Happy Halloween!

We headed to Earlham this afternoon to go trick or treating. We've gone there the last 2 years and since Presley and Ava are the same age, it's worked out nicely for them to go together. We got there early and had dinner and to give Presley some time to warm up to her surroundings. It didn't take long for them to start chasing each other around the house.

Dorothy and Barbie Princess (Ava's outfit was a little small for her though, it was falling in the front and couldn't be velcroed in the back...we eventually called her The Walk of Shame Barbie...we are mean, aren't we?)

Sam as the local law enforcement and Ella in her kimono.

There are so many kids in this town there are lines to the houses! It's amazing! Maybe this happens in your neighborhood...but this never happened to me growing up and I know our neighborhood isn't like this now! Some people give away full size candy bars, I'm telling ya, if we ever move to Earlham it's b/c I love Halloween in this town.

Presley did GREAT! She walked the whole time, following Ava. She reached into the candy bowls, a couple times she said 'trick or treat' and a couple times she just said 'smell my feet'. And just about every house she said thank you....so I guess that is the most important part!

Overall, this Halloween was a success! (thank you Lord!...another breakdown like we had at Living History Farms and I was willing to never take her anywhere ever again!)

The girls enjoying their candy.

Now that she is asleep, I'm going to enjoy a piece or two of her candy. Good-night!

HoHum

Well our busy week and weekend turned out to be the opposite. We did our waterbabies class on Wednesday, Steve got into the water with P this week. He was less than thrilled about it, but they needed the bonding time too! She is still a little scared to get into the water, but once she is in, she doesn't want to get out!
Thursday we ordered some pizza and did our pumpkin carving. Presley wanted nothing to do with it. Because 'her hands would get dirty'?! Really, I thought kids this age didn't care about getting dirty.
She is weird back in August all she wanted to eat was the frosting off of Boston's birthday cupcakes. Last weekend we made cinnamon rolls, and she didn't want frosting?! So she had a plain cinnamon roll. My mom made cookies with her last week and she didn't like it when she got frosting on her hands so she ate a cookies with no frosting?! Whose child is this?


Friday night we had a babysitter so we could go out for a while since we both had work outings we wanted to attend. Well Mr Goodrich thought he was 21 again and we were home by 9:30 with a slightly intoxicated daddy. I hardly slept at all that night and Steve woke up feeling like crap. Presley and I have been fighting off colds all week and with the minimal sleep that I got, I wasn't 100% Saturday either. We had busy, busy plans for Saturday and we missed out on all of it. We stayed in our pajamas all day, we all took naps and we all went to bed early!

Sweet Street

So in my attempt to start organizing the toys in the basement I went thru the boxes of Sweet Street stuff we got from Andrea. I counted 42 people and I'm sure I'm missing some, like the ones she has laying in the Sweet Street swimming pool or locked in the ice cream truck!

and a large variety of tables, chairs, beds and anything else you could ever want in a little town.

along with a detailed little hospital,

and the school house and bus. P LOVES playing with this stuff and I love watching her little imagination run wild!

Friday dance party!

Friday night when we got home from dinner I told Steve to turn on some music! I knew if the TV got turned on that I would sit down and not move, and there were some things I wanted to get done! So the music went on, I got busy while Steve and Presley danced and rocked on!

all wrapped up after her bath!

Saturday night we went with some friends to Living History Farms for their trick or treat. We had warned Presley all day that we weren't going to carry her and we thought she was prepared....we were wrong. We thought if she saw her friends walking too that she would be more willing to follow them....we were wrong. She sat down on the sidewalk and screamed b/c she didn't want to walk. So the first half of the night I carried her, the second half she got brave and walked on her own. We've decided that we just need to show up to our destination an hour early to give her time to get comfortable with her surroundings! LOL!

Our Dorothy (she really just loves her red shoes!).

and her cowardly lion, Boston!

Miss Ava, our pirate!

