We Broke Out!

 

 

I had a secret all day today.

I was actually able to keep the secret until about an hour beforehand.

I can't  believe it!  I kept a secret.

The secret was what we were doing at 9:30 tonight.

 

I booked us a spot in Room 13.

I had no idea the other people that we were going to be doing it with.

They were strangers, but they were good strangers.

You can't do this with just two people.

It would be impossible.

 

I'm not going to tell you much other than

WE BROKE OUT!!

 

And not to brag or anything, but our time, it's phenomenal.

 

It's hard.

So get yourself a good team and go do this!

 

Breakout KC



Sunday Shenanigans

Sunday.  It didn't turned out at planned.

I wanted to do Trivia Night at the 75th Street Brewery.

I even put a team together.

Didn't happen,

We arrived there.

There was no room in the trivia haz!

They said we could sit over to the side and someone could run

back and forth between the screen and our team.

Like that's going to work!  It's timed.

It was a fundraiser for another derby team.

They needed more room.

 

So....we went to Waldo Pizza....

it was okay.

I'm not so sure why everyone loves it so much.

The pizza was okay.

The appetizer was okay.

The company was better than okay.

I like these peeps.

 

Nine Things I Like About the Winter

1. Cuddling
2. Warm Blankets
3. Hot Chocolate and Warm Cider
4. All the Baked Goods
5. Family Time
6. Fires in the Fireplace (not out, that's bad haz)
7. Christmas and New Years
8. Snow (when I don't have to drive in it)
9. Lights - Clear Skies - Stars

Christmas!

The Star is crooked and the kids are smiling :)

Best present ever!

Far, far away....

Interacting

Peyton has something on his head

World's Oldest Cat in a Box

Christmas Cards

 

I made some.

I actually do okay at the paper crafting kinda thing.

The Christmas Trees were a pain to make.  Too many pieces.

All different sizes.

Trying to fit them together.

I love Christmas Cards.

I never get Christmas Cards anymore.

It makes my haz sad.

Maybe change that next year.

The one I did get this year was super freaking adorable.

Peyton's Gingerbread House 2014

Last year, Peyton made the best Gingerbread House. 

He had a pooping Santa. 

So be good or Santa is going to poop down the side of your house.

This makes me think that next year, I need to have a Gingerbread House decorating party.

Happy Winter Solstice!

It's the first day of winter, the first day of winter....I am so excited...for all the cold and snow!  Actually, not really.  I'm not a big snow fan. But it doesn't feel like Christmas/Winter without it.  Maybe in January....

Girl Scouts Christmas Haz!

Abbi and Alli preparing the craft

Pizza, Popcorn Peppermint Stuff, Brownie Pops

Making Waterless Snowgloads

Waterless Snow Globes

 

UMKC Basketball

 

We had fun.  We walked away with a lot of stuff.  Santa Hats were first on the list, then we won a free pizza from the Roo.  The girls all got posters with the signatures (or should I say autographs) of all the Women's Basketball players.  We got more free pizza to eat there.  I won a free pizza (again).  Nobody is seeing that video.  Alli caught a rally towel.  The girls got free t-shirts for being there and a cute patch.  We caught two more t-shirts.  So much stuff.

The games were fun.  UMKC won both of them  The Men had me worried for a while, then they showed up to the second half.  I'd go again.

The first thing we won...Free Pizza.

Alli got a poster and had all the girls sign it.  It's now hanging up in her room.

By posting stupid pictures like this....

Things like this happen

Blue and White, Blue and White, All the Blue and White

Oh hey Roo

Finally Friday

Nothing is better than coming into work on Friday and finding presents on your desk.  (Okay, I have to return the movies, but hey!)

And I'm pretty sure it was another fat girl Friday. Holiday lunch at work.

All the food.

I'm just glad all the cupcakes I made were gone, I didn't want to bring any home.

Even though they were lovely.

And no, I didn't eat all of that.  My eyes are bigger than my stomach.

Christmas Sock Exchange

At work, we were trying to make it fun for the Holidays by mixing it up a little.

We always did Secret Santa, Cookie Exchange, Ornament Exchange and the same old same old.

This year, instead of Secret Santa, we did a sock exchange.

You buy a pair of Christmas-y Socks and you fill them with stuff.

Almost everyone went above and beyond (you know there are always a few that don't)

Immediately upon returning home that evening, Alli took mine as her own.  Which I knew she would and I was completely okay with that.

I don't like Secret Santa.   I always get the crappy secret santas.  I don't know how, I just do.  Being on the Christmas Committee this year, I put a stop to Secret Santa. :X  Yes, all my fault.  I know a few complained, but I think they were better off this way.

 

December 14th - Happy Monday!

Happy Monday!
Mondays.  They aren't allowed to act like Mondays anymore.
Mondays will be good.

To make Monday a good Monday the first thing we had to do was get through work (non eventful) and school (Peyton=eventful).

Peyton.  Peyton. Peyton.
I got a call from his teacher.
She was laughing.
She told me Peyton and another little boy had experimented with duct tape.
To see what happened when you place duct tape on eyebrows.
When asked if he would be in trouble.
The answer was: Natural Consequences.
He wouldn't admit to doing anything to Alli.
When I got home, I got a laughing, embarrassed Peyton.
His eyebrows weren't bad.

