Family Celebration

So, the Queen's birthday week sadly came to an end on Sunday with a nice family dinner celebration. Can I say how incredibly nice it is that Russ and I's family get along so well!! So, Carolyn and Sue headed over to my parents house to join my family. For those of you who don't know, my dad is a phenomenal cook. He made delicious salads, twice baked potatoes and steak kabobs. My mom won alot of brownie points my making Russ' favorite.... beer bread topped with brown sugar. She even made him 4 little individual beer breads. Who is this woman!!?? I've never seen her do that before! Just kidding mom :) Everyone was so giving and got me some great gifts from Bath and Body Works, Pottery Barn, etc. You all are the best and I am lucky to have you all as my family!

Ground Hog Day

Sunday morning Matt and Russ were able to crawl out of bed and run a 5K race! My lazy behind stayed in bed recuperating from the evening before. They ran their race in under 30 minutes. Pretty impressive!

The Mad House

Saturday night Russ organized a wine and cheese party at our house to celebrate my birthday with friends. What a good time! I was very pleased with the turn out of people. We had quite the spread of food and the wine selection was wonderful. The ladies enjoyed playing several rounds of Catch Phrase and the men played some poker. Oh and the Wii was enjoyed by all! Thank you so much to everyone who made it and for the cards, food, and beverages. Love you all!

Neighborly Fun

Friday night we had a low key night with the Wii and the Crowleys. The Crowleys are our next door neighbors whom also really enjoy playing Wii. Of course we all had to try out Guitar Hero and then Pearsons vs. the Crowleys at Playground. Good times!

The Birthday Celebrations Begin

We've had a very busy week celebrating the birth of the dear Queen, Emily. :) Jan 24th started out with a lunch celebration with my mom, Cheryl, and Kelly. We went to this adorable and delicious restaurant called Cafe Europa. I highly recommend it! Who could go wrong with a red velvet cupcake! That evening my wonderful husband treated me to a great dinner at the Brio. Again, we indulged in another wonderful desert..... Gelato! Russ showered me with some great gifts including some new perfume and my very own Wii game, Playground. I think he was so excited that I wanted a Wii game. It's pretty fun. You can play tetherball, dodgeball, box car racing, paper airplanes, etc. Thanks to everyone who helped make it a wonderful, relaxing day!

Dinner and Bowling

Friday night we had the Morgesters over for dinner. Kelly kindly reminded me that we have not had them over for dinner yet. Russ and I made a delicious cheddar ale soup, beer bread, and brownies. I was nervous about making the soup but it turned out fantastic! We then played a few games and warmed up for bowling with a few minutes of Wii bowling (very similar to real life bowling of couse :) So, we headed to the bowling alley for a friendly competition. Morgesters vs. the Pearsons. While it was a close game, the Pearsons prevailed by ten points! If you had a neon pin in the front and got a strike, you could win a free game. Kelly and Russ managed to pull this off! Also, we had bet lunch for the winning couple. So, Saturday afternoon Kelly and John came over with a D'Bronx pizza and we vegged out watching a movie. Fun times!

Wine and Talking

This evening I went over to Scott and Sarah Hartley's place for a little catching up. It's been awhile! They are two of my most favorite people. They have one of the cutest houses I have ever seen! Plus, I love their pets.... Tiny and Butch. Tiny is a very small cat and Butch is a rather large Great Dane. What a contrast! I always enjoy talking with them and enjoying a great glass of wine!

Wedding Planning and Lunch

Today I went shoe shopping and out to lunch with Amanda and Rebecca (no, not my sister). Amanda was one of my bridesmaids and now I have the honor of being one of her's in June. Rebecca is Chuck's (Amanda's fiance) sister. We were able to pick out shoes to go with our dresses and discuss wedding plans/ideas over lunch at Chili's. We are all getting excited for the shower, bachelorette party and upcoming wedding (ok, maybe Amanda is really EXCITED) :)

Funny Stuff

Emily, Carolyn, Matt and Rebecca playing Wii Olympics.

Granite City

Saturday night we headed out to the Legends to have dinner with our good friends Kelly and Mike. Dinner and drinks were great but conversation.... amazing! We had sooo much fun just talking with them that we realized four hours had gone by! At this point in my life, I enjoy being surrounded by quality people. That's exactly what Kelly and Mike are! Sorry no pics from this great evening.

School of Wii

Have you ever been to a concert where you rocked so hard you turned back time? Have you ever busted out a solo lick that made the guitar burst into flames from the awesomeness? That is pretty much what happened on Saturday, only with Guitar Hero. We had a couple couples come over (Yes, that means 4 people) and we all had a little Wii guitar exercise. Then on Sunday we played again with some more peeps - it was a concert of rockalicious proportions. The only trouble is that everyone seems to pick the same songs to play for the first time, so we have watched Story Of My Life and Slow Ride played on easy sooo many times....oh well! Guitar Hero is awesome. Wii is awesome. Your mom is awesome. Your face is awesome. (by the way Russ wrote this, can you tell??)

