Suzanne McGrath Photography

Six on Sunday

Hello!  We made it to December.  It's hard to believe there is less than one month left in 2018!

 

1.  The Holiday season has officially begun.  And I am not sad about it.  I love this time of year!  

As per usual our elf, Ralph, showed up yesterday, December 1st.  However, he was nowhere to be found when the girls rolled out of bed; thus, a bit delayed.  The little girls were absolutely beside themselves when they looked everywhere and couldn't find him.  

The girls opened the Advent calendar and the activity of the day was a visit with Santa Claus.  (I have a feeling this may be the last year.  *sigh*)  The big girls were both busy but the four of us ventured out to see Santa and it was the shortest line in the history of Santa visits!  Each little girl made sure to cover for their big sisters so all four girls were represented.  

 

After chatting with SC, we headed across the street for hot chocolate and coffee from Starbucks which is tradition by now:

 

After we got home, #3 ran to get the mail for us and and lo and behold, guess who she found?!  Ralph!  He had mailed himself to our house this year.  I think that may be the most excited I've ever seen them over Ralph's arrival!

He's such a sneaky little guy.

 

2.  Tonight at dinner the girls each drew a name for Secret Sister Santa.  The little girls are pretty funny because they have never done a Secret Santa exchange before.  They are FULL of questions about how it works and are being super secret.  It's pretty much the best thing ever!  We are doing it the week leading up to Christmas.  That gives them all time to strategize and buy little gifts for their sisters.  It's adorable.

 

3.  Our Advent Calendar activity today was to buy all the gifts for the little 5-year-old girl we adopted this Christmas.  Thank goodness for the kids because one of the toys she wants was PJ Toy Mask something or other.  I had NO CLUE.  Turns out it is a a cartoon.  Who knew?!  Anyway, we all (well, except the hubby who was "busy" watching football) plus a friend ventured out to Target and managed to buy ALL her gifts in one location.  Bonus!  We got her a bunch of toys and clothes and PJs.  I hope she enjoys everything as much as we enjoyed picking it out for her.  

 

4.  Last night the hubby and I attended a Christmas party at some friend's house and had a blast!  Plus, I was super good and alternated beer and water so I felt perfectly fine today.  phew!  It's always fun to spend a night with a bunch of adults every now and then.  

 

5.  I ran a lot of errands this weekend.  I think I hit Target three times!  I also made it to the grocery store, Michael's, DSW, Off Broadway Shoes, and Home Depot.  But I can officially say I am done decorating.  I just finished the mantle tonight.  I may still tweak it but I am going to call it finished.  It's funny because I would love to tame the decorating beast but the kids remember everything and want to get it ALL out.  Meanwhile, I'd love to go a little more Scandinavian simple, but I'm going to have to wait a few years for that:)  If I can get some decent light next weekend I'll shoot a few pics.

 

6.  I'm now halfway through Pride and Prejudice and I'm loving it.  It's finally getting more juicy and I'm able to read it a bit faster.  I'm only reading it at night so it's hard to get much accomplished because I'm so darn tired, but I'm excited to get to the end!  I told myself this week I'll turn the TV off downstairs and sit down there and read rather than up in bed.  I want to savor the season and slow down a bit.  I'm hope I am able to actually do it.

 

Well, that's all I've got for you.  Stay warm and have a great week! 

Six on Sunday

Hello.  Are you staying warm and dry?  I'm loving this storm outside.  It's so pretty.

 

1.  Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?  We sure did.  The weather was pretty much perfect and we had a house full of family.

As per tradition, we started the morning off with the Thanksgiving 5k.  Seriously, the weather gorgeous and I was dressed perfectly - not too hot and not too cold.  I love that!

 

While waiting for dinner, we feasted on snacks and especially these, deviled eggs are my favorite and Jason makes them every year!

 

We also had to measure to see who was taller.  #2 finally beat out aunt Erin!

 

Are you wondering if the deep fried turkey worked?  It did!  It was not exactly pretty and the wings were too done to eat but the rest was delish!  It took a bit of manpower to get it done, but I think that's half the fun, no?

From left to right, Patrick's brother-in-law, Chris, Patrick, my brother-in-law, Jason, and Patrick's brother, Sean.

 

 

 

We fit everyone at three tables we pushed together.  I love having a big table rather than several small ones or a kids' table.  I remember sitting at the kids' table and I despised it.  I promised never to do that to my girls if possible.  It's a tight fit but I love it!

 

We finished the night off with a fire in the fire pit.  The kids, and Patrick's sister and her husband, and I all played ghost in the graveyard.  A delightful evening.  

It wasn't all perfect, though.  My mom's special friend, Jim, tripped the night before and ended up breaking his ankle.  In fact, he didn't even know he broke it until he got home and went to the ER on Friday.  So his day was spent with his foot elevated on ice.  That's a major bummer and I'm hoping it doesn't keep him from his golf game for too long!

 

2.  Friday was spent watching football, shopping, and decorating for Christmas.  We took it a little slower this year and I was good with that.  We didn't wrap up the decorating until yesterday.  We all headed over to my sister's house Friday night to enjoy some ribs Sean brought to town.  I won't lie, I'm over football, though.  I think it has been on one TV or another pretty much non-stop since Thursday afternoon.  That's way too much for me! 

 

3.  Yesterday's weather was absolutely beautiful!  I think it got up to 60* in the afternoon.  It could not have worked out better because I had two family photo sessions - one in the morning down at the WWI Memorial and one in the afternoon at PrairieFire.  I need to get those photos edited ASAP this week!  

We were also able to squeeze in a fun lunch down in the Crossroads area (17th and McGee) at a place called Tapcade KC.  For $5 you can play all the OG video games you want!  It's perfect for kids.  The food and service was terrific, too.  Patrick's family was supposed to leave today but due to the storm they all ended up rolling out of town after lunch yesterday so was our last hurrah together. 

