Ghosts of Halloweens Past

Three years ago, when we were fun and went out for halloween.
Sam, Cindy, Lisa, Mistee, Holly, Me and Steve rockin out as Axl and Slash
(I don't know why this is underlined and I can't figure out how to get it off!!!)

Two years ago, I was about 6 months pregnant so it wasn't as much fun!
Me, Cindy, Ben, Lisa, Brock, Steve, Michael and Jared

And last year, our little lady bug. Cute as ever, I can't believe that was just last year!

Long, long week.

We started off the week with a runny nose and carving pumpkins. She didn't really know what to think about the whole pumpking thing. She did think it was funny that we had newspapers all over the floor and was mostly interested in stomping all over them and picking them up and throwing them at us.
Don't let this picture fool you. This was just good timing on Steve's part, b/c this is the only time her hand got anywhere near the inside of this pumpkin!

She was very focused on coloring her pumpkin.

The middle of the week Presley had runny, dirty diapers (sorry TMI)and would hardly eat anything (which is NOT like P at all!) and a sick daddy. We all know that when boys get sick, it is almost the end of the world! :) No fun! By Thursday, I wasn't feeling good either but the end of the month is always busy at work so I had no choice but to suck it up. Friday night, we all started feeling a little better. We all got a good nights sleep (I slept for 11 hours and Presley slept for 12!)

Thank goodness by Saturday life was looking normal again! We hung out with the family since my Uncle David was in town and watched the Iowa game. Presley did not get a nap but she was pretty good anyway.

Snow White was not into trick or treating. We went to a couple houses around the block, but she was tired and shy.

The house on the corner of our block, gets into Halloween big time! I love it! They had their yard and garage all decorated. There were kids lined up in the driveway, most of them afraid to get close to the garage.

Is it weird that I love Halloween and everything that goes along with it....but I CANNOT watch scary movies?

Some of my favorite things:

1) You must read the book "It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita" by Heather Armstrong. LOVE IT! I follow her blog also.


2) Darius Ruckers song 'It won't be like this for long'. Again, LOVE IT!
He didnt have to wake up
He'd been up all nite
Lay'n there in bed listen'nTo his new born baby cry
He makes a pot of coffee
He splashes water on his face
His wife gives him a kiss and saysIt gonna be OK
It wont be like this for long
One day soon we'll look back laugh'n At the week we brought her home
This phase is gonna fly by
So baby just hold on
It wont be like this for long
Four years later bout four thirty
She's crawling in their bed
And when he drops her off at preschool
She's clinging to his leg
The teacher peels her off of him
He says what can I do
She says now dont you worry
This will only last a week or two
It wont be like this for long
One day soon you'll drop her off
And she wont even know you are gone
This phase is gonna fly by If you can just hold on
It wont be like this for long
Some day soon she'll be a teenager
And at times he'll think she hates him
Then he'll walk her down the isle
And raise her vale.............blah blah blah....but you get the point. Time goes too fast!



3) Spicy Holy Guacamole - it's good!

4) Jethros BBQ...they have good guacamole too!

5) The movie The Count of Monte Cristo...if you haven't seen it, you should! It's one of our favorites!

Yawn.

Saturday morning I went in to get Presley after an hour of her talking to herself in the crib. Her pajamas were unzipped down to her ankles and her diaper was off. Guess she was tired of waiting for me to come in and change her! Thank goodness it was just wet! :) Later she saw the camera sitting on the coffee table and said "cheese?" I asked if she wanted her picture taken and to bring me the camera. She brought me the camera and stood there saying cheese until I took the picture. Obviously, she isn't camera shy! But this cheesy smile with the gaps between her teeth cracks me up!

We headed to Adel for a charity waffle breakfast for cystic fibrosis and then went to the pumpkin patch!

They had a petting zoo area...which Presley wanted nothing to do with. She liked to watch the chickens, but then hid behind dad when we were near the llamas. She loved the tractor! She kept pointing to the tractor smiling, so we went on a hay rack ride out to the pumpkin patch to find some pumpkins!

She found the perfect Presley size pumpkin!

They had a couple bounce houses, which she loved when there were no other kids in it! She wasn't brave enough to try to stand up though!

Saturday night we had another wedding! (our 3rd wedding in 6 weeks!) Presley was in heaven! She was running around, wanting to dance it up! We couldn't keep her off the dance floor!

Mommy and Presley taking a break from dancing!

Another cheese for ya! She almost looks like she's in pain! ha!

Sunday morning I went to work and Daddy and P hung out. Presley has a runny nose now, but she is pretty good at blowing it herself. Hopefully, it won't turn into an ear infection! Keep your fingers crossed! Happy Sunday, hope everyone has a good week.

