Thanksgiving Road Trip!!!!

 Remember how a couple of months ago I wrote that I needed to get some posts done so I wasn't working on Christmas in February?  Well, December has a way of sidetracking all activities aside from family and Christmas.  So, today, newly motivated, I will attempt to at least get up a post about our Thanksgiving trip that occurred over a month ago.  The pictures will be pretty out of order due to the majority of them being on a computer that is acting pretty tempermental...But, here we go!

 A couple of years ago, Eric and I decided that Thanksgiving would be our one sure trip back to family.  We alternate between spending it with my family in Kansas/Missouri and Eric's family in Oklahoma.  This has worked out quite well the last three years.  This year was the Buschelman side, but I convinced Eric to drive a few hours more so that we could visit my family (pictures at the bottom) 'on the way'.  Those with a passing knowledge of US geography will note that Missouri and Kansas are not exactly on the way to Oklahoma from Florida, but we make it work.  This also allowed us to drive from the north into Oklahoma and therefore pass by The Pioneer Woman's new store in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.  As luck would have it, Ree Drummond was there signing autographs and Molly got to meet her favorite celebrity.

The number one reason we elected to travel up through Missouri and Kansas was to visit Oma in St. Louis.  She turned 94 years young this past August and our opportunities to visit are pretty rare.  Since we would kind of be in the area (I use a fairly large radius when calculating 'being in the area'), it was just such an opportunity to visit her.  Molly drew her a nice picture of the two of them and had a nice conversation with her.  It was fun to see them interact.

The rest of us enjoyed spending time with her as well.  Despite John's antics at the end.  In all fairness, he had been in a car for several hours and it was pretty well past his naptime.  We also got to spend about an hour visiting with my aunt and uncle (Jane and Rocky), which is always a pleasure.

We traveled a few more hours on to Lee's Summit and stayed with Katie and Robert for the nights.  We spent a laid back 24 hours just hanging out with them (which included completing a 1000 piece puzzle depicting several book covers), a visit to Costco, some cribbage, and, of course, the cousins playing a foosball tournament.  Evidently, there are no pictures of this visit...which also means we did not take pictures of their new kitchen and bathrooms which were pretty amazing.  Think HGTV renovations.

From there, we headed west and ended up in Lawrence for a quick visit with Nana and L'Opa.  The kids quickly staked out their beds (John and Molly shared a bed down where Tux sleeps).  And Eric and I enjoyed catching up with the goings on in Lawrence from my parents.  We have a pretty solid routine when we are in Lawrence.  It includes: Dunkin Donuts, drives around campus, and visits to the KU sports gear store.  This time, we also went to see the original rules of basketball.  I am sure there is a picture somewhere of this, but I can't locate it...so instead you get a picture of all of us watching a short propaganda film on how KU basketball is the best in the country.  We are utterly convinced!  We didn't even need the film.

Another highlight on this particular trip to Lawrence was John's introduction to their cuckoo clock.  It cuckoo-ed twice an hour.  This was preceded by the chime clock that chimed 4 times every hour.  So we had plenty of warning and John would anxiously wait to watch the birdie appear.  A good time was had by all.  We even made sure our friend who stopped into visit go to watch the show.  I'm sure he was not disappointed!

From Lawrence we headed due south to surprise Molly with a visit to The Pioneer Woman's store.  While Molly and I stood in line, the boys took photos around the small downtown. It was a pretty day, but the wind was definitely sweeping down the plain.

It was another couple of hours, but we finally made it to OKC and met Grandma, Grandpa, Zachary, Megan, and Stephen at a downtown beer garden.  Which really hit the spot after 4 days on the road and knowing we would be in one spot for a few nights anyway.

Grandma came prepared with activites for the kids which included a huge piece of paper to color on, trains, and a book about the making of Hamilton.  Which Dom and Will immediately sat down to read.

When they weren't playing or reading or drawing, they played with large Jenga pieces.  Good times!