 

4.  While driving over to my sister's house on Friday was car started beeping at us and flashing a sign that the oil pressure was low.  Just great.  After a bunch of research we're not really sure if it's the oil pump or a sensor, but whatever it is I am annoyed.  Thankfully we were able to drive it out to our mechanic today with the hopes he can look at it tomorrow.  My fingers are crossed that it's not the pump (again - that was Thanksgiving 2011) and just a sensor.

 

5.  The storm didn't roll in until about 11am today.  Of course I didn't even leave to go to the grocery store until about 11:30am and it was NUTS!  Everyone was stocking up for this huge "blizzard".  I doubt we get more than a few inches.  Regardless, I really enjoyed the view while I was cooking up a storm in the kitchen!

 

I managed to make a double batch of chili, beef stew, Senegalese stew, and I prepped white bean chicken chili for the crockpot tomorrow.  Plus, I prepped a few things for our turkey pot pies tonight.  I feel so accomplished!

 

6.  I was really feeling like soups and stews, so that's our menu for the week:

Sunday:  Turkey and wild rice pot pies + roasted broccoli

Monday:  Chili two ways:  Normal and white chicken chili + salad + corn chips

Tuesday:  Beef stew + roasted asparagus  

Wednesday:  Senegalese soup + roasted squash

Thursday:  Tacos with fruit 

Friday:  Pizza (carry out)

All right, that's all I've got for tonight.  Have a great week and stay safe! 
 

 

Six on Sunday

It's almost Thanksgiving!  We're all really excited for a short work/school work.  That means I only have to get up at 5am three days this week.  Bonus!!

 

1.  We had a birthday this week.  This girl turned 12!

Her requested dinner was shrimp, risotto, and roasted asparagus.  Yum!  Now that is a dinner I can get behind.  (Yes, I wrapped her present in Christmas paper because that was all I had.  Better wrapped than not!)

She was definitely spoiled on Thursday.  Her friend picked her up at 7am and took her to Starbucks for breakfast!

 

She had another friend bring her a pastry from Starbucks, too.  So sweet.  I know middle school can be full of turmoil and just Ugh, but it can also be full of kids learning to think beyond themselves and showing their thoughtfulness!

After dinner she unwrapped her gift from us and my mom - a tumble track, and a gift from her other grandparents - a Lulu backpack.  She loved both!  She also received a card in the mail from her aunt and uncle with Chick Fil A gift cards and that made her day.  (She stalked the mail box for a week!  No joke.)  She had soccer but took homemade Rice Krispie treats so I think the night was salvaged.  Anyway, it was a good day.

 

2.  We did not have ANYTHING this weekend.  No soccer.  No volleyball.  No swim meet.  It was fabulous!  I felt so free.  I know that sounds weird, but it's so true.  I loved it and made the most of my weekend.  I recovered the ottoman in our family room with black and white fabric.  We all love it.  And now that room is officially black/white which means we can add any accent color we want.  Right now we've chosen blush pink and I love it.  I made a grocery store run and a Target run.  Today I made it to 7:30am yoga and kicked off my day nice and early.  

 

3.  I am one Target run and one Amazon order away from being finished with my Christmas shopping.  I outsourced four things to the hubby so I won't be officially done until he comes through, but I feel like I am pretty much done.  #2 helped me finish shopping for her sisters today and I think we hit 10 stores in a few hours and knocked out about 15 gifts.  I love that a lot of stores had Black Friday deals this weekend so I could avoid the crowds next weekend.  Total win in my book!

I even have a bunch of things wrapped.  No tags yet, but wrapping is the hard part, anyway.

 

4.  I finished editing my last photo session tonight.  I had so much fun this fall!  Here's a couple pics that I loved from the session I edited tonight:

 

5.  I downloaded Pride and Prejudice on my iPhone because it was free.  I figured it was a novel I should have read by now so why not read it if it was free.  I am enjoying it but the reading is going so SLOW.  Since it was written so long ago, I have to really take my time and digest the words to figure out what is happening.  Not to mention there are so many different Mr. and Mrs. that I have to think hard how the various characters relate to each other.  I'm hoping I have a bit more time over the break to jump into it and make some real progress.  Please tell me it's worth it!

 

6.  Podcasts.  I listen to them nearly every day on my commute.  Here's a few I've been enjoying lately:

• The Daily by the New York Times.  The show on Friday regarding Facebook was fascinating.  And not in a good way!  Just like it says, this podcast focuses on one specific issue each day and dives into it.  
• Slow Burn by Slate.  The last season was all about the impeachment of Bill Clinton.  I looked forward to each new episode which came out once per week.  I remember this time in history well and enjoyed learning more about it. 
• Standoff by Slate.  These episodes are new and just coming out.  There's only two episodes so far.  This podcast is all about Ruby Ridge.  
• Majority 54 by Jason Kander.  I love Jason.  I read his book and followed him in his Senate race and then here in KC.  This podcast focuses on all kinds of issues from Hate Crime to LGBTQ rights, to how to solve the opiod epidemic.  The podcast is very well produced and it has educated me on all kinds of different issues.

 

All right, that's all I've got tonight.  I hope you enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving on Thursday!

 

Six on Sunday

Hello!  How was your weekend?  Ours was great!

 

1.  Last week I ran out of time to "talk" about a couple things, so I'm going to catch up here.  First, #1 was inducted into National Honor Society.  Most kids apply for it their junior year but she was just swamped last year and didn't have the time to apply.  I was really impressed that she took the time to apply this year!I knew nothing about it, she just asked me if I wanted to come to her induction.  Uh, yes!  It was really well done and I was impressed with the time everyone took to make it a special night for the kids.  

 

2.  My friend, Christi, and I stopped at Lulu's Thai Noodle Shop after we went thrift shopping last Sunday.  It was FANTASTIC!  If you are ever down in the Crossroads Arts District, I highly recommend it.  Delish!

