Fa la la la la, la la la la

Another Christmas has come and gone.  Ours was filled with love and a lot of driving! The weekend before Christmas we went to my parents house for the weekend.  We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family.  Once everyone arrived, we opened gifts first. Andrew is really into the V-Tech Go Go Smart Wheels cars and play sets right now so that's pretty much what he got for Christmas.  He got the train station from my parents.  My sister and Mark got him a bulldozer ride-on toy and then he received mostly money from great grandparents.  Money is good because this kid has too many toys!  My dad also got Andrew a little ride around ATV.  Andrew enjoyed it for a little bit, then wasn't too fond of the motor sound when you pushed the GO button.

My parents Christmas tree

Andrew's new ATV

This is staying at my parents

Here is the train station set up with the airport and car garage that he already had.

This is the cute wreath my sister made for me! Love it!

Matt and I received money as well, candy and some Rachel Ray utensils for the kitchen!

After opening up presents it was ready for lunch! Typical families have ham or turkey for their Christmas meal BUT NOT US! We had my all time favorite meal, lasagna!!! It was delicious! The Chiefs and the Steelers were playing against each other that day too.  It was pretty much everyone in my family against me (except for Matt because he likes the 49ers).  The Steelers ended up winning which was awesome for me! After the football game and catching up, we headed back to Columbia.

On Christmas Eve, I had the day off to pack up everything and put it in the car for our 8 hour trip to Minneola.  Andrew was at daycare till noon, so that gave me time to do everything without having to worry about him.  I got everything packed up and Andrew and I were ready to go, just had to wait for Matt to get off work.  We headed out of town around 2 pm. Our first stop was in KC for some gas and snacks.  Andrew did really great in the car. Whoever invented portable DVD players is a smart person.  We wouldn't have got through the trip if Andrew didn't have his Peppa the Pig on.  He watched the DVD over and over again. We stopped in Whicita for a late lunch.  Andrew got to get out and stretch his legs in the play area. He didn't want to come out!

Enjoying the car ride, Peppa the Pig and a corn dog.

Having fun at McDonalds

Sunset of Kansas

After dinner, we got back in the car.  Stopped in Greensburg for gas.  We made it to Matt's parents house a little after 10 pm, so 8 hours wasn't that bad.

Christmas morning we had cinammon rolls for breakfast.  Then we opened up gifts.  Andrew got all V-Tech Go Go Smart Wheels cars and play stations.  He received a Fire Station, Police Station and car wash from family.  He got money from Grandpa Butch and Grandma Sandy. He also got a camera and Play-Doh from us.

He already had the airplane, tow truck and train.  Not pictured, the police car and fire truck.

After the kids opened their gifts, Sandy and I worked on Christmas lunch.  We had ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, yams, corn, crescent rolls and plenty of desserts. I had a little slice of coconut and lemon meringue pie :)

After lunch I played The Game of Life with my nieces and nephew.  McKinzie won, Preston had 5 kids and lived in a boat lol! I had 6 kids and lived in a cottage.  It was a fun time.  

After that, the grown ups went to the Casino.  As usual, I lost money.  Stephanie and I are just going to go to the movies next time and the guys can go to the casino.  I haven't won anything from a casino is a couple of years.  My luck needs to change there.  Anyways, we headed home and had leftovers for dinner.  We played a card game of Golf and Matt won.

Friday morning Mike, Steph and the kids headed back home.  Matt and I went to Dodge City for the after Christmas sales at Walmart.  I stocked back up on boxes, cookie containers and bags. It's nice when things are 50%! We went back to the house for more leftover food for lunch.  The rest of the afternoon was pretty lazy.  I think we all watched 4-5 hours of Family Feud.  After too much of that, Alissa, Matt, Jim and I played some board games.  It was a lot of fun to just have some family time and not have to worry about working.

This game was called UNO Rummy.  I won one of the games.

Saturday Matt and I drove to Garden City, Kansas (which is about an hour away from Minneola)  Matt is interviewing for the plant manager job there and I wanted to check it out since I had never been there.  It's a nice town and has a Zoo.  I think if we ended up moving there, we would have a lot of picnics at the Zoo.  It's free or you can drive through it for $10.00.  Matt and I did that just to check it out.  We also checked out the Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and we ate at the Applebee's there.  After spending the day there, we headed back to Minneola.

Sunday morning we packed up the car, said hi to Wanda (she's a Harris' family friend) and left for Kansas City.  We ate at Spangles in Wichita for lunch and QT for gas.  Then stopped in Overland Park at Mitch and Carolyn's house to exchange gifts with the kids.

Andrew was telling me about Peppa.

Connor and Hailey with their gifts from us (the hats) and their gifts from Jim and Michele.

Anna and Princess Elsa

Lovely!

After 1500 miles, three Christmas', two families, listening to a lot of Peppa the Pig, playing board and card games, loosing some money at the casino, visiting family and making memories, I would say we had a great trip!  Living further away makes these memories that much more special!

Here is a link to my full Christmas album:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10102511010886019.1073741859.16807661&type=1&l=f64a277bab

Holiday baking and friendships!

