Five Question Friday

1. What's the oldest piece of clothing in your closet? Oh, man. I have a pair of sweatpants that are at least 15 years old. They are super thin, the crouch is ripped out, the elastic waist is completely gone. They aren't pretty.

2. How many random blog readers have you met? Random? None, that I know of.

3. Do you let your kids stay up till midnight on New Years Eve? (Or, if you don't have kiddos yet, did you get to stay up until midnight as a child?) Presley is a night owl. Last year she did good staying up until 11:30, we'll just have to see how this year goes. We have no problem letting her stay up late as long as she sleeps in the next morning!

4. What are the gas prices where you live? Today it is $3.09....I think normally we are lucky enough to have some of the lowest gas prices around.

5. What is one resolution that you know you should do but are too afraid to try? Where do I start? Chewing my nails, giving up fried food or pasta, giving up my apple cidar or mint mocha every day, limiting my time on Facebook....I just know I will fail at all these things, so it's just best that I don't try! LOL!

2011

So 2011 is about done. I can't say that I will miss it. It started out a rough year, my first funeral in over 10 years. Brendan, I still can't look at pictures of that grin without tearing up. You brought laughter to so many peoples lives. Not thinking about you is an easier way to deal with you leaving us, but thinking about you and your completely unexpected departure makes a person completely thankful for the days and people we have in our lives NOW.

2011 included me watching my sister mourn...for months, losing herself in sadness....my other sister battling to make a perfect life for her son. Then my grandma passing in May....attending 2 funerals, more than I had been thru in the last 20 years combined. Our marriage, my patience, our teamwork, we have been able to work thru so many things...so many struggles around us this year....and yet, we are happy, laughing and still cheering Go Hawks and Go Pack Go!

Don't get me wrong, 2011 was full of good times too. Both of ours jobs are busy and thriving, plenty of overtime! Our daughter has grown so much, it is hard to believe she is almost 3...especially since she acts like she is 13 years old. Financially, we are doing better than we ever have which has allowed us to travel on our cruise, to Vegas, our Green Bay Packer game and our upcoming trip to the Dominican. And also established a savings account for us and Presley (she has more in her savings account at 3 years old than I did at 20! LOL, which might not be saying alot!) I have watched my daddy retire and our family come together in rough times. We have managed and we have become stronger. We are lucky to have each other and to always be there for each other....but I'm anxious for 2012.

Sunday Funday

So after some presents and eating we did some playing and games. We played Logos, which was fun and interesting and Pictionary. I'm no where near an artist and Steve and I actually won! I wish I had some pictures of my lovely drawings b/c it was good comedy!

Of course, the Packer game was on so we watched the Packers win another game and we headed home at half time. Presley once again didn't go to bed until 10 pm, but she was so good all day with no nap!

I'm loving the three day weekend, especially when Presley sleeps until 10 am! We decided we'd go take Presley to her first movie. We actually had $60 to use at Carmike cinemas so we figured that if she hated it, we wouldn't be out any money. So we headed to the noon showing of The Chipmunks b/c she loved the commercial every time she saw it! After 15 minutes of waiting for the movie to start and then sitting thru 20 minutes of previews, Presley did so good sitting, eating popcorn and watching the movie. It was a success!

We got home with enough time for Presley to have some quiet time in her room. Sometimes she naps, sometimes she doesn't. Well today, she fell asleep....unfortunately her babies won over her pillow and she slept at the foot of the bed!

It was a fantastic weekend! Lots of good family time and Presley was so good (well, until tonight when she decided that she was going to be less than pleasant). I'm hoping we can have another great 3 day weekend over New Years!

Santa!

Santa came! Presley was up (not bright and early as most kids) about 9:15, I think Steve and I were both awake before she was. Santa tried to keep the presents reasonable, kids get so many toys and her birthday is just around the corner too.

Santa's cheap version of an American Girl doll.

After Santa presents we got ready to head to my parents house for my family Christmas. It was such a good Christmas, we all got a lot of good stuff. Presley's favorite present was a Kodak kids digital camera from Grandma and Grandpa! She took pictures of everything, 100 pictures she took and about 95 of them are crappy! LOL!

Ga and Pa with Bossy and P.

Christmas #1

We always do Steve's family gathering on Christmas Eve, so Saturday we headed off to Earlham. Thanks to Jason and Christie for hosting as always! We did alot of eating, talking and opening presents. The kids got to open their presents, most of them are getting older now and the gifts get less exciting. Presley and Ava still get plenty of fun presents though and the adults have the white elephant gift exchange which is always fun.

