Redecorating 2016/Peyton's 8th Birthday/Thanksgiving

It's been a very busy couple of weeks!!!!  Our remodeling project is finally completed, and we love it!!!!  New carpet throughout - new tile in Amanda's bathroom downstairs - new vinyl that looks like tile in the bathroom in the upstairs bedroom - granite countertops and new backsplash - what a fresh, clean look!!  It was long overdue and a tremendous amount of work, but I'm glad we did it and equally glad it is done!!!!  Apollo has been visiting for a couple of weeks and was such a good boy!  He barked the first day they were here when the workers arrived, and from then on - they were his best friends!!!!  They talked to him - he checked on them several times a day - it worked great.

Peyton's 8th birthday was November 20.  She had a sleepover birthday party with 8 friends - a spa theme - and they had a great time with a spa treatment, pasta bar and cookie birthday "cake".  Garrison loved it too, putting the chocolate and banana mask on his face and cucumbers on his eyes - the full treatment!!!

Ron and I went to Siegers for Thanksgiving lunch and had a great time.  Amanda/family arrived at our house around 6 p.m. for a light Thanksgiving supper and to celebrate Peyton's Clinton birthday with a "pool" cake and presents.

Friday, Amanda, the kids and I had our annual baking day - #13 for Amanda and me.  Garrison unwrapped around 100 mini Reese's peanut butter cups and also put the cookie dough in the muffin tins and put the peanut butter cup in it after they came out of the oven.  Peyton helped all day but especially liked making the belly button cookies with a roll, pretzel and M&M and the Reindeer Chow with Chex cereal, chocolate, peanut butter and powdered sugar.

We had a delicious ham meal at noon and went to Square 109 (Peyton's request) for dinner before attending the Clinton Downtown Lighting Ceremony and Christmas Parade.  Afterward, the kids sat on Santa's lap in the courthouse and received a little bag of candy.  That afternoon, Ron, Chad and the kids hit a few golf balls on #17 tee box and had a good time.  We played games during the day too.

On Saturday, Peyton and Grandpa went to Donut Palace to get donuts for breakfast before we made a few more Christmas goodies.  We had leftovers for lunch before the Todds went home to decorate their Christmas tree.

A great Thanksgiving weekend/birthday celebration.

November 2016

It's been a busy week!  On Tuesday, I worked as an election judge at the 2016 Presidential Election at the Benson Center - 5 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. - it was crazy!!!!!  People waited in line for up to an hour all day long.  They were in line at 5:30 a.m. for a 6 a.m. start time.  It was an exhausting day.

Friday was Veteran's Day.  Peyton had taken a picture of her great-grandpa Mintun and her great-grandpa Sanders for their huge poster in her school - and they had an assembly about the meaning of the day.   Garrison seems to be obsessed with Grandpa Mintun being in the war.

The remodel of our house has begun - Amanda's bathroom in the basement has been filed, and the tile backsplash in the kitchen has been removed - it will be replaced after the granite countertops are installed.   The first phase of new carpet will begin this coming Wednesday morning at 8 a.m.!!!

On Saturday morning, Ron and I drove to Belton to run some errands and to meet Amanda and the kids at Freddy's for lunch and to pick up the kids for their weekend in Clinton!  Shortly after we returned to Clinton, we went to the Aquatic Center for some splash and laughs.  We came home - Peyton took a shower and Garrison took a bath in the jacuzzi tub with the jets on - and too many bubbles - and thought it was sooooooo funny he had a beard like Santa Claus out of the bubbles.   We fixed spaghetti, green beans, croissants and bananas for dinner - eaten directly off the table (per request from the little people).   Then we all went to the CHS musical - She Loves Me.  The kids really enjoyed it, and even after being offered the opportunity to go home at intermission, wanted to stay to the very end.  They really enjoyed it - it was good.  Amanda and Chad had a date night with dinner at Lidia's and went to the Kauffman Center for the symphony - Indiana Jones style.

On Sunday, we went to church, then we came home to have some fun playing.  Peyton loved helping in the kitchen this weekend.  She wanted to make chocolate balloon  bowls for our ice cream sundaes for lunch, so we did.  They turned out great and tasted good too.  We also had octopuses (hotdogs cut and boiled to make them look like the creature), maaroni and cheese, corn and grapes.  After lunch, it was time for the kids to go home, so we drove to Overland Park.

After we got back from taking them back, we went to Supper Club at the Townsend's.  We had a great time and good food - soup and ham sammies.

The new carpet is supposed to be installed starting Wednesday.  

We had a great weekend with the kids - we are blessed!!!!