Suzanne McGrath Photography

Six on Sunday

It's been an interesting day.  Not a busy, run around all day, just interesting.  Anyway, I digress...  Our weekend was lovely.  We only had three soccer games and one tennis lesson.  I can handle that!  

1.  Today started pretty early with a 7am soccer game for #3 but she scored a goal and it was so worth it to get up at 6am.  She scored on a breakaway and she is so darn fast that the other team just could not catch her.  And her shot was right into the corner of the net.  We celebrated with a stop at McDonald's on the way home for coffee (me) and hot chocolate (her).  

The rest of the day we were completely open.  That NEVER happens around here.  The hubby spent the whole day - I'm not exaggerating here - the whole day working on our refrigerator:

It turns out some part was frozen and it should not be frozen.  (I think it was more than just a part but I didn't really listen to details because BORING.)  So he unplugged the whole thing and spent the day blow drying it to get it to defrost.  He FINALLY got it done right as we sat down to dinner.  I guess there is some hack about sticking a piece of copper down there to prevent it from freezing again.  Who knows?  But if your refrigerator ever starts getting pools of water below the bottom drawer, holler!  We've got you covered.

Meanwhile, I edited pictures and worked on our Christmas card.  I know, right?!  But I had the time so I figured, why not?  The Littles played outside most of the afternoon while #2 did homework and #1 refereed a bunch of soccer games.  The moral of the story?  It was a perfectly lovely quiet day at home.

 

2.  If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen my porch at night.  I had a little time on my hands and thought it would be fun to surprise the girls when they got home from school last Monday.  So this is what I did:

 

And here it is at night:

It's really fun!

 

3.  I took our family pictures yesterday.  We were in and out in 20 minutes!  I spent most of the time shooting the girls but I did get two good family pictures thanks to my tripod.  Here's one of the girls that I won't use for our Christmas cards:

It's hard to get all four of them standing up due to their various heights but I think this one works.  Also, check out #4's shoes.  I refuse to buy her cute shoes she will never wear.  Hence, she just wore her tennis shoes.  But I figure it really captures her spirit right now!

 

4.  I posted this picture last Thursday, but if you didn't read my One Room Challenge update, then you haven't seen this yet.  Here is the floor in the little girls's bathroom:

I seriously love it so much!  This weekend I painted the walls.  Again.  (Darker.)

 

5.  Last Friday night my friend, Christi, and I went to the Midland Theater downtown to see Elle King again.  She did not disappoint.  She is so good live!  We had a blast!

Her voice is the perfect blend of bluesy and raspy.  Seriously, if you haven't listened to her, you are missing out!

 

6.  Tonight after dinner the girls all carved their pumpkins.  I love that the big girls are just as into it as the little girls!  And you know what else I love?  That they are able to clean up their mess after they are done.  Priceless!

 

The finished products:

Didn't they do a great job?  I wanted to carve a pumpkin myself but I forgot to buy one for me.  Oops!  Next year.  

 

And with that, you are all caught up!  Happy Halloween Eve!







 

Six on Sunday

Hello there!  I'm actually kind of sad to be here blogging tonight because it means the weekend is over.  But really, I need one more day.  Sigh...

1.  So last week, about five minutes after I posted this picture to Instagram or Facebook or both...

I got a call from #1.  She was at swim practice and fell during dryland.  (The first 30 minutes of practice is spent out of the water doing various types of conditioning.  Think running, squats, lunges, burpees, sit-ups, etc.)  Anyway, she fell while they were running and was pretty sure she fractured her wrist.  Excellent.  But not really.

I left the house at about 7:30 to pick her up and take her to Urgent Care.  We didn't walk in the door of our house until nearly 11pm that night.  Ugh!  However, there was good news.  X-rays of her wrist and hand showed nothing was fractured.  Thank goodness.  So she just walked around the rest of the week with her wrist wrapped in an ace bandage and it finally seems to be almost back to normal.  Phew.

I'm actually glad I got the X-ray done right away.  That way we knew she was going to be OK and we didn't have to spend the rest of the week guessing about her wrist.  And now she'll still be able to go to the swim meet in St. Louis at the end of the month.  So all's well that ends well.   