Roxanne scored a toilet piggy bank, which Steve later stole from her?! Not sure why, but we are now the proud new owners of this lovely gift.

Christie was lucky enough to get back the buffalo statue that she gave away last year! Pay backs!

Steve and his nephew Jordan fought over this 1989 Chevy jacket, I guess they thought it was cool?! Jordan took this home and Steve is still super jealous of it!
Presley was a million times better than she was at Thanksgiving! She was social and fun, talkative and nice! Ava and P got along great! They posed for the camera over and over again! (I had my hair straight, so she wanted me to straighten her hair too! :) Can you tell?)

Presley was nice to all of her cousins! She was even on the floor wrestling with Gavin and Sam! It was crazy to see her so interactive!

P, Gavin, Sam and Ava posing for a picture.

They even did some dancing. Ava was more willing to entertain us with her skills than P was.

Then of course, we had our family pool tournament....Steve won again. I love playing pool against Steve b/c it reminds of the good ole days at Mickey's.....we played pool all the time into the late night hours!

We finally got home about 10:30, Presley fell asleep on the way home....perfect timing for Santa to come!

Random

- I was able to cross two things off my 'life list'! yee-haw! Visit Lambeau field and going to a pro-football with my husband. I almost donated blood (to cross anothe thing off my list) at work, but we have been so busy for the last......10 months....I just never got around to signing up....blah blah..excuse, excuse. Work at most times is at the point where I try to multi-task when I get up from my desk.....twice a day. Stretch, go potty, get a snack, chat, grab all my papers off the printer....and back to my desk.

- We had a family dinner at the dining room table tonight. Normally we eat in front of the TV, bad habit...I know. P and I got home, Steve was cooking, we put on some music, did some dancing and ate dinner. Then P had to poop. Buzz kill to our family dinner. She is still doing-the-duty in her diaper. We cannot break her of this habit and then she wanted to go under the dining room table....AS I'M EATING! Sorry child, if you are getting a diaper you are getting limited to the areas in which you can squat....under the dining room table, especially when we are eating is just not going to be allowed. You'll get over it.

- My baby is almost 3. I have asked her twice what she wants on her birthday cake....the first time she said 'pink'. Then I gave her options...she decided 'Toy Story' this time. We'll ask her again in a week and she what she says.

Merry Christmas

The holiday weekend 2011 has begun. Yes, I was one of the lucky ones who got to work at full 9 hour day today. It is what it is, 9 hours of overtime on the paycheck, can't complain.

Happy holidays from our family to yours.

Our beautiful baby girl who is semi-looking forward to Santa bringing her 'pink toys'.

You better be good, you better not cry.........

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas! I hope everyone gets everything they have ever wanted and more.

I sure do like those Christmas cookies....

Every year we decorate cookies and with the kids it is....more work but still fun!

Presley wanted to help, however if any frosting...even the tinest bit of frosting touched her, she wanted it cleaned off. We forgot to get a picture of her mountain of sprinkles on her cookies!

This picture reminds me so much of Steve, focused and particular!

Boston, the cookie monster!

Steve's' state fair' quality cookie

Our final product! Santa will be happy with our cookies!

Huh?

So I'm friends with a guy on Facebook who I went to highschool with. But I can't understand some of the things he writes b/c of the slang he uses. I'm sure he uses his phone and wants to make everything as simple(?) as possible, but really, it's funny!

- i just luv ppl dat wanna talk cout u den realize ur there in da building n den dey leave da complex fuccin funny cut just wanna knw wut I did tho? Oh fucc it cum wit it words ain't shit!!!!
- ‎4am n still drinkin almost dun nyght fb
- Dnt kicc a fresh turd on a hot day!!!!
- Fuccin shit talkers y'all dnt knw shit! We is good friends n I did offer so shut da fucc up!!!!
- I'm gonna drop dat shit!!!!!! Where my pamper at?!!!

I'm not making this up. Who talks like this It's great entertainment, like a puzzle that I have to try to figure out!

Steve, the energizer bunny

My husband was full of energy this weekend. I worked Saturday morning and when I came home Presley and Steve were having a tea party, she was so excited for me to join! Then we all went to the grocery store and then Steve went to Walmart to finish our Christmas shopping.
When he got home he started cleaning out his closet (no man needs 22 pairs of jeans...of which most of them had holes in them from work). Then he started cleaning our computer room, I can't begin to tell you how bad this room was this picture from blog back in February is very organized compared to what he was dealing with! (http://thegoodlife-jgo.blogspot.com/2011/02/30dbc-day-8-short-term-goals-for-this.html). Presley and I made Christmas cookies while Steve continued on that task.


