Weekly Happenings - 11/3 - 11/23 (Yes, I am WAY behind but catching up! :))

What can I say, life happens.  And I am dreadfully behind on the blog.  But here is my attempt at playing catch-up!  Likely things will not be in order and I'm quite sure I will miss something along the way but here goes.

1.  Peyton lost her 2nd front top tooth - she truly will be singing, "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth."  Love it!!  She was so proud of losing her tooth and was super excited the tooth fairy left her $5!

2.  As Peyton's birthday, and Christmas, are quickly approaching, Peyton & Garrison poured over the toy books!  Peyton was way more into it than Garrison but they both had fun circling all the goodies they wanted to put on their wish list.  It is tough work!

3.  It is a tough life, you know, being 6 & 3.  Check-out our seats for Big Hero 6.  Love the little people in recliners!

4.  Grammy, Grandpa & Grandma came up for a visit - they enjoyed lunch out at Culver's and Peyton kept Grammy & Grandpa busy with a several fun craft projects!

5.  Nothing to report with this picture other than noticing how "big" Peyton is getting!

6.  Peyton is a Daisy scout and she LOVES her troop!  It is so fun to see her interact with her friends. They have already earned their first petal and are getting pumped and ready to sell Girl Scout cookies in January!

7.  I had a chance to get away with some of my girlfriends for a day at the spa and night at The Elms. The spa was amazing, especially "The Grotto" where we enjoyed the hot tub, salt scrub bar and lots of relaxing chairs to hang-out for the afternoon!

8.  Grandma Mintun had quite a rough spell during the last couple of weeks.  It started with a trip to the ER on a Friday early in the morning, followed by a hospital stay for a few days and then after a heart attack at the local hospital, a life flight to St. Luke's Heart Institute.  We are very thankful the Dr.s have found a plan to help her manage her pain (as she is not a candidate for bypass to "fix" her many artery blockages).  It has been a rough week and a half but it has been a great reminder of what an amazing support system our family has.  So many extended family members and friends constantly were checking in on everyone and offering to help in any way that was needed.  Chad also took the reins with the kids on two different occasions so I could go spend time with Grandma (and my Mom).

9.  Our nephew Lucas celebrated his 1st birthday and Chad & the kids were able to celebrate with him!  They took baths at Grandma Todd's before heading home - here is Peyton reading to Garrison and her two younger cousins.  Precious!

10.  Peyton had her first recreational meet at her new gym, Turkey Trot.  She did a great job and pushed through even when she fell off the beam.  She got a medal, two 2nd place ribbons and 2 3rd place ribbons.  She was proud of how well she did and had a great time!!  We missed Grammy & Grandpa attending (they were with Grandma Minutn at the hospital) but were thankful Grandma & Grandpa Todd were able to come see her at the meet.

11.  Our big girl turned 6 on the 20th.  Wow, when did that happen?!  Peyton had a great birthday!  I took the day off so I could take her to school, enjoy lunch with her (which also happened to be her Thanksgiving Feast!) and pick her up as a walker.  After school, I also treated her to Starbucks hot chocolate and a cake pop.  It was a special day, one only fitting for such a special girl.  Peyton continues to amaze us with how mature she is and what a pure delight she is to be around.  She is smart, energetic, strong and determined!  I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for this very special girl!!

12.  Friday was Garrison's turn for his school Thanksgiving feast - Save a Turkey, Eat Spaghetti.  He was an awesome dining partner and was proud to show me his Turkey ford he had made for our special dinner!

13.  Peyton also celebrated her birthday with her friends with a gymnastics party!  She had 8 friends join her to celebrate and they had a great time at 6 different gymnastics stations, followed by cupcakes (shaped like Elsa's dress), Elsa blue punch and present opening!  

14.  After her party, Peyton sat down and wrote all of her thank you notes to her friends that same night.  That's a lot of writing for her and I was so proud of how she wanted to say thank you and do so quickly so her friends knew she appreciated them coming and the gifts they gave to her.