Our Thanksgiving with the Buschelmans turned into a pretty large family affair.  Eric's aunt and uncle (Mary Alice and Dave) also alternate Thanksgivings between sides of the family and this was the year for them to be in Oklahoma.  Not wanting to be left out, another uncle and aunt (Sean and Kendra and their dog, Thor) asked to join in...and then hearing that we were coming, yet another uncle and aunt (Tom and Janelle) called to see if there would be room at the harvest table for them and their 6 children (Hannah, Maggie, Luke, Dani, Mary, and Nolan).  Of course there was!

John and Molly wish they could have a dog.  But, I find that time spent with others' canines generally satisfies this deep desire.  Luckily, Thor was pretty obliging.  And he was too large for them to hide in their bags.

On the first night, Will requested to get out Axis and Allies and he and Dom and Eric and Stephen played on and off for the duration of our stay.  Will was by far the most adamant about playing, and eventually attempted to just play by himself when he could not convince others to join him.

I love this dress of Molly's (Thanks Thred-Up!).  She tried to wear it a few times prior to Thanksgiving, but I insisted she wait until the holiday itself.  So worth it :).

Grandpa's Ribs are a special treat every time we go to Oklahoma.  I asked if Molly could help in the preparation and he obliged.  She was in heaven.  She is a really good helper.  I was not such a great helper as it involved plastic wrap and that has been my kitchen nemesis for years.  But, we all survived and ribs were cooked to perfection!

Grandpa also grilled the turkey on Thanksgiving.  Not having a birdie to watch twice an hour, John settled for checking on the birdie in the grill every so often.  It was also cooked to perfection.  As was every part of the meal.  I have not enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal this much in at least a year.

On Friday, the football game commenced and Molly took part.  I was so proud!  Dom was in heaven playing a real live football game.  With people twice as big as him.  We played a three on three game up in Missouri which was pretty fun, but 6 on 6 was twice as fun.

I don't think much football was played on Thursday, but naturally we did go for a run.

If you will remember, Rick and Liz ran a half-marathon in London.  Therefore, it was kind of a no brainer to do the Thanksgiving 5K.  Dominic joined Liz and Eric to run that distance, while I elected to run the 1 mile waddle with Will.  Which was the perfect distance for us!  And Dom rocked his first 5K.  Eric challenged him to finish it under 30 minutes, and I think he came in around 28 minutes.  Only walking to get a drink of water.

 Liz made the wise decision with a houseful of people to throw out all ideas of a super fancy meal, and we all had an absolutely wonderful and comfortable time just spending time together.  Around the table, around the chiminea, around the tv, around the battleship tournament, or in the backyard playing football.

 John wore Grandpa's Nebraska hat to blend in with his Nebraska family.  Meanwhile, Dom and Will picked fights with all of them over the dominant sports team.  I'm pretty sure the Nebraska crowd was joking...Dom and Will were dead serious.  Especially Dom.

 A small subsection of the first cousins and the first cousins once removed.  Zachary is sitting next to Molly (on the glasses side of the table).  He did very well despite having his domain invaded by a bunch of people he didn't really know.  A tricky experience for any 2-year-old.

I know this is a hodge podge anyway, so I just wanted to relate another story that took place on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and before all of the relatives arrived.  Eric and I took our 4 up to the neighborhood park.  There is a basketball court for Dom who quickly joined a couple other kids to play a pick-up game and it is a nice walk to tire out a two-year-old. The park is next to a dry creek bed that goes under the street and back into the neighborhood.  Over the tunnel someone has written "NARNIA".  William invited Molly to go to Narnia with him.  I assumed they would just walk through the tunnel and return.  When several minutes passed and they had not, I went to look for him.  I couldn't see them.  I told Eric I was going to go in search of our two lost sheep and headed into the unknown.  Long story short (too late), I picked the correct direction at the fork and soon heard the particular timber of Will's voice.  When I finally came up on them, they were headed back anyway.  When I asked where they had gone, Will matter of factly said: We told you we were going to Narnia...