Yesterday we headed to the mall for the Hoover High School band fundraiser mexican lunch and raffle. (I won a Holiday Barbie and my parents won a painting and a handmade doll house!) I was the lucky one who got to ride the train with Presley this time, she was so smiley and happy on that train! P and I went to my parents house to watch the Packers (enter sad face here) while Steve went home to clean his truck, the bathroom and clean out the garage (b/c at some point it will snow and we'll want both cars in there). In addition to that he vaccumed and did laundry! Be jealous girls, he's all mine! I ordered our Christmas cards, picked them up on the way home and we got those stuffed, addressed and stamped and ready to go in the mail today! Then we wrapped all our Christmas presents and still had an hour to sit around and watch some TV!
It was a fun, productive and stress free weekend!

A week in review

I had an extra day of PTO I had to take so I made my weekend a little longer and took Tuesday off too.

Samantha and I took P and B to the mall to hopefully see Santa and ride the train. Both kids wanted to play in one of those little quarters machine rides....as you can tell Presley was not impressed (similar to our Adventureland experience). The look on her face says "get me the hell off this thing"!

Surprisingly she agreed to ride the train with Boston and Sam. She was so proud of herself!

Santa was a no-go for both kids. Both were extremely not impressed, scared and not even willing to give him a fist-bump!

I then took Presley to Aprils for the afternoon and went to get my hair cut! I was extremely needed and it always takes her 2 1/2 - 3 hours to highlight, wash, cut, blow dry and straighten my hair.

Wednesday we had Holly's birthday dinner at my mom's house (which was the night our computer crashed) and then Thursday we had a girls night birthday dinner at the Olive Garden.

As I noted before, I knew Steve had done his research around a new computer. He tried fixing ours, which he had done before...we looked into having it fixed but that computer has been on it's way out for some time now. We actually had a $200 gift card to Best Buy, so that helped in our decision. Friday night Steve went out and purchased a new lap top!

Packer weekend : Part 3

I'm a week behind, ugh! Let's see....Monday morning we decided to hit up the Packer Hall of Fame before we left town. My mom said I was stupid if I went to Green Bay and didn't go there, so I guess we didn't have any other choice but to prove to her that we aren't dumb and I am still the smart daughter! (LOL, totally kidding!)

We took way too many pictures so I'll control myself and only post some of them.

We were the first ones there at 9 am, which was so nice not having to fight a crowd....and I could sexually harass the statues!

Me and my boy Clay Matthews

We even had the chance to Lambeau leap....which I didn't try b/c there was no way I was going to jump that high and I didn't want to face plant into the green padded walls....especially when Steve had the camera!

4 Super Bowl trophies! Yeah baby!

The drive back home was long, but we made 2 stops along the way....to get cheese curds and in Williamsburg for 20 minutes of power shopping, a quick dinner and to gas up!

Presley was happy to see us but we knew she had fun and was good hands with Holly and my parents! Thanks to them again for being so awesome! We are lucky to have all of you!

Of course, the Packers lost their game yesterday. We figured we had to lose one along the way, preferably not in the playoffs or the Super Bowl, so we can't complain!

MAYDAY, MAYDAY

Our computer has crashed. Bummer! No blogging for me until we figure out what is wrong and what we are going to do.
Knowing Steve the way I do, I'm sure he already has a new laptop picked out and ready to bring home. Merry Christmas to us!

Packer party : Part 2

We got to town about 4:30 Saturday afternoon. The hotel was perfect, full of Packer fans! The Hyatt on Main (if anyone is planning a trip!) had a bar/grill where we sat, drank, ate, talked and then played some shuffleboard (which I am not good at). It was nice and relaxing!

We slept in (until 9, which is about normal for us), ate the free breakfast and got ready for our day! Me in my (or Holly's) Clay Matthew's jersey and Steve in his Bo Jackson Raiders jersey. The weather was supposed to be around 40 degrees which I was super pumped for! When we booked this trip I was prepared for it to be zero degrees with snow on the ground. No snow anywhere up there and 40 degrees, heck yes! It could not have been more prefect!

The city bus picked us up right outside of the hotel, for free! It dropped us off, right outside the stadium and then we had the same free ride back to the hotel afterwards!

We found the Stadiumview bar, which was perfect! Busy, beer and a live band. Perfect!

