at the top.)  But I had to do all the other busy work.  I think it was worth it.  I love them!

They aren't perfect but you can't really tell unless they hang all the way down.  And I like my windows open so I don't think we'll have them down very often.  I think they add a little bit of personality to that wall and I'm so happy.  (I'm also relieved and glad they are done!)

4.  My kids are so excited for Thanksgiving!  #2 is planning out place cards.  And the Littles can't wait to help me in the kitchen.  Of course #1 is super excited to make her cheesecake.  

To make our dining room a bit more festive I added these to the backs of our chairs:

I figure I will just leave them for Christmas but maybe replace the brown ribbon with something a bit more Christmas-y.  The best part?  They were super easy and we just made them with leftover ribbons from our stash and pinecones from the yard!  You seriously can't beat free.

5.  #4 has been begging for a sleepover for the past year.  She finally had her very first sleepover last night and she was so excited so she started running circles around the main floor while waiting for her friend.  It was adorable.  The girls had movie night and popcorn but were still in bed by 9:30.  (I love 6 year old sleepovers because...bedtime.)

Aren't they simply adorable?

6.  On a whim I bought Darby a cat bed.  We have this super soft blanket that she loves and adores and the bed is made out of the same material.  I figured if she hated it I could just return it.  Guess what?  She loves it!

(You can see I had left the tag on it, just in case.)  She has slept in here all weekend.  It's so adorable!  

Anyway, that's pretty much it.  We're super excited for Thanksgiving and to have all our family under our roof.  Regardless of the weather (but really, please don't rain), we will have a blast together.  I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving, too!  

Six on Sunday

I feel like I should start out by saying how stunned and saddened I was (and am) when I heard about the attacks in Paris.  Since we were just there two shorts months ago it felt even more surreal.  The city is so beautiful and the people so wonderful, I am simply in shock.  I simply have no words...

So I am going to do what I do best.  Ramble on about everything and nothing.  In no particular order, just whatever comes to mind...

1.  Today was a big day in our household.  #3 turned 9 years old!  She went to bed as an 8 year old and woke up a year older.  We celebrated with donuts:

(She was pretty bummed because her dad and oldest sister were in Columbia, MO for a swim meet this weekend which is why #1 is not pictured above.)  

We celebrated as a family a couple nights early by eating dinner in the dining room.  She picked steak and risotto.  Yum!  The birthday girl also gets to set her own table - as fancy as desired.  She picked our wedding china and matching fancy wine and water glasses.  (I love any excuse to eat on china!)  We followed up the fancy dinner by watching her play an indoor soccer game.  I thought it was a pretty great evening because I had all my girls around the table - I love that!

I love #3 to the moon and back.  At just 9 years old she is:

• Polite.  Seriously, the most polite kid I've ever seen!
• Thoughtful.  She is such an awesome big sister to a very demanding little sister.
• Hilarious.  She has the best sense of humor.  And sometimes she snorts when she laughs.
• Helpful.  She is always asking me what she can do to help me and she especially loves to help in the kitchen.
• Friendly.  She seems to be friends with a lot of kids and I love that.  
• Sensitive.  Like I said, she was very disappointed not to have her dad and sister here with us today.
• Neat.  She loves to clean and organize her room.  For reals.

I could probably go on and on but that list is pretty great, no?

2.  Yesterday #3 had a joint birthday party with one of her really great friends, Katie.  It worked out really well because they have so many friends in common and their birthdays are just a day apart.  How cool is that?!  Also, bonus, split costs of a party!

The girls chose a party that included climbing the rock walls and swimming at Lifetime Fitness.  All the girls were wild, crazy, and adorable!  I think the party was successful because it sure looked like everyone had a good time.  (And also, if I'm being honest, because it wasn't a sleepover.  Total success!)  

 

3.  So last night #2 had a late indoor soccer game.  I didn't want to have to take the Littles because I thought they needed to go to bed at a decent hour.  So I asked our neighbor girl to come over and watch the Littles and tuck them into bed for me.  

