Six

Our girl is 6!
When God placed Kacey in our family,
we didn't know what a gift we were receiving.
God picked her out just for our family.
This beautiful angel has the sweetest disposition.
She loves life.


Whether riding horses, running, or swimming...
she is very competitive.


A natural athlete.



This picture is before she took some scissors to that gorgeous hair.
I must say that the hair brushing is much easier now.


One thing I love about Kacey is,
she loves to be silly.
As I was scrolling through my 10,000 pictures of her,
there were hundreds of photos that she took of herself making funny faces.
She is a party.


Miss Photogenic.

Sweet.

How I adore you.

Sweet freckles.



Happy Birthday Kacey.

Renaissance

I'm staying in The Mayflower Renaissance Hotel.
It is gorgeous.
It hosts several events, including Inaugural Balls 
and State dinners 
and some fabulous weddings. 

I regret not bringing my camera.
iPhone doesn't do it justice. 

Allow me to grab some of google images.

This is like our room except we have a king.
Pretty swanky.

I enjoy walking through the halls
and peeking into the different ballrooms.


It's located smack dab in the middle of everywhere 
you would want to be.

The popular choice for lunch are food trucks.
They are everywhere and the options are plentiful.

How to choose?

Flip a coin.

There is even a lobster truck!

Mark & I are doing low carbs
so it's nice to have lots of choices.



This Godiva shop 
is next door to our hotel.
How many carbs is that?

We are having fun
exploring this area. 
I've spent my days in the gym,
shopping, Starbucks and wandering the streets.
Of course,
our evenings are spent watching the World Series.



Go KC!!

Where's Wendy?

I am spending this week in our nations capital.
I get to walk by this little house daily.


One of my favorite spots to frequent
involves the freshest seafood.


Right off the boats.




The toughest part is decided what to order.
Crab legs or shrimp?
Maybe both.

I realize most people who vacate to DC
don't find the food the topic of discussion.
I on the other hand,
come here several times a year
to accompany my honey on his business trips.
How many times can a person walk 
through all these museums?
I used to think I'd spend every day in them but now...
 "been there, done that" is how I feel about it.

I walked past this little monument 
when I met Mark at his job.
He works right down the road from Seafood City.


Washington DC is a beautiful city.
If it weren't for the politics that it represents,
it would be more enjoyable.
Let's not think about that.
I'll think about that tomorrow.

Where is Rhett when we need him?

Have a happy!



Halloween Craft

I'm always keeping an eye out for a new craft to do.
When I saw this cute shirt on Pinterest,
I knew I needed to make one for Abi.


I have plenty of felt left over from my last project.
I ironed it on with Wonder-Under.
I stitched around each piece.
I added buttons for the eyes.
I then embellished the shoulder with a detachable bow.
Easy-schmeezie!
I did wash the new shirt before beginning the project
because it will shrink and distort your work if you don't.



I was thrilled to be able to find flip-flops at Hobby Lobby.
Not an easy find in Kansas during this time of year
but since Abi lives in Florida,
I was thinking she may still be able to wear them
as she walks next door to her other favorite grandmother.


I love a craft that cost $1.29.
I found lots of options when I googled it 
so guess what my grandkids are going to be inundated with!



Here she is wearing her shirt.
Cutie pie!


Here's a group shot.
We are ready for Halloween.




School Lunch With Kacey

Kacey started kindergarten this year.
I took advantage of my time in Florida 
by having lunch with her at school.


Abi was excited to have lunch with her big sister too.


We needed a "selfie".


Snaggle Tooth.


 Miss Priss.

Following our "Happy Meal" lunch...
I checked her out of school.
I grabbed Eli & Dani too. 

I was having beach withdrawals
so we loaded up the van and headed east.



Oh how I love these kiddos.

Let's Go Royals!


I gotta tell ya,
it's fun to be living in a city 
that is in the MLB playoffs!

This team is special.
Their camaraderie is fun to watch.
Kind of like a college team.

Let's Go Royals!!



The Busiest Time Of The Year


My dear Mother has her Christmas presents wrapped.
Yes, you heard me right.
She is always ahead of the game.

