Monday, January 30, 2012

Golden birthday!

Presley will be 3 years old on the 3rd!! (Let's not mention the fact that Steve and I won't be here for it, b/c it makes me sad) She is so funny and she doesn't even realize it, it is amazing how fast 3 years can go by! We have her 3 year appt on the 10th but I think she has probably grown a couple inches but I don't think she has gained much weight in the last year...we'll see.

Presley at 3 years old:
- is wearing 3T pants and 4T shirts and almost size 8 shoes
- is semi-potty trained. The girls will not poop in the potty. She refuses. We try to make it fun, we bribe her with ice cream...it doesn't work. Oh well, I guess with all potty training it will happen when she is ready.
- loves books, puzzles and her baby dolls and having tea parties (with real 'tea'...or water, whatever, it's all the same to a 3 year old)
- is really beginning to like the princess Disney movies, though Monsters Inc and Toy Story are probably still her faves
- her speech is getting a little better, I think it's easier for outsiders to understand what she is saying but just in the last week we have started to notice her stuttering?! Maybe this is just something she will grow out of. She just seems like her brain is working so much faster than her mouth can keep up with.
- loves the song Red Solo Cup by Toby Keith, Mean by Taylor Swift and What is this Feeling from Wicked.
- my 2 favorite words that she says are orange and tomorrow...and unless you actually hear her say them, you won't understand....they almost sound like she has an accent or some sort!
- she loves, loves, loves being outside.....that is the Goodrich in her!
- has many nicknames including P (most common), P-ster (daddy), Peanut or Peanut Butter (mommy), Sweet P (pa) and Pia (Boston)
- and as much as she loves her mama and ga....there is just something special about daddy and pa that melts her heart! I love it and wouldn't have it any other way!

Some of the funny things she has said:
P - Daddy, I have a question for you.
Daddy - ok
P - Let's wrestle okay?
Then as they wrestle, which she is very serious about....she reaches out her hand toward me and says 'momma, saaavveee meee!' (she is a slight drama queen!)

Anytime you say "just a little bit", she says back to you 'a little bit, but not too much?'

She always says 'mama, you go this KINDA way', 'let's read this KINDA book', why we go this KINDA way?

If she wants to watch something on TV or listen to her music she says 'we watch something Presley likes?' or 'let's listen to Presley's song'...I guess she likes to refer to herself in the third person.

She'll say "I did it! All by myself!". It's awesome hearing how proud she is of herself!

Presley Grace you are AMAZING! You are adorable and funny and challenging. You are stubborn and so sweet (sometimes). I just love watching you play, imagine and interact with others. I love watching you grow, but it is going by too fast! :( We love you baby girl!

Random

1. Cancer sucks
2. Suicide sucks
3. I was walking into the mall yesterday and there were 2 teenage boys walking out...they walked out and the second one turned around and went back to the door to open it for me! Either he thought I was really old and couldn't do it myself........or I want to thank his parents for raising a polite young man!
4. We got our spray tan tonight, it's a little awkward standing there with minimal clothes on while a girl sprays you down....I always have to think "they've always seen worse", that helps me get over it.
5. We know a couple who just had twin girls, they also have a 2 year old and a 3 year old..both girls also. So they have 4 girls under the age of 4. Is that not insane? I feel anxiety for them!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Busy weekend fun!

