Christmas

Christmas week was a gloriously hectic time this year, so it's taken us quite a while to get this blogged.  Both my sisters came to town, so we were blessed with 16 more people than usual.

Laurie and Rafe arrived from South Carolina late on Sunday, a week before Christmas.  We had the pleasure of hosting them for the week.  Noah was excited to see his cousin Amelia again, and we were all happy to see Olivia, and how much she's grown.  There are some definite benefits to having a chef in the family, and the following day I came home from work to Laurie making gourmet pizzas being made in the kitchen, and Rafe making the best salsa I think we've ever had as an appetizer.

Our intent was for Noah and Amelia to sleep in the attic again, freeing up some room for Rafe and Laurie in Noah's room, but Amelia decided not to this year.  He was really disappointed.  Elliot slept with him that first night, so it was a big adventure for both of them, but after that, he didn't want to sleep up there alone, and neither of us wanted to sleep up there with him.  So, we put Noah in our bed, and because I was sick and having coughing fits in the night, I slept on the couch downstairs.  The Stuckeys, God bless 'em, all had to sleep in Noah's room, wherever there was room.  I don't think many of us got good sleep that week.

The rest of the week went fast.  Mandy finished her Christmas shopping the following day, as Laurie and Rafe visited with family in Kearney.   The following day, Mandy took Amelia and Noah to gymnastics, where they got one-on-one attention from the coaches due to it being very slow from the holidays.  On Thursday, Mandy and Laurie took the kids to Monkey Business to play, then she and her friend Stacey hosted a Christmas party that night for the boys in Noah and Murray's class.  On Friday, they all went to Science City with the Johnsons and Todd and Dylan.

Noah with his school buddies after cookie decorating party

Christmas Eve finally arrived, and we were hosting.  We thought we had everything ready, but somehow it required three more trips to the grocery store before the fun even got started.  My mom came over to make steak soup, while we got the appetizers ready.  Before Mass, we stopped in at Crown Center to play in Crayola Land again and some of the kids saw Santa one last time, and then went to Mass at Redemptorist Catholic Church in midtown.  It's a beautiful church, but I spent most of mass trying to keep Elliot from disrupting the service.

Afterwards, we all headed back to our house for food and presents.  There were several great gifts, but one of the highlights was when Zeke got a nerf gun, and promptly opened fire on the Marine and some of the other kids.  It quickly turned into a full-scale battle, with Rafe creating a weapon from a toy stethoscope and rubber bands.

Christmas Day saw some fabulous weather - sunny and in the high 50's.  We opened toys and stockings with the kids, who had gotten up at the butt-crack of dawn as expected.  Once Noah and Elliot saw the Pez dispensers in their stockings, all other gift opening stopped until they were gone.  We went to brunch at Karen and Dorans, and given the weather, all the boys had a great time playing in the woods and around the creek.  Even Elliot was enjoying himself, until he fell in the creek.  We got them cleaned up, loaded them up in the van, and they were asleep before we got on the highway.  They needed the sleep desperately, so rather than risk waking them up by trying to put them to bed, Mandy and I sat in the van in the garage while the boys slept.

That night, Laurie and Rafe joined us as we went to Anita and Rick's for dinner and more presents, and lots more chaos.  Noah and Elliot didn't want the day to end, and we couldn't blame them with all those presents.  Elliot got lots and lots of trucks and cars, Noah got lots of Legos and Hot Wheels, a pogo ball and Zoobs to put together.

Even with the busy week before, there was no down day on the day after Christmas.  We ended up with a house full of kids again as the older Thomas/Johnson families played laser tag.  We took the younger kids to Monkey Business to play while they did that.  In what has to be a record, Laurie lost her keys for the first and only time during the trip at MB.  Even better, it was Mandy who was responsible, grabbing them and putting them in her purse at some point (both drive Honda Odessey's so the keys look the same).

On the following day, most everyone went to Shatto Dairy for a tour, but our kids stayed home.  We did meet up at Lisa's in-laws that night for another food fest.