The Littles loved it!  They thought Audrey was so awesome and really had fun.  Somehow they got on the subject of books and #3 showed Audrey the book we gave her for her birthday (#4 in The Land of Stories series).  It turns out Audrey knew all about the books and #3 thought that was just so cool.  And then, today, Audrey surprised #3 by bringing her the other two books in the series as a birthday present.  I swear, that absolutely made #3's day and sort of pulled her out of her funk.  It was the sweetest gesture and I was so just so touched.  So thoughtful...

4.  While yesterday was pretty busy, today was the opposite.  We only had one futsol game and that was IT!  I loved it.  I basked in the glory of not running around.  I edited my last two sessions and I'm officially done with client work - WooHoo!  I got Dunkin Donuts for the birthday girl.  And I managed to work on Roman shades for my kitchen.  It was awesome.  

I've only had that material since about March or April?  I had set a deadline for myself of Thanksgiving and I'm on track to make it.  They are all finished on the sewing machine.  Now I just need to sew 28 little plastic rings onto the back for the cord to go through.  The good part about that?  I can totally do it while I watch TV.  Score!

5.  Now that my client work is finished, it's time for me to work on photos of my own girls.  Then, I need to turn those into Christmas cards.  I'm thinking I'm going to take the easy way out this year and just use a template online rather than design my own.  I'm just not motivated enough to design one from scratch when there are so many fabulous choices.  

6.  Remember when I complained about my hamstring/glute?  Well, I went to a massage therapist this week and she worked on me for 90 minutes.  She thinks my tight hip flexors are to blame.  She gave me two different stretches to do every night and I go back in a few weeks.  So far so good.  If you want her name, holler!  I can't yet say she's right but she does have a point.  Now I just need to make sure I remember to do the stretches.  Wish me luck!

And that's it.  You are all caught up with us.  Have a great week!

Six on Sunday

Howdy!  I'm just going to dive right in tonight...

1.  I ran the Gobbler Grind this morning with a bunch of friends.  The run itself was miserable and 17 minutes slower than my April half marathon, but brunch afterwards totally made up for that!  And it was a really special half for my friend, Carmen.  It was her 30th half marathon - and it was also her first half years ago.  How cool is that?!

Don't let that picture fool you (I'm the front right - wearing orange) - I look like I'm bending down so I don't block the back row, right?  Wrong!  I could barely stand straight I felt so crappy.  I was the least prepared for this race I've ever been (trying to ward off my hamstring/glute injury by not training) and also, I had used my inhaler twice in the past 12 hours because I'm so allergic to my sister's cat.  Neither of those issues bode well for running 13.1 miles.  Ahhh well, such is life, right?

I have to say the saving grace was the beautiful, albeit hot, weather.  It started out in the upper 30s and when we finished it was mid-50s.  I got HOT!  But the trees and the trails were gorgeous so not all was lost.

2.  Last night my family and I headed out to my sister's house.  I shot their family pictures at Lake Lenexa and we stayed for dinner and a rousing match of laser tag.  Check out our backdrop for pictures:

Not too shabby, eh?!  

And to make it even better - our cousin Vicki was in town and drove out to Aimee's house to hang with us for the evening. It was so fun to get to see her!  I stole Vicki's picture off Facebook:

The evening was capped off with a Husker win and I haven't seen the hubby that excited all season - such a great finish to a great evening!  Loved it.  (Well, I didn't love being allergic to Aimee's cat because that makes my lungs hurt and I become wheezy.  Gross.)  But still a great time!

3.  Speaking of wins - how about them Royals!?  Remember last Sunday I posted early because we were getting ready to head to our neighbor's driveway to watch the game?  Yep - this is what it looked like.  So awesome!

I am just sad I didn't wake the big girls up to watch the finish.  But, hindsight is 20/20, right?  

We celebrated with 800,000 of our closest friends on Tuesday!  (I totally stole this photo off Facebook to show my friends and family what it was really like here in KC.)

But seriously, school was cancelled, the hubby and I each took an emergency vacation day, and we headed downtown.  What should have taken us 30 minutes ended up taking an hour, but honestly, that was nothing compared to what some people went through.  (The interstate looked like a parking lot because people seriously parked their cars in the middle of the street and walked to the rally/parade.)  We ended up parking about a mile and a half away from the parade and walking down.  We met our friends and hung with them for the day - and we didn't lose each other once!  

