Girl's Night Out

Tonight this Mama had herself a much-needed girl's night out! 

Every year around this time, my group of girlfriends we refer to as "the Elite" meet up for an evening to do our annual holiday dinner & gift-opening gathering. This year we decided to meet down on the Plaza & the restaurant of choice was Kona Grill. 

Unfortunately, 3 girls from our group were unable to join us but we somehow managed to have a good time without them - even though their presence was missed.

We started off the evening by having a celebratory holiday drink & toasting to a wonderful year together:

We had made reservations earlier in the week & ended up waiting a LONG time for our table so a couple of us in our group had complained to the manager & we ended up getting a round of appetizers for FREE! I guess it pays to complain :)

Deb & Camille

Jen, HT & HK

The majority of the table had ordered sushi & I am not a huge fan of sushi but I ordered some anyway thinking I would try something different. With the help of my girlfriends, I ended up ordering the Shrimp Tempura Roll. I'm not going to say that I am now a lover of sushi but what I had was actually really good & I would definitely order it again! So I am glad I gave sushi another try!

After dinner we headed on over to HK's Aunts' house. Her Aunt lives in Omaha but has a condo that overlooks the Plaza that she stays at every now & then so when Heather is in town she stays there - SO nice! This was our view from her living room window - Plaza lights & all. SO pretty!

Everyone brought a yummy dessert to share while hanging out at HK's place. I had brought a Heath cheesecake made by my dear friend Stetson which was absolutely dee-lish. We all filled our plates up & gathered around the kitchen table for some fun & serious conversation. 

We decided to forego the gift giving this year due to a lot of things - finances, last minute plan to gather together, several of the group not being there, etc. which was ok with me. The important thing was that we were together celebrating another year of friendship & had a wonderful time!

I love these ladies oh so much & am so thankful to have them all in my life! Looking so very forward to the memories we will make in 2015!

Operation Christmas Child

This video was shown today in church & I couldn't help but sit there watching it in tears:

Operation Christmas Child - have you heard of it?? It is the world's largest Christmas charitable project known that uses gift-filled shoeboxes to share God's love & word with needy children around the world.

The organization Samaritan's Purse has collected & delivered more than 113 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in over 150 countries. More than 500,000 volunteers worldwide are involved in collecting, shipping & distributing these shoebox gifts. Before shipping, the volunteers take each shoebox & include a little book inside of it called "The Greatest Journey" which is a 12 lesson discipleship program to help children know & follow Jesus Christ.

While watching this video, I was in awe that these kids were SO excited over a small little box packed with simple things that we here in America take for granted. I had never heard of Operation Christmas Child before today & am sad I haven't participated in this wonderful charity before. 

An anonymous person in our church donated all the plastic bins for our congregation to use & we were to take as many boxes as we wanted & fill them up. I took two boxes - one for a boy & one for a girl. I chose the age group 2-4 years old & then set out to fill them up with fun & much-needed items for a child. 

Here is a picture what I put in the little boys box:

It included: Play-Doh, crayons, a coloring book, stickers, Matchbox cars, a bouncy ball, suckers, 2 little story books, toothbrushes, toothpaste, bar soap, a washcloth & a little stuffed animal. There was also an information page you could fill out with a picture of yourself, a questionnaire & your address to include with the shoebox.

The little girl's box was identical except for the stuffed animal. Here are the completed & packed boxes:

After I closed them up, I prayed over the boxes & for the child that was about to receive them & we delivered them to church the next Sunday where our Pastor prayed over all of them as well. I really hope these little boxes put a smile on the little child's face that is receiving them & that they enjoy all the things I put in there!

This was so much fun to do & it makes my heart full knowing that it is going to make someone so very happy! I can hardly wait until next year to be able to do this again!!

Update:12/23/14
Today I received an email that both my boxes were being sent to Mexico. In my boxes I included a picture of our family, shared a little bit about us & included my address so I am hoping the family contacts me & we can keep in touch.

Rock Chalk

Tonight is a much needed "date-night" for me & the hubby so we got us a babysitter & headed to Lawrence, KS for the home season-opener basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse. 

My friend Lori has a girlfriend with season tickets & lucky for us they were unable to go to this game so Lori asked me if we would want to go with her & her husband. When she said the seats were 4 rows up from the court it was an immediate YES!

We got to the game about 15 minutes before game-time so we grabbed a quick bite to eat & made our way to our seats which were AMAZING! It is a much different experience being that close to the court than sitting up behind the student section! 

Lori & her husband Bill showed up shortly after we did & we all had SO much fun hanging out watching the game together! These two are a super fun couple & we have already planned some future get-togethers this winter - including another KU game :)

Shane & I both LOVE going to KU basketball games & have talked seriously about buying season tickets next year. There is nothing like seeing a basketball game in Allen Fieldhouse - the fans, the players, the high energy, the game - it is awesome & so much fun!

I am looking forward to the upcoming basketball season & many more "date-nights" in Lawrence with this die-hard KU fan!!

Rock Chalk :)

Playdate

Today we had a playdate with sweet little Miss Ava Jean & her Mama Jen. We all met out at the Great Mall & our 1st stop was Monkey Bizness. While the littles spent the afternoon playing, the Mama's were able to do some catching up which was nice since I haven't seen Jen in awhile.

After much "monkeying around" we sat down for a snack & then headed over to the train station to check out the choo-choo's. These two were fascinated by watching the trains go round & round the track & it was so cute watching them together:

Before we left we stopped in to the aquarium store to check out all the fish. We also got a chance to pet the baby bunnies which the kids loved doing. After a few hours of hanging out it was getting to be nap-time for the littles so we decided to get going. 

It was so fun getting to hang out with these two girls & we will for sure be planning many more playdates in the future with Miss Ava Jean & here Mama!

The Great Mall

So we have discovered a wonderful little place to hang out this winter when it is cold out & need to burn off some energy. 

The Great Mall.

Now I wouldn't call it "great" as it is pretty run down & hardly any stores left in it anymore but there are a few fun kid-friendly things to do while there. There is a fun place called Monkey Bizness that has huge inflatables for the kids to bounce around in, a play area with nothing but slides, an area for them to climb upward on & then slide back down - all for $4 - super cheap entertainment for a few hours & it wears Mason out.

After spending a couple hours at Monkey Bizness we then make our way over to the Great Plains Train Station where Mason could sit for hours watching all the choo-choo's make their way around the tracks. This kid is CRAZY for trains right now so it is a lot of fun to take him here! There are many different sets of tracks with little villages & landscaping set up around the entire track & the trains go round & round all day long. So neat to see - for "big" kids too & the best part = it is FREE!

We were there when they were all decorated for Halloween & when I took this pic I never even noticed the creepy "zombie-like" body coming out from underneath the trains in front of my child - lol :)

After we get our fill of the choo choo's we head on over to the aquarium store where they have tons of salt water fish tanks set up & all kinds of pretty colored fish swimming all around in them. They also have a few parrots & bunnies that are fun to see also. This little visit is FREE also :)

Since it is an inside mall & usually never busy we let Mason run ahead of us which is another cheap & easy way to wear this kid out.

So we were at the Great Mall for almost 4 hours & our little outing cost us $4.00. We had one worn out kid once we left who napped for almost 3 hours - WIN WIN! 

We will definitely be spending a lot of time here in the upcoming cold winter months!