2.  The girls were spoiled this weekend by their grandma and their uncle!  Grandma Rori and Uncle Sean drove down from Omaha this weekend just to take the four girls to see the new Avenger's movie.  How cool was that?  Plus, they were also able to see all three girls play soccer - bonus.

Last night they went to the movie and everyone loved it - even the little girls!  AND, all four girls were able to get a Starbucks frappucino to take into the movie.  Like I said, spoiled!  But what a treat for them all.

3.  Today I was able to see my very first Sporting KC game in person.  It was so cool to be so close to the field and see all the action!  #2 and I joined her friend and her mom and had a great time.  Plus, we could not have asked for more perfect weather.  Seriously, it was beautiful outside AND they won!  Talk about a perfect first soccer experience!  

Meanwhile, over at our house we had an extra because Addy didn't want to go to the game but their dad was out of town.  (Hence, how #2 and I were invited along!)  The little girls had a blast running all over the cul-de-sac and playing outside all afternoon.  The kids were having so much fun we just had everyone stay for dinner!  Just a great afternoon all around.

4.  We have three weeks left of school.  I don't know who is more excited to be done - the kids or me?!  Not even joking.  I am so tired of making lunches every day.  I am DONE with kindergarten homework.  Well, not really.  Three more weeks.  And I can't wait until bedtimes are more relaxed.  I just love summer!  I love how the kids can sleep in.  I love how we can stay up late and hang out on our deck.  I love running to Sonic for shakes after 8pm.  I love our summer nanny who is awesome.  I love lazy weekends at the lake.  I love running on the trails in Arkansas.  I just can't wait!

5.  The hubby and I had a busy "social" weekend.  Busy as in tons of fun!

Friday night we went to Afentra's Prom.  For those of you don't listen to 96.5 the Buzz (or do not live in KC), Afentra is the host of the morning show.  She throws a "prom" every May.  And by "prom" I mean a free concert.  Yes, totally free.  The only catch is you have to dress up for prom and you have to get in before the venue fills up.  And we took advantage!

We went with our friends, Chad and Christi and had WAY TOO MUCH FUN!

Sidenote:  We realized we have been friends with Chad and Christi for nearly 20 years now.  Isn't that crazy?  We all met our first year in KC together.  Christi and I worked at Investor's Fiduciary Trust Co. (now State Street Bank) that first year out of college.  That was clear back in 1996!  And then Chad got hired on at Sprint and managed to get the rest of us hired on at Sprint within a few months of each other.  Man, those were the days.

 

We thought we should pose like they did in the 1970s:

 

And check out the ruffled shirt:

 

So the doors opened at 6:30 and we got downtown about 5:30.  Luckily, there is a bar next door to the Midland so we had drinks there while we waited for the doors to open.  The theater was really cool inside and we had a great place to stand and watch the concert.  There were four bands and unfortunately, we missed Van Joy because...I don't really know.  I think we lost my husband and went to find him and decided we needed to leave.  While I'm sad to have missed Vance Joy I'm glad we stopped drinking when we did.  Because we were CRAZY.

The hubby couldn't walk out of a room without random strangers going up to him wanting to talk about his leisure suit.  And I'm pretty sure he got more than one free drink out of it.  People thought he looked so good they wanted to buy him a beer!  And every time Christi and I went to the bathroom people asked us about our dresses.  It was so fun!

And in case you are wondering, Christi and I found our dresses when we went thrift shopping for First Fridays.  I think we each paid $20 for those stunners.  And the guys found their suits at Re-Runs down in Westport.  They paid around $75 each for their three pieces.  So all in we were right around $100 which we figured was what we would have paid for concert tickets.  So it was all good.  And we can totally wear these again.  Like, to Afentra's Prom 2016!  Holler if you want to join us.  It was awesome.

And I have to say, the bands were great.  I absolutely loved the Kooks.  It was totally worth the new clothes, the Uber car to get down there, and the $50 round of beers.  Totally.

