Fort Riley to Leavenworth
We left Gpa and Gma B's house early in the morning for Fort Riley. Along the way we got a hold of Josh's cousin Lindsey and met up with her for lunch on her break from work. I'm a big fan of Five Guys... one of the few burger places that don't make me sick.
She's all super important managing a high-end jewelry store, has her own little business cards... fancy. Josh snuck over there and bought me some awesome real earrings for my big 31st birthday :) Love them!!! They go perfectly with my birthday present from V last year (the necklace)!
After lunch we were back on the road to Jessica's. We got there at five, kids impatiently waiting in the driveway for us. HUGS HUGS HUGS!!! HOORAY!!! :D They all wished me a happy birthday and I was immediately presented with a tiara, a freakin' hilarious card with pirate booty's, and an awesome (because it speaks the truth) present which shall be hung in my house soon.
We had brought Jess some coffee beans from Cannon and we brewed up a batch right away... coffee is important, you know, especially delicious coffee. While we were drinking coffee and letting the kids run around we found this ginormous tomato worm. Nary a tomato plant in sight. The boys especially loved it. Will really wanted to "hold" him in his tiny baby fingers. We knew better.
My birthday dinner was tacos muy deliciosos and another ice cream cake. How did everyone know I loved ice cream cakes? No idea... I'm so lucky.
The kids passed out in random places around the house while the grown-ups had a couple drinks and caught up on news. We finally went to bed at 2:30... and woke up early the next morning (kids will do that). All that morning everything was almost eerily quiet and happy. No one was fighting, everyone was playing together. They kept asking when we were going to leave for the park and we kept kinda putting it off, knowing these times are very rare and should be fully taken advantage of when possible. Then as we were about to walk out the door poor Lillian's fingers got smashed. Lots of blood and lots of crying. We felt so bad for her... right on her fingernails. She eventually did calm down and take a nap, nothing was broken. Josh and I ran out to the grocery store while she was recovering so we could cook dinner for everyone later: Zuppe Toscana for us, Spaghetti for the kiddles, and some fruit and cheese for a snack before the park. Lillian was better, tummies were full, we were finally off to the park.
We wanted to treat them to some serve yourself, million different toppings, frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf first. They almost all fell asleep on the way there, which was not a long drive. Brennan was a butt head almost the whole time (as per usual after a nap). Things were spilled, kids were being crazy. Oh man that yogurt was amazing though, totally worth it. The park was really cool and everyone was having a wonderful time. We even let them go get wet at the splash park next door, despite our lack of preparedness. One by one they started getting hurt. Once we hit 5 out of 8 injured kids, we left.
As soon as we got back we started on dinner. Ashley and Emily were lined up to help out as our little sous chefs. I am an old pro at making spaghetti quickly (homemade sauce included)so the kids were eating within 30 minutes. I think the mini chefs enjoyed it even more, having had a hand in the cooking process. Josh was busy making the Zuppe Toscana for the grown-ups. Our sous chefs were back, asking a million questions about our restauranteering plans for the future, begging to be waitresses for us lol. Somehow Josh got Hannah, the pickiest of picky eaters, to try some raw spinach and she was eating it like potato chips :O wha wha whaaaaa?? Ash and Emily tried the soup, spinach and all, and really liked it. They did a great job helping and I love that they tried everything!!
This time we put the kids into actual beds and had them "go to sleep". We put in a movie for us... I was the only one who made it all the way through it. I guess some people are too old to stay awake late two nights in a row ::coughjessuacough:: haha... nice name mash-up, me. Thank you.
After coffee and a few last cuddles the following morning we left for Leavenworth to see Gpa and Gma N. Only an hour away! :)
My birthday dinner was tacos muy deliciosos and another ice cream cake. How did everyone know I loved ice cream cakes? No idea... I'm so lucky.
The kids passed out in random places around the house while the grown-ups had a couple drinks and caught up on news. We finally went to bed at 2:30... and woke up early the next morning (kids will do that). All that morning everything was almost eerily quiet and happy. No one was fighting, everyone was playing together. They kept asking when we were going to leave for the park and we kept kinda putting it off, knowing these times are very rare and should be fully taken advantage of when possible. Then as we were about to walk out the door poor Lillian's fingers got smashed. Lots of blood and lots of crying. We felt so bad for her... right on her fingernails. She eventually did calm down and take a nap, nothing was broken. Josh and I ran out to the grocery store while she was recovering so we could cook dinner for everyone later: Zuppe Toscana for us, Spaghetti for the kiddles, and some fruit and cheese for a snack before the park. Lillian was better, tummies were full, we were finally off to the park.
We wanted to treat them to some serve yourself, million different toppings, frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf first. They almost all fell asleep on the way there, which was not a long drive. Brennan was a butt head almost the whole time (as per usual after a nap). Things were spilled, kids were being crazy. Oh man that yogurt was amazing though, totally worth it. The park was really cool and everyone was having a wonderful time. We even let them go get wet at the splash park next door, despite our lack of preparedness. One by one they started getting hurt. Once we hit 5 out of 8 injured kids, we left.
As soon as we got back we started on dinner. Ashley and Emily were lined up to help out as our little sous chefs. I am an old pro at making spaghetti quickly (homemade sauce included)so the kids were eating within 30 minutes. I think the mini chefs enjoyed it even more, having had a hand in the cooking process. Josh was busy making the Zuppe Toscana for the grown-ups. Our sous chefs were back, asking a million questions about our restauranteering plans for the future, begging to be waitresses for us lol. Somehow Josh got Hannah, the pickiest of picky eaters, to try some raw spinach and she was eating it like potato chips :O wha wha whaaaaa?? Ash and Emily tried the soup, spinach and all, and really liked it. They did a great job helping and I love that they tried everything!!
This time we put the kids into actual beds and had them "go to sleep". We put in a movie for us... I was the only one who made it all the way through it. I guess some people are too old to stay awake late two nights in a row ::coughjessuacough:: haha... nice name mash-up, me. Thank you.
After coffee and a few last cuddles the following morning we left for Leavenworth to see Gpa and Gma N. Only an hour away! :)
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