 

3.  I managed to read two books on our trip to Hawaii and really liked them both.  Both were perfect beach reads.  Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan was so fun and it kept me entertained the whole way through.  Plus, now I want to see the movie.  I also picked up a book at the airport - literally the ONLY book they had in the entire store.  One Day in December by Josie Silver.  I literally finished it in less than 8 hours so it's a really easy read.  But it, too, kept me entertained which was great because I had 7 hours to go from San Francisco to KC due to our extended layover.    

 

4.  I downloaded a sleep cycle app and it's so much fun!  #1 had to download it for her psych class and was telling me about it so I decided to try it.  While it isn't changing any of my habits, it's really fun to look at my sleep cycle every morning when I wake up.  Ideally, it is supposed to wake you within 30 minutes of your alarm.  It might wake you up early if you are coming out of a Deep Sleep so you don't have time to fall back into another deep sleep.  But let's be real - there is no way I want to be woken up at 4:40am just because that would be ideal.  Uh-uh, no way!  I do not want to be woken up a minute before 5:10am so I don't take advantage of that feature.

Anyway, here are two of my charts, side by side:

You can see the chart on the left is typical of me.  I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.  I'm talking if I lay there more than 5 minutes, I wonder what's wrong.  The chart on the right is what happens when the hubby goes to bed at the same time.  He tosses and turns FOREVER before he falls asleep.  And the app can't really tell what is going on, so it charts his tossing and turning as if it were me.  I think once he's asleep, it does a better job of charting my sleep pattern vs. his.  Still, I get a kick out of this because he always says I fall asleep fast.  I thought he was exaggerating before and now I know he's not!

 

5.  So tonight I tested 3 new recipes for Thanksgiving.  The major bummer?  I have a cold and couldn't taste ANYTHING!!  I had to rely on my family because I had no clue if these recipes were winners or not.  Well, they tested 2 of the 3 and all agreed they were winners.  The third one was for brussels sprouts and they all refused to try them.  I am making an executive decision and making them.  

Also, the hubby is hell bent on deep frying a turkey this year.  Mind you, we have never deep fried even so much as a drumstick but he thinks he can do an entire turkey.  So, he wants to test it out on all of us.  While I'm not thrilled (what if he messes it up?  a very likely chance given his kitchen skillz), I told him to go for it.  IF he can find a deep fryer because I refuse to buy one for one day a year.  Wish us luck!

Meanwhile, the sides will be epic!  We're going with these buttery herbed mashed potatoes and these flaky pull-apart dinner rolls from Half Baked Harvest.  Both were winners tonight. Of course we'll have chestnut apple stuffing (a combination of a few different recipes I have on hand), roasted sweet potatoes, roasted beets with goat cheese, and these parmesan baked brussels sprouts from A Beautiful Mess.  Of course, I have no idea how to do gravy without turkey drippings, so I will have to wing that part.  Oh well.  It will all work itself out.  In the end, we could probably skip the dinner and go straight to the desserts anyway!

All that to say, I'm excited to spend a day or two in the kitchen in less than two weeks.  Also, we'll be able to start decorating for Christmas in less than two weeks, too!

 

6.  Remember last week when I said I took the big girls and friends downtown for more senior pictures?  Well, I was helping #1 pick out a few pictures of herself from that session because pictures are due for the yearbook this week.  While we were culling through images, I saw this one.  I love it!

 

Well, that's all I've got tonight.  I need to wrap a few presents and finish folding some laundry before I can hit the hay.  Have a great week!

P.S.  I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I know today is Veterans Day.  As the daughter of an Army veteran who served in Vietnam, my thanks go out to all who have served, past and present and especially to those families who have paid the ultimate sacrifice.  Thank you. 

Six on Sunday

 

Hello!  I'm back after my week hiatus while I was in Hawaii.  It was awesome.  But more about it later.  I am feeling chatty tonight so this could be a long one.  Let's get rollin'...

 

1.  Yesterday I took #1 and her best friend, Megan, plus their sisters and we did some fall senior pictures downtown.  We had so much fun!  The girls are really so funny and I learned some new  words from the Urban Dictionary.  For instance, I now know if I look stuntin' or I'm flexin'.  Plus, I know how to spot an Insta Baddie.  (They are so sorry they taught me those words.  I love it!)

After we were finished, the hubby and the littles met us down there so we could shoot our family pictures.  Of course as luck would have it, it started misting and then sprinkling right when we started shooting.  Oy!  I think I took about 5 pictures of our family and cranked out a few pics of each of the girls before I had to get my camera covered up.  Oh well.  We tried.  Not sure if they turned out or not?  I haven't had time to upload them just yet.  But the night was salvaged.  We tried eating at Parlor but they were closed this weekend so we ended up at Mission Taco, instead.  I highly recommend it.  The food was awesome, my margarita was killer, and the service was fantastic!  

 

2.  This morning I spent two hours in the kitchen doing meal prep for the week.  I am really excited about the menu, so I'm going to share it with you all.

Sunday:  Stuffed Spaghetti Squash 4-Cheese Pesto Lasagna (the littles had butter noodles - can't please 'em all)

Monday:  Slow Cooker Herbed Chicken and Rice Pilaf + Roasted Asparagus

Tuesday:  Cheddar Apple Butternut Squash Soup with Cinnamon Pecan Crumble + Roasted Broccoli + Baguette  (hint:  I made it this morning and it's delish)

Wednesday:  Crockpot Potato Soup + Salad + Baguette  (an oldie but goodie - but not the healthiest I've ever made.  Cream cheese.  Yum.)

Thursday:  Sheet Pan Sticky Pomegranate Chicken and Honey Roasted Squash with Rice (I'll do cauliflower rice.  The fam will do brown rice)

Friday:  Carry-out pizza due to a 5:55pm soccer game

 

3.  Speaking of meal prep, I still make my kids's lunches.  I know they are all fully capable of doing it.  But you know what?  I like the feeling I get when I make their lunch.  Do I like making their lunches?  Not exactly.  But I like knowing what they are eating and if it's healthy.  Plus, this year I instituted "Mom Doesn't Make Friday Lunch" and it's the best thing EVER.  I know they appreciate what I do Monday through Thursday so much more when they have to make their lunch once a week!

