Allen Fieldhouse - trip #2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My goal is to take my kids to Allen Fieldhouse every season.  It's one of favorite places in the whole world and I have the most incredible memories from Lawrence.  I missed last season because I was selfish and went with girlfriends, sorry kids.  The timing was perfect this year, however we didn't have tickets. I was sure we could just grab them from scalpers before the game...we were playing a no name team and school was still out.  Ha, I was wrong.  No one was selling tickets, everyone was looking for them and it was about 35 degrees below zero and windy.  Thank God for Adam.  Coop and I don't do cold weather so we huddled inside.  He found us 2 tickets just minutes before the game started and wasn't sure what he was going to do.  Luckily, he found a single minutes later.  We sat separate :(, Coop was with me.  Then we never made it back to our seats after half, too much exploring to do and we were killing the opponent (shocker)!  

You can see Coop's first visit here.

 We just walked in.  Waiting on players/coaches to run thru tunnel.  He was totally intimidated by the big players but was 100% ecstatic to see Uncle Bill and get a high five.  Seriously, his face was priceless.  He told me, "I will know it's him because his picture is right there." :)

 Taking it all in.  

We had an intense basketball lesson during that first half.  He's never into the details when watching on TV, but he took a lot in that hour.  We talked a lot about McClemore/Withey, always looking for Uncle Bill, wondering when the cheerleaders were coming back on court, offense/defense, timeouts, free throws.  Man, I was in heaven.

 Our perfect view.

 He was determined to meet Big or Baby Jay.  

 All that's missing is Doodles.  Sorry Doodles, you can't sit still for longer than 2.5 seconds :(.  Next year, I promise!

 A tad stalkerish, didn't want to leave Baby Jay's side.

 My favorite wall in Allen Fieldhouse, obviously not Cooper's.

 I told Adam this is like my Walt Disney World.  Seriously, happiest place on Earth.  The tradition and excellence is absolutely incredible, almost surreal.  Ok-I should stop now:).  

 We spent the 2nd half checking out all the history and basketball simulation activities.

An incredible vertical leap.

 After the game he was anxious to see the players.  He wriggled his way between some big kids and held out his tiny hand for some high fives from the the big guys.  

See him in their?

I asked Adam if we could do this every week? :)  It was paradise and so fun to have Cooper truly enjoy himself and take part!  I am excited because we already have tickets to the TCU game and just in case, our Final Four tickets are purchased too!  

Family Time

Even though we did lots of running around Overland Park to see friends/family, we got to eat most dinners at Grandma and Grandpas with the whole bunch.  Our last night we realized we didn't have any pics of the kids together, here's what we got.

 Silly face!  Laney didn't want to participate.

 This cracks me up.  They were both playing with Coop's toys, caught the cannon in action!

 Ridiculous.

 Gunner was loving (or fish hooking) Doodles, she was too busy texting.

so, so typical.

My Grandma's birthday is in December and Houston's on the Plaza is one of her favorite places to eat (me too :)).  All of the girls in the family met for lunch one day.  We were minus 3 due to work, out of town and sick.  Can you believe out of my grandparent's 4 daughters/1 son, there are only 4 granddaughters??!!  There are 9 grandsons.  It was a peaceful lunch without all those boys around :).  Speaking of those boys, the majority of them all met at Union Station for the train exhibit.  

Christmas in Kansas

After a week in Wash, MO, we repacked and drove the 3 1/2 hours to Kansas.  About 20 minutes into the drive we realized we had left blanket, aka Cooper's best friend, at Jones'.  Uh oh.  Cooper realized it about 45 minutes into the drive.  Let's just say it was a long car ride, lots of whining and a real quick nap. However he was totally fine without it for a few days until Aaron and Cami brought it back.  Adam thought maybe those few days would break him of his blanket attachment, ha!  Isn't that funny?!

I didn't get many pictures from our Kansas visit, probably because I was running around like a crazy lady!  Seriously, we were meeting friends for breakfast, lunch, playdates...you name it! Actually, I am so mad I didn't take more pics to document all the fun we had.  

 Grandpa played horse for a while :).

 Then he and Coop went a couple rounds in the ring.

Here is his opening a gift he was so excited and surprised about.  Uncle Bryson and Aunt Tara got him a skateboard/scooter.  Remember all he wanted for Christmas was a skateboard!  He tore it up down Grandma and Grandpa's hallway.  

 The kids were spoiled again with fun gifts.  I didn't get many pics opening gifts but this one pretty much explains it.  Laney was attacking Gunner for each gift he opened.  Here he is trying to stake his claim :).

 Hanging with Uncle Bryson, she was pretty proud of her new pink glittery Toms!  On a side note, why don't I have any of that dark winter complexion??!

 Oh boy!  Don't worry there is a video to accompany this, will upload soon.  The kid officially thinks he is Luke Bryan.  And he basically makes out with the microphone :).

Figuring out his new camera from the Visceks.  Later that night we had quite the family photo session directed by the Coopster.  Wish I had video of that!


so, this is totally unrelated and inappropriate, but i just have to share and it must be documented.  one of coop's funnier comments.  after shower tonight he leaned over to put on his pants.  he tooted.  i said, "did you just toot?"  he replied with a smile, "no, i was just stretching my butt."  what??!!  
totally inappropriate i know, but you were warned :)

The real Christmas Day

On Christmas morning we all slept in and then headed over to McCormacks for another meal!  Aunt Tanya had made a delicious Christmas breakfast.  Cooper was pretty excited to check out what Santa had brought Kellen. And happy and always sweet Kellen willingly shared it all with him.

The Kansas Jones' arrived that afternoon to complete the family Christmas.  We had dinner, exchanged Christmas gifts and even had a special guest visitor straight from the North Pole!

