Merry Christmas!

We enjoyed spending time with family celebrating the birth of Jesus. It is a great time to reflect on those gifts that we may take for granted as we are whizzing about our busy lives. I am thankful for time with my mom, lunch with friends, and God's trust in me as a parent. I was also thankful for the mild weather!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve before heading to church.

Teenagers don't like to get up early so we did our presents Christmas Eve night. Nola was being....well Nola!

Stay hungry, Bobo! I had to buy this for her as it cracked me up!

Nola getting her present of a color and cut from Kendra! (That will be on Monday!).

Matt getting a replacement 35 foot tape measure for the one the gutter guy took!

Nola and I had to watch White Christmas! And you can see some of my gifts - puzzles and heated blanket. It's like my hubby knows me lol!

Christmas day we traveled to Grammy Vogan's for lunch!

Nola, Matt, and Brenner. 

Aunt Janet, Grammy, and me with our Grammy-made attire! We had a fabulous lunch of homemade meatballs and spaghetti by Janet's boyfriend Danny. Scrumptious! 

Grammy and Nola. 

It was a great time with the yummy food and watching the Chiefs game. Next we headed to Brookside to visit Aunt Theresa and Uncle Chuck. What a blessing our family is! It was a long day but we enjoyed seeing everyone!

On Friday, mom, Lynn, and I headed to the spa at Lake of the Ozarks. We spent the night and the next morning was foggy but we had an awesome time! 

Matt and Brenner headed to the cabin for alternative methods season. 

Matt had a mishap with his muzzleloader. Praise God that it wasn't worse than it was - concussion, smashed hand with no broken bones or foreign material, and perforated ear drum that will heal in 72 hours. I am so thankful that Shawn was there with Matt to drive him to the ER and nothing was too severe. Matt is still trying to figure out why it misfired. We may never know but are super thankful.

The end of LSE basketball and the start of Christmas celebrations

 We are into Christmas break - we made it! Nola's 8th grade basketball season at LSE ended. Brenner finished the semester with enough seat time (after making up 3 Saturdays) and what I am told as one F (I don't look at the online grades). Up from 4 or 5 Fs. So this is for perhaps for the one other parent that I knows that reads my blog - this semester stunk from a parenting perspective. I learned that I can't want things more than the other person and if he was bound to fail, he would suffer the consequences. I learned that I had to quit comparing what he was doing to other kids in his grade; I needed to trust that God loves him more than me and while I don't understand this phase, it has a purpose. The kid is wicked smart - aced some finals without cracking a book (or electronic notes) - but couldn't quite comprehend that isn't the way the world will work. He did care about his GPA, going and talking with the counselor. Brenner also told us next semester will be different. I pray so. I pray he hangs out with better kids and sees that he is worth the effort. I am incredibly thankful for some of the school staff that believed in him when quite frankly I was struggling to do so. 

Our Sunday school class helped to support a local single mom with 4 kids. Friend Sara and I did a last minute trip to Wal-Mart and then wrapped everything up. I pray they have a little more joy and a little less stress this holiday!

Waiting for 8th grade night at halftime of the Marshall game (last home game). The girls played in Versailles the night before. I use "played" loosely - terrible game losing 28-21. Nola had 10, was 0/6 from the line, and fouled out late in the game. The girls just didn't communicate. Teenage girls seem to be that way - on and off!

We love #4!

Some of the player parents got fatheads for the girls. Here are a few. You should have seen Nola's face when she saw hers (right before tipoff lol). All the girls were surprised which was fun to see!

Silly Nola.......

...you see where she gets it from!

Aaaaaargh!

We laughed at how BIG Nola's head was compared to some of the other girls. And she had aquaphor around her mouth which made her extra SHINY! 

The girls had to get a picture with Mr. V one of their favorite teachers. 

Coach Lexie from PBA came to watch Nola play! We had a great visit. The girls won 23-4, with Nola have 14 (she was a bit of a ball hog.....). Nola had a lot of hustle and grit. She said yeah - the high school coach and players were there watching so I had to play hard. Well at least she is motivated by something :) Coach Runyan (HS coach) did come up and talk to us after the game - really complimentary and invited her to start coming in on weekends with the high schooler girls if she wanted. When asked what was next on her list, she told him PBA.

Bobo was hungry after the game!

#1 Grandma! 

Saturday morning I made cinnamon rolls and had breakfast with a dear friend. Then it was sugar cookie time for the Hinck Christmas. 

The Santa Claus cookies - one was German lol!

Brenner and a cinnamon roll - take 2 (since I didn't get a birthday picture). 

On Sunday, we had fun playing games at Grandmas!

And singing.....

And playing some hilarious games. Matt makes me laugh until I cry each time I watch him lol! Hope these come through!

Nola, Grandma, and Gannon. 

Mom gives us stamps and calendars each year. I love that! Handy!

Our tree is aglow!

Nola spent the night with Grandma on Sunday and went shopping on Monday. She was being silly that night and wanted to take pictures. 

When your teenager wants to take pictures, you take pictures and just act silly!

Washington DC

 I had an annual work trip to Washington DC which was great. I missed a couple of basketball games and some fun morning routines (sarcasm alert lol!). Definitely some fun things for me this week! 

Look who shaved?! A Christmas wish come true! 

Monday morning I woke up to crash at 2:30 am. Our tree had fallen over! A few broken ornaments but God showed up. I will tell you about it sometime if you want to hear the story!

The flight into DC Monday was uneventful and I had a late dinner with my friend Carletta and members for the Havasupai Tribal council. Tuesday morning was super foggy. The tone was gloomy around DC. My walk past the White House on Tuesday. Hard to look at the inauguration preparations. 

With Monday being a late night, I opted for an ice cream dinner and Hallmark Christmas movie. It was fantastic! 

Rain, rain, rain on Wednesday - but I was prepared. 

The DOI holiday lunch was Wednesday and look who I got to meet- Secretary Deb Haaland. She was super nice! I will miss her leadership. 

White House Christmas tree when the sun finally came out Thursday. 

Part of the TSG working hard! We laughed that unplanned color coordination all week. It is amazing that after 10 years, women predominantly sit around the table. 

The Captial tree was pretty spectacular. We walked over one night after dinner at Cafe Berlin. 

I love me a free show at the Kennedy Center! 

My friend Katherina went with me! 

The show was awesome - An Irish Christmas with John Doyle and Mick McAuley. They were fantastic - you can listen yourself at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpbnZokrX3o&list=PL14hRqd0PELHBJj1j64aZr_sEatKyyUkN&index=10. The first song sets the tone - so energetic. I loved their ability to just read each other and play from their hearts!

Homeward bound on Friday!

Mom and I went to the Veterans Cemetary to lay wreaths on Saturday. Very rainy but hey I am used to it!

Oh I miss these men! And Grandma Hilbrenner who is with Grandpa. 

Mom and I then went to the Christmas Craft Fair in Concordia and had a lovely lunch before returning to her house to decorate. We had a great time!

She had me look through some pictures. This one was taken at Homestead in Sedalia in 1978. My dad with a beard is funny. He had a bad work year and didn't wear a beard again if I remember the story corectly!

I started planking early lol!