Turkey Fry (Sort Of)

So Turkey Fry has been in November the past two years, but this year Steve wanted to move it to December.  Then we ended up all being sick with the plague (not really, but it was pretty bad) the weekend it was supposed to be at our house.  So we moved it to MLK weekend in January.  The McGuires were already planning to visit us and then Walter decided to take flight from Denver.  The Baileys and Vroomans came over Saturday night and it was time for turkey!

Two preggos

Despite Walter's vast turkey frying experience, the turkey came out....a little over done.  Except for the middle.  That was raw.

So we made a quick trip to Price Chopper for some rotisserie chicken and the troops were happy.

After dinner Wendy giving some structural engineering lessons to the little ones.

Then it was time for bed.  

After the kids went to bed the guys played way too many games of Monopoly while the girls talked and watched a movie.  The only bad thing about the night was Hannah was sick at her stomach from 2:00-4:30am.  Luckily she was better the next day and I was able to take a very long nap to make up for my 3 hours of sleep that night.

Other than the Turkey Fry Chicken Meal, we also took the McGuires and Walter to see the trains at Union Station and at Fritz's. Check out their blog for more pictures. The boys love trains as much as Hannah, or maybe a little less since they were able to leave without crying!  We also took them to Little Monkey Bizness, an indoor play center:

But they had just as much fun climbing in our living room.  The boys remembered the inflatable climber from last year and asked Steve to get it out again.

Amazingly with 5 adults and 3 kids all under the same roof for a 3-day weekend...it wasn't that crazy.  Hannah loved having "KevinColin" (one word) around to play legos, trains, and cars.  But when the brothers were too hard to keep up with, she would go find Walter and tell him to "Come play!"  Speaking of Walter....

Two years ago during Turkey Fry, we did a blog segment entitled Interview with a Walter.  This year we'd like to present "Wisdom from Walter".  What follows was in no way scripted, and is simply the helpful advice presented to us by Walter on everything from child raising technique to lip balm.

On eating raw turkey: “I don’t care.  I’ve had salmonella before.”

On entertaining Hannah on car trips: "Wait, does she know Achy Breaky Heart?”

On Hannah's development- “Does she understand what I’m saying?”

On appropriate things to discuss with a 22 month old: "How much does she know about political districting?"

On starting Carmex addictions in children: "Yeah, that smells good doesn’t it?  You can keep that if you want."

On helping out by watching our children in public: "So I was like, well, that’s not him."

On paying attention during Monopoly (half-way through the game):  “Wait, so I'm the boot, right?”

Another Snow Day!

Actually this is our 3rd snow day of the year. Last week we had two in a row. We got another 7 inches this time, but with the windchill around 5 degrees we didn't go outside. So what do you do on a snow day when you can't play in the snow?

You play with pretend snow (flour)

and make a mess!

And Mama braids your hair while you play with legos.  She likes fixing hair...you like flying lego planes...it's a win-win. :)

Hannah's New Room

When we first moved into our house, the guest room was painted off-white with the same color trim.

A few years ago we painted the walls blue and the trim white.  Steve built a book shelf and window seat between the two closets.

Over Christmas break the guest room became Hannah's room!  We left the blue walls because Hannah's not really a girly-girl anyway (and we were too lazy to repaint).  We figured with a few pink things it would make it look like a girl's room without being over the top.  Here's the same view of the bookshelf:

And the window seat:

I always wanted a window seat growing up, so I am in love with this.  I also love the owls.  Steve accused me of making a room for me instead of Hannah (which is somewhat true), but Hannah loves the owls, too.  She hugs and kisses them all of the time.  She calls the big one "Mama Owl".

Hannah's new bedding (but same crib):

Hannah in her new bedroom for the first time.  She loved it from the start and never went back to her old room after we moved the crib.  It could be because of all the toys we moved to her new room. :)

See?  We both love the window seat!