Steve got some slack for being a Raider fan, but for the most part people were nice about it. He didn't wear a spike necklace or paint his face, so I appreciated that!

We did get asked where we were from b/c we had a 'southern accent'! LOL. Sure, ok.

When they say there isn't a bad seat in the house, they aren't lying. Well, until you have bitch and a douchebag sitting behind you. They COULDN'T stand the fact that Steve was a Raiders fan. They asked Steve when his team was going to show up to play, they yelled "CHEATERS" every time the Raiders got a penalty (they sure didn't yell that when the Packers got a penalty though!).

She said she didn't understand how I could even live with him being a Raiders fan...well, dumb bitch....I didn't pick my husband b/c of what football team he roots for. Besides that entertainment, it was a great game. 13-0 baby!!!

Since the Packers were winning by so much, we did spend a little time walking around the stadium. I just love it!

We found our free bus back to the hotel, ate some pizza at The Pub and went to bed! I'm pretty sure I was asleep by 8:30, but hey, it's my mini-vacation I can do whatever I want!

Sorry, I'm not done with the pictures...Part 3 is yet to come.

I will convert someone out there to become a Packer fan by the time these blogs are over! :)

Road Trip : Part 1

Steve and I took the opportunity to drive to Green Bay to watch my Packers play his Raiders this past weekend. It was our anniversary and Christmas presents to each other. You will get the extra special opportunity to see this trip thru all my pictures! Lucky you!

The drive was 6 1/2 - 7 hours, my source of entertainment was the billboards along the way.

I'm not even sure what this advertisement is for?!

Yes, the small white print under Mustard Museum......says Poupon U.

Love it.

Now I know what to get Steve for his birthday! A longer shirt to cover that butt crack!

Do these signs actually work to sell things?

Steve hated this cheesy sign. You better believe that I shouted BEEF-FENSE while we were at the game!

The closer we got the Green Bay....the better the signs got. The green and gold oozed from this city and I loved every minute of it!

Goodbye rat tail!

Her hair looks so long and straight......(when wet)

but there has been that long curly rat tail, looming in the back of my mind.

It was time to get rid of the that hint of white trash in my baby.

She did so good. She was unsure at the beginning (like always).

and my BFF Josie (AKA, the girl who does my hair who I want to be my BFF) was great and didn't charge us! Woohoo! I'll make sure to tip her really good when I get my hairs did next week!

Of course, when we left Presley got a sucker for being so good. Then she wasn't happy with her choice in flavors..too bad child, sometimes you have to live with sucky choices. That was the start of her breakdown.

We stopped by Radio Shack, who would've thought Radio Shack is where she would find the ultimate toy that she just HAD to have?! A Bratz doll and Tea Cup pets (?)....BREAKDOWN!

Goodness, we were those parents with the screaming bloody murder child...to the point where people on the lower level were looking up and people in stores were looking out. I'm sure there were people who thought we were kidnapping her! We just had to laugh about it, there was nothing else to do....besides laugh and leave!!

Five Question Friday...3 days late

I will get the hang of this Friday post eventually. I might have to set myself a reminder or something.

1. What is your favorite Christmas decoration in your house?

I love that I still have all my stuff from when I was a kid. My parents bought us a new Christmas ornament every year...and I have all of them. I actually started buying Steve one a year and now we have been doing it for Presley too (well, Holly has. She gets P an ornament for Christmas which is great b/c kids really get too many toys anyway!

2. Do you finish your Christmas shopping early or are you a last minute type?

Every year I tell myself I won't wait until the last minute...and every year we are out the weekend before Christmas buying gift cards to stuff in cards for gifts.

This year...we have 2 nephews (in case you lost count we have 8 nephews and 3 nieces) left and Steve is in charge of them. So I'm done! Booyah!

3. When do you turn on your heat? Whenever it gets cold. I hate being cold and why should I be uncomfortable in my own home?

4. Do you ever wish your blog was private? Nah, not enough people read it or really care about what I have to say for me to worry. I do try to avoid using last names and if anyone wants me to remove their name or picture I hope they let me know!

5. Do you put your deodorant on before of after you put on your shirt? After, duh. What kind of question is this?

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

Saturday family night

Since the weather has been rainy and yucky all day we decided to get a gingerbread house and try that experience with Presley. She was very excited! She was alot more into it and helpful than I thought she would be.

She was patient, particular.....

very focused......

and very proud! (not to mention, pantless)

I LOVE how she is looking up at daddy in this picture! She adores her daddy!

My two favorite people.