November Extras

A Belated Birthday Shoot--World Series Style

So this is a tad late. We had a shoot scheduled for Kaden to get his 6th birthday pictures done with our dearest Katy but sadly she had some family issues come up and we were going to have to reschedule--rightfully so, as she was exactly where she needed to be. & you would think since I have been known to pick up my camera from time to time that I would have went out and captured him myself--but life got busy and I just didn't have any really great "theme" ideas. Then the Royals won the World Series and Kaden was along for the entire ride, so we made it a Royals shoot. & we waited until November, a few months past his 6th birthday. Capturing your own children is so much harder than capturing someone else's and although these aren't Katy Gitto quality, I think I was able to capture his personality pretty well. 

Family Fun Outings

Let's face it, with a 6, 5, 4, and 3 year old coupled with multiple days in a row of rainy and gloomy weather, we had to find a few things to keep the kids entertained and to burn off some of that extra energy.

We went to the park for a little while one day after we were done with family pictures.

We did a little bowling.

and made some funny faces at each other while they devoured 4 pretzels. 

And although they loved to bowl, they really loved playing in the arcade while we waited for our lane and after we were done. It wasn't the best arcade and over half of the games didn't really work but they still managed to have fun.

The boys loved the air hockey table so much that they asked for one for Christmas---then again, they ask for about everything new they see.

After bowling we parted ways for a few hours. Justin, the boys and I headed home while the Garretts had dinner with a friend. While they were out we had a quick bite to eat at the house and then we rented the latest Avengers movie and chilled on the couch with the boys. We got through most of the movie before they were back home but as soon as they were, off to playing the kids went and the movie would have to be finished another day.

Saturday was truly are only "planned" day. We actually put some thought into what we were going to do and when we were going to do it & didn't just wing it like every other day---although those days were pretty good too.

We decided to start the day out with lunch at BRGR and met Justin's grandma and aunts there. Lunch was delicious but the kids were eager to get to Lego Land. My boys hadn't been there yet and the Garret's had just went a few days prior and were getting the boys super excited for the "Save the Princess" ride. But first we had to learn out Legos are made...it was an intense lesson.

And then it was time to explore. We "Saved the Princess" twice and because I like to keep it real, both boys beat Justin and I on high score. Kaden the first round and Logan the second round---although they were sitting in the same seat, using the same gun so maybe it wasn't registering correctly. 

We rode some other wizard ride where we had to peddle our little hearts out so that our car would go up and down----this was no easy task & it made me a little dizzy. Justin wouldn't ride it so I rode it twice and then called it good. 

The kiddos got in the wind tunnel & for the most part loved every second of it but towards the very end it was getting a little too loud for them. I liked watching GG's hair go everywhere! 

We checked out a 4D movie and toured the room that had all the iconic Kansas City landmarks made out of Legos. This was easily my favorite part of the whole day---so neat to see all the different parts of the city and read about how they were constructed and how many Legos it took. I actually think we found our family in their rendition of The K. ;0)

As we were leaving the boys made mention of the skating rink at Crown Center and we said that's an adventure for another day--should make for an interesting one.

& then we topped off our afternoon of fun with some ice cream from Glace. It never disappoints and the kids love being able to try multiple flavors before selecting exactly what they want. In the end, it doesn't matter what you get because we always end up eating from each other's cups because its all SOOOOO good.

This week with the Garretts was going by too quickly and no one wanted to talk about what the following day was going to bring so we didn't. We pushed it out of our minds for another 18 hours. 

It's UP.

Growing up my parents never decorated for Christmas before the Thanksgiving holiday was over and it's something that I have continued as I have started decorating our home for the holidays too. Now don't get me wrong, Thanksgiving ended at midnight on Thursday and I had boxes and the tree out and was ready to get started before 8 am rolled around on Friday.

This year, I had a couple extra helpers, cute helpers too. 

& before I got started decorating I had to figure out where the tree was going. We have the perfect place for the tree and it has occupied that spot for 3 years now but this year, we had BIGGER plans, we just didn't know if they would unfold the way we had, really I, had hoped. 

My Aunt Kelly has this massively tall tree & she was wanting to get rid of it last year and I said I would take it. Fast forward 11 months and we hadn't made the exchange and I wasn't sure if it was still available so I picked up the phone, did a little calling around to my mom who just happened to be with my uncle and a few minutes later the tree was mine. Now we just had to figure out when I could get it. Thankfully I have an amazing mom who loves to see her grandchildren and was just itching for an excuse to get up here--so she brought the tree up the following Sunday after our guests had left. 

So back to our ornament tree & where it was going. Justin and I had talked about putting the tree in the basement but since we don't go down there all that much we figured, I figured, why not the living room. He carried the chair away & I got to work. 

Someone actually made the comment that they were surprised I do fake trees, that surely, I would totally buy into the adventure of finding, cutting and hauling home a new one & you know, they're right. It is totally something I would love to do but we have to dogs & they like to eat wood, I'm afraid we would come home and find the tree on the floor and two little dogs looking up at us with their big sorry eyes. Secondly, all I know is fake trees. I believe I had a real tree once, in college and that's only because Abby always got real trees. 

It didn't take much and the tree started coming together and Logan and Gisele were anxiously waiting to grab a few ornaments and find the most perfect place on the tree for them. Mind you, the perfect place ended up being about a 10 inch radius for EVERY ornament. 

This tree has now become known as our "ornament" tree. It is filled with all my childhood ornaments, Justin's childhood ornaments and now the boys are adding an ornament to it each year. Last year it was Spiderman and the Batmobile, this year Kansas City World Series Ornaments. Honestly, I was about to order them Super Mario ones when JG said, "I take it you are doing World Series ornaments this year, right?" To which I replied, "of course!" and started searching Etsy for a Cain and a Maustakas ornament that also had World Series Champions on it. We found these and they fit the bill perfectly. Just the right size for the boys and it just so happens that Kaden is 6 this year and his favorite player is Cain whose number is 6 too. He thought that was pretty awesome. 

Logan truly was my little helper this year. He loved every minute of decorating the Christmas tree and putting his ornaments up. He even helped with his brother's ornaments since he was off playing the Wii with Gisele. Decorating the tree is one of my favorite holiday pastimes and it keeps getting better each year as the boys get older. They ask more questions about Christmas and the real meaning behind it and they want to know EVERYTHING about each of the ornaments we got when we were little. 

And if I could, I would keep our tree up all year long. I love the constant glow that it puts off. Just magical.

Now to get those presents wrapped and under the tree. Oh and we had another visitor that showed up that morning. Flishlegs Hiccup was back for the holiday season and was ready to help the boys spread kindness to others---first up was some homemade cookies for our neighbors.