Reuniting with Friends

I am finally posting the rest of our pics from our trip. I know my blogs will now be out of order, but life has been a little crazy.

While in Arizona we were able to visit with my two best friends from High School, Becky and Kendra. We were supposed to attend Kendra's wedding in September and were unable to, so it was great to catch up with her and her husband. Becky's daughter was born just a few weeks before Andrew, so we enjoyed the opportunity for them to meet each other.




In Missouri we were able to see a few of Jason's high school friends as well as our best friends from college, The Vernons. Their daughter wasn't so sure what to think of Andrew after he pulled her hair and tried to steal her Cheerios! He's really not a mean boy...he just liked her pretty white bow.

Christmas in Kansas City

Since we were flying home from Kansas City on Christmas Day, we opened presents on the Sunday before. Andrew didn't quite get what was going on but it was fun to see him play with his new stuff.

Looking at his Bible and trying to eat his ornament.

Aunt Karen, Cody and Kelsey

On the Monday before Christmas we had our family dinner with both sides of the family. We introduced everyone to a Scottish Christmas tradition: Christmas crackers. These are not edible crackers. They are something that snap when you open them and they have a paper hat and little toy inside. Here are some pics of everyone after opening them.





As I said, we were supposed to fly home Christmas Day. That changed when I got the stomach bug on the 24th and Jason and Andrew got it the 25th! So, we stayed a few more days and flew home on Saturday. We are thankful for our travel insurance. If you ever need a quick way to lose weight after all the holiday eating, I recommend getting the stomach bug. It does wonders for weight loss!

Arizona

Here are some pics of Andrew with my family in Arizona.







Playing Piano at Great Grandma's

Kansas City

We are now in Kansas City visiting Jason's family. We spent the first few days finishing up Christmas shopping. Debbie and I also baked a bunch of Christmas cookies: chocolate crinkles, spritz, riscottas, oatmeal and butterscotch. Everyone in the family has their favourite so we make them all! We got about four inches of snow our second day here.

Aunt Denise gave Andrew a fun new toy that we have been playing with.


Grandpa with Andrew in his KU outfit.

Here is a video from Arizona of Andrew playing with Oliver. Yes, a bowl and spoon are better than any toy you can buy!

Trip to AZ

We have spent the last week in Arizona with my family (Erin's). We have enjoyed seeing family and friends, having nice weather and eating lots of good food. We've also enjoyed playing with my parent's dogs and cat and my brother's dogs. Andrew loves the cat and pretty much ignores the dogs.

Andrew playing at the park.

Andrew playing with my brother's Great Dane and my parent's cat.

Who knew a bowl could be so much fun?!?

Winter is here!

On Friday Gigi came to visit. We also had our first big snow of the year. It started early in the morning and snowed most of the day. Then overnight it snowed some more. We took Andrew outside Saturday morning to play. He looked so cute in his snowsuit. He wasn’t entirely sure about the cold, white stuff. But we had fun. Then on Saturday night it snowed even more. We walked a mile to church Sunday morning trying to push the buggy through the snow. That is hard work!

Who needs toys? I’ll just play with the basket they are supposed to go in!

Here is Andrew’s Scotland Rugby shirt. His Grandma and Grandpa Maston also got him some KU clothing...which Daddy strongly objects to.

Bonfire and Fireworks

On Saturday night we went to a bonfire and fireworks with our friends Kenny and Judith. The 5th of November is the Guy Fawkes celebration. Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the English Parliament and, as a result, kill the king. Guy was caught and executed. So every year they celebrate the fact that he was captured with a bonfire in which a figure of Guy is burned. There is a joke about whether they are celebrating the fact that he was captured or that he attempted to do away with the government. Either way, it was good fun for us. The bonfire was huge and we enjoyed the warmth it gave. Andrew was not scared by the loud boom of the fireworks. He just watched them and smiled.





This week I made a pumpkin pie from scratch. You can't buy canned pumpkin here so I bought a pumpkin and made my own puree. I was very nervous about making my own crust because it seems really difficult. However, it came out really good. I am savoring every bite!


Daddy and Andrew being funny. It is a laundry basket, not a trash can.