Birthday Shopping

I've given up on trying to buy present for my kids and my grandkids. So instead I set up a date to take them shopping and let them pick what they want.

Lincoln has always been my hardest kid to buy for but this buying trip was actually fairly easy. We had our annual lunch at Taco Bell where Lincoln showed me how he can eat the hottest hot sauce they offer. I, on the other hand, have trouble with their mild sauce. We then headed to Dick's for new shoes, a shirt, a rubic's Chiefs cube, socks and sunglasses. We finished up at Target and headed home. While he had the biggest smile on his face, I had to come home and take a nap.

Lincoln's 9th Birthday

Birthday number 9. Why do I remember so much of his birth like it was yesterday?

Melissa has this tradition of taking a picture of her kids the night before their birthday. Like magically they'll have this great change overnight. Maybe in a few weeks it will happen to me...only I'll look years younger!

We had a family birthday party at Fun House Pizza. What a place to have a kid's birthday party. The adults sit around the table and talk while the kids go through rolls of quarters. Best birthday party ever. Happy Birthday to my grandson, Lincoln. What a pleasure it is to be your Ma!

Trip to Vegas

What better way to get out of the house than a trip to Vegas to visit my friends. This time I stayed at the Red Rock Casino and Spa. It's a little northwest of the strip in Summerlin, NV, but it was gorgeous and HUGE! There were at least 5 upscale restaurants, a bowling alley, a movie theater, a food court, an arcade for kids and many, many slot machines!

Of course, as usual, I forgot to take pictures of my friends but I did get a somewhat nice picture of the Red Rock mountains outside my VIP suite. Joe, my casino host, suggested this would be a great place to bring the family. Now who wants to bring kids to Las Vegas 🎰

Lincoln's Flag Football Super Bowl

Lincoln's flag football team, the Vikings, made it into the Super Bowl again this year.

While they didn't win, they made a big come back in the 4th quarter but it wasn't quite enough to beat the other team. I was in Las Vegas so I missed the game. Sure is a good thing I didn't put a sports bet on them 😄

Halloween

Besides watching Goldie for a couple of hours while Melissa does school activities with the older kids, my Halloween will be spent passing out candy but only until I either run out of candy or it hits 9:00 pm. Then the porch light goes out and I go to bed.

Violet, Lincoln, Hazel and Goldie have already had many different Halloween parties. This is from Haunt the Halls at Lincoln and Hazel's school. Melissa made the monster decorations for in front of Hazel's school door.

Then there was the traditional carving of the pumpkins at the Taylor house. I think some of the kids are carving their own pumpkins instead of Jamie having to carve all of them. Trick or Treat!

2024 Presidential Election

Jamie and I are going to be out of town on November 5th so we headed to the Independence square to vote early.

No one in line, very seamless and out in less than 10 minutes. I hate to even think of the lines that will form on the 5th at regular voting places. From what I've heard, I lot of people are voting early although the lines at getting longer. Hopefully the country won't break out in riots as some are predicting. I'll be in Las Vegas. One of the most crowded places in America. I'll probably just stay inside the casino and let the world fall part without me! 😳

A Visit From Michele and the Pumpkin Patch

Michele made a trip to St Louis by plane to visit friends, then took the Amtrak to Lee's Summit.

Teresa was on standby to go to HiBoy and pick up tenderloins and onion rings when Michele's train arrived.

Little did they know I had a few Halloween decorations I needed help setting up. Wasn't the most fun thing to do on your vacation but at least it was something. 

The next day we met up with the Taylors and went to the pumpkin patch. the Pumpkin Pad in Lone Jack had a few more activities than years before and kept us pretty busy.

The best part was sitting down for a snack of mini donuts and water. It was pretty hot for a day in October.

After a few hours we said good-bye to the Taylors and headed to Smoke Brewery for a little barbecue and beer flights. That's about as much as we could handle in one day.

Time seem to fly when Michele is here and I was surprised when a few days later a received a bouquet of flowers. For a while I thought I had a secret admirer but they were a thank you from Michele. Almost better than a secret admirer!