Snow White

We headed to Night Eyes at the zoo on Friday night. It was our first experience there, we figured we might has well get some use out of her costume! It was nice and busy with a lot of things for kids to do! She wasn't too interested in the candy but once we got to the fun zone she let loose! :)
She loved the straw maze!

and playing in the corn!

and her favorite part....the swings! She was laughing and smiling the whole time, loving every minute of it.....until we took her out and she threw a fit!

Snow White cried when we left the zoo, guess that means she had a good time and we'll be going back next year!

Hmmm.....

Got a call yesterday from my banks fraud department questioning some of my credit card activity. Two charges, $139 and $103 were declined at some online electronic stores. Great. She asked me if there was anyone else who had access to my card. I said 'my husband, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have charged these' (I'm about 97% sure that Steve wouldn't spend over $100 without mentioning it to me!). She finally cancelled my credit card and is issuing me another one. It makes me so nervous that someone out there got my credit card information somehow! It's a card that is rarely used so my guess is that someone hacked online to get this information and then didn't have that little 3 digit number on the back! Thank goodness my bank is on top of abnormal activity to accounts and they made the process nice and easy!

We are refinancing our mortgage. Interest rates are so low right now and we'll be saving about $100 a month so why not? When Steve and I bought this house Steve didn't have the best credit in the world with a nice, low fico score of 615. When we bought our car 2 years ago, his credit score was higher than mine! Most of our credit was in my name since I had better credit history. So we just got our credit scores from our refinance, 2 of them are exactly the same as each other and Steve's third fico is 3 points higher than mine! He should thank me for getting his credit back on track. And I'll brag....our median fico score...805! No wonder credit card theives want our information! :)

I never know what information is too private or if anyone cares or if the wrong person is out there reading this. I try not to mention first and last names of people, and if I'm not sure someone wants me posting their picture on this blog then I just don't do it. If any of my friends or family are offended or doesn't feel comfortable with names or pictures on here, let me know and I'll edit or delete my post!

No pictures.

Another busy weekend. I sound like a broken record. Friday night we headed to Earlham to watch our nephew play in the highschool football game. This is the first and only game we have been to this year. It was the perfect night for some football, Presley was very good. I think Friday nights in Earlham is an excuse for the parents to socialize and let their kids run crazy. There are so many kids in that town. It's so weird that we can go to Earlahm and know so many people that live there. I'm not big on small towns but Earlham is growing on me.

Saturday morning we headed back to Earlham for Brant's Great Pumpkin Festival. A race and carnival that is held every year in remembrance of one of our nephews friends who died of a brain tumor in 2005. They have so many games, a rock climbing wall, clowns, pumpkins, lunch and a silent auction. It is a great fundraiser that we love being a part of. There were too many people there for Presley's liking so she clung onto us most of the time, but it was fun!
While Presley napped that afternoon, Steve and I watched the Hawkeyes win their football game and after dinner we head down to Howells Farm for a bonfire. A friend of mine from work, reserved a bonfire area and there were about 25 of us! We were able to go on a hayrack ride to the corn maze and go thru the maze in the dark! We roasted hotdogs and marshmallows, we had hot cocoa and spiced apple cider...it was a great way to spend a cool, fall night! Presley was fairly good, she didn't try to play with the fire or anything!

Sunday Steve got up with Presley and I got to sleep in until 9 am! (funny how 2 years ago 9 am seemed early to us!) I went into work for a couple hours in the afternoon, we played outside and just hung out. It was a great weekend! Next weekend should be a little less busy, and hopefully the weather will be just as nice!

Little o'dis, little o'dat

• I opened up a savings account for Presley. I was looking into the 529 college savings accounts and just didn't know if that was the route I wanted to take. So she now has $25 in savings (not to mention the coins she's hoarding in her piggy bank!). I figured kids get so many presents and toys that they play with for 1 week and then forget about, this would be a way for people to contribute for the long term.
• Cars suck. We spent $1000 on my car in July (brakes, oil change and my air bag light was on, which cost $400 to fix!), now the service engine soon light is on. Lovely.
  Steve's DVD player wasn't working, we got that fixed under warranty but then the battery died. They refused to fix it (even though it was working perfectly fine before we took it there). Now the air doesn't come out of the vents, the air works but it will only come out down by the feet and thru the defrost vents. Fantastic.
• Some people have the worst luck, I'm wishing good luck their way and hopefully a change in the winds to send good, happy vibes into their house and family!
• I love Halloween! LOVE IT! I want to go to Target and spend hundreds of dollars on decorations and spook out our house! Now if I could just convince Steve to have a Halloween party in our dark, dingy basement.
• A lot of people watch The Office. I just can't get into it.
• I think we are the only people that have DVR that rarely use it. Occasionally we'll record things, but then I never watch it or I just watch the show the next week and get caught up on what happened. It is nice to fast forward threw commercials but honestly I look forward to commercials so I can get up and change laundry, quickly load the dishwasher or go to the bathroom. Still wondering if that extra $10 a month is worth it.