We tried to get a picture of all the kids together, however since this was during the first half of the night Presley wouldn't let go of me so we adjusted and had mommy/kid pictures instead. Our other two trick or treaters were Bridget (Jessie) and Conor (our wild lion!).

We even rode on the hayrack ride pulled by horses! So the night ended up a success. I will say Living History Farms vs Night Eyes....I'd go Night Eyes. We've tried both and it seems Night Eyes has more to keep kids occupied during the long walk.

Random randomness

- I obviously need to catch up on the news....Occupy Wall Street/Occupy Iowa....what the heck is this about? I know the news showed people holding signs that said that big banks were bad....ok, but a big bank gives me a paycheck every week?! So I need someone to explain in simple terms what these people want
- I saw a commercial for ITT educational institute that rubbed me the wrong way...it was about a man who did construction and was always away from him family working, not making very much money so he decided to go back to school to get a degree...now he is providing for his family and never missing family obligations. Here is my problem. Steve does construction, he is always around, he is around and has more flexible hours than I do. He doesn't miss anything due to his line of business. We have been very lucky with his employer (knock on wood!!!!) and he makes more money than people we know who have college educations, so this commercial does not portray our experience with construction and I don't like it.
- Potty training is still going pretty good, still no pooping in the potty and we've had a couple accidents this week....very not like Presley, but overall we are all adjusting and she is excited about her new princess underwear (even though she can't name a single Disney princess!) and they don't make Toy Story underwear for girls!
- The Green Bay Packers are awesome!
- I don't mind the speed cameras on I235 but that is b/c I only drive to work on it twice a week and it's usually so busy that I'm not going over 50 miles an hour anyway. And I think it's an easy way for the city to make money from the people who are breaking the law! LOL!
- I'm loving the new shows Revenge and Person of Interest! LOVING!
- We are trying to prepare Presley for Halloween, getting her excited for her costume, telling her what she should say if she wants candy....Trick or Treat, smell my feet!...... And she'll say 'smell my feet!' or 'candy please!'.....talk about two different ends of the spectrum! HA!
- The big girl bed is working out nicely, (knock on wood) she hasn't got out of her bed yet! She wants us to lay with her for a while and read a book or two...and she cries if we leave but she has yet to get out of bed, even in the morning she doesn't get up! She'll sit and read and talk to herself until we go and get her!

Weekend run down

I was lucky enough to have Friday off to be with P. My mom wasn't feeling completely up to watching Presley yet and really at this point a nice day off with my baby didn't sound so bad. We hung out all morning in our pj's and while she took a nap that afternoon I got some cleaning done. We only got dressed to meet Steve for dinner and then went right home b/c I had to be up early for work on Saturday morning (to make up hours for missing work on Friday!).
After work on Saturday we decided to head to the pumpkin patch!
Presley was not overly impressed. She didn't want to walk, she wanted to be carried! It drives me crazy that she won't walk by herself, heck some days she doesn't want to walk from the kitchen to the family room in our own home! (that usually results in one of her screaming tantrums, b/c I refuse to carry her!)

This was as close as she got to playing in the corn.


This was as far as she would go into the bouncy house.
and forget us getting on the tractor to ride out into the pumpkin patch to look for pumpkins! Heck no, the girl screamed when we got close to it...there was no way we could get onto it without ruining everyone else's ride with our screaming, crying kid.
So we walked, once we got away from all the other people she was willing to walk. She was more willing and helpful in finding some good pumpkins!

We had Brock, Jackie and Ava over to watch the Iowa game on Saturday night. The girls were a little more willing to play together this time. Jumping on Presley's bed was a big hit with them!

Finishing the Coors Light baby keg was the highlight of our night. This is how we party now!