I made preparation for a good Monday.
I got two movies from the Redbox.  Who can beat 13 cent rentals?!?
I also really wanted Chipotle.  I seriously, yes, I did this, put in our dinner order at 11:15 am.

Work ended.
Went to Chipotle to pick up the food.
It wasn't done yet.
New guy working.
Worked to our advantage.
Made Peyton's food wrong. Not like wrong wrong, just not right.  Peyton got two of his meal.  He actually liked the messed up one better.
And the new guy was skimpy with the meat either.
Alli's burrito was huge (bigger than the norm) and I had so much meat (aka steak) on mine.
Thanks New Guy!

We ate our foods and watched the first movie: Papertowns.  Both the kids wanted to see it.  It was good.  It wasn't great.  I wasn't a fan of the ending.  I like the perfect endings where everything is PERFECT!  You hear me: PERFECT!  John Green's books don't have PERFECT endings.  I haven't read Papertowns.  I probably won't now since I didn't like the ending too much. Actually, I probably will. Ugh.  Even though I already know the not PERFECT ending.  I like the concept of the Fictitious Entry.  I've always had a fascination with maps and now I wonder how many of those towns are actually made up. Adding that to my list of things to do in life: Find a papertown.  Maybe one day I'll make the list public. ;)

After that movie, we watched "Jurassic World" because...why not?  I've seen it.  Alli saw it.  Peyton we didn't get a definitive answer from.  I saw it.  With my Mikey. Love his face.  The movie is okay.  Nothing will beat the original though.

December 10th

Cookie Exchange.
Lots of Cookies.



Peyton and Santa.
I know what he asked for.
They chatted for a minute.
I was surprised.



December 10th

Humans of New York - I love their posts/blogs/facebooks/instagrams.

I really love this series.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

December 9th

Sneaky pictures are sneaky.  <3



The Girl, playing the basketballs.  Being guarded by the football player.



The cookie exchange thing at work.  I made a lot of cookies.  I got a lot of cookies.
I made Chocolate Snowdrops from Scratch.  I have a cheat recipe to make these super easy.  But they are so much better if you just make them. 

So here is how you do it:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
4 squares of unsweetened chocolate
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla (USE REAL VANILLA!)
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking POWDER!
1/4 teaspoon salt
Powdered Sugar

*melt the butter and the chocolate squares
*add sugar, mix well
(after the sugar, I move it to a bowl and stop mixing in the pan on the stove)
*add eggs and vanilla
* add flour, baking powder and salt
*Put all that mixed up goodness in the fridge for a few hours
*Form in into balls and roll in powdered sugar
(the easiest way to do this: put powdered sugar in a measuring cup and drop the balls in)
*Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes

And the cheat recipe:
Get a box of Devils Food Cake Mix and a tub of Cool Whip.
Mix them together.
Refrigerate.
Powder sugar them and bake.
 

All the cookie batter!

Half of the cookies!

December 7th

It was so foggy this morning.  There really are building up there.

Yep,  Building haz.

We worked on our First Aid Badge tonight.
I'm not thrilled, as you all know, with a lot of the Girl Scout badges.
So, I pretty much tailor it to what my girls like and want to do.
They love art.

The third step for the First Aid Badge is still a work in progress.
They started on a First Aid booklet of Common Injuries and Illnesses during Camping.
I'll put it up on the blog when it's done.
They are all perfectionists, so each of them only got two of the four for their groups done.
I am okay with that.

The fourth step is to know the signs of shock and how to treat it.
There's the video for that.
They put their spin on the video, but they get it.

For fifth step, we did our little injury game using our Common Outdoor Injuries.
Each girl was injured and another girl had to treat them.

They passed.

We still have to do the first two steps.  We will finish that in January.
We are partying for our last meeting in December.

Working on our First Aid Booklets

Practicing the First Aid.  I'm sure that was a broken leg.

One of the girls made me a Pomander.  One of my favorite holiday crafts.

December 6th

Everyone ate well on Sunday.  I know my food pictures aren't the lovely ones that you see on food blogs.  But. you know what, that's what was left of my cinnamon rolls.  They were delish. Although a little flour-y.  I made adjustments to the recipe so that shouldn't happen again.  First time I had made them from scratch.  I did okay.

What is left of the cinnamon rolls.

 

Sunday night dinner for the win.  Lasagna, Caesar Salad and Bread.

Everyone ate it and ate a lot of it.



All three of them ate!!



December 5th

 

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures today.

 

We got a Christmas Tree today.

It made it in the house.

It has lights on it.

That's as far as it got.

 

Sheilas holiday party.

That's the gift I walked away with.

I hide it.

Nobody stole it.

I win.

 

December 3rd



I decorated at work.  Why did I decorate at a place I really don't want to be?  Because I spend 40 hours here.  I want to look at something half way decent.
The point of the whole tree is for people to give.  It's the "Giving Tree"  even though I thought "Tree of Warmth" was a little cuter.

Tangled Mess



Blue and White Work Tree