Catching up...quick like {second installment}

Whirlwind Trips!  First, the three youngest kids and I hopped on a plane and flew to Las Vegas a few weeks before Thanksgiving.  I was pretty nerrrrvvvvous to fly solo with three little ones, but my worry was for naught.  The kids were rock stars.  In fact, the fella sitting in front of us during the flight was surprised when we landed and he saw three kids on the row behind him.  Kelly is my little mama. I love her so. On the flight she handed Ev a crayon and then said in a syrupy sweet mom voice, "Ev, you need to say thank you to me." He {very sweetly} did. Then she responds with a super chipper, "You're SO VERY welcome!" Made me chuckle. Oh, and her eyelashes. One of the flight attendants couldn't get over them. She kept commenting and then brought another flight attendant to come and look. Kelly kind of looked down and casually brought her hand up over her eyes. 

The reason we were going early to Vegas was so that I could run in the Vegas RAGNAR, baby!  I had whined and waffled about doing the darn thing {my relationship with running is complicated these days}, BUT it was the best Ragnar experience so far.  I had awesome times on my runs, I felt like I was going to die before my final run but rebounded, got ZERO sleep from start on Friday to finish on Saturday, and I LoVeD the ladies in my van.  Really, really loved them.  I knew just one of them beforehand, but I consider them all dear friends now.  It was a great experience and I'm very grateful to my parents for watching my kiddos so that I could do it.  My sister, Adrianne, was going to be on the team but had knee problems and so she had to drop out.  It was a major bummer.  But last minute we called her to come and be part of the final run and to drive our team and then she was there at the finish line.  I wish she didn't have jacked knees because I would love to run a whole Ragnar with my sista.  We still got the finish line picture. :)

The next night I'd planned to have the girl cousins over for a sleepover with my Kelly girl.  Since we are so far from family, we don't get to do stuff like that.  We sent them a little evite and then my parents were rock stars and threw a bunch of stuff together for us to do {good thing because that whole Ragnar/no sleep thing had thrown off my plans}.  I love the picture of Kelly and Ev watching out the window for their cousins to get there...they were soooo excited.  The girls {and Everett} drew pictures, decorated doll chairs with stickers, got their toenails and fingernails painted {with a decorative flower by Grammy}, nails dried compliments of Papa Dan and the blow dryer, frosted and ate donuts Grammy made {see? I didn't do much}, watched a movie and ate popcorn, read a few stories, and finally crashed.

 The next morning, all of the girls wanted their hair straightened {SO glad I only have one girl's hair to do every day} and then we were off to the mall to get Kelly's ears pierced!  This was no small decision.  Kelly had been lobbying for months.  I never had a set age in my mind, but I was 9 when I got my ears pierced so I kind of wanted her to wait, but I knew she was responsible and that it was something she really, really wanted, so I was okay with it.  Tyler was a tougher sale.  Kelly wore him down over several conversations and they finally had a chat where he gave his permission, not long before our trip.  I thought it would be fun for Kelly to go with her cousins in Vegas {who already their ears pierced.}  Kelly was really excited, but walking into the mall she got a little quiet and told me she was kind of scared.  I'd told her it was going to hurt quite a bit and maybe that was sinking in...I told her she didn't have to do it at all, but she was so determined.  It did hurt.  A lot.  She cried and seemed kind of ticked for a little while afterward.  Once the memory of the pain wore off {within minutes} she was so happy with her new ear bling.  She LOVES wearing earrings and now that she is able to change them, she wears a different pair every day to match her outfit.

Love the picture of Ev doing push-ups.
Me (couldn't see what he was doing): "Ev, hop back up to the table and finish eating, please."
Ev (kind of breathless): "Hold on, Mom. I have to do my push-ups first."

I went to dinner with my seesters and ate my first pazookie...it did NOT disappoint.  Neither did the fun I had with Adri and Beth.  Too bad Ev had a meltdown for my dad while I was gone. :(

We had TONS of park time with cousins while we were there.  It was super nice to be outside so much in the middle of November!  We got a surprise in the middle of the week - my brother, Nate, and his little family live in Michigan.  His father-in-law passed away at the beginning of the week and they made the very long drive to Vegas for the funeral.  It was incredibly sad and my heart still aches for Jenn {my sister-in-law}.  The one bright spot is that we were able to see them!  Their kids are awesome and they were dang cute with Tucker.  Sam, their youngest, is just a month younger than Everett and that boy is a HOOT.  I loved our time with them as well and am grateful for the time they made to spend with all of us during a difficult time for their family. 

 

My dad had a birthday while we were there!  He wore glasses with no lenses into the store by himself that day...because he's funny and confident and weird.  I love him.  He and I made a carrot cake from scratch together.  It wasn't pretty but it sure was good!  It was fun to celebrate with him.

Finally {a week and a half after we left Washington}, Tyler and Max were on their way {driving} to Vegas!!!  I was SO excited and expected him later that evening...BUT my man of mystery {he loves being referred to as that} surprised me and pulled up early afternoon!  He and Max had slept for about four hours at a rest stop and then got back on the road.  That night we met up with my sisters and their families and hit up Wreck it Ralph at the drive-in.

 We hot tubbed, just my little fam with my parents hanging out in chairs.

And, finally, EVERYONE got together for a Thanksgiving/Christmas party!  It was really fun.  I love watching my kids play with their cousins and Grammy and Papa...they love them so much!  It's always hard to leave.

But leave we must...good thing we had more FUN ahead!  We were on the road to Denver for Thanksgiving!

First up was a Turkey Trot that my sister-in-law, Liz, organized.  It was an awesome race.  Max decided the day before that he was going to run.  3.2 miles is kind of a big deal for little legs.  He started out really strong and then....disaster struck.  He went down hard at the beginning if the race and banged up his knee...I thought we were going to have to turn around because I couldn't get him to snap out of it. I told him funny stories, tried to get him to talk about something fun, told him to buck up...nothing was working. I finally said that I would pay him a quarter for every person he passed. Brother took off running! He earned $4. :)  I put him on my back and ran with him a few times to give him a rest, but other than that he steadily ran.  I got teary-eyed at the finish - he kicked it in for a speedy finish and there was a lot of cheering for my 6-year-old {could have had something to do with the large amounts of family we had there}. Sweet, sweet memory with my little man.

The hubs 35th birthday was the day after Thanksgiving.  I hadn't done much for it since we'd been travelling, but promised a big celebration the next week when we were home {and I did not disappoint}.  Kelly and Maggie {Ty's mom} picked out trick candles for his cake and Kelly was SO excited.  We told her not to say anything to Ty, so she walked in the door after the store and said to Ty, "I am NOT going to tell you about the candles."  Ha!  Her secret-keeping skillz need some work.

Another sad goodbye, a two day road trip, and we were back in the Evergreen State!  My kids are great travelers and actually really like long car rides.  I love the picture of Max - here's the story behind it:  "Mom, can you come back here and snuggle with me?" I was about to say I couldn't because of all the toys and no seatbelt (we detach it so it doesn't bug Max), but he continued, "I cleaned off the seat and got the seatbelt ready." I turned around to see him like this. I jumped back and we had a good snuggle. He can be a pill sometimes, but Maxwell T is a very sweet boy. I'm lucky to be his mam.  Later, he invited me back and he upped the ante with a pillow and blanket..."I've made it even nicer this time!"  Ahhh, I love being a mom.