Under the Weather

The little dude isn't quite himself.  We suspect another ear infection and will visit the doctor in a little while.  Not the flu, just lots of drainage, a cough, fever, and congestion which means he can't suck his thumb!  I couldn't resist a picture of him with his hair like this.  I should have videoed him saying, "Don't wipe my boogers!"

Merry Christmas

It was our year to spend Christmas in Lebo.  The kids managed to eat everything on their lists (see last post) and Graham trashed the house too many times to count.  Santa managed to find the boys, and enjoyed his cookies while his reindeer ate "all but 20 of the like 2,000 pieces of corn." (according to Miles).  

Santa brought Graham a basketball goal, a flying saucer, a matching game, and the book, "Owl Babies" (a book he loves to read at school).  He also got some Under Armour, KSU clothes, and a Batman prison/car/bad guy set from family.  He actually spent most of the time in Lebo playing a 30 year old Willie Nelson guitar that Quint had as a little boy.  

Miles was really wanting Bay Blades this year, so Santa brought some of these along with Skylander Giants which both boys ended up playing a lot.  Both big boys scored some new Under Armour, KSU clothes, and Nike Elite socks (nearly impossible to find in Miles' size--thanks Grandma!).  Santa had a little trouble finding gifts for Owen since he only asked for clothes--and a laptop, not yet dude!  He ended up with new slides (much needed), a Wisconson hoodie, and neon yellow Nike tennis shoes that he asked for in August--mom vetoed them back then.  

We were able to get together with my aunts, uncles and cousins on Christmas day.  The boys took turns holding baby Maggie.  Graham enjoyed playing with McKinley's sick doll that says things like, "I have a fever," or "I need some medicine."

Grandma = Great

The kids received these menus in the mail a couple of weeks ago.  My clever mom (who actually grocery shops in advance) made a list of all of their favorite snacks and told them to circle anything they wanted to have on hand over the Christmas holiday.  As you can see, they are allowed only healthy snacks :)  Looks to me like she will have to take out a loan to feed the pigs!

Owen--very efficient while filling his out, choosing only the items he really loved.  No pondering or second guessing.

Miles--debated everything, and in the end even added some items that Grandma left off, including Pepsi (Pepcey)--maybe for me??

Ballin'

We are officially in basketball-mode.  Owen's team played seven games in seven days--five of those this past weekend in Wichita.  They've got some work to do, but are looking good.  He loves to play basketball and really likes all of the boys on his team, as well as the coaches.  The highlight for him was making a free throw in a tie game with a half second left.  Whew!

We stayed over Saturday night and the kids enjoyed going out to eat with some teammates and parents, a little swimming, and lounging in the hotel.

I thought it would be nice that Graham doesn't need a pack-n-play anymore, but having him sleep with us wasn't cute and cuddly.  He is squirmy and likes to sprawl out spread eagle style.  I ended up sleeping at the foot of the big boys' bed to get away from him (and stinky blue blanket).

Pinterest #33

This was the only Halloween pin I used this year.  Since we weren't assigned to help with the school parties, I made bags of this for the teachers in my hallway.  My family liked the white mix the best, but still chowed down and polished it off in a day's time.

Pinterest #32

I made a vegetarian meal for Shannon's family after she had Lennon this fall.  Here are a few recipes that got good reviews.

Jello Popcorn

The jello popcorn was good (I only made two flavors), and while it wasn't hard, there are lots of super easy popcorn recipes that I'd probably stick to.

Vegetarian Chickpea Sandwiches

I had made this before for my carnivore family and we really liked it.  Oddly enough, all three boys like garbanzo beans!

Dill Cucumbers

If you like cucumbers, I don't think you can go wrong with any vinegar/oil type dressing.  This is version I had not tried before.  

Pinterest #31

Need to catch up on my Pinterest trials if I'm going to accomplish my New Year's resolution to try (and document) something once a week.  Actually, I've far exceeded my once-a-week quota if you count all of the school resources I've used/adapted/passed on.  Anyway, let's start with a huge failure...

Strawberry Yogurt Pretzels

These look good (on her blog), and I thought my family would really like them.  If you read the recipe and comments you'll see it calls for lots of powdered sugar.  I kept adding more and more powdered sugar thinking the coating would thicken at some point.  Not so much.  They ended up gray and soggy, as though they'd been soaked in water.  Will stick to store bought yogurt-covered pretzels.

Party Popcorn

On the other hand, the popcorn was as easy and tasty as the recipe describes.  The kids devoured it.  I used microwave popcorn which was fine, but I'm sure it would be better with "real" popcorn.