The kids were TROOPERS!  For real - there was no whining or complaining.  Here was our view while waiting for the parade:

It was nuts but seriously awesome.  We didn't have any trouble at all and people were nice and just so excited to be there.  The big girls "got it" but I don't think the little girls really, truly understood what a big deal this was for Kansas City.  My hope is that attending the parade will take on more significance as they get older and realize how cool this was for our city.  

The players were so classy - they all wore T-shirts that said "Thank you Kansas City".  It's hard to adequately describe the feeling.  I think we were all just so darn proud of this team and our city.  It was really a special (though exhausting - not gonna lie) day.

4.  We were able to celebrate another winning team again on Friday night!  #2's soccer team won their division for soccer this past fall and were recognized at the Comets game.  

Obviously not all the girls were able to make it but we still had fun.  It's fun to see the girls interact with each other outside of just playing soccer.  Plus, I love all the parents on the team - everyone is no-drama, down-to-earth and just plain nice.  That is priceless.

5.  I almost forgot to show you my goods from my day thrift shopping with my friend, Christi.  We headed down to the West Bottoms early (arrived at 9:15am) and did some damage.  But mostly - we just had a blast!  Here are my treasures:

The vintage sled is for Christmas/winter decor on my front porch.  The stool is going to be a plant stand in my bathroom (needs to be cleaned up) and the watering can will be put to good use next summer.

Here's a close-up of the smaller stuff:

• Fluted milk glass pedestal (for my nightstand)
• Fluted milk glass candy dish (it was just too cute and cheap to pass up)
• Glass jar with a lid (for my bathroom china cabinet)
• Set of 3 brass candlesticks (I already have a set of 6 of these but you can never have too many)
• 2 Readers Digest books (Christmas-y covers will be great for staging the house this season)
• Milk glass Goblet (I'm going to use it as a planter)
• Brass owl (just so darn cute!)

Luckily, the weather Friday was almost perfect and we were able to eat outside.  We both love the Crave food truck and totally indulged.  So good!

6.  I took pictures of my girls yesterday - in 25 minutes.  Seriously, so fast!  But I think we got a good one for a Christmas card so it was worth it.  Here's an outtake:

Aren't they so cute?  Man, I love those girls!

And there you have it.  I'm headed to bed.  Have a great week!

Thrifty Thursday...Thanksgiving Decorations

Well hello!  Two posts in one week - I feel like that's a record lately!  

Since I have been using my camera every weekend for family picture sessions, it's just been laying around the house.  So I thought I'd grab a few pictures of my Thanksgiving decorations.  We transitioned by taking down anything Halloween but leaving up anything Thanksgiving.  It was pretty easy since the girls took down all the Halloween for me.  I love that they are so helpful nowadays!

We have a few decorations that are specific to Thanksgiving and other than that I just bought a few more pumpkins.  Easy peasy.  I'll let the pictures do most of the talking, though...

Here's what you see when you walk in the front door:

 

I just filled this lantern with pinecones and baby pumpkins.  That's it!

 

The family room:

 

Here's a close-up of the mantle:

I had most of the pumpkins but just added a few this week.  Other than that, everything else is from around the house or in case of the branches - the back yard.

 

I've collected the lanterns through the last couple of years and I scrounged the candles from the basement:

 

I've had these hurricanes for years and I use them for most seasons:

 

I was gifted these cute little pilgrims and I set them on a table in the family room.  They were hard to photograph because they are on a mirrored table with the sun shining brightly in the background.  But you get the idea:

 

My mother-in-law gave us this set of wooden figurines.  The girls love to set them up and play with them!  I just set them on top of a tray to sort of gather them together.  I think they're simply adorable.

 

And there you have it! 

I'll be hosting 16 of us for Thanksgiving this year so I'm still coming up with the theme for the table.  Luckily I have several sets of china and I can easily mix and match.  I'm giddy with excitement.  I love Thanksgiving!  Have you started thinking about it yet?

 

Six on Sunday...Go Royals!

It's 5:25pm and I'm blogging.  Because, Royals!  Our neighbor's invited us over to watch the game in the driveway.  I can't wait.  I just started watching baseball in the last few weeks.  I'm totally not dedicated but it is pretty exciting to be in the World Series again.  And the more I learn about the sport, the more interesting it is to watch it.  So there's that!