 Her room isn't completely finished.  We are going to add a dresser beside the crib and some sort of activity table on the 'tree wall' for trains/legos/etc.  Once we get those items in place we'll add some pictures to the walls.  In case you were wondering, we got the wall decals (love them- super easy to put on and remove!), owls, and bedding from Target.  The floor mat is from Costco.

Snow Day!

There is nothing I love more in winter than a snow day. :)  Today wasn't Hannah's first time in the snow, but it was the first time she was able to walk in it.

All bundled up and ready to go!

She really liked cleaning the snow off of the benches...

and the bushes.

But the best thing was being pulled on the saucer.

"Snow, hooray!"

New Year's Eve

We were counting up all of the New Year's Eves we spent together, and we figured out this was our 10th time kissing at midnight.  Our first New Year's* we drove to St. Louis with Tamra to go to a college friend's house....and Tamra met her future husband that night!  Although we do different things each year, we usually end up at a friend's house.  Last year we were at the Vroomans' (with a short visit to the Holcombes').  But this year we went out!  We went to the Brooksider with the Baileys and a group of Steve's college friends.  There was a live band, appetizers, and best of all...party hats!  Well, maybe dancing was the best part.  All of the girls of the group were younger than me and none of them had kids, so they were very impressed with me out dancing with a pregnant belly.  We had a great time!  BTW: Hannah rang in the new year sleeping soundly at Grandma and Grandpa's house. ;)

*Steve doesn't think this was our first New Year's.  Tamra can you confirm?**

** Tamra confirmed...my memory was right, but my math was wrong.  Our first New Year's was '00-'01, so that makes 11 times kissing at midnight..

Helper- Part 3

Not the best pictures, but you get the idea.  Hannah got a vacuum for Christmas and was eager to help me clean.  She also got a drill to help Dada fix things around the house.

But before she had a drill, she used a hammer.  Steve (and friends) built us a deck a few years ago, and now he wants to change a few things about it.  So he took part of it off over break....and I'm betting it won't get put back together until after baby #2 arrives! :)

Park

Playing with Brody in the park over Christmas break. The temperature got up to 68 that day...but it was windy!

Christmas 2010

We had another white Christmas!  Although, that was because we were in Chillicothe. Kansas City just got rain.  We spent 5 days in Chillicothe (3 nights with my family, 2 nights with Steve's), which I think was the longest visit since we've been married!  It went by fast.  Hannah really enjoyed it, although she was more pleased with seeing relatives than opening presents.  Last year she was scared of the presents, this year she was just indifferent.  I ended up doing most of the unwrapping.

She mostly wanted to play with her slinky instead of checking out her other presents.

Hannah waited patiently for Uncle Casey to blow up her inflatable soccer ball.  She really likes to play soccer (kick a ball around) with Dada.  But her favorite present from Christmas was a Little People doll house.

Meneely family Christmas:  Grandpa and his three kids are sitting on the bench, their spouses are behind them, and all of the grandkids and great-grandkids are surrounding them.  I think this is first picture with all family members included.

The newest Meneely (really Stapp)...baby Soren!  He is being held by his Aunt Sorrow Lauren.  Hannah was interested in Soren and told us "baby crying" or "baby sleeping", but she preferred to chase after her older 2nd cousins.  She called them "kids".

Over the break, Hannah indulged herself with lots of pumpkin pie and chocolate milk.

Although I didn't take any pictures, we also went to the Hickman family Christmas.  Hannah played with all of her boy 2nd cousins on Steve's side.  Brayden was especially sweet with her and followed her around "in case she falls"- his words. :)  We left for KC at Hannah's naptime on Monday but....

We were back in Chillicothe for 2 more days the next weekend!  This time we went to the Kerr Christmas and Hannah got to play with her cousin Ainslyn.  They are two peas in a pod.  Even though Ainslyn is 1 1/2 years older, they are the same height and weight.   They both like to act silly, run around and scream, and take turns telling each other that their food is "yummy".  Now that Ainslyn is living in Missouri instead of Virginia, we're hoping to get the girls together more often.