NYE & Santa

So we are celebrating the Book family Christmas tonight on NYE. Just in the nick of time.

It's too bad my husband has asked me to wrap a few remaining things (he wrapped a good portion of the gifts), and I still have some shopping to do. Instead I've ignored being in my house (where the festivities will be held), it's the afternoon and I am playing with my nephew, Nate, for multiple hours.

Steve will be thrilled when we talk and he asks me what I have been doing all day on my one day off. I am a big believer in underpromising and overdelivering when it comes to my husband. I strive never to set his expectations high when it comes to me. I like to think it's one of our secrets to our successful relationship:)

Have a fabulous NYE whatever you are doing!

Christmas Craziness in SL

Opening presents at the Seiler's is CRAZY. We always have the best intentions of watching everyone open their presents, but in my eight Christmases with the Seiler's, it has happened negative times.

So nobody knows what anyone got, but thank you's are always written promptly, so Barb definitely did something right (one of many things, I should add).

Steve, Jer and Jer's chair.


Andy (note the Christmas sweater and beard), Josh (Julie's boyfriend) and Steve looking cheesily excited.

It's Cael's first Christmas! You can see the excitement of it all over his face :) Why do kids (Ty showing grandma) always love the free gifts?

Ty and Luke opening various food products.

Again, Cael looking extremely excited. Really, he loved it all...I just didn't get pictures with those facial expressions. Ty may be getting ready to pounce on his baby brother. Just a guess.

Julie...Au natural...

Uncle to Nephew

Our oldest nephew, Luke, turned six in November. Since he's in Dez Monez (or actually, since we are in KC), we had to wait until Christmas to give him his birthday presents.


An adult size Kansas City Monarch baseball cap. Luke's dad proceeded to wear it all night with the tags hanging off it. I don't think that's appropriate for a principal in or out of school.


Luke has always loved anything and everything dinosaurs.

This kid knows how to pronounce words in this book I couldn't even begin to spell.

Yes, it's a ninja sword. No, I was not involved with this purchase.

Sledding SL Style

On Christmas Eve, Steve and I drove from KC to Storm Lake. That drive is a blast in case anyone has not done it.

See there are sights like the big car wash man in the hopping town of Logan, Iowa.

On Christmas Day, we decided to take our nephews sledding down the hill at Steve's parents because there was snow everywhere!

The Seiler sister-in-laws (Jamie, Julie and me). I am wearing my father-in-law's Carhartt bib overalls and coat. Jer is not a small man. Everything smelled like gasoline, so I stayed away from the burn barrels.

Our 3-year old nephew, Ty, and Aunt Beth hitting the hill together for the first and last time. We went so fast that Ty's face was pure snow by the time we got to the bottom. So the boys went inside with Grandma Barb and the adults put in some major sledding time.

The Seiler sister-in-laws on the wooden toboggan that is probably older than the three of us combined. That sucker had some speed.

The three Seiler siblings. Enough said.

Steve doing a white-out and running into a tree.

The best part was that Jerry would drop us and the sleds off at the top of the hill, drive down the hill to laugh at us, and then we'd hop in the back of the truck and get a ride up the hill.

The worst part was when my brother-in-law, Andy, unbeknownst to me, took a deer leg on the sled when the two of us went down together. He rubbed it against my coat, and then I screamed. And kept I screaming.

Holiday with the Bomb Squad

On Friday night Steve and I hosted our Bomb Squad (minus Michelle) holiday get together.

The Bomb Squad is made up of Allison, Jen, Michelle and me. We met in our early 20's when we were all on the Ad2 Advertising Club board of directors. I'm not sure if Bomb Squad is clever considering we are in advertising, but we're not on the creative side so our standards are low.


Obligatory splits.

Jack and Beverly surprised us by stopping by with Beverly's son, Jason from Houston, and his girlfriend, Lindsay! Here's Jack, Steve and Dave lounging in the living room.

KP and I reprised our Journey dance from his wedding in October.

I am unsure what Jen and I are doing but I know we were listening to my "workout" track on my IPod.

I love the holidays because Steve will play games! He apparently does not trust Jen not to cheat since he is obviously invading her personal space.

KP, Steve, Dave and Jason (from Houston) at about 3 a.m.

Allison, me, Lindsay (who we had just met when she walked in our house) and Jen enjoying (fill in the blank) # of wine.

Wine, Cheese & Then Karoke

Last Saturday night Steve and I went to a holiday wine & cheese party at my friend's condo on the plaza.

The minute I arrived, I wanted us to move back on the Country Club Plaza and live in a condo. And I believe it took me less than 10-seconds to inform Steve this was the coolest place ever (over dramatizing just a bit). I'm sure Steve then commented that the building smelled like some type of food (which it didn't).