You can learn a lot from my Mom.
I'm not totally sure of the month,
but Mom had her Christmas cards 
signed, sealed and addressed in the summer.

Why wait? 
I'm planning on running to the Bible book store today 
and get started on my cards.
I have the privilege (ha) of hosting 
Mark's work Christmas party again this year.
I love parties and I love, love hosting them.
I could use some ideas of what to do this year.

Last year, we had just moved to Kansas.
I knew not a soul.
I made my famous lasagna, which was a hit.
I planned a contest of decorating gingerbread houses. 
It was guys against girls.
It flopped because the icing wouldn't harden 
& the dang houses wouldn't stand up.
Everyone was polite about it but basically it was a flop.

It is funny to see men be crafty and competitive.
The guys won because theirs stood up.

This year, 
I know not a soul.
I sound pathetic.
Oh well, that's just the way it is folks.

I would love some suggestions of what to do.

It's the menu and the "what to do to fill the time" 
that I'm struggling with.
The men all know each other because they work together.
I want the women to enjoy themselves, 
since they are sorta obligated to support their spouses.
Maybe they don't feel that way but I would if I were them.

Moms birthday is November 3rd.
Do you know how we spend the day?
We decorate the whole house for Christmas.

The beauty of it is that during December,
Mom has little stress and plenty of time to look fabulous 
for all those parties.

OK, friends...
please send me some ideas.


Fun With Family

I was driving around last week doing my usual errands.
You know...
Target, groceries, post office, yada yada.
I knew the next day was my firstborns birthday 
and knew that I hadn't missed but 1 birthday 
in his life because he was in Argentina, 
something came over me.
  
I drove home, threw together dinner for M & J,
 packed my luggage and before I knew it, 
I was on a plane to Florida.
Turned out to be a great decision.

The celebration began with his favorite lunch spot, 
 Firehouse Subs.


Later that evening, we continued the party at Longhorne's.



See the man in the photo behind me?
Funny story!

Here's a better shot. 





Guess who the kids thought he was.
They thought he was stopping in to see if they were being naughty or nice.

I finally turned around and explained to him 
why the kids were so excited.
Apparently, he gets this kind of interaction often.

With Abi on my lap,
I said, "do you want to tell him you've been good?"
Her response was 
"I want Anna!"

We got a good laugh.
Elijah finally declared that he couldn't be Santa 
because he had a set of keys.
Why would Santa need keys?
Good logic to me.


We ended the night with cake, ice cream and presents.
So thankful I got to be a part of it.

Happy Birthday Son!




Trick or Treat


This time of year is so fun.
The colors.
Weather.
Falling leaves.
Halloween.
Candy.
Making memories.

I love Halloween when all the sweet neighborhood children
sport their favorite costume and gather enough nerve to knock on a door and 
say those magic words,
"Trick or Treat"

It is one of the highlights of my year to sit outside by a fire
with all my family as we wait for the kids.

What a thrill for me when my 
Halloween Pottery Barn catalog 
showed up in my mailbox last week.

I dropped what I was doing and  
scoured through the pages.
The costumes are adorable.
I need everything.
I saw these cute bags and thought 
they'd be great for Danielle's class.


My wheels started spinning to figure I could make them.
I'm no seamstress!
I'm proud when I can get the bobbin
 in the machine correctly.

I made a mental list and headed to the store 
to pick up some felt.

20 hours later and I have bags 
coming out of the yin-yang.


I began by hand-stitching the faces on by then I got smart 
and finished the whole project on the machine. 


 I added an embellishment 
by tying some ribbon on the side.
My craft room is wall to wall bags.


It was a fun project and I think the children in her class will enjoy taking them home 
filled with all the goodies they receive in 2nd grade.

Do you have childhood Halloween memories?
I was a witch one year. 
I had that gook to make my nose long and pointed.

Not so good in South Florida because it 
melted in a long gooey gunk. 
I remember walking up to a house where they left a tray of pennies with a sign that said, "take 1."
Dork!
What about the weirdo's that hand out fruit!
What kid wants fruit?
We had one neighbor that handed out those huge Hershey bars.
We went back to that house several times.

Good times and great memories.

Happy October To You!