Breakfast with the Morgesters

After our bike ride we headed out to breakfast with our good friends Kelly and John. Kelly had heard about a place called, You Say Tomato. It took us a little while to find it and then it looked a little sketchy from the outside. When we were walking up to the front door, Russ whispers to me, "I'm scared." Boy we were wrong! It was such a cute place! They had great coffee and food. The atmosphere was wonderful. We highly recommend checking it out!

First Bike Ride

Russ and I were lucky enough to get new bikes and helmets for Christmas this year. Thanks Sue and Mark! So, Saturday morning we had our first bike ride. Man, it was colder than we anticipated! It was still fun to test them out for the first time though. I (Emily) was a little wimpy. I know so hard to believe! I think it just proved to myself how out of shape I am. I need to work out more!

Classic Cookie

Today I went to lunch with my mom, Kelly Morgester, Sherry Sweeney and Serena Sweeney. We went to a cute little place in Waldo called the Classic Cookie. While you wait for your food they bring out a little basket of cookies and muffins. Yum! It was a fun afternoon with some of my favorite girls! Sorry, no pics!

Thank You!!

Russ and I were able to go out and spend some of our giftcards for Christmas. We got some great new things from the North Face Store. Here's me sporting my great new jacket. Thanks Sue and Mark! I convinced Russ to hang in there for one more store on the plaza. Aw, my favorite store.... Anthroplogie. There I was able to get a couple of new shirts thanks to my fantastic sister-in-law Carolyn. I thought Russ deserved something fun and nice for sticking with me during the shopping trip. So, we headed over to the 810 Zone for a little snack. There we enjoyed some drinks and artichoke and spinach dip. The best thing though was the TV in the wall. We played monopoly for almost an hour. Beliieve it or not, I think that was the first time I had ever played that game! We then went to Crate and Barrel to spend yet another giftcard from our wonderful cousins Rachel and Jeremy. We didn't think the lighting in our room out so well and were looking for a floor lamp. We love this one! Thanks everyone for the great giftcards. We had alot of fun picking out new things!

saying goodbye

Thursday evening we headed out to the new AppleBee's in Independence to say goodbye to Mark. He was headed back to London again for another 3-4 week job assignment. We got to enjoy good food and good company. We will miss Mark again but look forward to the pictures and stories of new adventures!

running errands with Serena

Last Thursday I helped my friends Serena and Sherry run around town getting some errands done. Man, I never realized how much work it is to take a baby out! First she had to nap and then eat before we left. So, I quickly headed over before after her feeding. We packed Little Miss into the car and headed to Target. She was an angel! I pushed her around in the cart not paying any attention to the other people in the store! I would be standing in the middle of the aisle with a big cart and a sleeping baby. I would get looks like, "Hey lady why don't you get out of my way." Maybe it was all just in my head. Then we went to get some grocery shopping done. Well, Little Miss had enough by then! She was pretty fussy due to needing a diaper change discovered once we got her back home. I sure do tip my hat to all of you mommies out there. You have a big job! Thanks for a fun afternoon ladies!

Hanging out with the cousins

New Year's day evening we went out to dinner in Lee's Summit at Jason's Deli. Russ' cousins Mike and Christi were in town for the holidays. The Graham side of the family has a very strong "cousin" bond that I am thrilled to now be a part of. Jon, Carolyn, Russ, Christi, Mike and I took advantage and crammed in some good hanging out time before they had to head back to Wisconsin. We were still missing Ryan, Kierstin, Rachel and Jeremy. :( It was nice catching up and look forward to the next time already!

House Projects and Cleaning Up

Russ and I were both home for New Year's Day so we took advantage in order to get some projects done.

We headed over to house number two to get a couple of needed projects done. Russ has a couple of rental houses and my official title is "Assistant to the Landlord." :) We put up some new mini blinds and weather proofed a few windows. It's an older house and it gets cool inside of the house. Hopefully this will help make the house warmer and maybe cut down on their heating bill.

Our neighbors bought a new Honda Fit so we got to ride around town testing out the new car. It's pretty cool if you've never seen one. Congrats to Sarah and Dustin on their new purchase!

Tree be gone! We also got rid of the Christmas tree and put the house back into everyday order. Here's a picture of what the living room looks like now. I'm a little sad that Christmas is over!

New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve we hung out with our friends the Morgesters, Cory Johnson, and a couple of friends of the Morgesters. We started out over at John and Kelly's to do a "before Midnight" champagne toast. We played a fun game called Blokus. That was a new one to me. I really like it though.... might have to get that one.

