Thanksgiving in Kansas City

We loaded up the car for the long drive home to Kansas City for Thanksgiving.   I have a picture of William asleep in the back seat tucked in between boxes of Christmas wreaths and computer bags, but I won't do him the disservice of posting it.  I will just say that teenager + hoodie + headphone over hoodie might be one of the funniest looks ever.   Even before a phone and headphones we wouldn't hear a peep out of him....now there is no chance we will hear anything from that kid when we travel!

John's sister, Amy, was gracious enough to host all of the siblings and their spouses and kids on Thanksgiving Day for a meal.   And everyone was gracious to let me pick Joe's Kansas City BBQ as the meal.   Apparently everyone else actually likes traditional Thanksgiving food though, so we ended up having both!   Sorry for all the work Amy!   Our contribution was a giant box of assorted chocolates from Paris.   You know...the traditional Thanksgiving dessert! 

The kids are all growing up!  This year there are three 8th graders, one 9th grader and two adults with jobs!  Time flies!

We also got to celebrate Addie's 10th birthday.  I got to deliver some Disney Magic with Grogu earrings for her newly pierced ears.   We also enjoyed spending time with Willie the Westie, whom we likely won't get to see again.   We don't know Willie as well as his predecessor, Casper, since he has only been around post-our-move, but of course he's family and we were happy to get some snuggles while we were staying there for the long weekend.  

While John and I stayed with Koudeles, William stayed with Jake at Grandpa and Grandma's house.  We picked him up on Friday afternoon for some outdoor time.   We went to the Overland Park Arboretum and found not only a beautiful day, but an entire trail of fairy houses!

Afterwards we drove to a brewery in Belton, MO for some refreshments.   The snack selection wasn't amazing, so the kids and I wanted something else.   Belton is a tiny town and the brewery was on the main drag (I don't recall if it was actually called Main Street).   There was a bakery next door, but it was closed.   We wandered down to the end of the street where we found a sticky diner that had an ice cream counter and ordered shakes and cones.   Another excellent save!

Saturday was John's birthday, so we celebrated with a fun dinner out!  And then Sunday we drove home.  All day.   And then we began the craziness that was known as December!

Christmas Card Photos

Our friend who did our photos last year moved to Florida, so she recommended a colleague for Christmas photos.   We did her Christmas mini session at the Abbey Farms Christmas Tree lot.   It's about 25 minutes from our house but that day we were in the area because William had a math contest at Marmion Academy next door.   (The Abbey is for Marmion Abbey, for the Benedictine monastery onsite.)   I thought that would be really convenient but it was only a little convenient.  I still had to do two round trips, and John was getting in the shower when it was time to pick up William, so he had to drive separately.   But at least I already had one family member in the right spot!      

First off I'll say the photos turned out great.   Second I'll admit that the behind the scenes is always as torturous as "they" say, which I will blogument for posterity.   The pictures were booked weeks (months?) in advance, of course.   And then I ended up having a business trip to New York where I got home late Friday evening and left again for Connecticut on Sunday afternoon.   So the pictures were sandwiched in between, and I wasn't in a great mood.   John was in an equally grouchy mood, and William is a teenager who despite me buying matching outfits however far in advance had not tried any of it on until he was at the school post-math contest.  There we learned that his belt doesn't fit his jeans - only his school khakis.   Then we learned that the shirt was too big relative to the jeans so he really did need to wear a sweater (I didn't like the first sweater I ordered him and had left it at home).  So he and I raced to find a Target or Kohls in the 30 minutes we had between pictures and math contest to get a belt and a sweater.  There were none nearby so we ended up at a Walmart.  The belts were all too big and there were no sweaters.   We found this gray henley and made it work.  That's right.  We bought that shirt 10 minutes before we rolled up for our photos.  And it was long enough that he didn't need to wear a belt.   John showed up in a different sweater than I had set out for him but it was an upgrade to one I didn't know he owned so that turned out well.

I seriously wondered if I should cancel the photos altogether when I saw the calendar.   But when I was comparing this year's to last year's photo and realized how much William had grown in just one year, I'm so thankful we pulled it together!