Tulsa

Aimee and I spent the weekend before Thanksgiving in Tulsa, OK for my third marathon (and her 21st--amazing!).  We had a great time shopping, eating, chatting in the car, and completing the race.  Both of us ran our best times so far.  For me, I came in under four hours which I had not done before.  I guess if I retire from marathons, I will have met my goal.  

If you are considering running Tulsa in the future... 

Positives:  pretty course through neighborhoods, downtown, and campus, nice shirts and medals, organized and prompt, Diet Pepsi at the finish line!

Negatives:  course was hilly for stretches (particularly the second half), not as many locals out and about (cheering) as other races I've done.

Pre-race and my welcome home/good job signs that Owen and Miles made for me.

Thankful

The boys and I trekked to Atwood on Wednesday morning for five days of fun with the cousins, aunts/uncles, and grandparents.  Adam had to work Wednesday and Friday, so he didn't come out until Friday night.  The kids each have a cousin (or two in Graham's case) the same age as them that they pal around with.  The older they get, the less we adults see of them.  

Mike and Rosie rented out the Atwood "convention center" for whoever needed to get away from the madness created when 15 people and 4 dogs are living under the same roof.  The big kids (meaning anyone 6+) liked to think of this as their special hang out--evidently they were able to watch however much iCarly, Dog with a Blog, etc. as they wanted in this joint.  

Michelle brought Apples to Apples Jr. which was a huge hit with all of the kids.  They actually played very well together with only a few accusations of cheating--mostly laughter.

Rosie prepared a fantastic Thanksgiving feast.  Even after a day full of snacks and at least 4 bowls of Lucky Charms (each), my kids cleaned their plates.  Once again I am reminded how I hope to never have to prepare the turkey for anyone :)  Very thankful for family, friends, health, job, safe travels... the list could go on and on.  Hope everyone had a great holiday!

To Grandmother's House We Go...

After one last long run (before Tulsa) we headed to Lebo for the weekend.  Our timing was great as we were able to see my parents, brother/sister-in-law, Don and Carolyn, Uncle Dale, the Kentucky Guys (long-time hunting friends of the family), and Sharla/boys.  It was a fun, relaxing weekend for everyone, except maybe Newman who had to fight off the "moves" from his dog-boyfriend Barney.  As usual, Grandma Jean made us all eat like pigs--good thing I have a long run coming up.  Graham finally got to visit some cows again, and he was in heaven.  I think he would have stayed all day.

Enjoying a KSU victory (and probably Alabama loss) with pizza and pop--and ice cream, chips, cheese balls, Starbursts....

Three men down!  Four if you count Newman sleeping in the back.  Of course, I'm up front slaving away on school stuff :)

Football

Adam and I were able to enjoy the KSU vs. OSU football game this weekend (courtesy of some birthday tickets from Rosie--thank you).  The big boys finally got to tailgate after being gone or having other plans several of the past few games.  They got in a couple hours worth of parking lot football.  We also had a perfect view of the Fred Phelps crew across the street.  Definitely an interesting conversation with a 6 and 9 year old. 

And speaking of football, Owen's team had their end-of-season party tonight at Pizza Hut.  What a fun group of boys and great coaches too.  All of the boys received a personalized trophy for the season.  Something about a medal or a trophy for a kid...  Now it's full force basketball!

Hawaii, (the end)

Finally...this is the whole reason we trekked it to Hawaii in the first place, Casey and Liz's wedding.  The ceremony took place on Hamoa Beach (a black sand beach) right near Hana.  Adam was a best man in the wedding--you can see that he really had to dress up for the role :) 

Adam and Andy enjoying the wedding ceremony.

One of the beaches you can see from the Hana road.

Casey's sister, Aubrey (who was ordained online :) prepared a really great ceremony, both funny and serious at the same time.

Coastline on the east side of Maui.

We spent a little time (on the way to and from Hana) in a fun little town named Piea (or something like that).  Lots of fun shops and restaurants.

Lots of surfers on this beach, even some kids.  We were up quite a ways up on a ledge and could still see a pair of turtles the water was that clear.

The second tallest waterfall we saw on our trip.  The tallest was 400 feet!