15.  Quote to remember - Peyton - "Daddy, I want to go to China."  "Ok, why's that?"  "I'm learning Spanish and I want to practice it more."  We may have a little geography work to do.  :)

Weekly Happenings - 10/27 - 11/2

1.  On Monday, I had the chance to go on Peyton's first field trip with her to the pumpkin patch!  It was a perfect day and we had so much fun!  To start the day, she showed me how she completed her "job" in the classroom right now as the Calendar Helper.  Then she hopped on the bus (I had to follow) and we were on our way!  We learned about how pumpkins grew, took a hayride to the pumpkin patch, picked-out pumpkins, visited some animals and got to play on some fun playgrounds.   The morning went by so quickly but we had a great time!!!

2.  Tuesday & Wednesday this week, we continued to cheer for our Royals!  They won on Tuesday night with a score of 10-0 but had an incredible 2nd inning to go up by 7!  The kids watched part of the game before heading to bed and honestly saw the best of it!  It was so fun!  Plus, the win took them to the 7th game in the World Series.  The 7th game, however, didn't have the outcome we would have hoped but it was an amazing game with a final score of 3-2.

3.  Friday was the big day - Halloween!!  The kids were super pumped to take their costumes to school.  I helped plan Peyton's party at her school and got to go for her costume parade and party.  Daddy joined Garrison for his trick-or-treating from his school.  We had so much fun!!

After the parties, Grammy & Grandpa met us at our house for a yummy dinner of Mummy Hot Dogs to get our energy for trick-or-treating.  Grammy & Grandpa held down the fort handing out candy while we joined our friends for a trip around the neighborhood.  Garrison wasn't quite positive about the whole thing until about 1/2 way through but eventually started running up to the houses just like his big sis!  They made quite a haul,t hat's for sure!  It was a great evening!!!  Our Elsa & Jake were adorable to stay the least!

4.  After trick-or-treating, Grammy & Grandpa loaded the van with the kiddos to enjoy a trip to the grandparents for the rest of the weekend!  While they were away, Daddy & I were able to knock a lot of things off of our to-do list that we haven't had a chance to get to while we've been so busy with work.  From what I hear, the kids had a great time playing lots of games, going to the park, going to church, making jello juggler treats and having an all around good time. They were exhausted when they came home today but sounds like they had a GREAT visit!

Weekly Happenings - 10/20 - 10/26

This is why I shouldn't get behind on the blog.  I am sitting here, a full week behind, realizing I can't remember all that happened during this week but I have a few pictures to trigger my memory!  

1.  The Royals continued their success this week and of course we cheered them on!  This week started the World Series with two games in KC followed by 3 in San Francisco.  At the end of the week, they were behind 3-2.  The final result will have to wait until next week's post!  Peyton & Garrison are loving wearing their Royals gear and even have started wanting to play catch with Daddy with their ball gloves!  It is so exciting to see them supporting the Royals - it has been a fun family event!!

2.  On Friday evening, we went to the kids' daycare for Light the Night.  The evening was full of lots of fun glow in the dark activities, including a hallway full of shadows the kids worked on during the week!  So fun!!

3.  On Saturday, I ripped out our garden - this is what we found when pulling up the carrots!

4.  On Saturday evening, we had our neighborhood Halloween party.  Allison, Lindsay & I planned the event and it was a hit!  We had lots of games (including cake walk), a magician who made fun things with balloons and then the evening was capped off with watching the Royals game at the pool with our neighbors.  It was GREAT!  The kids stayed out way too late but it was worth it - such a fun evening!

5.  On Sunday morning, we took a trip to Deanna Rose, our last for the season!  We had a GREAT time.  We mined for rocks, fed baby goats, watched the cow be milked, fed big goats, took a hayride and played all across the farmstead.  It was so great to have such awesome weather!

3.  Later on Sunday, Grandma & Grandpa Todd came up to visit.  True to form, Peyton quickly got Grandma to play a game with her!  After Garrison woke-up, we took the pinatas from Uncle Landen & Aunt April outside and had fun breaking them open.  It took quite a few swings but the kids thought it was great fun (and loved the result - candy!).

4.  Peyton & Garrison were watching Sheriff Callie's Wild West on TV one day and they had lost their gold nugget (then lied about losing it).  While they were searching for the nugget, Peyton announces, "If I was on this show, I would have already found it - it is under his hat!"  Hilarious!