Saturday night we had a 40th birthday for our friend/neighbor who just lives down the street.  I'm gonna be honest here and tell you we were a little nervous whether or not we could rally.  Thankfully, after a little nap and a Starbucks iced coffee, we were good to go!  We had a great time hanging out with old and new friends and neighbors and having a few drinks.  It really was a lot of fun!

And I have to say, having adult plans two nights in a row is really living it up for us.  In fact, I can't tell you the last time that happened.  But it really made for a super fun weekend.
 

6.  I've had a couple friends ask about we're eating these days.  So I thought I'd include my menu with links for you all, if interested.  I've posted most of these links before but I'll stick them in again tonight so you don't have to hunt them down.

I am making Silky Gingered Zucchini Soup for Lunches for the hubby and me.  Throw in some leftover chicken or scallions and it's even better.

Sunday:  Steak Salad (the crispy shallots are my favorite) for the grown-ups and hot dogs (Applegate brand) for the kids.  Plus lots of fruit.

Meatless Monday:  Salmon Cakes for the grown-ups.  I make a double batch and then eat the leftovers for lunch.  (I think #1 will eat these, though.)  Chicken nuggets for the kids.  (I make a double batch and freeze the leftovers and then just warm up in the oven later) + roasted broccoli and brussel sprouts + fruit

Tuesday:  Homemade spaghetti (the hubby and I will forgo the pasta and eat this over roasted spaghetti squash) + salad

My spaghetti sauce is super easy.  Throw some garlic in for 30 seconds and then add half to a pound of ground beef.  Throw in some salt, pepper, parsley, and oregano.  When the meat is cooked, add one can each of tomato soup, tomato sauce (15 oz), and tomato paste (8 oz) plus a cup or so of water.  If you have red wine, definitely add about 1/3 a cup or so.  Simmer it.  That's it!  Yum.

Wednesday:  Some type of shrimp dish.  I still haven't figured it out just yet.  Homemade mac-n-cheese for the kids.  I will admit I still haven't found a homemade cheese sauce that is better than Velveeta but I've given up Velveeta so I keep trying!

Thursday:  Pad Thai for the hubby and me.  The kids will just eat roasted chicken with some veggies and fruit.

Friday:  Pizza night with the soccer team.  (Hopefully we can get that scheduled!)  Basically, this is my "free night".   

Six on Sunday

I'm here sitting at my desk blogging while it's been rainy all day.  Such weird weather for the first week of August!  We need the rain so I'll take it.

1.  My foot.  I went to see a nurse practitioner last Tuesday.  She read the X-rays and thought she saw a little fracture.  That was not the answer I wanted so I went to see the nurse practitioner that works with my orthopaedic doctor.  She was not sure she saw a fracture but couldn't really tell?  So where does that leave me?  With a boot:

Basically, if is was broken they would tell me to stay off it for about 6 weeks.  If it was not broken, they would tell me to resume activity (ie running) when it starts to feel better.  So I'm choosing to believe it will be better within the next few weeks (fingers crossed).  It was sore this week but has started to feel better in the last few days.  But I can't stay off of it and it does get sore if I'm up for hours at a time.  

Where does that leave me for my marathon?  I don't know.  I was supposed to run 10 miles this weekend and obviously ran zero.  I'm hoping I can start running in the next few weeks but only time will tell.  For now I'm just enjoying sleeping in the three mornings a week I was getting up before the crack of dawn.  But I would trade that early morning alarm clock for this boot any day of the week! 

2.  The kitchen "renovation".  (Really, it's just a little paint - at least in my mind - so not a full scale renovation.  Not sure the hubby would agree.)  It's moving along nicely, if I do say so myself.  And I do.

This week I managed to paint 3 coats of paint on six doors - major victory!  Right now they are curing so I can flip them over and paint the insides.  But did I stop there?!  No way.  I also managed to fill in TWENTY hinge holes on the frames.  With Bondo.  And Bondo is stinky.  But they are finished!  The hubby took pity on me this morning and sanded them all down for me.  I also sanded all the frames so I can begin painting the last section of uppers including the pantry.  Once they are finished, I'll move on to the gray lower cabinets.

Speaking of lower cabinets, I removed all 11 doors and hinges this morning.  That alone is a feat but then I took it a step further and washed/wiped down all 11 doors because they were just FILTHY.  The next step is to fill those hinge holes with bondo.  Yuck!  Again with the bondo!

