Our internet was not working last Sunday so we are doing two weeks worth of updates today.

My parents came for the week of Thanksgiving. The kids were so surprised Sunday morning. It was a lot of fun.

On Monday, Sydney's asthma was so bad, I didn't feel comfortable sening her to school. She was fine with that since it meant that she got to hang out with Grandma. In the morning, Ben and Dad went on the Oscar 1 tour with a friend of ours. It covers Whiteman's history as a missile base. Mom and I took the kids to WalMart to get a few things we needed (and couple that we just wanted). We all met at the BX and grabbed some lunch. In the afternoon, we dropped the kids off at a friend's house and Ben took us on a B-2 tour. We even got to sit in the pilot and copilot chairs in the cockpit. It was so very awesome.

On Tuesday, we almost cancelled our plans to go to Independence because Sydney's asthma was so bad. I had actually told my Dad as he headed to the shower that we weren't going. However, by the time he was dressed, I had changed my mind. I figured that I would have better luck keeping Sydney quiet if she was strapped in to a car seat and sat her in a stroller all day than I would keeping her home.

Since we were getting a bit of a late start, we first went to Pizza Street for lunch. We love to stop there for the buffet whenever we go to Independence. I love their Baked Potato Pizza and Taco Pizza. And I tried Macaroni and Cheese Pizza. It was weird. I don't think it was bad. Just weird.

We stopped at the Independence Visitors' Center after that. We watched a couple of presentations and let the kids spend some time in the play room while we took turns looking at the bronze sculpture exhibit. Some of the sculptures we just amazing.

We then drove the walking tour while Dad pointed out the former sites of various significant church history locations.

Then I realized that I had remembered the bottles, but not the formula for Tyler. The handy-dandy GPS led us to the nearest grocery store, then we were on our way to Liberty. We did the tour of the jail and headed home. Everything else was a little too far away to do with the kids.

Wednesday we took it easy and started cooking for Thanksgiving. Ben and I had planned to go on a date that evening, but when we came home at 2:30, we decided to head to Independence instead. We did a little Christmas shopping, saw Harry Potter, and ate at Red Lobster (the real reason for going all the way to Independence). The kids were in bed by the time we got home. It was really nice.

Since we were gone longer than planned, I hadn't made the pumpkin pies. First thing Thursday morning, I was making dessert, which felt weird. At least they turned out, which is more than I can say for the rest of the meal. We had a good time anyway. Tyler enjoyed his roll.

Mom and Ben cleaned up so I could have a break after the cooking marathon.

The kids were trying to pose for a Thanksgiving picture when Ben decided to join them.

Friday morning, my parents had to leave. Zack was so sad. After they drove away, Zack just stared out the window saying, "Ma-maw? Ma-maw?" We made ourselves feel a little better by setting up the Christmas tree.

On Thursday, I decided to start making the dough for the Christmas cookies. I was also watching my friends' little girl. When they came to pick her up, I spent a few minutes at the door talking to them. When I came back, this is what I found.

You can't really see just how white they are in this picture. I'm still cleaning up flour. Stinkers!

On Friday, we had some friends over and decided to have their kids sleep at our house so we could actually do something fun. We stayed up playing the Wii until midnight. I was exhausted the next day, but it was nice to do something fun without having to take care of the kids too.

Yesterday we took the kids to see Snake Lady and Spider Man. Snake Lady is a woman from Sedalia that has a bunch of snakes that she keeps in her home. Spider Man is actually our neighbor who has nine tarantulas. They each gave presentations then let the kids handle them. Tansy loved the snakes.

I am laughing maniacally to conceal my anxiety.