I told him I hadn't expected him to go so far and that I was just worried about them.  We all hugged and they told me about their adventure as we headed back.  A little while later, 5 of us headed back to Grandpa's house after insuring Grandma could pick up Dom on her way home.  Will and Molly quickly outpaced us as Eric and I walked at John's pace.  I wasn't too concerned because Will has an excellent sense of direction and I assumed he knew where he was going.  However, my pride in his sense of responsibility only grew when my cell phone rang and I answered it expecting to hear from Grandpa that they had made it back.  Nope, it was Will who explained he thought I might be worried and that he wanted to let me know that he and Molly had made it home safe and sound.  Grandpa was in the backyard unaware that two grandkids had returned and Will just made the decision on his own to calm my motherly nerves.

It was a really wonderful trip and many great memories were made.  We returned home in the early afternoon on Sunday.  We calculated it was somewhere around 40 hours in the car, 5 different sleeping places, and loads of fun.  We are already looking forward to our next road trip.

The month of November (pre-Thanksgiving)

It has been a busy fall, and I keep waiting for things to slow down so I can really organize our office.  Turns out, when you have 4 kids, life never really slows down.  And we don't really do that much.  But, here are some of the things we did do in November:

 One Friday afternoon, Eric was home a little early from work.  Normally, he and I would talk and have pre-dinner snacks (that more often than not just morph into dinner.  Popcorn, anyone?).  However this particular afternoon, Will asked for a game of chess.  No self-respecting father would ever turn down his son with a request such as that.  That one game turned into an evening of games.  I know Eric lost the first one.  I'm not sure how the rest turned out.  But, it is always fun to watch Will problem solve.  Molly played a game, too, I think.  John just messed with the pieces...typical.

 John is continuing to grow his vocabulary and ability to hold a conversation.  Eric travels quite a bit for work and is always amazed at what John is saying when he comes back.  The rest of us aren't so easily impressed, but we still think he is pretty cute and we are awful glad he is a part of our family.

 Eric took part in the Movember event held to raise awareness of prostate cancer.  I know some may disagree, but I actually like him with the moustache.  Maybe because he looks like a film star form the golden age of Hollywood.  Despite it being a week into December, he has not shaved it, yet.  It may become pretty permanent.  We'll see!

 One of our regular Sunday activities is to play a hand or two of cribbage in the afternoon.  Generally with pre-dinner snacks (that more often than not just become dinner: Party Supper!).  We don't keep track of who wins or loses...because I am generally the one who wins.  Most games are relatively close, including the picture below.  It looked like Eric would actually win this one.  I had to get a pretty amazing hand and he had to get next to nothing for me to pull it out.  He made it all the way down to the last hole before victory...and I got the hand with all of the 5s,4s, and 3s.  That story will only make sense to 2 of you.  And even fewer will appreciate it, but this is my blog, so why not?

 Can we get back to the kids, now?

 Molly is my little kitchen helper.  And she is actually very helpful.  We have an understanding that I let her help, but she has to do exactly as I say.  Sometimes one of us fails to follow through and tears ensue.   More often this is me breaking the understanding.  For example, I will, on occasion, wake up earlier than usual and make pumpkin bread.  Without waking Molly to help.  The truth is, I am not avoiding Molly, but John, who also thinks he should be allowed to help, but does not have the same understanding of doing exactly as I say as Molly does.  Also, he isn't the best at taking turns with pouring in flour and sugar.  And he eats way more chocolate chips than he actually puts in the cookie batter. #2yearolds

 We hosted Oktoberfest in November because that was when we had time to host it (see first paragraph about it being a busy fall).  Knowing there were apples to peel in my future, I purchased a new thingamajig (technical name) that peels and slices the apples in a nice spiral.  Molly was in heaven.

 It did not take Will long to observe the fun and want to join in.

 We had a nice turn out for our 2nd Florida Oktoberfest.  A funny thing happened, two people let me know how much they had looked forward to eating the hot potato salad and the sauerkraut.  I remember hearing people compliment my mom's food all of the time (something, being a picky eater, I never fully appreciated).  It was surreal to have similar comments directed at me.  That said, I have come to really love the potato salad and sauerkraut I avoided in my youth.

Also in November, as it turned a bit colder (I think it got down in the 40s a couple of nights...brrrr!) Therefore, we had hot chocolate a couple of those mornings to help thaw out my Florida children. And with hot chocolate comes: MARSHMALLOWS!!! Which means, John is on a steady diet of marshmallows (or 'mallows' as he initially called them).  He is of a scavenging civilization.

