Thanksgiving

A lot has happened since before Thanksgiving.  Starting with Gracie's new ride...  The Lexus is about done, but we're going to keep it to see if it can last a little longer for the next new driver.  We found a car suitable for Gracie.  She has a 2017 AWD Ford Escape now.  She was so excited!

Gracie and Owen taking it out for the first time.

Figuring out Apple Carplay. 

That was probably the dealbreaker for the new car.

Gracie also figured out the app for the car so she can start it from just about anywehere.

Leaving the Lexus in the dust.

I found time to paint the mudroom.

No more yellow = much better.

It actually only took a few hours on a Sunday afternoon.  I had prepped and taped everything the night before, so I could just paint.  It had been a long time since we painted anything in our house; I think two years ago when I did Owen's room.

NCAA Cross Country Nationals were held in Columbia this year.  Connor Burns was competing for Oregon, so all of the boys went to watch him and catch up with the Burns family.  I got to hang out with April and Julie.  We also caught up with Alana.  It was a fun day!

While I was at the XC meet, Nick was also productive!

He put up LED lights on the house!

So, all of this was the weekend before Thanksgiving. 

I took the whole week off from work to try to get some things done, and I actually can't remember what I got done while I was "not working."

Then we had our annual run and family time for Thanksgiving.  We added a participant to the Turkey Trax this year!  Gracie went with us!  And completed her first 5k!

Staying warm in the car pre-race.

It really wasn't that cold...it's been much worse.

These are the event photos at the start of the race.

You can see Owen toward the right with the white hood over his head.

Gracie is in the yellow Missouri sweatshirt.

Owen is behind her in the white hoodie still, but that didn't last long.

Owen finished first of the three of us.

Then me.

And Gracie (Hayleigh is right ahead of her.)

When I finished, I found Owen right away, then went back to find Gracie and cheer her on.  She was further back than I thought...but I was so happy that she found...

Nova!!!  

Or maybe Nova found her. This made me so happy that she got to run with a friend.

Hayleigh, Nova, Gracie, me.

It was a great day.

Owen beat me again this year.  I thought he was going to stay back with Gracie and take it easy with her, but he must have gotten bored.  He passed me before we reached a mile.  I could see him ahead of me for most of the race but I don't think there was any way he was going to let me beat him, so I wasn't going to try. And I don't think I will ever run faster than him again.

But I did place 2nd in my age group and brought home a pie again. :)

Gracie thought she earned my medal by just participating and finishing.

Then we went home for the feast!  Nick had been hard at work all morning!

Annie and Gracie making potatoes.

My mom doing some dishes.

Gracie needed a nap.  She was tired.

Watching some football.

Owen and River went outside to shoot at some pumpkins.

It was a little chilly, so I didn't go out for long. But at least the sun was shining.

Owen giving his knives a try.

Thanksgiving was so great, as it usually is, and I love that we can do it here.  Everyone stayed until about 1/2 time of the Chiefs game around 5pm, then headed to the lake.  It was an early night for me, but the kids went to see a movie - Wicked: For Good.  I'm sure it was great, but I was just not up for it.

The next day we went to get our tree at Lloyd's!

The goal was to get a smaller one than last year, but I'm not sure that we succeeded.  It is still huge.

But I think it is a little less wide than last year.

Nick and Owen cutting it down.

Riding in the wagon to go get it.

After putting the tree up, we headed to the lake for dinner with my parents and the Wearmouth family.  We let Owen drive down.  I think it might have been his first time driving that far on 63/54.  A little stressful for all, but we made it.  

Our family after dinner.

We had another good night and Owen did not drive home.

Then the next day, we woke up to this.  Ugh.

It was gone by afternoon, but we had more snow a couple days later and school was canceled Tuesday.

So, this was a little over a week ago and we have had another busy week.  Owen has had practice every day and had his first tournament Friday/Saturday at Pleasant Hill.  Gracie has gone to work out in Columbia every day and helped a Mizzou Camp yesterday for about 7 hours.  They had the softball Christmas party Tuesday night and Santa came for the team.  She brought home a bunch of new stuff from Mizzou.  She also has a locker now at the softball stadium.  Gracie and I went to Eugene Wednesday and Thursday evenings to watch Chase play basketball, which was fun.  I think by last night, she was pretty exhausted, but honestly, I haven't seen her since Thursday night; and it's Sunday.  She left for coffee/school before I got home from running on Friday morning, I left for Pleasant Hill before she was done with school Friday.  Nick and I got home after she had left for Chase's game last night and I fell asleep before she got home at 11pm.  Maybe I'll see her today. 😆

When SBC had no school on Tuesday, Owen and Nick went to Mizzou to use their wrestling room to work out. He made it to 175# with no issues by Friday. I think he was at 173.5 when he weighed in on Friday.  He had a good weekend, and I will update more in the next post.  Hopefully we will get the team pictures back this week so I can add them here.

Time is getting small for Gracie at Southern Boone.  Just two weeks left, and then she will be a graduate and quickly move on to the next chapter.  Next 2 weeks:  more workouts, wrestling tournament, finals, last day of school, Harrisonville Tournament, Christmas, then graduation party.  It's going to be a busy month.