 

4.  I was listening to Jordin Silver and Friends one morning this week on the way to work.  (96.5 the Buzz)  Anyway, Jordin said something about her Top 5 All-Time Favorite Songs.  It got me thinking about it and we discussed it as a family (and played music REALLY LOUD on our way home from dinner last night).  I can come up with four songs but the pressure to name the 5th is really, really hard.  (Also, #1 and #2 wholeheartedly agree with my first two picks but weren't familiar with the last two.)  And I don't think I've landed on the final song just yet.  So here are my first four, in no particular order:

U2 - With or Without You

The Killers - Mr. Brightside

The Samples - Feel Us Shaking

Eric Clapton (the 24 Nights version) Wonderful Tonight

 

I'd love to know what you consider your Top 5 Faves?!

 

5.  The Littles thoroughly enjoyed Halloween this year!  #3 was a Skittle with a bunch of girls from middle school and #4 was a chef.  They each went trick-or-treating with friends and the rest of us had a quiet night at home.  (I don't know if we even had 15 trick-or-treaters!)

 

6.  We promptly took down Halloween decorations on Thursday.  They had been up the entire month and I was ready to be done with them.  We don't really do much for Thanksgiving but I did arrange the mantle:

We are hosting Thanksgiving again this year and I need to get working on the menu.  I feel like I might add one or two new sides this year.  And I'm thinking of making a signature cocktail for the afternoon!

BONUS #7!  Hawaii recap time.  Short version:  She loves the University of Hawaii - Manoa and is dying to go.  Long version:  

We flew out at 6am Thursday morning the 25th.  It was really smooth - we flew through Seattle and landed in Honolulu at 1pm.  We couldn't find an Uber so we took a taxi to our hotel and changed our clothes and dropped off our luggage and made our way directly to the beach.  We were only 3 blocks to the beach and it was awesome!

This is Waikiki and it ALWAYS full of surfers.  No joke.  They are up in the water by 6am.

 

We didn't feel like showering and getting ready so we just picked up Poke Bowls and Sashimi from this little hole-in-the-wall place called Mauro Brothers and it was THE BEST!  We just ate it on our balcony and for dessert we had chocolate covered macadamia nuts.  

 

This was my view while drinking my coffee Friday morning.  If you look closely, you can see the ocean in between the buildings:

 

This is the view looking down the street the other way:

 

We spent the whole day Friday on campus.  We did the tour and talked with the Dean of the Spanish department.  Sadly, we couldn't make it work to talk with someone in the Interdisciplinary Studies department.  Fun fact:  there are so many varieties of plants and trees that the campus itself is actually an arboretum!  While I found the campus a bit dated, #1 absolutely fell in love.  

If you look hard, you can tell it's raining in that picture above.  It rained about 500 times on Friday!  OK, maybe not 500 but still, a LOT!  

 

This is the original building when the school was founded in 1907.  It really was beautiful.

 

 

This is a room in the freshman dorm.  They all look the same.  There are four towers of freshman dorms.  They do not have A/C.  I think that would be a show-stopper for me but she could care less.  Also, this room looks eerily similar to my dorm.  In 1992!!!  Told you - not exactly updated.  

 

This is a view from the roof of one of the freshmen towers:

 

That round building in the bottom left of the frame is one of the freshman towers.

 

After the tours we shopped at the bookstore (pretty small compared to Nebraska) and headed back to the hotel to change.  We grabbed dinner at a fun little Italian restaurant before taking the bus back to the campus to watch the volleyball game.  The matches were excellent but we found it hard to keep our eyes open.  After all, while it was only 8p in Honolulu, it was 1am back in KC!

Saturday was our total beach day.  We surfed in the morning, had lunch, and then she went snorkeling.  (Hint:  It's not good snorkeling unless you take a boat further out from shore.)  We both loved surfing as much as we remembered from our trip to Maui two Christmases ago!  And we both agree that the waves in Waikiki were bigger than the waves in Lahaina on Maui.  Bigger waves mean bigger wipe-outs but also bigger highs!

 

We ate dinner at a delicious sushi place that night and it did not disappoint.  Doraku Sushi was a winner!

 

We loved surfing so much we went back for more on Sunday morning.  We got to the beach shortly after 7am since that's when the surfboard rental place opened.  We were hoping it wouldn't be as busy but it was still pretty crowded.  However, we learned where to go to find the best little waves and stay out of the way of the better surfers.  I didn't mind the crowd but #1 hated it.  She is determined to find the spots away from the crowds if she goes to school there.  

 

This is an alley where locals pay to store their boards.  That way they don't have to cart them around town.  I think this is genius! 

 

After we finished surfing we were starving and #1 wanted to hit up The Sunrise Shack.  It did not disappoint.  Their bullet coffee was awesome and we both loved our breakfasts!

 

Since we had to check out of the hotel by noon, we headed back and showered and got ready.  We stored our bags with the Bell Hop and went exploring.  We ended up walking to and then hiking up Diamond Head.  It's a really easy hike but the views or simply gorgeous!

After our hike we headed back down and found a cute cafe for lunch.  We shopped around and walked on the beach one last time before heading to the airport.  Our plane took off at 10:30pm and we landed back in KC at 5pm.  That's a long day!

 

As for the trip, I'm glad we went.  It is definitely her first choice.  However, she will need to get some scholarship money if she wants to go.  Their out of state tuition is exactly 3 times their in-state tuition!  Not to mention just getting back and forth is much more pricey than a plane ride to say, Denver.  I'm really glad I took her because I wasn't sure if she would change her mind after experiencing the travel and the campus in general.  Plus, we really can't wait until we find if she gets scholarship money because that won't be until mid-March.  I imagine finding plane tickets to Hawaii in a week's notice would not be very cheap!  Right now these are her choices, in order:

First - Hawaii

Second - University of Utah

Third is a tie - University of Wyoming or University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  

So, only time will tell.  She probably won't know where she is heading to college until next March!  Yikes.  I was hoping to have it nailed down by December.  But it's all good.  I know it will all work for the best in the end.  We just need to have some patience.