Friday night I went out after work with some people b/c we have 4 people leaving from our department in the next 2 weeks so we had a small 'going away' party for them. It was fun...of course it was about 4 hours of bitching work talk! I was good and left early b/c I knew that we had a busy weekend and I really didn't want to be hungover or tired.
Saturday morning we got up and got ready for Presley's 3rd birthday party!
She did pretty good, she was shy and wanted to go downstairs and play while we were all upstairs talking but she opened her presents and smiled at everyone instead of saying thank you. She would take the box or bag and just throw everyone out of it, not looking at anything she touched. It was pretty funny how little she cared! She got lots of good stuff though, thank you to everyone who came and for all the presents!
A big wheel!
A backpack, she says it's for preschool.
And then it was Minnie Mouse birthday cake time, we prepared her that we would be singing happy birthday....she said she was a big girl now so she wasn't going to cry. I was almost convinced....until she threw herself on the floor (almost underneath the table) and started crying. CRYING!
After everyone had left, I hurried and got ready for my friend Aprils bachelorette party! It started at 3 but not everyone was gone from our house until after 3:30...so Cindy (who was riding with me) and I were fashionably late. It was so nice to see everyone, April, Andrea and Jen I hadn't see in months so it was nice to catch up! There were about 15 of us girls at Samurai Sushi for dinner and we actually ended up doing a little dancing that night too! Congrats to April and Ed who are getting married 02/29 in Vegas!
This morning the family met at Mama Laconas for my mom and my birthday brunch! They have a great buffet so we all stuffed our faces! Then we went back to my parents house for presents and cake...my jello cake! We have a family joke that my mom always messes up my cakes, either she doesn't have candles and uses the super long matches as candles instead, or the layers are sliding off of each other or she spells birthday wrong (last year it was birtday) and this year, she only had me being 32 (too bad I'm 33).
Steve and Presley went home and I went to get a pedicure (California Nails at Merle Hay Mall is my favorite, they are super nice!) for our trip!

The weather was nice enough that Presley was able to spend a little time on her big wheel. She likes it and she is able to pedal by herself! Tomorrow night we have our spray tanning and then Tuesday we have some major power packing to do!

Friday, January 27, 2012

Five Question Friday

1. Do you swim in the winter?
Like outside? No. Waterbabies or at a hotel for our annual mega-mall trip. Yes....well I get in the water. Not actual swimming....it's not like I'm doing the butterfly stroke across the pool.

2. Do you love or hate winter?
Hate. This winter has been amazing though, so I really can't complain. If every winter is like this, I would say that I can tolerate winter.

3. Do you put makeup/actual clothes on when you know you're going to be home all day with just family?
Heck NO! If I have no plans to leave my house, I don't put makeup on, have my hair in a ponytail all day and don't get out of my pajamas! I would consider this the perfect day!

4. How old were you when you had your first alcoholic beverage?
I'm going to blame my cousin Lee and my uncle Danny for this....from what I remember....at the beach house in Texas when I was probably 17 years old?! They gave us a cup of strawberry daiquiri and told us to take a walk down the beach. So that is what we did, hiding it from everyone. This whole memory could be wrong...I might have been 15 years old and it might have been a margarita....but I think you get the point.

5. How many ill calls in a 12 month period do you think are acceptable?
I can't remember the last time I called in sick for myself! I would guess that I've called in a couple times in the last 12 months for Presley (But I can't even remember these times for sure!) I would say 6 times a year for the average person wouldn't be so bad.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

More Presley

So we tried to take some indoor pictures of Presley for her 3 year birthday....she was not nearly as excited or willing to smile as she was for her outdoor ones.
So we had very little to work with....but she is still cute.


Weekend Update

Friday we were able to spend a nice, quiet night at home. It was so cold I didn't want to leave the house. We got Moneyball from Redbox, which I once again STRUGGLED to stay awake during. From what I saw and remember it was a good movie!
Steve finished his project for over our couch in the basement. I think it looks pretty darn good. 36 different pictures from all different aspects of our lives.
Saturday we didn't do much. Steve actually left the house and tried to do some birthday present shopping for me and P and did our grocery store shopping for the week. Presley thought it was pretty funny that when she was going down for her nap that she was still in her pj's! She actually fell asleep about 3 and we let her sleep until 5 once we made plans to go over to a work friends house to hang out b/c I knew she was going to be up later than usual. Katie and Jay have a son, Jace who is about Presley's age and a 6 month old daughter, Taylor. There was another couple over there 2 with two daughters about the age of the kids at P's daycare. Once she warmed up, she was chasing the kids and playing and laughing so hard with them. It always makes us very happy when we get to see her social! We were over there way too late and didn't get home until 11:30. So we all slept pretty late this morning, which we are always fond of!
We actually went to 2 open houses today. Now, let's get this straight.....we don't even have our house up for sale so we are completely jumping the gun by looking at houses. At least this way we can see what we can get with our budget and have some time to look around. We are thinking once we get back from vacation we can work on getting our house prepared to possibly sell. We'll see, it could take months or years for our house to sell and we realize that. That's the way the real estate market works!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Five Question Friday

1. Where do you hide the reeeally good snacks?
I try NOT to have this stuff in my house, and if I did and was hiding them.....I'm not sure I would tell you.

