Toadfrogs and Elephants

One of my mom’s good friends hosted a baby shower for me today. It was great to see everyone and presents are always fun!

Joyce and I

As we’ve gotten older, it’s harder and harder to get uall the toadfrogs and elephants together. (Read the story of toadfrogs and elephants here.) Mary Ann hosted brunch and we all attended, but we didn’t quite make it at the same time. Melissa had to leave early and Ben and Stephanie arrived after church. Regardless it was great to see everyone – especially Ben and Stephanie’s little girls.

Melissa is spending Christmas this year in New York with Chris’s family, but she did come to Paducah for the weekend. We managed to pack a lot of activities into a single day.

We started with an early morning visit to see Grandma:

Then we drove to Benton for the Siener Twins second birthday party. I had mentioned the twins in a previous post here and here. Kip and Kase were adorable:

Jason and Kase opening presents

Next up we had Mexican with Carolyn and Jay (the twins’ grandparents) and then did a little shopping. Melissa was into hats. I love the below picture, but didn’t get a picture of the hat she actually bought:

We drove back to Paducah and had our Christmas with Melissa:

Then we had my Dad’s annual Christmas Party to attend. Melissa and I got to see all kinds of people we only see once a year. Before the guests arrived we all gathered for a family picture:

It was a long day and I plan to sleep a long time!

It turns out I missed a huge snowfall in Milwaukee last night. I’m not sure of the total accumulation, but Wade is guessing about 12 inches. He thoughtfully provided pictures so that I would know what I am missing.

Above is the backyard (with lawn furniture), Wade’s car in the driveway, and the impression of the garage door in the snow.

I took the train down yesterday and now I am hanging out with Mom in Paducah. We got up early and spent the day shopping. I only have one present left to buy – not counting the one of Wade’s that has suddenly become impossible to find. We played all day and then had to rush to dinner. We were eating with my Grandmother at her Assissted Living Facility for their Holiday Meal. BBQ was an excellent choice – yum!

Today was an awesome day. Wade got a promotion. It snowed. And I got to eat dinner at Moe’s. What more could I ask for on my last night in Milwaukee?

I wrote a few weeks ago about Wade helping Nate and Amy unclog a drain. They offered to buy us dinner and we told them that wasn’t necessary. Then someone brought up a trip to Racine for Chick-fil-A (the closest one to us and the only one for hours). We all agreed that sounded yummy and tonight off we went. We all had chicken, waffle fries, and a milkshake. The boys also had some sweat tea. Yum! I didn’t think to take a picture at dinner, but I got one of Wade and I and our authentic Chick-fil-A cups. Thank you Nate and Amy!!

Today we didn’t do anything overly “New York”. We took a taxi to Inwood to see Matt’s apartment and spent the afternoon with him:

We had brunch in a local restuarant and then walked through Inwood Hill Park before Matt drove us to the airport.