Tony's Birthday

My big brother turned 32 this week.  (Jeez - that sounds old, but I guess I'm only a couple of years away from that!)

We celebrated with dinner at his favorite restaurant, Wil Jenny's, just like last year.  But this year, everyone could make it!  It's not often we can ALL get together, so this was nice!

I had this little guy in my lap duirng most of dinner.  He didn't want to sit in his high chair, and I'm the biggest push-over ever when it comes to him and anything he wants. :)

"Gram" got to love on her two babies.  Hunter is very posessive of her (since she watches him most days), and Hadley is just obsessed with Hunter.  Here she is pinching his little cheeks and baby-talking to him, while Hunter is trying to secure Gram for himself.  Hadley just loves on him non-stop and follows him around like a little mother hen when he's around.  It's too cute.

How can you say no to that face?                                                                     

I was a good little sister and got Tony a present.  Kind of.  I just did has taxes again this year... Same thing I did last year.  I think that's a pretty good present though! ;)

Have we changed much??

1989                                                            2013

 ("Oh, my tax return!" trying to act surprised...)

I think the real reason we got to Wil Jenny's is just for the dessert.  They have the best friend ice cream around, and Tony is obsessed with it.  We put down two of them between the 10 of us.  Hadley and Tony tried to feed each other some of the ice cream (which she loved).  Unfortunatey for Tony, all of his bite landed in his lap before she actually got the spoon up to his mouth.  He played along anyways...with melting ice cream on his leg. Such a good uncle! :)



It was a short celebration since Allie and Brody had activities to get to, but it was still a great night.  Good food and good company in honor of the birthday boy! 

I know he's never going to read this...but Happy Birthday to a wonderful friend/brother/uncle/dad!  You are loved. :)

(Side note:  My niece, Allie, is seriously growing up.  I think she looks like a teenanger in this picture and she's only 10!!  What happened to that cute little 6 year old?  Jeez - maybe I AM getting old!)

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Matt and I kept the party alive by going to the Alabama Shakes concert right after dinner!

Such an entertaining show from a very talented band!  That gal can sing!



Dancing with the KC Stars

For the second year in a row, Matt and I attended the "Dancing with the KC Stars" event, benefiting Cristo Rey High School.  The school has a special place in my heart, as I've become involved with the girls basketball program.  (They finished the season 15-6 and the head coach won "Coach of the Year!")

(During a time out at one of the games)

Me with the two seniors, who will be playing college ball next year!

 But basketball team aside, the school runs a really awesome program.  They provide a college-prep Catholic education for low-income students, many of whom wouldn't be able to attend high school otherwise.  In face, 97% of its students meet the "poverty" guideline.  But the best part?  The seniors have a 100% college acceptance rate, and they have for all 5 years of the schools existence.  The students work - like, a real job in the working world - one day a week, and that is how a good chunk of their tuition is covered.  The rest comes from people like us who donate.

Anyways, back to the event...

I borrowed a dress from my sister in law, so that saved some hassle.  And it was even purple!  I know I didn't get a good picture of it, but Matt looked so nice in his dark grey suit, purple tie, and awesome white pocket square with purple edging!  Of course any time he wears purple I think he looks amazing. :) 

Matt and I had an awesome time at this event last year.  This year was still fun, but maybe not quite as fun.  We got stuck at pretty much the worst able in the room over in one corner.  We didn't have a good view of the stage or the screens, really.  And we had a weird mix of people at our table.  (One old guy switched Matt's chocolate dessert out for his cheesecake and thought we wouldn't notice!  Who does that!?) 

The view from our corner table :(



 However, the food was good, the dancing was awesome, and it's all for such a good cause: education.  The students put on a great performance towards the end, and I snagged a picture with one of the b-ball players, Shakila, as she walked by.  (She told me their performance was going to be much better than last years, and it definitely was!)

The Kansas City "stars" and the actual professional dancers were definitely the highlight of the night though.  One of our favorite dancers was actually a car salesmen from somewhere up north, but an ex-Chiefs player won the fundraising part.  Of course! 

Over $600,000 was raised in one night for the school.  We were a small part of that number again this year.  They had an "auction" kind of set-up, and I raised my number to donate -- once the amounts dropped below the thousands.  There were students running around jumping up and down by whoever was donating, to make sure they didn't get missed.  Matt snapped a couple pictures of the two girls going crazy by me!

After the event, we made our way up to the stage for a picture in front of the cool sign.  Thanks to one of my b-ball players, Mayela, for snapping the pics for us!   

 Oh, and I snagged a sparkly ornament off the table for our Christmas tree.  I mean, I know it's a "travel" tree - but maybe we can just make it an "event" tree so we can include this one! (You know I can't pass up anything that sparkly!)

We'll be back again next year for sure!