Monday fun-day!

A rare day off for no reason! Presley and I slept in until 8 am, the girl was in super hyper-active mode! So after convincing her to let me dress her, we headed to the mall to play at the play area and run around since I knew it wouldn't be busy. She wanted to play in this quarter-slot taxi cab more than she did at the play area. Of course, the minute I put quarters in it she was scared and wanted out. Nice waste of 75 cents.
We obviously need to teach her the rules about drinking and driving!

Presley took her long afternoon nap at grandma's house and I went home to do some cleaning. I got so much done in 3 hours! I got Presley's closet and dresser cleaned out, all the floors swept and swiffered, the bathroom cleaned, the kitched cleaned....people, I cleaned behind the microwave stand and the INSIDE of the microwave! Things are dusted and put away, laundry is still going (only 2 more loads to go) and the baby is in bed. The house is far from being completely clean, we have a computer room that has been collecting stuff, papers and dust for over a year. I might need to take a day off just to clean that room.

It was a great extra day off. I'm going to put laundry away and eat some raspberry sherbet! Night!

Covered Bridge Days

Sunday Steve mentioned going down to Winterset to enjoy the Covered Bridge Days, since the weather was so nice we decided to get out of the house and see what they had to offer! (This is my attempt at good photography with our camera)
Shortly after we got there I figured out why Steve wanted to visit. They had a car show! :) Steve and I have different opinions about what a cool car is. He likes the muscle cars....this was one of his favorites, he said it must be the white trash in him! haha! (no offense to our friends who own trans am's or who are white trash!)

I think the old, classic cars are much cooler!

We walked around the square and ate some good food and bought a couple things at the farmers market. It was nice and something different to do with our Sunday! We got home and did our usual Sunday routine of nap (P), football (Steve)and grocery store (yours truly).

I took Monday off from work. Presley and I are going to hang out in the morning and then she'll go nap at my mom's while I get some much needed housework and errands done! It will be nice to have an afternoon to myself to do some deep fall cleaning in this dusty, stuffy house!

It's a nice day for a white wedding!

Saturday night we had an outdoor wedding for our family friend Danielle. The weather was perfect at a winery in Cambridge and the wedding was beautiful! Congrats Danielle and Brian!

This picture is for haircut purposes only. There really isn't anything good about it, it's just one of the few pictures that slightly show the decrease in the hugeness of my hair.

Me and P enjoying the music, doing a little dancing. (She really doesn't look like me, does she?)

Aunt Holly and P getting their groove on.

October = Freakin' wonderful weather!

It's weird to think that week we broke out the space heater b/c it was getting cold overnight, today we thought about turning on the air conditioner.....that's Iowa for ya!
We bought Presley this piggy bank, she is now obsessed with putting money in it. I guess it is a good thing teaching her how to save at such an early age. Nickel by nickel she'll have her college education paid for!
We had a nice, busy weekend! Full of pictures! I'm good at taking a ton of pictures, I just have a problem printing them off!
Friday night we had Brock, Jackie and Ava over to hang out and let the girls play. They were both good and we had a nice time and great dinner! (Thanks Steve!) Here are the girls in their pj's, ready for bed.

Saturday morning we got up and headed to the small pumpkin patch not too far from our house. Samantha, Jon and Boston joined us too! We tried to get a picture of Presley with Boston, but she wasn't even close to sitting still for that to happen.

This was our attempt at getting her picture with me, it's not that great of a picture but at least you can kinda see my haircut! (for Ann, Lyndsi and Susie)

She is loving this weather and being able to run around!

Baby Boston wasn't very interested in the pumpkins so he decided to just nap while we had our fun. :)

This is the same pumpkin patch we went to last year and we have pictures of how Presley has grown over the last year!

About 6 inches taller! Going to a pumpkin patch in shorts and t-shirts just doesn't seem the same, doesn't quite seem like fall!...but no matter what, it's better than snow!

Trick or TREAT?

I so decided to treat myself to a hair cut. I've been going to the same stylist for years and just needed something different. My hair was too big on bottom and too flat on top, basically the same 'style' for the last 10 years. I decided to pay the price for a hair style. I wasn't sure if it was worth it but I was willing to try.