 

Phew!  I'm beat and it's 10pm.  Time for me to go to bed! 

 

 

 

Six on Sunday

Hello!  Welcome to week 3.  My streak will end next week, though.  But I'm here tonight so let's get started.

 

1.  I actually don't feel like I have a lot of juicy info for you this week.  We've just been plugging along at our normal pace.  Work, school, tennis, soccer, swim, volleyball, and soccer.  All is well, though, so that is good news.

2.  This was a crazy busy weekend for us!  The hubby and #3 spent the weekend in Memphis at a soccer tournament.  In fact, they still are not home yet.  I know their games were decent and they were evenly matched, though they did not come out victorious.  Oh well.  As long as they had fun it's all good.

Meanwhile, I was at home with the other three girls.  Saturday started with an early morning trip to the grocery store before #4's volleyball game.  They won all three games so it was really fun to watch!  #4 just LOVES volleyball and spent time outside both yesterday and today practicing her overhand serve.  Her goal is to master it before the spring season starts.  I hope she can do it!  After volleyball, we picked up #2 at home and met #1 at Old Navy.  The goal was to find each of the big girls something to match the rest of us for family pictures.  We were victorious!  We celebrated with a Starbucks run which is when I found out we were going to host the Homecoming After Party.  The rest of the afternoon was spent doing the usual and making the house presentable.  (Our cleaning crew only comes once a month.  That day is tomorrow.  That means the house was NOT in good shape.  AT ALL!)  

But the afternoon didn't end there.  Nope!  I had family pictures at 4pm (so fun!) and then picked up #4 to head down to the Nelson-Atkins for Homecoming pictures.  (#1 went to Bishop Miege Homecoming so most of the kids live down near the plaza.)  After a few quick pics (it was cold!) we headed home for the rest of the night.  The homecoming crew didn't show up until about 10:20pm which is AFTER my bedtime.  

Then today started out bright, and cold, and early with an 8am soccer game for #2.  They won easily and it was actually a fairly boring game.  After her soccer game I raced home, grabbed breakfast, and headed downtown for more family pics.  It was a bit chilly but warmed up as we were down there and we found some great new fun locations!  I headed home for lunch and then #2 and #4 and I went to #2's indoor soccer game.  Sadly they did not win but it was much more fun to watch!  Even #4 enjoyed the game and watched the whole thing.  Plus, it is always so fun to watch indoor games because the parents all sit together and talk and laugh.  We laugh a lot!  But it was nice to get home because I knew I was done for the rest of the day.  We did a little baking, cooked dinner, and just generally hung out and it was a lovely afternoon.  

Phew!  No wonder I'm tired.

3.  Homecoming.  She had a fun night.  And she was so excited because her date was tall enough for her to be able to wear heels:)

They showed up around 10:20 or so and I kicked the boys out at 12:15am.  I was exhausted and ready for bed.  Plus, I knew I had to get up before 7am today.  Nobody seemed to mind so it was all good.  Most of them seemed to have curfews and were on their way out, anyway.  But, I have to say, I'm not really excited to host another After Party any time soon!

 

4.  Next Thursday #1 and I are headed to Hawaii!  We leave at 6am but land at 1:30pm due to the 5-hour time change.  That part is nice because we'll get to enjoy the late afternoon/evening that day.  Friday is going to be spent on campus which is right in the heart of Honolulu.  We're not renting a car.  I'd like to figure out the bus because that's the main mode of transportation for college kids.  But if we fail there is always uber.  I'm curious to see the campus because from what I can tell, nothing has changed much in the last 50 years.  Seriously, the dorms look like the dorm I stayed in my freshmen year at Nebraska.  And that dorm was torn down last year because it was so outdated.  Ha!  Anyway, at least she will have a really good idea what she is getting herself into after we spend the day touring and talking with people in the Environmental Studies program.

The next two days we're going to surf, hike Diamond Head, and snorkel.  Oh, and eat sushi at least once.  Hopefully more than once.  Yum.  I know I'm probably just encouraging her to love Hawaii even more, but if I'm going to fly 10 hours from home, I'm going to make the most of it!  And damn, do I love me some sushi and surfing?!  We leave Sunday night at 10:30pm and land in KC at 5pm Monday evening.  So while the time change going there is awesome, it really bites the big one coming home.  Luckily I can sleep a little on planes but #1 isn't very good at it so this will be  a good test for her.  Wish us luck!

5.  We have conferences for the girls this week.  We've got to hit two schools for three girls all on Wednesday night from 4:30pm to 7:30pm.  The hubby and I will split up at the high school but grade school is right smack in the middle of there.  Then the hubby will have to hit middle school on his own Thursday morning.  It's a bit crazy logistically but it is what it is!

6.  I'm ready to sit my ass on the couch and drink a glass of red wine.  So that's where I'm headed.  Have a great week!

Six on Sunday

Hello!  How was your weekend?  Did you get snow?!  I know a lot of the upper midwest and Colorado got snow today.  Crazy.  It seems too early!  Anyway, I'm gonna get going...

 

1.  I don't think I talked about my up-coming girl trip last week, did I?  Anyway, if you call the end of January "up-coming", we are on the same page.  My girlfriends from college and I are all meeting up in San Antonio for a long weekend.  I'm so excited!!  It's been far too long since we've all been together and I can hardly wait.  If you have any suggestions of fun things to do or great places to eat, I'm all ears!

 

2.  I've been pretty busy lately with senior pictures and family pictures.  Just this morning I had the pleasure of meeting a family originally from Iceland to shoot their son's senior pictures.  We met down in the West Bottoms and got to see some crazy stuff from weird people.  I loved it!  Last weekend I was downtown with friends from our daycare days.  That was really fun to see their boys so much older.  I've also done a maternity session and a couple other senior girls.  Once I get all the pics edited I'll have to post a few.  