Since Presley was up until 10 pm and had played hard most of the day with no nap....she slept until 9:30 this morning! We all did! I haven't slept that late in a long time, it was SO nice! P and I went to a baby shower this afternoon. It would've been nicer if she wasn't so anti-social and would go play without me. She wanted to play outside with me....while everyone else was inside. So we spent most of the time outside (missing the baby shower games, oh darn!) or downstairs playing (missing all the presents being opened). Fun!

We got Presley's Halloween costume, now the goal is to talk her into wearing it! She keeps saying she wants to be a princess.....which she won't be. Sorry P.

Random

- My brother-in-law Matt had hip replacement surgery yesterday, we are hoping for a speedy recovery for him to get back on his feet and start feeling good again!
- My sister Holly is thinking about moving to Colorado. She has been thinking about and wanting this for a while now, if the stars align correctly and things work out for her she might actually do it! We would miss her terribly! She is my bestfriend, the person I can count on all the time to be there for me! However.....there is no reason that she shouldn't go! Take a risk, if it sucks and doesn't work out...move back but at least you can't say you didn't try, or always wonder 'what if?'.
- My mom is starting to feel better and get moving! She actually left the house the other night and when I talk to her on the phone she doesn't sound too drugged up! :) Samantha has tomorrow off so she is going to help my mom with Presley and Friday's daycare is still up in the air. My family is awesome, I love the way we can all pull together and help each other out when needed!

Waterbabies

So last year we took waterbabies class and P loved it! I thought it would be a good idea to do it again this year to get us out of the house with the weather turning colder and I want Presley to be comfortable in water and learn how to swim. We had no idea how she would react this year, we were hoping she would love it but she is very unpredictable!
We had our first class tonight and the minute we got in the pool she started crying and screaming (the only kid crying)! She wanted OUT of that pool! She cried for a couple minutes and then sat on the side of the pool for a couple minutes. Once they got the pool toys out she was a little more willing to get in and have some fun!

Learning how to kick!

Jumping into the pool (which she was too scared to do last year).

and pouring buckets of water on mommy's head!

Word of the weekend...Productive!

It was one of those weekends that we had SO much to get done that I made a list of everything b/c I couldn't stop thinking about it and didn't want to forget anything.
Friday night I started witha bottle of wine and some paint. Since Steve put new windows in the bedroom last weekend we had been living with sheets over our windows b/c we needed to repaint the trim. That was my exciting Friday night and I was sleeping on the couch by 9:30 pm! Wow, I'm awesome!
We FINALLY got Presley's bedroom furniture! So we had some nail holes to fill and painting to touch, the crib came down (tear!), the new bed put up and clothes transferred from one dresser to the next. We got it pretty much cleaned and put together, but we don't have anything up on the walls yet....they are plain baby pink, screaming for an update!

She was very excited (mostly about the lamp that she can turn off and on) and did very good during both naps and going to sleep last night. Of course, she doesn't actually sleep during her naps but hey, she didn't get out of bed so I'm calling that a success! Tonight however, she has decided that she doesn't want to go to bed....guess she can scream herself to sleep like she did 2 years ago.

Of course, not everything this weekend has been that smooth and great. Saturday night we had some family issues which resulted in Steve going to Earlham at 10 pm and not getting home until 2 am Sunday morning. We had planned on going to the Winterset Covered Bridge days today, but after little sleep and still plenty to get done around the house we decided to hang out at home once again. The only time Presley got into a car this weekend was our quick 20 minutes trip to the Halloween store to get some ideas for her costume! (which is nice b/c all she does is fight when she has to get in her car seat....at what age can we ditch the car seat b/c I'm tired of fighting! :) j/k!)

Many things got crossed off my list, but unfortunately there are still too many things on it.

Seven loads of laundry, interior and exterior window trim painted, blinds up, P's room is functional, Steve got a haircut (yes, it was on my list!), trip to Wal-mart, trip to Dahls, cars cleaned and 3 hours spent entering family tree information into Ancestry.com (not on my list!)! I feel a sense of accomplishment!