Here are some of the things I learned on this venture out of my comfort zone.
1) When I called they only appt they had open was for their 'upper level consultant'. They have levels? So if I want a cheap, not-so-good hair cut I could pay $90, and 'upper level consultant' starts out at $132. Lovely. Oh yeah, and if you need additional highlight mix, that will be extra. Have you seen my hair? I need extra.
2) They offer you wine while you wait and get 'styled', another sign this bill is going to be damaging. Might have to break out that credit card.
3) The upper level consultant, actually knew what she was talking about. She was nice, she taught me things I never knew about my hair! (No offense to anyone who has cut my hair in the past!)
4) She said I had one of the thickest heads of hair she has seen in a long time. She said she would make a note in my file to allow extra time the next time I come back. When I called to make my appt I told them I had thick hair, obviously I didn't stress this enough.
5) Normally I don't have them dry and style my hair b/c I don't want to see how good my hair CAN look, and how I'll never be able to do it myself. I thought if I'm paying for it, I want to see if it is really worth it.
6) I really do like it! Steve does too! (and it wasn't $200) Now I just have to try to do it myself. I might have to get up an hour earlier to straighten it one strand at a time.

Go Hawks

Saturday we headed to Iowa City to watch the Hawks play. It was so nice to see all the Creston people that Steve went to highschool with. It was a little chilly, but overall a nice day! I'm just happy it wasn't raining or snowing!
Here are Nick and Sarah.

Scott and Holly

Most people had their kids there, we are sad that Presley didn't get to experience Iowa tailgating but we did enjoy not having that responsibility! :)...... maybe next year! Here is Sadie's awesome mohawk Iowa hat!

We got great tickets from Todd! The black and gold in the stadium was unreal! We weren't sure how it would look, but the Hawk fans pulled thru! We got a couple pics of Joe Paterno too! Nice win Hawkeyes!

We were all a little worn out on Sunday, so we didn't do much. Presley didn't get out of her pj's and we both took good naps and went to bed early! Thanks again to my parents for watching P, we'll try not to use your babysitting services again until January! :)

Child labor

We put her to work. She needs to earn her keep around here.
Cleaning the decorations......

the windows......

and the table. She must think we are dirty. She'll take rags, baby wipes or kleenex and 'clean' whatever is around. Silly girl, don't you realize you'll have to do that for the rest of your life? Take it easy, mess something up while you still can, while we still think it's cute.

Positive points

So I want to be more positive, writing it down makes it a little more real for me and gives me a goal every week to realize what I'm thankful for (should be every day, but we are taking baby steps here).
1. A fairly good job. I've been with Wells Fargo for 7 years and have slowly worked my way into a good job. I complain about it, it's been a learning experience but it's nice for the first time in our relationship not to have to live paycheck to paycheck.
2. Fall! I've always been a summer girl, but with all my skin cancer scares the sun isn't all that appealing anymore. Fall is becoming more pleasant! I love the crunching leaves beneath our feet on our walks, the sounds of the football games and having family get togethers for the Packer games!...now if fall wouldn't lead us to winter, it would be even better!
3. I'm watching Blue Bloods with Donnie Wahlberg right now. Donnie, you will always be a New Kid to me. I just saw you dancing to Hanging Tough and The Right Stuff in concert 2 years ago. No worries you are 40 years old acting 20, and I'm 30 acting 10....it's ok. I'll Be Loving You Forver.
4. I love being able to leave P with my parents to spend a fun weekend out with my hubby (and friends). We are going to the Iowa game tomorrow and it should be a blast! We try to plan one game a year to attend and have been lucky enough to score some tickets. Even though Presley already prefers my mom over either of us, I wouldn't have it any other way. I might have to take a day off soon for some good mother/daughter time with Presley, for one day maybe I can be the favorite! :)
5. Steve thinks I'm obsessed with our new fabric softner. So what if I do laundry more than needed b/c I want to smell the goodness of the Snuggle in the blue bottle?

Another month gone....

Is it really October? Really? September went by in a blur....baby nephew, work, wedding, work, Iowa football games, work. Work is still busy and the end of the month is always brutal. It stresses me out, I'm supposed to work extra hours (and I really try!) and sometimes I just feel overwhelmed. Do you ever have that feeling that you just need to stop and get organized and breathe a sigh of relief? I can't even get out of bed and out of the house on time in the morning. Normally I stand in front of my closet wondering what I'm going to wear...and then getting irritated that I have nothing I want to wear. Now I do that for me and Presley every morning. It's like trying to get dressed twice! ha!
I have to get my passport changed, we are refinancing (why not with interest rates so low?), we are both busy at work, both of our cars are (still) in need of work and repairs, we still need to buy our niece Ella a birthday present (a month late), Halloween is right around the corner and we both want more time with our daughter.
So there's my bitching for the week.