The Monday before Christmas, Grandma Mintun and Grammy went to Overland Park to spend the day with Peyton and Garrison at their house. We had a blast playing, having lunch at McDonald's, baking Jesus' birthday cake, making a rice krispy wreath, making some craft projects, cooking in the Easy Bake Oven and having some good old-fashioned fun.
Christmas Eve, the day started with a phone call from Amanda that she was on her way to Urgent Care due to a case of the pink eye! Holy Moly! She and I were supposed to play a piano/organ duet at church late in the day, however, that had to be cancelled. She obtained some medication and was able to come to Clinton for our family Christmas - she was a real trouper, as she wasn't feeling very good but the party must go on - right? Shortly after they arrived, we opened Christmas presents, and then Joe and his girlfriend, Nicole, joined us for the rest of the day.
We all enjoyed baked turkey sandwiches, ham and beans, meatballs, cocktail weenies and many other snack-type foods throughout the day. Nicole was so sweet to Peyton and played games with her all day - Olaf Trouble, Go-Fish, etc. The kids warmed up to her and Joe very quickly, and we all had a fun day of visiting.
Everyone went home around 5 p.m., and Ron and I went to church where I played the organ for the 7 p.m. service. We went to the Siegers after church for our gift exchange and for Italian Cream Cake and custard.
On Christmas Day, Mark and Tom joined us for the day. I fixed a fried chicken lunch which we all enjoyed. It was nice to have them here, and Grandma really loved having them. We had a nice visit before they went back to St. Louis.
On Sunday, I played the gathering music at church, and then we went to Overland Park to pick up the kids for a Clinton visit through Wednesday. Grandma didn't want to go with us, so Kelly came over to visit with her for a couple of hours while we were gone.
We had a blast while the kids were here. Peyton was into cinnamon/sugar toast cut into shapes with cookie cutters. We must have fixed at least 8 pieces of toast over the 3 days - then Garrison wanted to get in on the act too - too cute. On Monday, Grandpa and Peyton went to Walmart and to the bank to run some errands. Then, we went to the Aquatic Center and enjoyed the kiddie area. Both kids loved going down the big tornado blue slide this time - Garrison even did it by himself! They liked the little duckie slide too, but it was kind of lame after the big blue one! They enjoyed the lazy river and Garrison liked stepping on the spurts of water coming out of the floor. Monday night we watched the Charlie Brown New Years special on TV. Tuesday we went to Warrensburg to eat at Burger King but most importantly to play in their play area - for 2 hours! They loved it. They liked seeing where we went to college, cows, hay, etc. on the trip. Grandma went too.
On Wednesday, when I took Grandma to her cardiac rehab, Grandpa took the kids to the Donut Palace for breakfast - and they had a great time! We made loop pot holders, and Peyton did her entire one by herself - she was so proud. We made homemade play dough out of corn starch and hair conditioner. They loved mixing it up themselves and making "muffins" in my muffin tins and putting them in the oven to pretend bake them. They would go and check on them, getting them out of the oven with pot holders and putting them back because they weren't done. So cute. They helped me make octopus hotdogs and macaroni and cheese for lunch on Wednesday before we started back home. We played Olaf Trouble. We had a great visit - just too short.
On Wednesday after lunch, we loaded up the van and took them home. After visiting for a bit at their house, we all went to Stroud's for an early New Year's Eve late lunch/dinner - even Grandma! Delicious food and a fun time.
We are blessed - a wonderful Christmas holiday for 2014. We missed seeing Mary, however, we talked to her on the phone a few times during the season.
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