2. Do u keep your vehicle clean or am I the only one who has things falling out of their van?
My car is not clean but not full of garbage either. Back when I had my convertible, it was clean...b/c I loved that car and when you have the top down on a car you can't have a messy car.

3. Have you ever been to Vegas?
Twice in the last 2 years with my hubby and we loved it. The first time we went we tried to see a little of everything. Last April when we went, we wanted to do as much as we could (roller coaster, space shot, ate at certain restaurants) and we were exhausted. So the next time we go....we are going to chill out by the pool and drink and relax!

4. Warm room light blankets or cold room warm snuggly blanket?
I prefer warm everything. I don't want to be cold and I always have blankets on. My mom thinks we keep our house too hot. To me, 72 degrees is not too hot and why should I have to be chilly or uncomfortable in my own house?

5. What is the worst airplane/flying experience you've ever had?
I would say coming back from training in Tempe, the flight itself wasn't bad but we went from Tempe to Minneapolis and only had minutes to cross the airport (literally running thru the airport) to catch our flight to DSM. We were the last ones on the plane....and then we sat there for 45 minutes before we took off b/c of the snow in DSM (they wouldn't have been able to land)?! Everything turned out fine in the end, but that is really the only stressful situation I've had so far.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Goals for 2012

I don't want to make resolutions for the New Year so I'll set some 'goals' or 'hopes' or my semi-to-do list.

1) Spend less money on going out to eat. I'm hoping I can just compare our banking 'spending report' every month to last year and see how we are doing.
2) Get Presley signed up for gymnastics or dance class
3) Get Presley signed up for part-time pre-school
4) Read more. I love reading and I really want to make more time for it, giving up some TV time shouldn't be that hard....so I'm starting a book list. These are books friends have read or I've heard about and have been interested in reading. Hopefully, I can cross some of these books off my list this year!
5) Save, save, save!!!! If I could double our savings in the next year it would be awesome...a girl can dream.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Weekend relaxation

Friday my mom and dad took P to see Beauty and the Beast at the theater! Two movies in the theater in one month for that lucky girl!
Friday night we were able to hang out at home, we got The Hangover 2 from Redbox to watch after P went to bed. I feel asleep, oh well.
Saturday we didn't do much, Target run as usually. P and I went to dinner while Steve went with his brother to watch some local fighting thing.

Sunday we watched the big Packer game at my parents house. Tear, tear. Let's not talk about it.

I had yesterday off for Martin Luther King Jr day and Presley got to play with the Play-Doh that Santa had brought her! I figured she wouldn't want to touch it, but she did and she liked it! So now we have found something else for her to do if we ever get that cold, snowy weather we should have. During her 'quiet time' (which is not so quiet), I cleaned, did laundry, ran a quick mile...it was so nice! I hate to say it but I really do love 'quiet time' on the weekends! :)

(on a side note: Presley's 'quiet time' consists of 2-3 hours of her playing in bed. At 3:45 I went into her room and found 3 babies, about 10 books and all her doll clothes sprawled all over her bed. Even if she wanted to nap, there wouldn't have been room for her to lay down! Oh well, it is good for us to have some time apart in the middle of the day!)

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Random

- I love having friends that I can see once every 6 months and things are just normal. Some people take it personally or think you don't care if it hasn't worked out for you to see them....people have to realize that everyone has their own life, their own things going on and it is hard to see everyone as much as you would like.
My friend Colleen and I had dinner with our daughters tonight...a girls night! We got to do a little catching up while have the kids try to bond. Colleen and I have been friends since highschool and it's not always easy to find the time, but we both understand that!
- I think I'm always the one that puts gas in our cars. And I think Steve might almost agree that he probably can't remember the last time he put gas into one of our cars. He mostly drives his work truck during the week, so I guess we can give him that excuse.
- Steve thinks that I never want to move out of this house. That isn't true. I would like to move someday, but that is a lot of work in getting this house ready to sell, purging all the stuff we do have and actually selling the house we are living in. All of that takes a lot of work and maybe I'm just too lazy.

