Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  At the beginning of November, I got out the construction paper, stencils and scotch tape and created the above wall decoration.  Every week or so, the kids, Eric, and I would write things we were thankful for on feathers and attach them to the body of the turkey.  And it is a good thing, too.  It is freezing here this morning!

Here is the final product which we finished last night:

 I realize that it may be hard to read so here is the list (in no particular order) (as a fun holiday game, guess who said what)

Mommy
Daddy
Family Bike Rides
Video Games
Agnes
Dominic
Coffee and Danish
When the kids play and laugh together
The times Dad surprises us with DONUTS!!!
Lights
William
BaCoN
My family (and by this he meant all of his extended family, but we only had one marker and Molly needed to go to bed, so he didn't have time/patience to list everyone)
Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Spaghetti Night
Snuggle Time
Minnie Mouse Plate
Nana and L'Opa
Grandma and Grandpa
KU Basketball
All God's Blessings in my life
My Polar Express
Grapes
Yummy Yums (M&Ms)
Molly 
All of my friends

(That last one was from Dom, but I'd like to second that.  Most especially my sisters, Katie and Mitzi, and my friends Janelle, Alicia, Ann, and Julie who I can pick up the phone anytime and call.  I'm very grateful to have that especially in the coming six months.  Thank you!)

And then last, but absolutely not the least:

Our family has so much to be thankful for.  We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

William T. Buschelman, photographer

A couple of months ago, Will took over the photographing duties at Dom's soccer game...though very few pictures of the soccer game were actually taken.  The following are a selection:

Facial features were a major subject matter. 

He has a small nose, but manages to make it look huge in this picture!

A couple of weeks ago, I again handing my camera over to him so that I could alternate yelling for our team with yelling at Molly to not run on the field.

I love this picture of Molly. 

He also has around 50 pictures of his shoes.  I would show all of them, but you sort of get the idea with these two. 

Who knows?  But, still neat.

He did manage to get more shots of Dom this time...and told me about each one.

Dom is not in the above shot, but I was again amazed at the quality of the shot.  I believe the phrase is nice composition.

And a couple more shots he took of Dom...and Eric for that matter.

He was very proud of this next shot.  As he told me, he put Molly in a tunnel...with his finger, or it might be his whole hand..  Again, the camera had evidence of many attempts to Molly's placement just right.

And then Eric took over the camera for Will's game.  Will improved quite a bit by the end of the season.  He could focus very well for one quarter, especially if he was back on defense and I called to him to watch for the ball.  By his second quarter of play, he was generally thinking about ninja moves or perhaps his next photograph's composition. 

What else we have been up to:

 Normally after a long trip we would take a few days to get back into the swing of things.  But, as my good friend, Ann, was coming we jumped right back into everything.  First, there was Eric's Oktoberfest...at the beach.  Where he won first place in the homebrew competition.

 Ann came the Thursday after we got home and we were able to get to the beach as well as a beer festival at Baytowne Wharf.  And when I say 'we' I mean she and Eric and Dom and Will.  Molly and I took naps in the car.  It was glorious.

 The kids loved having Ann in the house.  She played with them and listened to their stories and had all of the energy that I fail to muster on a regular occasion.  We were all sad to see her leave and look forward to her next visit!  Though, we are hopefully going to see her sooner than that!

 The next week was quite momentous for our little girl.  For a while now, we have been dealing with some really long hair.  And a little girl who really doesn't like to sit for very long.  You may see the problems.  I've been hesitant to cut it because all of her beautiful curls would probably go away...but, as you can, those beautiful curls are really just tangles waiting to be brushed...

 I love this sequence of pictures.  I was not present during the cut, but Eric did a fine job of documenting the event.  Molly is so happy, so full of joy and wonder.

 And then you strap her in a chair...

 She calms down and reconciles herself to the situation.  Not happy, but probably plotting how she will repay this injustice.

 The hairdresser was pretty complimentary, which may have helped her mood.

 But, look at that critical inspection!  I never look at my haircut like that.  And I pay a lot more and generally have more dramatic cuts.

And it all ends with a little smile.  Though, that could be for the tutu...who really knows what goes on in that pretty head of hers?

We have all enjoyed the shorter hair.  Hairbrushing is not as stressful and even Dad can make her hair look nice on those rushed Sunday morning.  Just one more reason to Praise God!

PS:  Happy Birthday, Jeff!

USA! USA! USA!!!

 Public Service Announcement:  Next summer, the US men's soccer team will be competing in the World Cup in Brazil.  In case you didn't already know!

They actually qualified about two months ago in a 2-0 win over Mexico in Columbus, Ohio.  But, that didn't damper our enthusiasm to watch them play in Kansas City.  Check our Uncle Robert's make-up job!

Eric's brother, Brian, and sister, Megan, came to KC for the event as well.  We had all separately decided to go to the game so it worked out as a nice reunion.

Uncle Stephen was also in attendance.  And he may just be the biggest fan of all.  Check out his hat!

Getting tickets to the game was an event in and of itself.  First, you could only buy 4 tickets.  We had 8 people who wanted to sit together.  Second, we knew that it would sell out pretty quickly, so we had to be on top of it.  Robert and I ended up being the point people on the purchase because we had special codes to buy them early.  Luckily, we were able to finally get seats in the same row.  My blood pressure was only slightly elevated as a result.