The first Saturday of this month, Andrew's daycare had Parent Appreciation day.  I dropped Andrew off in the morning and went to finish some Christmas shopping.  Matt and I went to lunch at G&D's Pizzeria.  First time there for me, very good! Mom and Pop place.  Came home after lunch and wrapped some presents.  Picked up around the house then went and got Andrew from daycare.  It's always nice to get some things done when there isn't a little one running around.  Andrew made this ornament at daycare that day.  First of many I'm sure!

Our friend Jay came to visit us the next day and stayed with us for a couple of days.  It was very nice to visit with him and I'm sure Matt enjoyed some guy time with him. They went to the Amish town to get some goodies and that Monday night we all went to dinner.

The following weekend was my Christmas cookie baking day plus our friend Roxy came to visit us.  It was very nice to catch up with her and she also helped decorate some cookies.  We took her to Smokin' Chicks BBQ for lunch and then we came back to the house to I could bake all afternoon.

This year I made Christmas sugar cookies, Spreads, Truffles, chocolate dipped marshmallows, fudge, Pecan print cookies, 

Pecan Print Cookies

Spreads

Chocolate Dipped Marshmallows

Roxy decorated these!

We were watching Christmas movies all day! This was Home Alone! Christmas must!

One of the final plates!

Cookies were delivered the next day to friends at church, neighbors and Andrew's daycare!

Turkey, Shopping, Hockey and Babies!

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving after Matt and I got off work, we packed up both cars and headed to Lansing for Thanksgiving.  This year Thanksgiving was with my parents and Christmas will be in Minneola with Matt's family. We stopped for dinner on our way to my parents at the Iron Skillet in Oak Grove.  Very big portions! After that we finished driving to my parents house.  Once we got there we all watched 'A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving' which is a big tradition for me.  Very happy to share these traditions with Andrew.

Thanksgiving morning we watched the parade while my parents worked on the food.  K-Mart was open so Matt and I took the opportunity to have some time to ourselves and went there together.  It was nice to spend some time together.  We also bought some Christmas presents for some people. Once we got back to the house, I worked on the green bean casserole and helped my parents with whatever needed help with.  At about noon, everyone started showing up.  All of my grandparents, Aunt Audrey, Uncle Bob, my sister, Mark and us were there. I think there were 15 of us!  Everyone was able to bring something.  My Grandma Carol brought her chicken noodle soup which is delicious! I've had that since I was little. We also had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, cole slaw, mac 'n cheese, rice, cranberries, rolls and dessert of course! I had to squeeze everything on my plate!  Everything was delicious and it was nice to catch up with family.

Turkey in the oven

 My plate!

Matt and Andrew

Grandma Hamm and Mom

Mom and Dad

Grandma Georgeann, Grandpa Dale and Grandpa Galen.

The famous chicken noodle soup.  It was my dessert lol.

Andrew, Mark, Renee and Grandpa Galen

After the Thanksgiving meal, a couple of us went through the Black Friday ads.  Yes, I have become one of those persons that shop on Black Friday or now it's on Thanksgiving.  Later on that afternoon Matt and I met up with my sister in law Stephanie, Matt's dad Butch and his mom Sandy at Michael's.  We shopped there for a little bit, I got some photo albums, and then we headed to Walmart.  Walmart had a lot of what we wanted to get.  We bought a train set for Andrew, some cars, Rachel Ray pot and pans set that my Aunt and I split up, some board games, Play Doh for Andrew, a couple of crock pots for some family members and a basketball.  After that I went to Toys R Us to get some of the diapers that were on sale and some DVD's for Andrew and Matt, Butch and Mitch (Matt's brother) went to Target.  Stephanie and Sandy went back home.  After I went to Toys R Us, I met back up with the guys at IHOP.  We also met up with Jon and Leslie.  It was great to see them too.  They are good friends from our old church in Gardner. Jon also is the guy that helped with our kitchens. After that Matt and I headed home.

Friday morning we headed over to Mike and Stephanie's house to hang out with the Harris' family for the day. We met Stephanie, Sandy, Jon, Leslie and their kids at Joe's Kansas City BBQ.  It was delicious! We hung out at their house for the afternoon and helped Stephanie put her Christmas decorations up. Matt had to head back to Columbia that night so he just hung out at their house till it was time to leave.  After dinner, Stephanie, Amy (Stephanie's friend), Mryanda (Stephanie's daughter), and I went to see the Mavericks Hockey game.  It was nice to have some girl time!

Saturday was a relaxing day at my parents house.  I did go see a couple of good friends and their adorable new baby boy! It was nice to catch up with Jacqy, Jason and baby Bruce.

Baby Bruce was so sweet!

After I visited them, I went to see my Aunt and Uncle for a bit.  Stopped by to say hi and drop off some things I picked up for her from shopping.

My parents got out a whole bunch of my sister and I's old toys.  Andrew was having a lot of fun with them!

Sunday morning I packed everything up into the car and then that afternoon my cousin had her baby shower.  She is expecting in January.  It was very nice to see her and other relatives. We had lunch and cake. Then played a couple of games and Kara unwrapped gifts.  She is having a girl and lets say baby Kennedy has a lot of pink and purple clothes!

Cute party favors!

Pretty center pieces.

They were Starburst flavored candy corn candy! Very good!

After the shower, Andrew and I headed home to Columbia.  It was nice to see family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday extended weekend! Can't wait for Christmas, it will be here before we know it!