Suzanne McGrath Photography

Make Up Monday

I'm back.  I'm only a day late and that's not bad, right?  I was just mentally drained last night and knew if I blogged it would not be good.  So I sat in my bed for two hours reading magazines and playing on my phone.  I loved it!  But now I'm ready to blog, so let's get going...

 

1.  We had a fabulous Thanksgiving!  We had a house full of family and friends from South Dakota all the way down to Texas and in between.  It was awesome!

A big group of us started off the day with the Thanksgiving 5k.  All six of the kids did it and we even had one extra (#2's friend joined us.)  We had a blast!  The weather was not too chilly and we split up into different groups but enjoyed it.  My mom and her special friend even walked the whole thing!

Of course we enjoyed Starbucks afterward where we met more of our crew who had just flown in from Texas.  

 

Back at the house it was game time while I got the bird in the oven.  I love this scene:

 

We had a nice, lazy afternoon filled with tons of food and laughs.  All told there were 19 of us this year - a record!  We had three sets of grandparents:  my mom and her friend, the hubby's parents, and my niece and nephew's other grandparents.  I thought that was pretty special and the kids sure felt the love.  We also had my sister and her boyfriend, the hubby's brother, sister, and brother-in-law.  We were only missing one person - my niece and nephew's other aunt.  Maybe next year!

Here's the craziness that was dinner:

And yes, we were all at one "table".  So cool!  

 

2.  A big group of us drove down to see the Plaza lighting ceremony.  It was crazy busy, we were separated into groups, but it was still fun.  It was just nice to get out after spending the day inside.  

 

3.  Another group of us took the kids ice skating Friday afternoon (my mom and her friend left on Friday morning and so did my niece and nephew's other grandparents) and the weather was incredibly warm.  The ice was melty but we all enjoyed skating without the bundles of clothing.  My nephew and BIL were the only boys and unfortunately, my BIL's feet are too big to rent skates so he was our photographer!

 

4.  The rest of the weekend was spent decorating for Christmas, shopping, and eating.  Seriously, so much eating!  My in-laws even took us all out for burgers at BRGR on Saturday night which was so nice.  I did not feel like cooking so it was a really nice treat.

 

5.  OK.  Moving on to things NOT related to Thanksgiving!  I played this "BINGO" game put on by one of the gyms I attend.  It was such a great idea!  There were 15 or 20 squares and they each represented something that needed to be done in order to cross off the square.  Some were super easy like try a new, healthy recipe.  Some were specific classes or instructors to take.  Of course my competitive nature got the better of me and I blacked out my card.  But in the meantime I tried some new classes and really enjoyed them!  If you are in KC and close to Raw Power, these are the classes I've taken in the last month:

• RAW Tabata - only 45 minutes which automatically makes me love it.  Super intense work-out but I have always loved tabata-style.  (20 seconds on, 10 seconds off)
• WERQ Dance Fitness - I was a little lost.  It was super fun but I think it would be easier after a time or two of taking the class.  Also - stand in the back if you are not a dancer!
• Ballet Booty Pilates - OUCH!  Such small movements that hurt.  In a good way.
• RAW Fit - a morning favorite with Susan
• Hot Power Yoga - I could really get into this love.  I love how I feel after yoga and I like that the room is not.  It's about 90* so not like Bikram.  Just hot enough to keep a body loose.
• Yoga Body Bootcamp - This was my least favorite but I think because it was a Tuesday night after work, I was tired, and it was my second work-out of the day.
• Barbell - Loved this class.  Attendance is purposely limited so it's hard to get in but it was a great strength work-out

 

6.  The countdown to Hawaii is on - 3 weeks and 1 day!  Holy crap!  I seriously need to detox myself after last weekend.  Yikes!

 

Phew!  That's all I've got for tonight.  Have a fabulous week!

 

 

 

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!  

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?