Five Question Friday

1. What is the last thing you bought for yourself?
I'm actually on a shopping binge right now. I finally have stepped out of my comfort zone and into the skinny jeans and boots trend. The fact that I have bought 4 pairs of boots (count them FOUR!) and 3 pair of jeans in the last 3 months....is kind of ridiculous! But the last thing I bought myself, besides dinner tonight was eyeliner and 2 tank tops at Target this afternoon.

2. What is your favorite meal on a cold winter day?
If you know me, you know I don't cook. I'm lucky enough to have my Steveo to cook for us. But I love chicken noodle soup over mashed potatoes! Carb overload!

3. Have you started looking at swimsuits for this year, and do you buy a new one every year?
Do people actually buy themselves new swimsuits every year? Why would they do that? I guess if you live in really nice weather where you wear your swimsuit more than 5 times a year....but I have had 3 swimsuits in the last 10 years, and don't really see a need for new one anytime soon.

4. If you could be any candy, what would you be and why?
Umm... really, I could never choose just one candy. I don't want to discriminate b/c sometimes chocolate is just needed but then you just HAVE to HAVE some fruity candy too.

5. What are you most passionate about?
Goodness, this is a hard one too. First, I would say right now, parenting. Trying to figure out the 'right' way to parent and to make sure she is a happy kid. Second, family....I think the 5 of us have been so lucky to always have each other around that NOT having someone there would be...weird. I want Presley to always be close to her family and having daycare at Ga's and being bestfriends with Boston are great ways to show her how important family is.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

First time for everything...

Steve grilled a lot of bacon the other night, he likes to freeze it and then nuke it in the microwave when needed. It makes it pretty nice and easy.
However, when he forgets the bacon on the grill for over 30 minutes.....
bacon turns to ash!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Random

- I'm actually nervous about our upcoming trip to the Dominican. I shouldn't be, I need to just go with the flow...but Steve is a big 'review' reader, so he has been on the website for the resort every week reading what people have to say about it. Basically people think the resort is great but the service leaves something to be desired. There are minimal Americans or English speaking staff.....great, b/c I'm pretty sure my 4 years of high school Spanish are NOT going to help us out.
http://www.barcelo.com/BarceloHotels/en-GB/Hotels/DominicanRepublic/PuntaCana/BavaroPalaceDeluxe/Home It's just a lot of money to spend and NOT have a good time. I know with the group of people we are going with, there will be plenty of laughs and good times! I'm sure you all are so excited for all the pictures we'll have when we get back! HA!
- Some things with my job are going to be changing in 2012 and I'm not really that excited about it. Our bonus structure is changing, which in all aspects should actually be good for me...but realistically I know that they are just trying to minimize the amount we receive. Our management structure is changing too, I just have to go with the flow on this. I get along with my mgr great right now, she knows I like to sit in my cube and do my work with little distraction. My employer is all about change. They thrive on change and after 8 years I should just be used to it...but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
- I like the country song Red Solo Cup. It is so catchy, it gets in my head and doesn't leave!
- We have to think of a family talent for my family reunion this summer (for the 8 of us). Four years ago we did the Michael Jackson Thriller dance and revealed that I was pregnant....anyone have any ideas for us?
- Presley is in copy-cat mode! If I wear a long sleeve shirt, she wants one on too. If Boston is drinking milk, she needs to have her milk. If my hair is in a ponytail, hers has to be too. If Steve wears a green shirt to bed, she has to wear her green shirt to bed too. It's nice in the fact that we can get her to do what we want just by us doing it...but then again, I want her to be her own person, make her own decisions and be an individual! :)
- I've never had a drug test or been fingerprinted for a job. Now my employer is finger printing all their employees. I'm pretty sure I have nothing to worry about, it's just weird that after working there for over 8 years that they are NOW concerned. So Tuesday the 17th at 10:24 in the morning I'll be with FBI hired finger printing people.

Three beautiful years old!

As I mentioned before we had a pretty nice day and decided to get Presley's 3 year pictures taken while we had the chance. We are about a month early but you just don't get outdoor pictures with winter birthdays so here are some of the outdoor shots we got (and hopefully we have the indoors ones soon). We are pretty happy with them and she was more than willing to pose!
This one is my favorite!