Laurie and Rafe left for the drive back to South Carolina on the 28th, and Mandy and I got to get out without kids for a while.  We took advantage of the gift certificates that Elliot won at the Prostate Cancer Walk earlier in the year, and went to Capital Grille.

It was only a mini-break, as the next day was Steve and Lisa's anniversary.  I went back to work, and Mandy watched Finn, Greta and Luci along with our two.  Steve and Lisa took full advantage of the day, and came back around 11:00 to wake up the kids and take them home.

We took way to many pictures to post.  As always, we had a great time seeing lots of family, and had a great Christmas in 2011.

Texas Vacation

This past week we took our first family vacation in almost a year, going to see my family in Texas. When we made the plans, we didn't realize it would be close to a family reunion, but it turned into a graduation/baptism/Eagle Scout ceremony/birthday celebration with all of my immediate family making the trip.

Traveling with young kids is always a dicey prospect, so we planned on not trying to push it and instead making the 8-hour trip over two days. There was a time when we resorted to things like leaving for home at 9:00 at night to drive from Colorado to Kansas City, hoping to keep the boy asleep. But it turns out Noah has greatly improved, and Elliot is just better about traveling in generaly at this young age.

We stopped in Joplin for lunch and a brief playtime at a park, where the slides were too hot to go down and Noah fell in the water trying to jump a creek. Next we stopped in Muskogee at the world's smelliest McDonalds, and decided that was our last visit to McD's, ever. We stopped for the night in McAlester, OK, where trying to get two wound up kids asleep in a small hotel room at the same time actually proved to be doable. Eventually. It helped that we had a pool to play in beforehand. Noah became expert at perfecting the 60-second roadside potty break, especially after getting into a large quantity of Gatorade, and having to stop about 5 times in 10 minutes.

The next morning, we swam some more, then took off for Texas. We checked into our hotel about 11:00, and immediately went swimming. The heat and humidity made Missouri feel like fall. Later that day, we went over to Lisa's house for dinner, and the boys' first bath since Sunday. We usually bathe them nightly, but this week was out of whack from the get go, and several visits to the pool helped mask their funk. I'm sure we left an oil ring on the tub at the Johnson household.

That night, Noah slept as long as he ever has, not waking up until 10:00 - over 12 1/2 hours, and I was left to entertain Elliot, who woke up at his usual crack of dawn, for several hours. Elliot may be a picky eater, but he's not a dainty one, and we spend a good deal of time at the IHOP next door tearing up a ham and cheese omelet, some pancakes and some fruit. We eventually made it back over to the Johnson's for more playtime - mostly the park and soccer in the hot Texas heat, but also a nice dip in their subdivision pool/spray park.

The next day, the rest of the family converged and all 15 cousins got together. The house was noisy, loud and fun. That night, Mandy went to see Katie graduate 85th out of over 600 students in her high school while I entertained Noah and Elliot in the hotel pool. Afterwards, we had dinner at a great Italian restaurant (Siciliano's).

The next day, we met again at Lisa's house for Amelia's 4th birthday party, and a picture with all 15 kids. As you might expect, none of them were perfect, but it was as good as we could get. Shortly after the party, we headed back to KC, stopping in Joplin for the night. The boys were excellent travelers, with Elliot sleeping a great deal of the time and Noah playing well and watching his movies. We made one stop on the side of the road for Noah to pee (E never even got out of his carseat) and one stop at a gas station when Noah suddenly and urgently, and right after we arrived in the middle of nowhere, announced "I HAVE TO POOP! NOW!" It wouldn't have been our top pick, but it had to do. Noah got a lot of laughs from men in the other stalls as his sweet 3 year old voice loudly proclaimed things like "Wow, Daddy! I had a BIG poop!" "Get rid of those flies, Daddy!" Elliot got out of his carseat and stretched in the car, but that was our only real stop until we got to Joplin 5 hours later.