 

3.  My mom was down this weekend to watch the grandkids play their sports.  She was able to squeeze in three soccer games and one volleyball match.  Sadly, she missed my niece's soccer game because it was at the exact same time as #4's volleyball game yesterday.  And after sitting outside for three other (COLD) soccer games, my mom had had enough.  I can't blame her.  It was a chilly weekend.   

Last night my sister and her family all came over for dinner and a fire.  We had so much fun sitting outside roasting marshmallows and making s'mores!  The kids played flashlight tag and ghost in the graveyard.  (I even got in on the action by plotting with #2 to scare the little kids.  SO FUN!)  We are hoping it stays nice enough to be able to use the fire pit on Thanksgiving night and maybe rope in a few other adults to play.  I have to say, it scares the crap out of me to play because I don't like being scared.  I only like to DO the scaring!

 

4.  My mom and I took the little girls shopping yesterday.  After I had them try on clothes, we realized it was necessary.  They barely had any pants that were long enough anymore!  We went to Old Navy and Scheel's.  We ended up being very successful - thank goodness.  Shopping with kids is not for the faint of heart.  I think they were in the dressing room for 30 minutes at Old Navy.  I kept running back and forth looking for different colors and sizes.  But in the end we persevered and they now have enough clothes to get through the week.  Phew!  And, we have our color scheme for our family pictures.  Now I just have to figure out WHEN we are going to do our family pictures given our crazy travel schedules the next few weeks.  

 

5.  Today #2 had a soccer game.  While we were driving there it started misting.  By the time we got to the fields it was raining.  By the time I walked over to the fields at the start of the game, it was full-on raining.

Exhibit #1: 

Mind you, it was also 39*.  Fahrenheit.  Cold.  I was wrapped in a sleeping bag with my umbrella tiled to an angle.  It was coming down GOOD.  Finally, with about 2 minutes left in the half, the sky just lit up followed half a second later with a crack of thunder.  Game cancelled.  Thank goodness!  (The girls will have to play that game again.)  Like the hubby said, Girls = 0, Parents = 1.  By the time we got to the car, we were all soaked and #2 couldn't feel her fingers or toes.  

 

6.  This sight made me chuckle:

I call it, You Know You're a Ski Family When...there's a pair of goggles from 1976 on your counter because one of your kids tried using them while chopping onions.  Too funny!  Seriously, where did she even FIND these?!

Anyway, we had the BEST dinner tonight.  The hubby and big girls had meatball subs with melted cheese, the little girls had spaghetti and meatballs and I had zoodles and meatballs.  It was delicious and such a perfect Sunday night dinner after a cold, rainy soccer game!  I love Sunday night dinners because everyone is at the table and we laugh and sit and talk much longer than any other night during the week.  These little, seemingly mundane, moments are the ones I really treasure.

 

7.  BONUS #7!  I have set a goal to be finished with Christmas shopping by December 2nd this year.  And when I say finished, I mean FINISHED.  I want ALL gifts, even the easy gift cards purchased.  EVEN the tip for the Cleaning Ladies.  All done.  (That doesn't mean everything has to be wrapped, just purchased.)  So, I have everything mapped out and lists made.  I'm probably about 1/3 of the way done, too.  I'm loving the feeling of having a plan.  I can't purchase everything yet because of return policies, but that's fine.  It just feels good to have a plan, you know?! 

Anyway, that's all I've got tonight.  Stay warm and dry!

 

Six on Sunday IS BACK!

Can you even believe it?!  I'm back!  While I never intended to take a 5 month break, it was really needed.  We had a super busy month of May and then summer hit and I would rather be sitting at the pool with the family on Sunday nights rather than blogging so that's what I did.  I'm not sure if this will go back to a weekly deal or every other week or monthly, but I'm not going to worry about it.  I enjoy having this little corner of the internet and that's all that matters!

So, sit back, relax, and pour yourself a steaming cup of coffee or a nice glass of wine.  This is gonna be long!

Let's go back to where I left off.  May.  A busy month for the kids!

The high school season wrapped up for #2.  We were so happy to get to watch her play soccer for her high school.  I was even more happy that the weather was finally nice and a sleeping bag wasn't required of me.

 

My mom made it up for a busy weekend watching her grandkids.  She made it to #1's EKL (East Kansas League) swim meet:

By the way, Blue Valley West won that swim meet which was a really big deal.  It was so much fun!  #1 also swam at State again this year.  And yet again, she came in 9th in breaststroke.  Ugh!  But she had fun and made the 200 Free Relay so that's all that really matters.  Especially because she has officially decided she does not want to swim in college.  

 

Here is my mom with #4 after volleyball.  I think volleyball is #4's favorite sport - but tennis is a close second:

 

 

We did some work outside.  I got my garden planted.  Sadly, it just wasn't our year.  We were gone so much that it was hard to keep the pests away.

 

I finished my deck refresh.  I love the rug I painted!

 

We had a fun surprise for #3.  Her BFF surprised her with a visit from Ohio.  It was so great to have Addy for two nights!

 

Yep - #3 graduated from grade school.  It feels strange to only have one kid left at SRE!

 

Last day of school for the girls.  Two in grade school:

 

and two in high school:

 

I let the little girls host some friends for the last day of school.  They had a blast eating subs and swimming:

 

The hubby and I sent the girls off to Hilton Head for a week to vacation with the hubby's parents and brother.  They had an absolute blast!  They navigated their way through two different airports with plane changes each way. I was slightly nervous but knew they had each other so it would work out and it did.

Meanwhile, the hubby and I traveled down to Arkansas for the weekend.  We had a great time with my mom and Jim.  I hadn't golfed - my own ball and not a best ball - in YEARS!  I may actually pick it back up again in a few years when the Littles are a bit older.

Finally, we started building a crushed gravel patio and fire pit:

See?  I told you this was going to be long.  That was only MAY!  Here comes JUNE...