Let's see....also in November I took the plunge and subscribed to the Tinker Crate.  They offered a free first month and I can cancel anytime.  It is pricey, but I am very impressed that all parts are included and the instructions are clear enough that Dom and Will made our second one completely on their own.  I did help with this initial one.  One, because I didn't know how hard it would be, and two, because it is pretty awesome.

I mean, we made a constellation! In our backyard!!  We also made light jump using the magic of water's ability to bend light.  That was also cool.  #science

After creating perhaps 7 other planetary systems in our backyard, the boys moved on to a slightly easier task.  Climbing a tree.

And climbing down.  That is really the hard part, by the way.  Will actually mastered this a while ago, but Dom just recently attempted and succeeded on getting all the way up.  Will was the first boy to both climb into the tree and get down, but since many other boys have witnessed his feat, he has been joined up there by 7 other boys and 1 neighborhood girl, who is really the best of all of them.  Now, Will is discovering new ways of getting down.  Dom initially jumped, which was pretty scary for both of us, but this past weekend, he did learn to use the rope.

I cannot let the November post go by without a picture of election night.  We printed out the electoral map for the kids to color in as states were projected.  Though many were shocked at the end of the night with the Trump victory, Dom called it at a little after 7 when the initial electoral votes were 24 - 3 in Trump's favor.  It was only then that I realized I should have given them a bit of a primer on how the electoral votes worked.  Because there were about a million questions asked throughout the remainder of the evening.  I, alone, made it to the end.  But, I dvr'd the last couple hours so that the boys could see the exciting conclusion and not miss a single projection as it came in!  I think Will spent most of the next day not wanting to have the end spoiled.

And, here we are back with John and Dad.  I really like this picture.  And selfies continue to be an excellent way to keep John entertained when Mom is otherwise busy!

Next up: Thanksgiving  or ROAD TRIP!!!!  (I haven't decided what the title will be, or if I will split it into two posts)

But, Wait! There's More!

After hitting post yesterday, I remembered that due to technical difficulty in October and most of November, I had never uploaded pictures from my phone.  I was perusing the few on my phone and knew you would all be so much happier knowing of these other events in October.  Mea Culpa for the delay!!

 Molly and John have become quite the duo around the house.  Sometimes, this leads to more screams of irritation than I would like, but for the most part, they have a pretty good time and keep each other entertained.  One such morning in mid-October, Molly was teaching John how to trick-or-treat...and how to pose.  He was a willing pupil.

 The last Friday of October, Eric took the day off and we participated in the Homeschooler reduced price for WonderWorks tickets.  Everyone had a really fun time.

 The two favorite exhibits were the bubble center and the dance movie thing (totally the technical term), but there are loads of exhibits and the place cleared out after lunch (those poor saps whose kids still take naps).  Therefore, Dom and Will were the sole users of the virtual rollercoaster.  What was great about this ride is that they have a video feed so that we could watch their faces.  It was hilarious.  Anyway, there is another reduced admission in February and we will be sure to go then, too.

 That Saturday, Eric was in charge of getting costumes ready for the annual Saints Day Parade at church.  Dom requested St. George after our time in England, but Eric went with St. Martin of Tours.  Which, Dom was fine with because he still got to carry a sword.  Molly went as St. Agnes so she got to hold her snuggly, Agnes, and Will went as St. Lawrence and got to tell his classic line to anyone who would listen.

After the parade on October 30th, we headed to the beach.  It was most likely our last visit for a few months.  And it was a beautiful day with hardly anyone there.

 We could have spent all day there, but did not bring enough drinks and pringles.  So, eventually we packed up and headed home

 But, not before we made a stop at the park in order to dry off a bit.  A note about swings.  I rarely push my kids on the swing.  Also, we rarely visit parks with swings.  As a result, Dom only recently has gotten the hang of pumping.  Looks like my hard line on pushing really paid off.

 Later in the afternoon, we broke out the animal costumes and along with the Roman soldier costume, we did a little historic re-enactments. John and Molly are total method actors.

Ok, now that is the end of the October photos.  Next (For real this time): November!