Does the boot stop me?  No way!  (Tennis shoe, boot, coffee, paint brush, pajama bottoms.  Yes, this is how I paint.)

3.  While I was working on my project, the hubby had a major project of his own.  He installed a large picture window in our family room and another smaller window in #1's bathroom.  The bathroom window was on the second floor!  The picture window was damaged a few years ago in a hail storm and we just never fixed it.  And the bathroom window was one of the very last we have yet to replace from the gross, single pane windows from when we bought the house - ahem, 10 years ago.

He needed to get the windows installed because the siding guys are supposed to start on Tuesday and they are siding one little section in our back which include those windows.  So it was now or never.  And the hubby prefers to install windows himself because then he knows it was done correctly.  And it's insulated.  I love him.

4.  Because we had to fill the hinge holes and then sand them down, I thought now was the perfect time to organize my pantry.  (The sawdust gets everywhere.)  Right?  Right?  Anyway, I emptied everything from that entire wall, but most especially my small pantry:

And the rest of my kitchen looked like this:

I am not going to show you a finished shot because I'm still tweaking.  I'm buying plastic baskets from Target and making sure everything has a home and it makes sense.  I want to live with it for awhile before the "big reveal".  

5.  Today has been rainy and gross.  We decided to embrace it, though!  The girls thought it would be fun to swim in the rain and I totally I agreed!  Even though #3 was at a friend's house, I took the other girls down to the pool.  They only lasted about half an hour but I think they loved the novelty of swimming in the rain!

6.  This one is gonna be long.  You have been warned!  The Killers conert last night was AWESOME!

We went to the concert with our friends, Chad and Christi.  We've known these guys since we moved to Kansas City nearly *cough cough* 20 years ago.  It was so much fun to get hang out with these two!

We decided to celebrate Chad's 40th birthday by going to dinner before the concert.  We gave him the choice of location.  He picked Jazz.  (If you're not familiar with it, it's a Louisiana style cajun joint.)  The three of us had different reactions; ranging from "Gross" to "Disgusting" to "I'll go if I have to".  Seriously.  None of us wanted to go.  We told Chad he had to have at least one vote from the Executive Committee and he had zero so had to pick again.

He picked Panda Express (Chinese fast food).  We told him dinner had to take longer than 5 minutes and serve adult beverages so that was vetoed as well.  We finally picked Yardhouse.  When we walked in there, the wait was an HOUR!  We did not have an hour - we had a concert to get to!  So we started randomly walking down the sidewalk, headed towards Chipotle (out of desperation and a time crunch) when we walked past Jazz.  We decided to check the menu hanging outside the door.  They had plain chicken so we deemed it fit for consumption and walked in, sat down, and got served right away.  And to make this long story short(er), dinner was FANTASTIC!  I'm not kidding.  The food was awesome!  Our server was very attentive and knowledgeable and they had beer.  I would recommend it in a heartbeat and I don't like spicey food.

The hubby had voodoo chicken strips.  I'm not gonna lie.  These were HOT!  

I had shrimp and scallops ponchatrain:

(It was much better than it looked.  Promise.)

Everyone else had red beans and rice and it was spicey!  They were all sweating and the hubby's nose started running - but in a good way.  If you ever get the chance, eat there.  And yes Chad, I definitely had to eat my words about Jazz!

After dinner we headed out to the concert.  

The hubby and myself:

Chad and Christi:

We missed Gogol Bordello and Queens of the Stone Age but I wasn't too sad about that.  I just really wanted to see The Killers again.  (We saw them in the River Market when #3 was 6 months old - so about 6 years ago.)  They are just as fantastic now as they were back then.  They are excellent in concert.  Brandon Flowers knows how to work the stage and his voice sounds just like it does on the CD.  My only beef is that I wished they had played even longer!  Seriously, they are THAT good.

I danced along to every song - as well as you can dance whilst wearing a boot.  But you know - it was THAT fun!

And Boom!  Just like that I'm done.  Six on Sunday.

I hope you have a terrific week this week!