Remember how #3's BFF came to visit in May?  Well, Addy's family was gracious enough to host us for two nights while we were driving to Washington DC.  Sadly, Addy was in Boston so #3 missed seeing her but we still had a blast!  We had two fires and roasted marshmallows, toured OSU, ate lunch at an adorable little bar in Short North (can't remember if that's right?), went to Pins were we bowled, and just enjoyed experiencing a new city.  This picture was taken at Jenny's - a delightful ice cream place.  (Seriously, so good and AWESOME flavors!) 

 

While we were in Ohio, we celebrated #2's 15th birthday!

 

We spent a week in Washington DC.  We stayed in a row house in Eckington.  I could write an entire blog post on that place!  But I won't.  We saw a TON of sights so I'm not going to list them all.  Here are the girls in the back of the White House:

 

And here is a picture of Mt. Vernon.  I absolutely loved this day!  The history was fascinating.  So much so that I promptly bought a biography on George Washington and read in a couple weeks.  So good.

 We also spent a night in Weems, VA with the hubby's aunt and uncle.  This is the view from their back porch.  It was simply stunning.

 

After 18 hours - each way - we spent the remainder of the month relaxing.  I even learned how to make pizza on the grill!

 

And this was our view almost every single night.  #4 begged her sisters to join her at the pool and quite often one or more of them would, but not always.  She LOVED swimming!

 

Phew.  Let's move onto July!

We celebrated the 4th down at my mom's house.  We had a couple wonderful lake days!  (We were missing #3 who had a better offer to spend the week with her friend in Pensacola.)

 

As is tradition, my mom hosted the kids down to her house for a couple long weekends.  The littles went first with their cousin:

They had a great time.  They golfed (duh), rode go-carts, went tubing on the lake, built pillow forts, and went out to the dinner one night.  (Or more - can't quite remember!)

 

The hubby and I "celebrated" our 21st anniversary:

OK, that's really all the celebrating we did.  The kids made us a delicious chocolate peanut butter cake.  It was all good!

 

Then, my mom hosted the big girls and their cousin for a long weekend: 

They went shopping, tubing, golfing, got their nails done, and went to eat.  They loved getting spoiled!

 

AUGUST!  It was a busy month.  But a good month.

I was invited to celebrate my friend, Carmen's, 40th birthday was a super fun group of girls down at the Lake of the Ozarks.  I didn't know everyone but it didn't matter because they were all so awesome!  We went out to dinners, ate delicious breakfasts and snacks at the cabin, spent a LOT of time in the water, and just relaxed.  It was so perfect.  Oh, and we drank a "few" beers:)

 

Next, my sister got married!  It was beautiful and perfect and fun and so special.  We love and adore Jason and couldn't have been more excited for the two of them!  

Anyway, the wedding was in Vail, CO.  We drove out Thursday and had all day Friday to do something fun.  So we decided on a hike.  The reviews said it was fairly easy.  You know what?  They were full of shit!  It was HARD.  I think it ended up being 9 miles round trip and hiking in the altitude is no joke.  My sister ended up turning around and taking the Littles with her.  So smart.  The hubby, #1 and #2 and I persevered.  But damn! it was long.

 

This was the summit.  The views were stunning.

 

Friday night we had dinner at Bol.  It's a great restaurant/bowling alley.  I loved it.  And then Saturday was the wedding at the Betty Ford gardens.  It was just spectacular!

 

Here's the whole family - all snazzy in our pretty clothes:

(Ignore the cut off feet.  I had someone take our picture since I was the photographer and she cut off our feet.  Oh well.)
 

 

As soon as we got back home, school started.  Gross.  None of us were ready.

Here's the big girls on their first day:

 

And #4 - the last kid in grade school which means the latest to leave the house:

 

SEPTEMBER!

Per tradition, we capped off the summer with one last lake weekend.  We had beautiful weather and it was the first time all summer all six cousins were together.  They were thrilled and had so much fun together!  The lily pad was new this year and it was a solid investment.  So glad we bought it!

 

Gamma even got in on the fun:

 

The next weekend we turned around and headed to Lincoln for the football game.  The hubby's parents were kind enough to stay with the kids for us.  Even though we suffered a loss, we still really had fun hanging with our friends!

 

This has been a super common sight - a kid on a skateboard.  Both #3 and #4 are into this and I have to say it's pretty adorable.  

 

OCTOBER!  We're just about caught up.  Phew.

We finished the patio and fire pit a few weeks ago.  To date we've had two fires and LOVED it! 

The plan is to build a sectional couch to go in the corner behind the fire pit.  I have the cushions - just need to build the frame.  Most likely that won't happen until next spring.  But that's OK.  We just pull out the lawn chairs and we're good to go!  

 

I feel like we're just about caught up.  School is going well for the girls.  

Senior year for #1 - can you believe it?  She seems to have a much easier load this year vs. last year even though she is currently taking four AP classes.  She ended up dropping Calculus and signing up for College Algebra instead.  I think that was a super smart move.  She does not love math and does not need it for college.  She's still swimming full time.  

Sophomore year seems to be shaping up well for #2.  She's in one AP class this year but doing well.  She's also in Algebra II and chemistry and those classes are no joke!  (I hated them with a passion!)  She's driving more but she and #1 share a car so she's been taking the hubby's car quite a bit since it's a little smaller than my Suburban.  She's still playing soccer and driving herself to practice.  

Middle school seems to be working out OK thus far.  But let's face it, I don't know of any kid who escapes middle school truly unscathed.  (Well, #1 seemed to do pretty well.  #2 not so much.)  So my fingers are crossed she remains above the fray.  She has a group of girls she is going trick-or-treating with and they are all making their costumes together on Friday.  She's still playing soccer though I'm not convinced she will stay with this team long-term.  We shall see. 

Fourth grade is going really well for #4.  She doesn't seem to mind being the only one of her sisters at SRE.  She really likes her teach and so do we.  All of our girls have had her!  She's still playing volleyball and tennis.

