Thanksgiving and Waking up to Snow

We had a great Thanksgiving in KCMO! We had several invitations for Thanksgiving meals and even though we couldn't say yes to all of them we felt so loved! We ended up spending the majority of the day with a family that has two little kids and a lot of French influence... its kinda a long story and I don't want to post their life story on my blog... anyway we had a traditional Thanksgiving meal with a little French twist at the end including good wine and super yummy cheeses. After we all stuffed ourselves, we went on a nice walk to gear up for pie and coffee.

Well, first the boys had a little nap... and then we had pie and coffee.

Here is Grace playing with their youngest... she liked having a baby around. After the man of the house made us all lattes we all sat down and played a sweet game named Jungle Speed... seriously my new favorite game and all you Oregonians watch out because we are getting this game and playing it with you over the holidays.

Food time: As most of you know I've given up eating meat, so this Thanksgiving I was determined to make good food. Even though I didn't make a full meal, I practiced making some old and new recipes so one day I can have a full vegetarian Thanksgiving meal. 

This is the salad I brought over for Thanksgiving. I've made it many times because its beautiful and amazing!

The day after Thanksgiving we hung out with some other friends all day. For dinner we had some leftovers from the day before and my newest creation... roasted acorn squash with wild rice stuffing! I also made sweet potato pecan bread and pumpkin pie with ginger whipped cream... ahh so good!

Here's the kids taking it easy, and yes Grace is dressed up like Batman.

That was our Thanksgiving... and the only thing that could make this holiday weekend better... SNOW! It snowed a little yesterday but didn't stick. However, when we woke up this morning the ground was covered! Here is our cute little house bathing in the first snow of the season!

It looks good in white! I'm sure we will run out and play in it later so more pictures will come!

My 25th Birthday

I had a pretty low-key birthday. It was my first one away from all my family which was a little sad, but Rob's parents were out here and were able to celebrate with me. For my big 25th birthday, I wanted one thing: time to hang out with my favorite person in the whole world... My husband! After church the two of us took off without kids (thanks to his parents) and had a great day. I realized later that we didn't take ANY pictures, so to describe my day, I stole some pictures from google...

We had an amazing lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. The funny thing is that neither of us had been there, and we were laughing because we moved to MO to eat something Californian... anyway they had some great veggie pizzas and salads! I also had a Pina-Colada because... well it was my birthday and I felt like it :)

We spent the afternoon and evening shopping at the Plaza... it is a really cool area of downtown that proves that I don't live in Kansas!

While shopping, I got sweet Uggs! They look just like this and they are super warm... because I do live in Kansas City...

After our shopping, we went to reVerse for dinner and drinks. This place was very cool and would have felt like Portland, except they were playing a football game on a big screen. I'm not sure I get the whole, watch TV while you are in a classy restaurant... but I'm new to this whole Midwestern thing. In any case, I had an amazing time relaxing with Rob!

While we were out, the kids (with the help of Grammy and Papa) made me a cake. Last night we lit the candles, and the kids sang to me... and that moment was perfect. It really is the simple things in life that are the best!

Sunday Morning

Our church has three services, one on Saturday night and two on Sunday. The kids and I have been going on Saturday nights (Rob leads worship at all three), which leaves Sunday mornings a time to relax and have fun. 

This is how we spent this Sunday morning:

I played with my new makeup... its Everyday Minerals makeup, totally natural ingredients and really affordable... seriously look it up because I love it! (I'll explain Grace's look in a minute)

Justice did a puzzle in the sunshine... in a diaper... yes he still wears diapers, he's only 2!

Grace dressed up as a "Police Officer" Yeah... I'm not sure I get it but I'll walk you through it. This Police Officer is sporting a sleeveless sweater dress with fashionable lavender snow mittens, a baby boy's fisherman's hat, and a furry scarf tied around her waist. What? You have never seen a Police Officer look like this?? huh weird, thats what they look like in KCMO...

Oh and these are all her police poses...

Well that was my morning... now I need another cup of coffee...

What a Day!

Before I even begin, let me something my mom used to tell me: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

     I am so moved by what our country did last night. Our country, young and old, looked beyond race, name, age, and chose an amazingly qualified, inspiring man to be the 44th President of the United States. I cried through his speech last night, and this morning I watched a clip of an old speech by Martin Luther King Jr., a speech we all know, and I cried and cried. This is an amazing day. I know that the next four years aren't going to be perfect, but I also know that this country will not ever be the same! It doesn't matter who you voted for, this was a huge accomplishment for our country. A country that from the beginning thought you had to be a white man to count for anything. I hope we can continue to come together as a nation and encourage our soon-to-be President. He isn't perfect and this will be a tough four years, but the weight of the county is not on his shoulders, it is on all of ours. And YES, WE CAN!

Four Blogs in One

I'm not very good at keeping this updated... so here is 4 blogs in 1!

 (1) Today was a beautiful Fall day, sunny, a little windy, and seriously 70 degrees! I took the kids to the park with some of our new friends. 

This is the little girl that after one day Grace said, "she is my best fwiend"

The park is beautiful! Seriously, there is nothing like a Missouri Autumn!

 (2) NHCC (our church) had a Halloween party the weekend before Halloween, and it was so fun. There were games, trick-or-treating, costume parades, and even a little train ride.

They liked the s'mores

We are too cool to dress up... can't you tell...

Grace was SO excited to see Snow White! She was beyond star struck. She slowly walked up to her and gave her a hug, it was so stinkin cute!

More food...

Here was the little train. The kids loved it, but being an over-protective mom I kinda freaked out when they went out of sight... and there were no seat belts... but like I said the kids had fun!

This was actually Halloween at a friends house. They had a party and we all took the kids trick-or-treating.

I was pretty excited to go also... it was my first time! Yeah, I'm such a rebel Dad!

 (3) A few weeks ago, Rob and I came home from something and put the kids to bed. I was sitting on the couch on the computer and I heard something drop down from the ceiling. I looked over by the TV and saw this:

Seriously, it was huge! At first, from a distance, I thought it was a frog! But when I got closer I realized it was some sort of grass hopper... er green... something... I don't even know! 

 (4) We have really settled in to our home. This last weekend we got a new couch for our living room, it is awesome and super comfy (our other couch is cute, but not so comfy). Also I feel pretty good about the kids rooms. The walls are still pretty bare but they look cute. 

Here is Grace's room... well some of it, her room is really big!

Wow, well if you read all of this you must really love us... or you were just bored... or both. Thanks anyway!