MO Christmas 2016

This past weekend was Korenak Family Christmas in Southeast Missouri. There is no way around the fact that the drive there is brutal, made much worse by my youngest son who was way too cramped in the car during the nine hour car ride. The big boys did good, thanks to the Netflix ground breaking technology of downloading movies. Love it!!

The first evening Zach went to famous Bloomfield Christmas Tournament and came home with this gem. Yep, that's a picture of 17 year old Zach, a.k.a. 2001-2002 National Beta Secretary! This is the shrine to said Beta Secretary that is set up in the Bloomfield High School Gym. They obviously didn't have football at his high school. Yes, they put his Men in Tights Hat, from his National Beta Convention skit, in the trophy case. My personal favorite part is Zach's terribly creepy face and the fact that I'm pretty sure this was a glamor shot picture. Did I ever mention that a young Zachary Korenak sang the National Anthem at the 2002 Oklahoma City Beta Convention, where we met. Looking back on it he sang it in his now famous, and hysterical, Christmas voice! Anyway I got a good hardy laugh out of this flashback photo from BHS!

While Zach was making his public appearance the boys and I were partying with Adeline. They spent most of the evening taking silly pictures on the iPad and laughing hysterically about each one! Adeline is the sweetest girl and played so nicely with my boys, even though they are quite a bit younger than she is. Miss Adeline will be celebrating her super ultra golden birthday next week on the tenth. Happy Birthday Adeline!!

 Adeline was quick to carry Rowan wherever he needed to go, especially if there were scary dogs around. She's such a great big cousin.

The next day we opened presents and everyone loved what they received. The boys both got Legos with carrying cases which are perfect for Zane current love of Legos. Zane got a Red Ryder BB gun from Uncle JR, which of course is every boy's dream. They also got lots of new shirts, a basketball goal for their new room, a fire truck, and walkie talkies which have made for endless fun. Adeline helped Zane build his Legos and he finished the whole little diner in one day, which he was very proud of.

 And of course there was lots and lots of tasty food! The little kids table proactively said their prayers early so they wouldn't have to wait for the adults to start eating. I like how these kids think, very cute stuff.

Rowan had two main goals for our trip, the first one was to take a ride on Papa's track loader and the second was the ride a horse. He got to do both and loved every minute of it. First up was his track loader ride. He woke up from his nap one day and came outside to tell Papa "It's perfect weather for driving a track loader." You really can't argue with that! Papa drove him around and even smashed a big paint can for him. I took videos of everything, per Rowan's request so he can watch them "everyday!!!"

We spent New Year's Eve at Aunt Trina's riding horse and shooting BB guns. It was pretty chilly, but the boys powered through. Zane got BB gun lessons from Uncle JR and Daddy and apparently is quite the shot. He doesn't have fantastic aim with his bow and arrow just yet, I think because he can't keep it pulled back long enough to really aim, but that doesn't seem to be a problem with the Red Ryder.

 There was lots of talk about gun safety. Everyone knows how much guns stress me out, especially around children. I've seen one to many accidental shooting, when everyone was doing everything right, but it still ended with a child dying or being seriously injured. I'm sure everyone enjoyed watching me be stressed out about it. To Zane's credit he has been extremely responsible with both his bow and his BB gun hopefully that continues.

Rowan braved the wind and cold for his long awaited horse ride. He rode two different horse, Nancy (below) who is a very old and gentle, and Hillbilly who is a boy and little bit faster. Adeline walked him around the yard for a long time then Aunt Trina took him on a ride around the farm. He came in with frozen hands and a huge smile on his face. Of course he had his cowboy boots on for his ride because he is a cowboy after all.

 In the evening we played board games and the big cousins I hear stayed up till past midnight. My little family headed back to Grammi's and struggled to stay up long enough to get showers and get in bed. I sat down to read a little bit and was asleep by 9:15pm. The New Year came just the same and I was able to function the next day so it's all good. I did manage to eat some pretzels and drink a glass of Gingerale for dear old Dad before heading to sleep.

Here are Levi and Rowan, both of the tiny boy body type!

 Clay won Clue which meant he got to force everyone to play Monopoly. Zane was on Clay's team, though I'm not sure how much help he was. Clay was very patient with him and remains the sweetest young man.

 The other big attraction at Papa's house is Shy the dog and Papa's cows. Shy is getting old and currently has some sort of leg injury that makes her look very pathetic. She limps along on three legs and spends most of her time with the cows. This is unfortunate since Rowan is just now able to tolerate being around Shy Shy. So we took a trip up to see the cows and visit Shy. Papa's cows are very tame which meant we had the added bonus of petting them. I reinforced with Zane that isn't usually how cows act around people and really he should treat them as though they might kick you or run you over at anytime, just in case.

Zane also got lots of practice with his bow. This huge piece of Styrofoam is a much better/fun target than the little Amazon box we had set up in our backyard at home.

 Then we headed home yesterday so Zach could turn around and leave on a business trip today. The ride home was much more difficult for me. I was terribly uncomfortable and little man was NOT having a good time. It was also really foggy/gloomy most of the way which makes is less fun. The boys did amazingly well sharing the tablet. We forgot to renew our Netflix movies on the iPad so were down to one device to watch movies on for the ride home. There was little to no arguing so we celebrated with pizza for dinner.

 Rowan rocked over around Tulsa and couldn't stop signing the Super Why song. It's a very catchy tune and extremely entertaining to a very tired three year old. He sang his little heart out until he fell asleep, funny stuff.

Now we are back home and Zach is gone for the rest of the week. I'm exhausted, but that's not news really. Zane goes back to school tomorrow and I go back to the doctor. Rowan will be at daycare so hopefully his first day without brother isn't too terrible. It has been a wonderful two weeks with Zane at home and I continue to be amazed at how much fun they have together. They are truly the best of friends and it warms my heart. We had lots of fun in MO, but it's great to be home!