We've been talking colleges for a couple months now.  #1 has officially toured University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Colorado-Boulder, Colorado State, and Wyoming.  However, none of those places float her boat.  So, we are heading off on a reconnaissance mission to Honolulu, Hawaii.  Yep - you read that right.  University of Hawaii-Manoa.  I kept thinking Hawaii would be a floating idea - something that sounded cool until she really started thinking about it.  But nope.  She's serious.  So we're taking her seriously.  This will be our last college visit until she receives her acceptance letters and finds out how much each school will really cost.  But if she/we can swing it, and she loves it as much as she thinks she's going to love it, she will be jetting off to Hawaii next August.  I just, I can't even...

Phew.  That's my longest post ever!  I almost made it to 2,000 words.  If you stuck with me this long, thank you.  I hope you had a great summer and your fall is shaping up nicely.  'Till next time, 

Suzanne

 

Stop! It's Picture Time!

If you get that reference, we are definitely friends.  If you don't get that reference, we can still be friends but I must teach you about M.C. Hammer!

Anyway, it's been over four months since I've posted.  It's the longest break I've ever taken from blogging.  And honestly, I didn't set out to take a break, it just happened.  And then I enjoyed it.  But now I kind of miss it.  So, I'm back.  I'm not sure if I'll do a Six on Sunday post every week, every other week, or once a month.  But I'll figure it out.  I know I owe you a big, juicy post to catch you up on our summer.  I promise I'll put one together.  

But tonight?  Tonight it's all about family picture time!  I have put this offer out there for the past several years and I've had so much fun.  My daily job is finance-y so being a photographer on the side really fulfills my creative needs.  It's perfect.  

For $200 I will photograph you and your family at any location within KC and deliver you a flash drive with at least 35 edited pictures.  Once you get the drive, the images are all yours!  That's it!  

Below are just a few pictures I could easily find on my hard drive from years past to give you an idea of my style.  I really try hard to keep everything fun!  Some suggested and tried-and-true locations:

• Prairie Fire
• Iron Woods Park
• West Bottoms
• City Market
• The Plaza
• Unity Village
• Loose Park

 

If you're interested, text me, call me, message me, telepathically connect with me, and let's work on finding a date!
 

Six on Sunday

Hello!  Did you have beautiful weather like we did this weekend?  I sure hope so because it was AWESOME!

 

1.  We just had one of those weekends that was perfect!  You know the kind I'm talking about?  It was just such a great mix of outside time (lots of it!), family time, project time, meal prep.  Basically, it was the perfect weekend.  I loved it.  

My weekend started out Friday night at the school carnival.  Since the hubby worked one of the stations, I left early (I'm basically over that kind of stuff) and headed to Home Depot.  Now THAT is my idea of a great Friday night.  No joke.  I'm lame.  I LOVE Home Depot on a Friday night because it's empty and I can roam the aisles and dream up all kinds of projects I want to tackle.  Plus, I knew the Littles were having a blast at the Carnival so I had no guilt.  

Saturday morning I was up bright and early and not mad about it.  (7am is bright and early for me.)  I headed to the grocery store which was lovely because it was empty and I was in and out in a flash.  Back to the house for deck prep.  Yep, our deck really just needs a match but arson is a felony (I guess) so I thought I would just paint it.  Again.  It was pathetic:

I "stained" it 6 summers ago.  I remember because it was that really gross, hot summer which was 2012.  I meant to do this last summer but time got away from me.  Well this year I laid out all my projects and April = deck refresh.  This was the first weekend where it was warm enough and dry enough to tackle.  Luckily, our weekend was nearly free since we only had one volleyball game yesterday.  That meant I had time for this and the weather was so great I was happy to work on it!

I bought two gallons of Behr Deck Over.  It's supposed to last 10 years.  We'll see about that.  But so far I am happy with the coverage.  It's really thick, gross paint.  #3 said it looked like a Sonic shake and she was right!  That said, it looks ten times better now:

I need to apply one more coat of white and then I'm going to paint a buffalo plaid "rug".  I'm excited for the final product.

 

2.  We now have not one, but two hammocks.  Yep, #4 received two hammocks for birthday presents.  One of them still needs special straps to hang it up.  But the other one has been in use all week and ALL the girls love it!  It's just adorable.

Once we order the special straps for the second hammock, I think we can hang them both up.  It's not the prettiest landscaping but who cares because they love them so much!

 

3.  High school soccer and swim are in full swing and I love it!  Sure, our nights are crazy but it is so fun to watch the big girls compete in high school.  And I just love all he camaraderie that comes along with team sports.  

The "C" team that #2 plays on is undefeated with zero goals against them.  They play as though they have been playing together for years.  It's really fun to watch!  And #1 finally got her second state cut last Thursday night.  She is now qualified for the 100 breaststroke and the 200 IM.  

This week #2's soccer games will be the most competitive of the season so I'm really excited.  And #1 will swim in the EKL (East Kansas League) meet this Friday and Saturday.  It's a really fun meet and I love the location.  So this is gearing up to be a fun week.  Plus my mom is coming down Thursday for the weekend.  She'll get to see most of the kids play their sports except for the Littles because #3 has a soccer tournament in Iowa, and #4 has a bi-week for volleyball.  But she'll see the big girls and the cousins.  It's hard to be able to see all six kids.

 

4.  As I mentioned, Friday night was the school carnival.  Well, the hubby ended up agreeing to let #3 have three friends sleep over that night.  I didn't mind one bit because our Saturday was practically empty.  The girls stuck around quite awhile on Saturday, too.  This was #3 at 6pm last night:

They played so long and so hard that she missed dinner and still went to bed by 10pm!  

 

5.  Since I painted the deck we couldn't let Darby out the back door.  She was not happy but found solace in the window:

 

6.  I am so ready for school to be done and summer to commence.  Since the big girls are home at night now and not at sports practice, I told them all I was done making lunches.  (I HATE making lunches!)  Seriously, I can't wait for leisurely evenings at the pool, late dinners, walks around the neighborhood, and late bedtimes.  Summer is the best!

 

Anyway, that's all I've got for tonight.  I need to get outside and get one more coat of white paint on my "rug" on the deck.  Have a great week!