Also - and completely unrelated - up to now I've had two pieces of toast and a cheese stick to eat.  Dinner is cooking downstairs and I can't wait!  Crock pot chicken, roasted asparagus, and garlic mashed potatoes in case you're interested. All that to say I'm going to try to speed through my list!

1.   #4 completed her last swimming lesson last Monday night:

Here she is with Miss Natalie, who has been teaching her for the past year and a half.  I'm telling you, if you are looking for lessons, Miss Natalie at Midwest Aquatics is the bomb dot com!  #4 adored her and learned so much.  She can now do the free style, back stroke, and she was learning the whip kick.  She is also awesome at streamlining.  But, we needed a little break.  We need to ease up on our schedule and just kick back and relax a bit more this winter.  So we're taking some time off.

2.  As you may know, we have two Chevys:  a 2003 Trailblazer and a 2005 Suburban.  As you can tell, our cars are old and have a lot of miles on them.  So we deal with a few issues.  (We're risk takers - we like to live on the edge!)  

Remember how I wrote about the Trailblazer just randomly not starting?  Well, as luck would have it, it did at NTB this morning while picking up the Suburban.  And the good folks over there helped us identify the problem.  You may be thinking the starter?  The alternator?  Perhaps the battery?  Well, you would be wrong.  It was a rusted out bolt.  Yep, a bolt.  There was some bolt that was loose and if it was just so - the battery wouldn't make the connection.  They figured it out and replaced the bolt in about 10 minutes.  How awesome is that?!  

Meanwhile, the Suburban was there getting new tires.  Should we have needed new tires?  Absolutely not as the ones we had were only at half-life.  However, the folks at Costco screwed us over!  Oh yes, they did and I am going to write about it!  

So we (read:  the hubby) bought new tires at Costco thinking we were getting a good deal.  He faithfully took the car in to have the tires rotated every 5,000 miles - enduring wait times as long as 3 hours since he couldn't make an appointment.  But seriously, every 5,000 miles!  Well, the last time he took the car in to rotate the tires they told him they couldn't rotate them because they were completely worn on the inside.  What the hell?  They proceeded to tell him their notes from the previous rotation showed that they were wearing slightly unevenly and we should get it checked out.  Did they tell us about that issue? Nope.  Nor did they make note of it on the receipt because we save every single receipt when it comes to car issues.  We were livid.  We raised the issue to management and corporate to no avail.  We felt they should have done something to make it right but instead refused to take any culpability.  

After we chatted with friends about this, we have found we aren't the only ones upset with Costco over tires.  The moral of this story?  Do not buy tires at Costco.  Ever.

3.  #2 had a soccer tournament this weekend.  They won their first game, tied their second game, and lost their third game.  It was a great weekend of soccer and we were sad they couldn't pull off a trip to the championship game, but that's life.  Here are the girls - love them all!

4.  Last night was a crazy, busy night of Halloween, the Royals, and soccer.

These kids all trick-or-treated together except #1.  (She hung out with friends, instead.) 

 

And here is #2 with her friend, Emma, from soccer.  #2 was Mary Poppins - she looks totally believable, doesn't she?

 

So #2 had a 3pm soccer game and we brought Emma home with us.  They went trick-or-treating with a third soccer friend (she was late so no picture!) until 8:00pm when the hubby went and picked them up.  They came home, changed super fast, and headed out to their 8:30pm soccer game.  (Don't even get me started that the tournament scheduled that game.  Ridiculous.)  I was just thankful they got to go out and had fun!

Meanwhile, the littles went out with the neighbor girls.  Honestly, I think the dads love it just as much as the kids.  The dads each had their little coolers filled with beer.  Too funny.  I should have grabbed a picture of them!

This is the loot from the Littles:

I stayed home to hand out candy and watch the Royals.  All good!

5.  I've already started buying Christmas gifts.  That's right, Christmas.  I figured I might as well spread out the money.  Why not?  I can't write what I've bought in case the big girls read this.  But suffice it to say I've purchased several stocking stuffers as well as their Christmas Eve gifts.  I feel so accomplished!

6.  I used this for the first time last week and it was a little slice of heaven:

And there you have it!  Time to go mash some potatoes and pig out.  Have a great week!