Thanksgiving + Alpacas

Hannah and I ran the Turkey Trax 5k on Thanksgiving morning with Mason cheering us on. It feels nice to get out and do something before being gluttonous for the rest of the day.

Case in point: charcuterie immediately upon our return.

Mom and Dad came down from Iowa to spend the holiday with us and the dogs were super excited for all the extra attention.

The table looking beautiful and bountiful.

Hannah and I made a gluten free pie...but it was more of a crumble. Delicious with ice cream, no matter the form.

On Friday we kicked off the Christmas season with a trip to Warm Springs Ranch, which is the breeding facility for the Budweiser Clydesdales. They are magnificent creatures. There were a few in the exercise pens outside.

We walked through and gave attention to everyone.

Hannah petting the little guy who was born 2 months ago.

A girl and her hot cocoa.

We took an outside stroll to look at all the lights out front and warmed ourselves by the fire pit.

To continue our animal tour of Columbia, on Saturday morning we took mom and dad to Curley Eye Alpaca Farm to feed them and browse the holiday store. Alpacas are some of the weirdest animals and we just love them.

Hannah was able to pet the little brown one! They're normally all about the food and not so much the pets.

Later that day Mason and I took Zane and some friends to a Mizzou game. We took the two good seats our friends gave us and boys sat in the nosebleeds!

Iowa + Halloween + Basketball

I took a trip to Iowa for a long weekend during one of the weeks where CPS had several days in a row of teacher workdays. My friend, Anne, was out of town but I stayed at her house and logged some time with my boyfriend, Lewis. He's such a good boy!

After taking my niece's senior photos (how are we here already?!) I met my parents for a beer at their favorite bar, Cooney's.

I was finally able to catch one of my niece's soccer games...on the coldest day of the year I'm pretty sure.

We then drove to Ames to have dinner with my nephew, who is a college man at Iowa State now. 

I headed home on Sunday after taking Anne's niece's senior photos and it snowed big, fluffy flakes on the way home!

While I was gone our gigantic, comfy couch arrived!! It's lovely.

Our carved creations this year. From Left to Right - Zane's, mine, Mason's, Hannah's.

Hannah and her crew (she's the stabby one in the back). It was a good year for me to stop walking around with them...so cold! They even came back midway through to warm up before heading back out.

The sort.

Hannah is in orchestra this year in 6th grade. She picked the cello and really likes it. We signed her up for private lessons once a week and she goes to the super fancy Sinquefield Music Center on the MU campus to meet up with her student teacher.

8th grade basketball has started! The team lost their first two games but then found their rhythm and haven't lost again since. Zane is playing Center on the A team.

He's #32 on the red team in these pics.

Zane had his AVID signing ceremony where the students in the college prep class sign their intent to uphold the expectations of the class. We didn't get a pic with all of us this year, but here he is with his buddy who he's known since Kindergarten.