So last Friday, the 19th we decided at 3pm that we had better get out of town or we were going to get snowed in. We left about 5:30 pm and pulled into KC about 12:15am. The drive sucked because I hate driving at night, don\'t sleep well in the car, and a I got the one section of the drive with ice on the road. We also forgot half a dozen things, none of which were do or die but still annoying. But if we hadn\'t left we probably would have been snowed in until Monday so it was good that we went.

We spent Saturday and Sunday with the IL\'s and saw some of DH\'s extended family. Monday we went to Wichita to see my mom\'s parents and MIL\'s parents. My grandad who has very advanced alzheimers and is in a home is doing well physically but not mentally. When we visiting in October Adele sat on his lap and he was very responsive to her, this time she would not sit on his lap. I was very sad that she wouldn\'t because I saw how my grammy lit up when he reacted to her but she seemed to understand. Adele still interacted with him a little as well so that helped. Then we visited MIL\'s parents. They are very special to DH as they paid for his education and have always been very generous and loving people. His grandfather is on dialysis and has been for a almost 2 years which doesn\'t bode well for his longevity. His grandmother has alzheimers though not as bad as my grandad\'s. I suspect between the 3 of them and my other two grandparents we\'ll be attending some funerals in 2009.
Tuesday just pissed me off. When MIL called and bitched me out right after Thanksgiving because I was \"ruining\" her plans she begged us not to plan anything for Tuesday because that was her only day to spend with us other then Christmas Eve which ended up not being true because we spent all weekend with them but anyway, she, FIL and BIL spent all day shopping for BIL\'s gifts to give. So DH, Adele & I ended up spending most of the day alone except for lunch with some friends. I was so pissed. We couldn\'t plan anything, but it was ok for BIL to screw everything up - whatever!
Christmas Eve was celebrated like it was Christmas for DH\'s side of the family. Adele\'s big gift was a play kitchen which she really seems to like. Christmas day we drove to my parents and spend the rest of the day with them, it was so nice to finally have a relaxing day on this trip. Visiting the IL\'s sucks b/c their house is no child safe in any way, shape or form and it just stresses me out especially now that Adele is super mobile. I get no time to myself because I\'m constantly chasing her. If this was their last grandchild or they were planning to leave this house I could understand no making some adjustments, but neither of those are true. At least DH now gets it, he realized how much more relaxed I can be at my parents, not only because their house is more kid friendly but because my parents are willing to chase her around and don\'t expect me to be one step behind her at all time.
Friday we had family photos taken by the same photographer that did my senior pictures and my sisters. I\'m looking forward to seeing them, I think they turned out well. I also made Adele\'s birthday cake that day, it turned out well, I was very happy with it.
Saturday was Adele\'s birthday party. After asking me to change the time to 2:30 the IL\'s showed up at 1:45 - ARGH! The party was going very well until Adele reached up and grabbed the wick of the candle she had just blown out before I could stop her. She hadn\'t had a nap so that caused a major melt down even though she really hadn\'t hurt herself. So she took a short nap while the adults ate and then we tried the cake again, without the candle this time. She had a great time and got lots of great gifts, I\'m AMAZED that we got everything home in our car.
Sunday was my niece Katie\'s baptism. It was nice to see some of my BIL\'s family and we ran into some friends after church so it was a good day all around. Because we didn\'t get back to my parents\' until after 1 we didn\'t come home until Monday. Monday was a great driving day, lots of sun and no weather so we got home around 7:30pm.
All in all it was a good 9 days in Kansas but I\'m glad to be home.
I seem to have issues posting pictures here, so here are some links for pictures.
Adele's 1st birthday: http://picasaweb.google.com/cherim76...FirstBirthday#
Adele's 1st Christmas: http://picasaweb.google.com/cherim76...irstChristmas#
Adele's 12th Month: http://picasaweb.google.com/cherim76/12thMonth11281227#