Granted we live a mere 4-minutes from the above mentioned condo and we live an "urban life", but I miss those days of living in a building on the plaza where you have to buzz people up. And in a place where everything is so uniform in a fun way.

And after hours of Steve standing there and me sneaking in one, two and three more fills of my wine, he drug me out, took me home and with a smile turned on the cheesiest local karoke show ever: Harrah's Lucky Break. And the magic of the night was gone in a flash.

Not cool, Steve Seiler.

Iowa/Iowa State Gamewatch

On Friday night Steve and I walked down to our trusty neighborhood bar for the Iowa/Iowa State basketball gamewatch.

We brought some board games for Toys for Tots, and as a result I won matching Iowa State t-shirts for both Steve and me (I am wearing it below)!

It was all so exhilarating that Steve just could not take the excitement of putting on his twinkie t-shirt or getting his picture taken.

Kati, Rooster and me.

Joe, what is your wife doing? Maybe it's a KU symbol since Angie's team is used to winning.

Big 12 Championship Football Game

Saturday night Steve and I scored tickets to my company's suite for the Big 12 championship football game at Arrowhead.

It was cold outside. Like really cold. So we stayed inside and had a great view of the game with comfy chairs and even a table for our drinks in a room set at 72 degrees.

But we were the only ones. Everyone else spent all or the majority of their time in the seats in the tundra. Granted, we were pretty much the only attendees that didn't attend MU or OU, but geesch, it's not rocket science. Cold is cold. And a 72 degree suite is a 72 degree suite!

Parents Away: Nate, Beth & Steve to Play (and to Watch Cartoons)

Steve and Ann had my brother's holiday work party in St. Louis on Friday night, so we got to play fun aunt and uncle with Nate overnight.

And fun we had. Part of that fun was special occassion cartoons.

Uncle Steve was feeling under the weather, but he still figured out a way to bring The Cat & The Mouse to Nate's house Friday night. Nate asks to watch The Cat & The Mouse every time he is at our house. Seriously, Tom & Jerry is quite violent compared to Little Einsteins and Handy Manny, so it's a good thing Nate knows they only hang out at our house.

On Saturday Uncle Steve also "brought" over Nate's beloved JLA Superhero cartoon. Nate and Uncle Steve sat on the floor watching the cartoon and playing with the Superheros that were on the cartoon (seriously, it was too cute for words). Steve told Nate this cartoon was to be their little secret. That secret lasted about 10-minutes after Nate's parents arrived home.

Cartoons and Superheros are unquestionably two of Steve's favorite things, and that's no lie (he actually won't deny it).

Bowling Book Style

Here is imagery from the first-ever Book family bowling outing (as in, first time in my entire life).

Bowling Ball-O-Beer


This is the son of a real bowler (his mom, not dad as you indicated above).


Can you believe my mom has passed up years of this with her family?

Even bowling shoes are cute on lil' ones!

Thanksgiving KC Style

It was a warm day, so....

did some swinging...

fried multiple turkeys...

hung the turkeys on my dad's old ladder...

and enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving feast thanks to Ann, my mom and my husband!

Q-Tips

Q-Tips are what we both included in our 2nd wedding anniversary cards to each other (since cotton is for year #2) last night.

We apparently are cheap, clean-eared and two peas in a pod!

We've been law abiding for 2-years now.

Two-years ago at this moment on 12/2/06, Steve was hung over, and I was at a bridal party luncheon at Reverse waiting for 6:15 p.m. to arrive so we could tie the knot!

Three-years ago at this moment on 12/2/05, I was at work oblivious to my night ahead, and Steve was anxiously waiting to propose to me later that night (and also probably questioning my P.I. skills since he had been storing my engagement ring in our living room for months).

So now it's 12/2/08.

• We are at work.
• Our only conversations today have been through text messages.
• I still sometimes forget my last name and want to put the "i" before the "e" when spelling it on the phone.
• We haven't yet ordered our wedding photos.
• It is 60 degrees and sunny in KC (nope, I still can't let that go).
• I have a huge blemish on my face (I'm not sure if I would have chosen the snow storm or the blemish two-years ago as both have the power to be emotionally scaring for any female).
• Tonight we're celebrating at Le Fou Frog.
• And we're still living the dream together!

Ukelay isway ixsay earsyay oldway!

(The title is in pig latin.)

So we had a birthday last week in our family. Our oldest nephew, Luke, is now six-years old!

I was holding off on this post because I was going to put up a picture from his actual birthday. But since I forgot to email his parents with this request, I've got nada. Bad, bad aunt (and uncle).