I'm dreading going to work this week. They have changed our workflow and the control that I have over my day and my production. I don't like it, I have no problems getting my work done in my 8 hours and I feel like I'm being punished b/c there are people that can't do the same. I don't normally dread going to work but I am this week and I don't really like this feeling. I need to suck it up and stop complaining.

Let me toot my own horn real quick....about a month ago they pulled the year to date numbers for initial decisions and for final loan fundings, yours truly was #1 on both of those lists (over 60 underwriters). Go me!

Somersaults down stairs is dangerous!

Six o'clock Wednesday morning, on my way to the shower, I heard my phone ringing. Really, there was only one option on who it was, my mom. She was probably sick and wouldn't be able to watch P that day. That actually would've been a better scenerio than what actually happened. My mother fell down the stairs Tuesday night and could hardly move. Cuts and scrapes, swollen knee, bruised ribs....welcome, pain killers! No lifting for at least 2 weeks! She excited b/c that means no laundry! This also means no Ga (or grandma as most kids would say) for daycare either. Samantha and I shared our kids on Wednesday, so we eached missed a couple hours of work and we are lucky enough to have April who is able to watch P for many of the days that we need!
As you know, we just finished our basement. We didn't carpet the stairs (mainly the cost and b/c Steve comes home from work so dirty sometimes that he travels straight to the basement to undress)....P has never been around stairs (thank you ranch style house) so now I'm all freaked out that she'll fall down! You forget how dangerous they can be! My mom is slowly feeling better and I think we'll all be more aware when it comes to safety on the steps! Love you mom!

(Almost) 25000 calories in one meal

Tuesday night I was able to join Holly, Nicole and Tami at Zombie Burger. It is a must try!!! So good, so unhealthy and so wonderful! You won't regret it!

Holly has pictures on her blog, check it out!

http://mysocalledlife-holly.blogspot.com/2011/10/zombie-burger-must-try.html

Picture Perfect Presley

Sorry for the overload of pictures, but she was cooperative and posing for the camera this weekend. So I kept on clicking and she kept on posing (maybe we shouldn't watch America's Next Top Model together anymore)!

Presley and her baby are best friends!

Her babies riding her trike. Why not?

We didn't do much this weekend, tried to get some stuff done around the house and enjoy the weather while we could. We got out our Halloween decorations, Steve put new windows in our bedroom and we did some shopping (thank you overtime money)!

Packer Sunday!

Sunday we had our friends Jared and Colton come over! Presley was excited to have a baby in the house......but then she was just mean to him, like she is to Boston. She wants the power in the house and I think when there is a baby around, she feels the power struggle! LOL!

So cute!

Since I was taking pictures of Colton, P decided to pose too....b/c we don't have enough pictures of her quite yet!

We went to my parents house that afternoon to watch the Packer game (after DirectTV came and hooked us up with the NFL network and then ruined our internet connection)

I don't know what to do with her hair anymore, another hair cut might be in order soon.b/c I'm pretty sure this look, isn't for her!

Internet, how I love thee.

Finally, we have internet....hopefully it will continue that way! I feel like I've been gone for so long and it has only been a week! HA!

Last Thursday we watched Boston for a couple hours so my parents could go out to eat and then they watched Presley for a couple extra hours on Friday so we could go to dinner for our anniversary! We went to downtown to Splash (it was SO good!) and then sat on the patio at Mickey's and had a couple drinks. It was very nice to just go out as the two of us.

Saturday I went to work for a couple hours and then went shopping by myself! I left the mall with nothing for Presley! That NEVER happens! I got a shirt for Steve and bought myself some stuff too. Both P and I really need some long sleeve shirts since the weather is getting colder!

At this point, the baby doll goes thru more diapers and wipes than Presley does!

P has been doing really good with the potty training though she still will only poop in her diaper but that seems to be normal for this stage of potty training. Two weeks in big girl underwear and no accidents! Now Steve just needs to remember to put the toilet seat down!