After work on Friday Kim and I headed out to Amanda and Joel’s place on the outskirts of town. We met up with the two of them, along with Maria, and headed over to the new entertainment area of town called Legends. They are still in the process of building most of it, but there are a few restaurants and shops that are already open. We quickly decided on Granite City Food & Brewery, a chain of microbreweries from Minnesota, for dinner and drinks. The food was really good and the beers weren’t bad either. Once they can figure out how to work a thermostat they should be good to go. After freezing through our final round of drinks, we headed outside to thaw out and return to Amanda and Joel’s. We topped off the night with a couple games of euchre, which Joel and I won!

We hung around the apartment most of Saturday until later in the evening when we went over to Doni and Phil’s. Phil cooked up Kung Pao chicken, Doni served drinks, and we provided fortune cookies for dessert! The food was excellent, especially with a little hot mustard thrown in. Our after dinner entertainment first consisted of a DVD that Phil made from their recent trip to Hawaii. It wasn’t quite as good as my mom’s work, but at least he figured out how to make a DVD, I haven’t even got that far. From there we played some more cards, this time the name of the game was hearts. I think Phil spends a little too much time playing online because he kicked the crap out of all of us.

Since Sunday’s weather was so nice we decided to get outside early, after lunch from Chipotle. We first hit some balls at the local driving range. Kim wanted to try out her new set of clubs, which actually did seem to help a little so far. I’m sure this will be a common activity for us for the next few weeks leading up to her trip to Pinehurst. We then picked up Bianca and one of her friends and took them to the zoo. Since many parts of the zoo are currently closed for the winter and for construction it only costs $2 to get in. There is still enough open to keep you busy for an hour or two, so it’s well worth it. After spending some time with them we ran a few errands and returned home just in time for me to leave for my hockey game. Our star player was out for this week, but we still managed to get the win and remain in first place!

Earlier this month I mentioned that Dominique was moving down to Atlanta. He has been down there since then and seems to be doing well. Big Brothers Big Sisters wanted me to get matched up with another kid, but I think even one kid is demanding enough for us. Besides, this move may not last forever, and Dominique could be back in KC at some point in the future.

Anyway, we hung out with Bianca last night. I got home after work and found her and Kim doing some science experiments in the kitchen. I finished making the dinner that they started while they cleaned up from an incident involving vinegar and baking soda. We ate dinner very fast and then head off to Bianca’s school for the Blue Jay Fair, basically an open house. The school was much nicer than I was expecting, and Bianca’s teachers were mostly young and energetic. Previously I assumed that the teachers likely didn’t care much about the students or their education, but I was definitely proven wrong. The kids’ poor grades must be due to their lack of interest and effort. I wish I could find a way to convince them that it’s for their own good.

We went over to the kids’ house last night for what might be the last time we see Dominique. Supposedly he is flying to Atlanta today to live with his grandma. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard this from them, but it sure seemed pretty truthful last night. Overall he seems pretty excited about the move, and I think it will be good for him. He has so many responsibilities here with caring for his three younger sisters along with taking care of himself at the age of 13. This will allow him to actually be a kid and do the things that most kids take for granted. I gave my phone number to him again, and told him that he can find the Atlanta office of Big Brothers Big Sisters to get paired up again. We’ll see if the move goes through this time…

Friday night started off pretty relaxing, with some pasta for dinner and a couple of drinks. Then Mike and Christie came over and the euchre games began. I would advise never playing euchre with Christie as she gets more loner hands in one game than I have ever had. From there we headed down to The Levee for additional drinks, some dancing, and great times!

Saturday was spent cleaning up the apartment and rearranging the office in preparation for a new computer desk that can hold my growing home network. I finally got the new computer on the network, and the process of transferring files has begun. Later in the evening we hosted a party for the recent engagement of Christina, one of Kim’s coworkers, and Taylor. The party eventually shifted down to O’Dowd’s, where Tanner Walle and friends were putting on a show. It was nice to see them again, even if they were playing only cover songs. Hopefully we can make it out to another show soon.

Yesterday we took the kids out to the movies and saw Dreamer. It was a nice family movie that everyone seemed to enjoy. We then spent a little time at a pet store and called it a day. I was able to play hockey last night even though my toe is still a little sore. We won once again and should now be in first place in the league.

We hung out with “the kids” last night. We started off wrapping gifts for their mom and their two younger twin sisters. We had some pizza for dinner and then Kim and Bianca needed to study. Dominique and I finished up wrapping all of the gifts, while watching episodes of Friends. On the ride back to their house to drop them off, we gave them each a little gift and Uno Attack! as a shared gift. That game looks like fun, hopefully they bring it with them on an upcoming visit so we can all play together.