The game was a lot of fun to watch.  The two goals scored by the US came pretty late, but that just made it all the more exciting when we won. 

The US ended the group play at the top of their hex (group of six teams).  I was a little nervous that since we'd already qualified, many of the big names would not be playing.  However, except for Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey who had injuries, all of the the star players were there.  It was really exciting for the KC crowd to watch Matt Besler and Graham Zusi compete as they play for Sporting KC.

We spent the next day recuperating from the excitement of Dom's birthday and the World Cup.  We watched Rose and Mary Ann play soccer, played Trivial Pursuit, went to Mass, and ate at Oklahoma Joe's where Dom and I realized that we don't just like any ribs.  We love Kansas City ribs.  Next time, we'll get two racks to split between the kids and me.  And by kids, I mean Dom, Mary Ann, Rose, and Peter.  I think Will just ate bread and fries.  Molly enjoyed her barbecue also.

Our drive back was pretty straightforward.  We stopped in St. Louis and visited with my Oma and Uncle Rocky and Aunt Jane.  My cousin Hannah also was there which was a nice surprise.  Nana and Li'l Opa happened to be there also which gave us a little bonus time with them.  Nashville was our overnight stop and we got home in the middle of the afternoon on Monday.  All and all a great trip.  We recovered within a few days and immediately started to plan for our next one.  Typical.

Just one small anecdote I want to remember so I will tell you.  One of the snacks we bring along with us is peanut M&Ms.  This is mainly for Eric, but Will and Molly will generally request them.  I gave each of them 5 or so and planned on that being all (they do have their own special snacks afterall).  But, I had to give in when Molly started requesting:  "Yum! Yum!s" in that sweet voice of hers.  I sort of prefer that name for them, don't you?

Oh, and you can see some other pictures of the soccer match weekend at my sister-in-law's blog: 

http://megascoob.blogspot.com/2013/11/osu-vs-jamaica.html

Dominic's Birthday

 A little over a month ago, we celebrated Dom's birthday in epic style.  The morning started with a trip to the Donut Shop with Uncle Robert (his Godfather...please play the music in your head).  Ok, that alone would have made the birthday pretty epic...but, wait, there's more!  After breakfast, all of the kids ran around the house on a treasure hunt for the presents.  Thank you Aunt Katie for the clues (are we seeing a trend with the lack of work from the parents?)

 After about 20 minutes, the presents were located and opening commenced.  Will even had a few belated presents to open.  Molly did not.  But, I don't recall her minding at all.

 Dom ooo-ed and ahhh-ed over all of the present save one.  A geopuzzle of the world.  Though, since that morning he has enjoyed working on it. 

 He enjoyed getting books about the US and Jerusalem (however, being the good Catholic boy he is, he questioned why there was no mention of Jesus in it...I, too, wondered this, but it remains a mystery).

 Peter gives his thumbs up of approval.

 The ultimate gifts were a ninja costume and the weapons that completed the look.  It was pretty cool.

 And Will received his very own set.  I could not wait to get home to see how this all worked out...that's why there is a curtain on the Florida room.  What happens in the Florida room stays in the Florida room.

 Some Ninjago underwear was a pretty big hit with both boys.  I am not even kidding.  Even I was a little taken aback by the shouts of delight.

 I told Dom that his chances of getting yet another football helmet and jersey would go up exponentially if he asked for Packers or Chiefs.  Thanks Mitzi for not letting my lesson in statistics fail!

 More weapons...but, seriously, how can you ever have too many weapons?

 Especially when you have cousins who want in on the action:

 Being the on top of it mom that I am, I asked Dom about 36 hours before his birthday what he wanted on his cake.  I should have seen the Ninjago theme coming...but I had not.  Thus, on October 10 at around 5pm, Katie and I strolled the aisles of Costco looking for something to save the day.  We found it in a Lego book.  Eric created the characters later that night and we placed them on a 9X13 pan of Ghirardelli Brownies.  Everyone was super pumped.

 In fact, they were so pumped, the brownies didn't even come close to being the main event.  We spent the next 48 hours keeping track of many little lego pieces.  I know, I know, I am a genius.

Even Molly got in on the action.  She may have enjoyed the brownies more than anyone.

 Between donuts, opening presents, and brownies, we took a trip to Chuckie Cheeses and later got to spend an hour or so with Aunt Megan, Uncle Stephen, and Uncle Brian who had come to town for the World Cup Qualifier (see next post).  I think it is safe to say that this birthday is definitely in the top 5 of Dom's life.  Perhaps it may even be at the top.  Though his 4th was pretty cool, I mean Eric had made our backyard into a football field...tough call.  At the very least, it was pretty special to spend it with so many family members.  Living far away, it is never assumed people will be around on your birthday.  So the fact he got to spend it with four cousins, two grandparents (Nana and Li'l Opa came over later that night), 3 uncles, and two aunts is a pretty unique occurrence.  And it definitely tops spending the day in the car as you move to a new state...which is how he spent his birthday last year.

AND at the end of the day he got to watch USA win its match.  Yeah, that 4th birthday has nothing on this one.  Happy Birthday, Dom!