Happy Birthday, Bon Voyage

Today Christine came over. She is moving to Vegas tomorrow so she brought over a couple old toys she had for the kids. One of them is the very beloved Monk, seen here with Joshua. We also went out to dinner to celebrate her birthday tomorrow, which was nice too. We are glad she is able to live with Eric, but we will miss having her around.

A Williams Dinner

Michelle and Sam came into town yesterday and are here to visit and enjoy Thanksgiving with us. Since it is rare that all three of us are in the same place, and will get rarer once Christine moves to Vegas in the near future, we decided to have a dinner out with all three of us as well as Sam and Jason. We had a very nice evening with good food and it was nice to catch up on what everyone is up to.

The Big 0-2

Today was a very big day. First, Jim stopped by briefly on his way back home from Texas to meet Hannah. He couldn't stay for Joshua's birthday party since he had another eight hours to drive, but we were glad he could meet her and see the kids. Christine also got to meet Hannah today.

Then, we moved on to the main event, which was Joshua's party. We didn't have a big party this year, but we wanted to do something special with family for him. We did a construction theme since he loves cars, vehicles, and most especially power tools. He apparently isn't as thrilled with construction hats, but we did get him to pose for a few photos before he donated the hat to Clara, who loved it.
Jason did a great job decorating Joshua's cake in a construction theme and Joshua really enjoyed both the cake and the entire party. We were glad everyone could make it and that Joshua had a fun day with all the people he loves most.

Holiday Weekend BBQ

To take advantage of the long weekend, we decided to grill tonight and Christine was able to join us. The steaks turned out very well (Joshua even ate some and he is usually a big meat avoider) and we had a good time hearing about Christine's recent trip and other updates. It was also K-State's first game, which they won. Everyone was wearing K-State purple except me, even though Christine's outfit was a complete coincidence.

Happy Birthday to Mom!

Today was my mom's birthday and she, Christine, Joshua, Clara, and I went out to celebrate. She chose Olive Garden as where she would like to eat and it was really good. Unfortunately I forgot my camera. I know the kids today often don't have a camera and just use their cell phones, but I don't really understand this. Christine has an iPhone, which is what we used to take this since no one had a camera and is, by all reports, one of the best cameras on a cell phone that there is. But it still turned out a little blurry. So I guess I'll be sticking with a separate camera for the foreseeable future, though it would be nice to be able to combine devices.

A King-Sized Table at Houlihan's

Michelle was in town this weekend and we had a lot of fun with her. Tonight we went to Houlihan's for dinner. Houlihan's is reasonably kid friendly and has a decent children's menu, but their layout makes it difficult for them to accommodate more than one high chair at a table. We need a high chair and a sling so we got the largest table they had, which was the only one that could handle two. Luckily no parties of 10 came in while we were eating since that would have been uncomfortable. I like Houlihan's because they have small plates (also a normal menu if you prefer) so it was nice to try a few things and it's always nice to have all three sisters in the same place.

Thanks, Presidents

Today was a holiday for Jason so I chose not to work and, since it was a federal holiday, Christine also had the day off. Joshua, Christine, and I went to Red Robin for lunch and really enjoyed it, but before we did Christine stopped by and spent some time with Clara.