He is so cute and fun to talk to on the phone. When we talked to him, they were heading to Red Lobster to eat Luke's favorite food...shrimp! He told us that if someone quietly tells the people at the restaurant it's your birthday, they will even sing.

Huh, who knew? :)

Shark Bar

After the wine tasting none of us ate. Instead we were suddenly in the Shark Bar at P&L District.

We had a gooooood time.

Steph told Barb and me we had to try this red stuff. I felt like I was drinking a Have a Nice Day Cafe fish bowl. We all know the after effects of drinking a fish bowl. Same thing with the mysterious Shark drink.

Angie, Kati, Barb, Steph and me before hitting the dance floor.

Me and a scary mule(?) mascot. Why was a mule at a surf like club? I still don't understand.

Barb and me with our mysterious red drinks and a smoke machine.

Barb and me "non smoke machine".

What is a night for "Beth Book" on a catwalk without some splits? I should add Seiler to this since I've done many splits since being married, but the majority were still done under my Beth Book moniker. I bet this is where my painful knee bruise originated.

The birthday boy, Rooster, doing is signature move.

Wine-o-rama

On Friday night Steve headed up north overnight to "not find deer".

And I spent Friday night with our friends celebrating Rooster's birthday, drinking wine, drinking some other red stuff that was a bit suspect but oh so good and doing a lot of dancing (which left me with a mysterious not nice entire knee encompassing bruise).

After work Ann and Nate graciously dropped me off downtown, and I met Barb for a drink with her co-workers and then we headed to meet the gang at the Cellar Rat for a KC ISU Alumnae Wine Tasting. Saying I enjoy wine is a understatement, and I obviously love being with friends so I knew a good night was ahead of me.


Barb and I are only starting our fun for the night.


As I mentioned Friday night was Rooster's birthday! Angie and Joe brought the dessert.

The birthday boy and me. I didn't realize my eyes were already squinty. You would think at age 34-1/2 I would have the "eat dinner before drinking" thing down.

The ISU girls (and a couple KU girls) after the tasting was over but the pours were still coming.

Whoo Girl

On Monday night, Ann invited us over for some tasty enchiladas. When we returned home, we had missed, "How I Met Your Mother".

Steve had a message from a friend saying he wanted to watch "How I Met Your Mother" with us. We were perplexed.

But within the first few minutes of pushing play on the DVR, we understood why. The episode was about whoo girls.

I am a whoo girl.

I whoo when I'm excited at work (along with spirit fingers), when I win a board game, when my favorite song comes on, when I'm out with my girlfriends...

Whoo is my sound.

I am a happy whoo girl with a husband who cannot make that sound come out of his mouth in a genuine way; even if both of our lives depended on it. Although it would be extremely entertaining.

Commode

We've had a toilet in our guest room (and hence no toilet in our upstairs bathroom) for two weeks.

Surprisingly, I'm completely fine with the length of time it's been there. Actually, I've sat on the toilet a few times in the middle of the room while I've chatted on the phone.

And if Steve wants to walk around a toilet for the rest of his life to get to his closet, I say more power to him.

P.S. And we're not doing this so my parents don't stay with us for Thanksgiving. We actually would really like them to stay with us one night!

It's Back...

It's that time of the year when I lose Steve overnight multiple weekends so he can leave the city, cook chili and eat with men who have names that can't possibly be on their birth certificates, play board games with a little girl, sleep on the floor of an office with a howling dog outside the door only to wake up in the middle of the night to go sit outside in the middle of a numb-freezing field for double-digit hours with little to no success.

Hunting season is here.

Game Day

This past weekend was spent in Iowa City for the Iowa/Penn State football game with the fam. For some reason Steve decided to stay home and get ready for deer season and work on the upstairs bathroom. Mature but anyway...

For those of you who are unaware, it was quite frigid in Iowa City on Saturday (like 20 degree windchills...brr). We were all thankful for my parent's and Robinson's rockin' Jamboree RV for pre and post tailgating festivities.

And, then of course, there was the actual football game. Cold and amazing! What an upset...


Jack and Nate hangin' in their grandparent's Jamboree. They don't know how lucky they are to be the second generation in line to own this piece of equipment.



There was a surprise Hawkeye baby shower for Baby Book!

Ahh...Phil. Phil tailgating RV is next door (is that how you say it?). Anyway, two seasons ago Steve and I stayed overnight in the Jamboree in the parking lot, and we got to know Phil quite well. In fact I believe Phil and Steve have some type of ESP relationship. I don't exactly what that means but it's true. And now that they're texting buddies (and Steve does not text)...

Fans after the upset storming the field. It was freezing, numb cold but the game made it worth it!

Ann, Wendy, Patti, Erin and me post-game tailgating on the bed of the RV. Check out the sweet decor...