The rest of the night was full of making copies of NOW 2005, while watching TV and having a couple glasses of wine. I’m up to about 15 copies of the CD, and we are shooting for 30 total. That means I’m about half way done, and I have one night left. Between finishing these up and packing, I’m sure tonight will be real busy.

Last night we took Dominique and Bianca to the Big Brothers & Big Sisters Holiday Party. They had food provided by Chili’s, all sorts of games to play, a talent show, and a DJ to dance along to. I think the kids liked dancing the best, I enjoyed the free food! :)

After dropping them off later in the night, I attempted to make brownies for our work potluck lunch today. After making the batter and putting into a large pan, I read the cooking times and realized that it would depend on using a 8×8 or 9×9 pan. The pan I used must have been 13×9, so I just sort of winged it from there. They turned out to be pretty thin, but they sure do taste good!

I got a present from work yesterday as well, a new 19 inch flat panel monitor. I guess it was finally my turn to be upgraded from the bulky CRT. This just makes me wish that I had one of these at home…

I’m back to winning the majority of my fantasy football games. I edged out my brother in one game, to win by two points. In another game I crushed my buddy Will who must have forgotten to set his lineup. I couldn’t win all three though, and lost the third one because of some lousy quarterbacks. Bledsoe (who I played) racked up a whopping 1 point, and Favre (who was on the bench) pulled in -2 points. I was screwed regardless of who I played. I now sit at 25-14, not too bad.

Last night we hung out with Dominique and Bianca again. We didn’t get to do anything too exciting though since I had to login to work for a couple of hours. We had to get something in with them, since we’ll only be in KC for a total of three days this week.

I’ve added some pictures from the Chiefs game over the weekend. We forgot to bring our camera to the game, but many of my co-workers had theirs. I stole all of the good ones and put them up here for you all to enjoy!

Sorry for the late post today, but I’m still recovering from last night…

First we hung out with Dominique and Bianca for a couple of hours. We had a nice spaghetti dinner and then we did some Christmas stuff. Dominique and I put up the tree, along with the lights and ornaments. The girls worked on some candy kits that Kim picked up. Everything turned out really well. Now I just need some presents under that tree.

From there we picked up Kim’s friend, BJ, from the Marriott downtown and headed toward the plaza. We met up with a group of our friends out at the Granfalloon. What started off as a nice little gathering turned into a very late night out. Somehow the majority of us were still out drinking after midnight. I’m not sure what got into us, but I’m sure that we are all regretting it today.

We have been terribly unexciting this week, my apologies. Busy? Yes. Exciting? No. I guess it just takes a week or so to wind down from a crazy weekend like last.

Last night we hung out with the “kids.” I made some grilled cheese with texas toast and some soup. The food was good, the card games were good, etc. I was surprised to find out that they don’t have any homework, but maybe school is lightening up with Thanksgiving right around the corner. There mom doesn’t seem to be in one of her better moods lately, but hopefully that all passes soon. I’d go into the details here, but it isn’t too important right now.

Hopefully our visitor for this weekend brings a little excitement along. I don’t want to mention names yet, but I’m sure we’ll be really busy. :)

After work on Friday I met up with pretty much everyone who I ever mention on here, most of whom were already out celebrating Kim’s promotion and another Friday evening. We watched the Chiefs game at the Brooksider and then later hit up Bobby Baker’s to round out the night.

Saturday started a little earlier than I would have liked, but it was worth it. We picked up Dominique and Bianca and brought them over to our place. We made some lunch and then carved the pumpkins we bought last weekend. I never realized how tough the carving actually was. I’ll have to remember to get some pictures up soon.

From there we hit up Susan’s fish fry for a couple of hours with Mike and his visitor from out of town, Chrissie. It was a nice excuse to make some skyline dip and then try to eat all of it. Eventually we had to get back to our place for the Shaking Tree pre-party. My buddy Steve Christy was coming up from Wichita, along with a girl who is dating the drummer. Courtney also joined in the party, as did Steve’s brother Jeff and our friend Maria.

The show was good, although by the time it started most of us were getting pretty tired from a very long day. It was nice to finally get out to another show though. After the show was over, we had almost everyone mentioned earlier back at the apartment and when I woke up the next morning they were all still there, covering most of the floor.

Sunday I watched football over at Mike’s. He’s got the “sunday ticket” package, so we could watch whatever we wanted. I wasn’t happy with most of the results though, I don’t think Mike was either. From there we ran an errand or two and then I was off to my hockey game. I thought I played pretty well, especially since I was playing defense again, but my passing could have been better. I’m still trying to adjust to my new stick I guess. We lost the game, but have another game tonight. Hopefully we can get back on a winning streak.