In Joplin we checked into a hotel suite, and checked out again about 10 minutes later after we saw the room and the noisy guests running the hallways on our floor. We've made the mistake of not trusting our gut instinct before, and we were in no mood to do it again. We found a better hotel, with a better pool a few minutes later. After a nice meal, and a nice swim, some laundry and a late night run for some Motrin, we went to bed.



The next morning, we headed home. It was a great time seeing all of our family, and we had a great trip. At night, we always ask Noah what his favorite part of the day was and he tells us. When we got home the next day, we asked him what his favorite part of the trip was, and he said "Aunt Lisa". This was the first trip that he did not get homesick on, and all the way back kept telling us he wanted to "go back to Texas."



Greta helping Elliot climb

Easy E, getting red-faced in the heat just like his brother
Noah hanging on the monkey bars. Struggling a little bit apparently.

Playing with little Olivia.

Noah adding leaves to his collection.

Happy "little" Finn.

Noah showing off his leaves to Greta and Lulu

Ludini getting her escape vehicle ready.

First bath in three days.

Bedtime snack at the hotel - PB&J.

Greta

Elliot determined to ride Greta's scooter. At least we've taught him to wear a helmet.
Having a rest in front of "Facedown Lake", as the Johnsons refer to the pond right next to the kids play area.
Thirsty boy.

All the little ones ready for bed.
Amelia wisely wearing a helmet in the Johnson household.
Olivia checking out the action.
Elliot having breakfast at the hotel.
Trying, yet again, to take his shoes off.
Elliot got quite adept at climbing up the playset, and coming down the slide.
Not coming down gracefully, but he got to the bottom.
Lulu fishing for marbles.
Dylan swinging in the heat.
Noah helping Finn. Or fighting him off, one of the two.
Playing Monkey Toes!
Family photo. There never was a perfect one, but this one had the most smiles. Back: Dylan, Asa, Bella; Middle: Amelia, Greta, Katie (holding Olivia), Braden (holding Elliot), Zeke (holding Finn) and Eli (holding Lulu), Vivi; Bottom: Noah
Vivi ambushing Grandpa
Grandpa has quick reflexes for an old guy.
Dylan getting in on the fun.
Todd getting doused.
Amelia chasing bubbles.
Lulu, looking like Lulu.
Todd, chilling in the shade.
Noah helping Elliot drink his juice box.

Christmas Eve with the Thomas Fam

We had a great time with our family on Christmas Eve. We had all of us who live here in Kansas City, but the Johnson & Stuckey family were unable to travel and join us. The Johnson's just had baby #10, Finn at the end of October and were staying hunkered down at home. The Stuckey's recently brought home our neice, Oliva from a lengthy NICU stay after being born more than 2 months premature. They were definately missed, but we still had a lot of fun.

One of the funniest parts of the evening was at dinner when we were all debating Joann on direction. She was turned around and was insisting that "this way" (West) was North and that "this way" (North) was east. We were all telling her she was wrong and she was having none of it. She was saying she goes "this way" when she leaves and if that was West she would end up in Kansas, not Kearney. I was telling her that in fact State Line (Kansas) is in about 3 blocks that way. She would NOT believe me. Or anyone at the table. I was laughing so hard. Just because we are so much alike. If one of us KNOWS we are right, we will not give up the argument! Although, Joann was outnumbered she was INSISTING that Wornall was "that way" (north). I was telling her after dinner we were walking to the end of the block and I would prove to her that Wornall was "right down there" (east). Finally she says, "Well, this is Pennsylvania right?" pointing out the window to 67th Street. Then when we all told her it wasn't, she's like "Ohhhhhhhh. I was turned around." hahaha! It probably doesn't sound funny to those of you who weren't here, but we all were getting a kick out of it, and this story will make us laugh again when we read about it later :) I love you, Joann, even if your barings were a bit off just this once ;)

Noah & Dylan had fun playing with flashlights in the dark and listening to flying saucers outside of Noah's windows. And of course, Uncle Todd had to read books and be silly with the boys. I'm not sure who was more excited when the blizzard started. The kids, or us. I think it was us adult kids! None of us were born before 1962, the last time we had this much snow on Christmas, so we were stoked!