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Friday, March 24, 2017

Road trip to Springfield!

In February, we started missing our Cousin Whit REEEEEEALLLLY bad. So we decided to take a road trip! It was a long drive for a less than 24 hour stay, but we were so glad we went! Me, Tommy, Tessa and Nana loaded up on a Saturday morning and took the 4 1/2 hour drive to Springfield. The kids did SUPER great--I think we only stopped once and the complaining was fairly minimal! Once we got to Whitney's house, we rested for an hour or so and then set out to meet a few other family members for dinner.

We went to Lambert's and when we got there, we almost left because the line was so long. But we ended up staying and it really wasn't too bad. Maybe 25 minutes or so. We were able to wait outside and the weather was BEAUTIFUL, so the kids had fun running around and looking at everything. Once we got seated, the food started coming and it didn't stop. At Lambert's, they throw rolls when you want one! Tommy loved it--it was every carb lovers dream, so we were in heaven! They also brought around big bowls of potatoes and pasta and okra. It was a food free-for-all.

The kids got pretty restless, but overall did good. Obviously, Tommy was thrilled to be there....
 I can't get this next picture to turn, but all of our meals were SO huge that they were served in literal frying pans. We got about half way through them and then couldn't take another bite! But everything was SO good! And the company was even better.

After dinner, we went outside to get some fresh air and talk a little more. The kids were being super crazy and not listening at all (so basically, being them normal selves). I was getting really frustrated because they were being naughty and I couldn't really visit very well. And then I look over and see this....

Darn kids--they suck me back in and make me love them even more EVERY TIME I'M MAD! They're just so stinkin cute when they're getting along. At least their desire to drive me crazy brings them closer together. After dinner, we headed back to Whitney's and hung out for awhile and stayed up way too late.

The next day, we had to head back home in the early afternoon. We did get to sleep in a bit, so that was nice! We ate breakfast and got around and then went to find a park for the kids to run around in. They were so happy because we'd spent a lot of time in the car!
 We found the cutest park that had some farm animals in it and a neat farm playground to play on. The kids ran and ran and ran! We ate a quick lunch there and played for about an hour. They loved it!

After that, we headed back home. The kids actually did really good the whole way home. Tommy had his Nintendo, so that kept him distracted and when Tommy's not bothering Tessa, she's a pretty chill kid. So the ride home was peaceful and easy (even though we took a really weird way that my GPS recommended). It was such a quick, fun road trip to see cousin Whit and we had a great time!

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Newsboys Concert

My mom LOVES the Newsboys and their song, "God's Not Dead." Like.....LOVE, loves them. She asked if the kids and I would go to concert with her when they came to Wichita in February. I'm not a huge fan of concerts (or the Newsboys), but I said yes because she was so excited about it. My sister went too, so I figured we'd have a fun night out together even if the concert wasn't that great.

It was on a Thursday and it started at 7pm. I thought it would be a little 2 hour thing and then we'd be on our way. We got there around 6:30pm and it was already SOOOOOO crowded. It took us awhile to find some open seats, but we got some pretty good ones close to the stage, just off to the left quite a bit. But the kids were excited (and so was Nana)!

They were selling these foam, light up sticks for $5 and of COURSE the kids each had to have one. I told them if they wanted it, they had to flag the guy down and give him the money. So they did!

 They were happy as could be with their little glow sticks and their Nana and Aunt Brookie. And also, apparently, my son thinks he's 15 now. He throws up deuces almost every time I try to take a picture.


The first hour and a half of the "concert" was some weird drama thing that they put on. We seriously couldn't understand a single word any of the people were saying and we had NO idea what was going on. I THINK it was supposed to be some kind of game show involving singing or something. Literally not sure what went on. The kids were getting so bored and so were all of us.

And then finally.....FINALLY.........it was over. And the Newsboys came on! Mom was so happy (can you see the light radiating from her face?....Just kidding--it's a spotlight. It was actually kind of hilarious because it shined right on her and only her for a solid 5 minutes).
 Like I said, I wasn't super thrilled about the concert, but it really did end up being pretty good once the Newsboys were out there! They put on a great show and their message was awesome. It did run a little late--I don't think we got out of there until 10:30pm. Obviously, Tessa didn't make it all the way through.
Tommy fell asleep with about 30 minutes left. The last song of the night was "God's Not Dead" and they were both asleep....I was so bummed. They love that song and that was the whole reason they wanted to go, but they were SO. TIRED. We ended up getting them partially awake so they heard a little bit of it, but not much.

Overall, it was a lot of fun! If we could've skipped the first half of it, it would have been perfect. I'd check their first concert as a success!

Friday, March 3, 2017

Basketball

Tommy played basketball this year and we LOVED it! It was so much fun! I wasn't sure how he'd do because that's not a sport Nick is really into, so he hasn't seen it much on TV or played it very much at home. But he really enjoyed it! And at this age, the rules are fairly loose anyways because none of them really know what they're doing.

It was so much fun to watch him. I miiiiiiight have teared up at his first game. He had just lost his first tooth shorthly before that and seeing his little toothless grin in his basketball uniform running onto the court......well, it hit me hard.
That face......Come ON! It KILLS me! All of these milestones are hard, but so fun too. I love watching him grow up and enjoy learning new things and spending time with his friends. 

He only had 3 games the whole season, but it was enough for him to get the feel of it and for us to get a glimpse of the years to come!