Then we went to Nara for dinner. Nara is a Japanese restaurant in the Crossroads district. It was pretty good. The atmosphere was very Vegas or LA looking. We had a couple of people trying sushi for the first time. I don't think Micah liked it but she sure gave it her best shot! They even had something that they called Body Sushi. Yes that's right, there was a naked girl. She was laying on a table with leaves covering her parts. People were eating sushi off of her. I'm sure the picture will explain it all.

After Nara, we went to O'Dowds on the plaza. We got to pick up some funny hats at the door. We all had a good time being together but decided we are getting old :( I think we would have had more fun being at someone's house playing games. It was just tough being in a crowded bar and dealing with all of the people. We did enjoy the live band and bringing in the New Year with good friends. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Last but Not Least....The Passman Christmas

This past Sunday we were finally able to have Christmas with the Passman family. It was interesting trying to figure out who spent what time with what family. It seemed more confusing with Rebecca and I both being married now. First we all went to church at East Alton. This is the church that my family has attended since I was in kindergarten! It's always nice to see some familiar faces. Alot of those people are like family! We then headed back to my parents house where we got to have yet another wonderful Christmas meal. Plus it was one of my favorites..... brisket and green rice! Can't go wrong there! We then exchanged all of our gifts with each other. We were blessed once again with many great gifts. I thought it was funny that Matt and Russ got each other the same gift.... Super Mario Galaxy for Wii. I guess great minds think alike! One of my favorites was a nice new cummy outfit from the GAP. I'm mad at myself for not taking any pictures! One of the funniest things was watching my parents beagle Winston open his gifts. If you don't know this already, Winston is a very important member of the Passman household. He got lots of stuffed animals. We were all convinced that he loved Russ and I's present the best until he opened the three bears that my mom got him. I think he loved them because they were small enough for him to carry around in his mouth. We bummed around the house playing Guitar Hero and helping mom with her new I-Pod. Pretty impressive that Ed Passman bought this for her! They're trying to catch up with technology. Once again, we appreciate everything that our families do for each other. We are so lucky!

Bridgette's Birthday

Saturday evening Russ and I headed over to my friend/co-worker's house to help celebrate her birthday. It was fun because we all brought appetizer type foods and played Wii of course! (I promise we do other things in our spare time) Russ was very excited because Bridgette's kids had Guitar Hero as well. We brought Russ's guitar so people could dual each other. Here's a picture of Russ and Jason duking it out. Both of them were pretty good! Happy Birthday Bridgette! Hope it was a good one!

A Week Long Christmas Celebration

So, like I mentioned before, our Christmas with the Pearson Family starting after the caroling party. They were nice enough to make Dec 22nd our Christmas Eve since I was going to be working on Christmas Day. We received our traditional "Christmas pj's" to start the night out right. This is something that Sue and Mark have done with their family for a long time and I can't say that I mind it. Who doesn't love a great new pair of pajamas?? We woke up the next day and opened our gifts. Sue made one of her delicious homemade quiches. If you haven't had Sue's quiche, you are really missing out! We received some great things like Guitar Hero for Wii, a nice giftcard to the NorthFace store, and new bikes. I think one the best things was our homemade gifts to each other. Carolyn made us a BEAUTIFUL table runner. Plus, it was green! My favorite color. You should see it, Carolyn put alot of time and effort into this. Sue made us a wonderful decoration as well. I can tell that she also spent countless hours on her project.

But, the best of all was just bumming around the house. We played Guitar Hero and watched a couple of episodes of Numbers. Sue and Mark cooked a very nice holiday meal before heading out to my dad's Christmas Eve service. I thought it was so nice that the Pearson family came along so I would be able to attend this very important church service. What a great day!

Pictures will follow soon!

The Annual Pearson Caroling Party

Sunday December 22nd was Sue and Mark's Caroling Party. This has been a Pearson tradition for many years. They send out cute invites to friends and family. People start gathering at their house in the early evening for snacks and practice. We then head out into the brisk air with our caroling books and antlers on of course! We even had a trumpet to accompany us! The, we end the night with hot apple cider and hot cocoa while we just talk and catch up with each other. The Pearson family is full of so many great traditions!

Good Food and Good Times

On Sunday December 22nd Russ and rushed around in the morning so we could cook food, pack our overnight bags, and pack the Pearson Christmas gifts into the car. Our Christmas was officially starting the evening of the 22nd since I was going to have to work the holiday. We went over to Matt and Rebecca's house for lunch and of course for some Wii. Was else do you do when you get together with friends?? I thought it was pretty funny watching these two play so I thought I might try downloading a video. Thanks Matt and Rebecca for a great lunch and a fun afternoon!