And this is me getting beat around in the waves.  I actually did have some success with the bogey board!  Hard to believe it's been two weeks ago already.  Fun times, even if the whole island sells Coke products :(

Happy Halloween

This is as festive as it gets at our house.  Nobody wanted to go trick-or-treating; they only wanted to hand out candy.  Miles did put together this "costume" and went over to the neighbors' house for a few Kit-Kats.  Adam has never been into Halloween--the kids obviously inherited this gene from him.  Don't worry, they still took in their fair share of candy between school parties and the stash at home.  I caught Graham (naked) opening Starbursts and chowing down.  When we busted him and asked what he was doing, he replied very clearly and seriously, "I am going to eat this right now."  It was so cute that we had to let him have it.  Something about Starbursts and these boys!  They've been known to leave piles of wrappers (of candy they snuck) behind chairs and couches at other peoples' houses.

Hawaii, Part 2 (Trees)

We spent the second part of our trip in a little village called Hana.  To get there you take a winding, narrow road with tons of one lane bridges--along with places to pull over and look around/hike.  It took us four hours to drive maybe 40 miles (including our stops).  I was amazed at all of the different varieties of trees.  Of course, you get used to the plush flowering plants, but I wasn't expecting some of these others.... 

Huge (bonsai?) tree we encountered on one of our hikes in Hana.  The kids would have been in tree-climbing heaven.

As expected, there were plenty of palm trees.  This view is from one of the hammocks at the resort in Hana.  FYI--we were informed that more people die each year from falling coconuts than shark bites. 

This was taken on one of my morning runs on the main drag through Hana.  Minus the palm trees, I think it looks more "North Carolina" than "Hawaii."

Bananas growing in huge clusters all over.  I hate fruit, but it fascinates me to see it growing.  Each day the hotel had a new bunch hanging in the lobby.  There was also passionfruit everywhere.  All of the restaurants included passionfruit, guava, and papaya as their fruit side dishes.  Too bad I'm not into fruit, I could have lived off of the land :)

Football Finale

Both boys finished up their flag football seasons tonight.  They each had a fabulous time playing and were lucky to end up with great coaches and teammates they enjoyed--both the new friends and the old faithfuls (for Owen).  Their teams ended up winning all of their games; they thought that was pretty cool.  I was just happy that there weren't any really cold nights--in fact it was still in the 80's when we showed up tonight.  

Acting like weirdos--terrible picture quality, bad iPhone!  Hopefully someone with a better picture will share.

This Titan ended up with a black eye tonight.  COUNTLESS questions regarding WHEN it will turn black, HOW black, HOW big, HOW long?  Go talk to your dad...

Junior Dolphins--I'm pretty sure we'll still be sitting at the football field well into the future.

Hawaii, Part 1

After a late night packing, cleaning, and organizing travel information, we left early Saturday morning for Maui.  We had not flown out of Manhattan before, but will definitely do so whenever we can in the future.  So easy!  And I'm sure we haven't even experienced the best part--a five-minute drive home. The only downside was paying for a heavy bag and somewhere between Manhattan and Maui, our suitcase met its match.  Oh well, an extra pocket.

We figured we may as well go for the fun car instead of the cheap car.  Who knows if we will ever come to Hawaii again.  It's been fun cruising around in the Mustang, but it does feel like I'm sitting on the ground.

We've had some good food since we've been here.  I'm not a seafood fan in the least, so my choices are more limited, but I feel like I went out on a limb and tried a salad with "hearts of palm."  Yes, from the palm tree.

But when it really comes down to it, I'm a simpleton and these Cheez-Its may have been the best $5 I've spent so far.

Our first hotel in Maui was the Four Seasons in Wailea.  It was amazing--the views, the amenities, the service!  We've never stayed in a hotel where it isn't even an option to park your own car, carry your own bag, or get your own ice, etc.  The workout facility was first rate and open air so you could watch the sunrise (yes, we've been up by 6:00 AM everyday, can't shake the habit).

Lots of beautiful scenery, fancy plants, and weird art :)

We left Wailea yesterday and headed to Hana via the scenic "Road to Hana."  Four hours to cover maybe 50 miles.... actually broke out the good camera so more pictures from that later.  In Hana, we met up with everyone to actually celebrate the wedding of Casey and Liz.  It's much more remote, with no TV's, air conditioning, or wi-fi in the rooms.  Now, on to the beach...

Blue & Silver

Miles has been dying to have a colored mohawk (because Jimmy from school has one).  I managed to talk him out of going to Target with me, but promised I'd call him and let him know what color hair spray they had in the Halloween section.  He chose silver and Owen chose blue.  They both wanted to keep it blue for the field trip on Monday, but Mom and Dad decided it was a weekend thing.  We did make a Dick's run with three blue-mohawked kids in mismatched clothes (and two parents who looked just as bad).  Luckily we didn't see anyone we knew.