Waiting patiently (or not) to get the present opening started! 

Whoa!  Look who stopped by before heading back to the North Pole!  Cooper's reaction was priceless. He was crazy excited, I mean crazy!  

Told ya.

Laney was not so excited.

Told ya.

Cheesy smile at its cheesiest.

Mamaw, Papaw and their Grandkid gang!  Aren't they the cutest, they are the sweetest too.  It's 4 boys and 5 girls until late April when Baby Jones arrives!

Oh blue eyes, I adore this.

She was a tad overwhelmed and just wanted to play with her gifts, not put them to the side to open another!

Cooper was so happy and excited the whole night.

Aunt Tanya and Coop hamming it up.

Laney checking out (trying to take) the iPad with Cash.

Mamaw and Papaw got the 3 baby girls these rockers.  Love how they are each personalized!  This was the best pic I got, hard audience to capture.

Cooper and Cash in a Justin Bieber dance-off in their striped PJs.

Hello Trouble.  Enough said.

Laney and Riley do not approve of the gate blocking the stairs.

 The bearded gang.

Do you love Laney's shirt?  Yeah, me too!  My crazy talented sister made it.  Let's all harass her to open an Etsy shop, ok?

We had so much fun during our week in Wash, MO!

Smile Fridays - week 28

After a couple week hiatus, Smile Fridays are back.  I am sure you are just dying to hear what I have to smile about this week :).  This week is about good people and doing good.

Our mailman is Carl and he is the best.  If we are outside playing, he always take time to say to the kids.  Since he knows I have small kids who nap, he never rings the doorbell with a package.  Instead, just leaves it knowing I will be coming out to get the mail at somepoint.  He is always on time and smiling, don't you just love someone that loves (or at least pretends to) their job?  It's refreshing.  I had our mail held over Christmas break.  He brought it to the door yesterday and let me know he picked up our newspapers and hid them behind the bushes by the front door.  He said that's a key sign to robbers to know no one is at the house.  How kind!  I had completely forgot about stopping newspaper delivery.  Yay for good mailmen and women!

I am certain this was our best Christmas gift this year.   Who doesn't need more prayers?  And I love how Adam's Grandma signs her cards :).

It's a New Year!  That should make me smile, right?  Well, Adam and I were talking a couple nights ago how daunting the thought of a whole new year, 12 blank months, 365 days seems.  Separately we had both been thinking about it and we both were focused on the negatives, all the what-ifs.  What if...something happens to one of the kids, Adam would lose his job, one of our parents/siblings/grandparents/etc would become sick, we weren't  able to add on to our family???  Ugh, ugh, ugh.  Well, those items are out of our control so it's up to us to make the best of each day and bring more good to the world.  So, there it is.  My new year's resolution...do more good.  I feel so lucky to live this life and I need to be paying it forward.  I am not exactly sure what that looks like yet, but I will be working on it.  Now I am accountable, it's written here for all 10 of you to see :).  I hope 2013 is the best one yet!

The real Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we went to church in the afternoon.  The church Adam grew up in is so pretty and the mass we attend has the children's choir singing, perfection.  I really love the story of Christmas mass but it sure is hard to enjoy or even listen really when your 16 month old is testing out her vocal chords and won't sit still for longer than 2 seconds.  And Cooper wasn't exactly an angel.  For the first time I apologized to the lovely family in the row behind us, hoping we didn't ruin their Christmas mass.  They were the nicest people and the wife promised me I would miss masses with screaming babies.

After mass we had an incredible Italian meal at the McCormacks.  You might think my kids would be confused with another Christmas Eve...nope, both clueless.

 Uncle John read Twas the Night Before Christmas.

 Wow, these 2 were uncooperative until we put that snow globe in front of them.

Mesmerized.

I know Aunt Tanya took some more of her kids and mine by the tree...when I get those from her, I will update.  No pressure Tanya :).

Leg one of Midwest Christmas tour

We made the 10 hour drive up to Wash, MO for our Christmas stay on December 19.  As traveling with Cooper gets easier it gets harder with Laney.  He is content on the ipad, pretend play, movies.  She wants out. Period.  She really isn't content unless she is eating or asleep.  And she says Mommy and Daddy every 2.5 seconds.  But we made it safely without any glitches and that's all that really matters.

We were so happy to make it and see everyone!  Lots of cousin fun!

 Mamaw made us the 'real deal, old school' popcorn a couple times and it was awesome.  Thumbs up from the boys.  Yeah, in case you were wondering, Cooper still sucks his thumb.

 God gave me Cooper as my first born for a reason.  He is such a lover to babies.  Hadley was laying on our bed while I got ready.  He crawled right up next to her, just chatting and loving.

 Kellen slept over with us one night.  Adam built the boys a bed in the tent, they were stoked.  Seriously, these 2 were basically inseparable.  Cash didn't join us until the day before we left :(.

 We helped Mamaw and Papaw babysit Hadley overnight and loved every minute of it.  This baby girl is so sweet!

 Coop loves to help in the kitchen especially when it involves dessert!  So he was right on board to help Mamaw make an Oreo ice cream dessert.

 He was cracking us up...couldn't keep his fingers out of Oreos or ice cream and it was like 9am!

Aww, sweet Brynn!  She is that perfect 9 month age to sit up and play yet not destroying everything in sight yet.

Laney really doesn't have much interest in Brynn or Hadley quite yet.  But I did get this moment.  I asked her to give Hadley love...awww, so sweet.

Checking Hadley out.  

Mamaw and Papaw with 4 out of 5 of the granddaughters (missing Ava-Grace).  

More Christmas posts to come!