I love this coat (that we scored at a garage sale for $3 last summer)!!
The best part about these pictures....we took them ourselves! We are pretty happy with how they turned out and not having to spend over $100 on them is a bonus!

2012 Week 1

So proud of us so far this year, we made dinner (instead of going out!) Monday thru Thursday and we both got on the treadmill 3 times this week! It's a good start! Of course, then the weekend hit. I went out with some work people last night. It was fun as always! My friend Sarah and I have been trying for 2 months to find a Friday or Saturday night that we would be able to go have dinner and drinks and finally, we found a night! And I was still home by 11 pm!
This morning Steve left with some friends for Iowa City to go to the Iowa basketball game and then wrestling match. There are 10 of them meeting up to go, so I'm sure he is having a good time with his night away!
Presley and I have been hanging out and we met my parents and Boston at La Bamba for dinner! It sucks that P doesn't like anything there but I always try to take some food that she will eat with me. Plus it saves me $5 in not having to buy her a dinner that she doesn't eat.

Five Question Friday

1. What is the weather like where you are and do you like it? Normally I do not like this time of year, it's cold, snowy and you never want to leave the house. However, this year has been so nice! When we can get 60 degrees in January, we really can't complain!

2. When you're sick what do you seek comfort from? Sleep, curling up with a blanket by myself and watching movies. However, *knock on wood* rarely do I get sick sick. A cold twice a year is about it for me. I can't remember the last time I actually called in sick to work!

3. What do you need to do before the end of the month? Way too much! Since we leave on the 1st for our trip we have to have P's birthday party before that, haven't even thought about what we are going to do for it. Then we probably need to do something for my mom's birthday on the 30th and mine on the 2nd. Also, we need to think about packing for our trip.

4. Have you ever served on a jury? No, but I have always wanted to. I just think the whole process would be interesting.

5. If you could be any animal, what would you be and why? A cat, they seem rather lazy and don't depend on people as much as dogs do. I'm not very creative am I?

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year!

First of all, I'm loving 4 day work weeks. I really think someone needs to implement them always, is there a political candidate who wants to do this? I'll vote for them.
I really think that our new years resolution should be to eat out less. The amount of money we spend on going out is ri-dic-u-lous!
Tuesday I met my girly-friends Lyndsi and Lisa out at El Rodeo for some yumminess (that is a word, right?)! It had been too long since I had seen them it was great to catch up and laugh. Maybe that should be another resolution for me.....to see my friends more.
Wednesday night Steve decided to make home-made fettuccine alfredo....he made is own noodles and sauce! I must say, he is awesome. Why he would want to roll out dough and all that jazz for food, is beyond me but I'm not complaining!

Thursday we decided to meet at Jethros after work for dinner, one of our favorite spots! It does kind of suck that Presley doesn't like to eat anything but french fries (and she dips them in honey). So then we have to go home and feed her dinner! Oh well, saves us $5 by not having to order her anything.
Friday was the one year anniversary of our friend Brendans death. It was so hard to think about. Miss Kitty's was nice enough to hold a get-together in honor of him. I went with Holly and Sam for a couple hours. It was nice and the key to NOT crying...DO NOT watch the slide show. All the pictures of him and that grin, it was hard to accept that he is no longer around. So once I got home, Steve went to meet some of his friends out for the Iowa game. He knew there was no way I was going to stay up to watch it...and he was right.

Yesterday was New Years Eve, it was fairly nice outside so we got some of Presley's 3 year pictures taken (who would've thought we would've EVER been able to take outdoor pictures for Presley's birthday!)...but you'll have to wait a little while longer to see them. She did great and we got some really good ones of her!
We had a family friendly party to go to at Kyle and Maggies last night. We were there last year too, they have a girl P's age, Sadie and an almost one year old, Grace. Then Brock and Jackie brought Ava over and Todd and Cari bought their 3 month old son, Sam. So we had a house full of kids! They were all great, they got along really good and the 3 girls made it until midnight! (and P didn't nap that afternoon!)
Sadie, P and Ava
Presley of course fell asleep on the way home and we woke her up at 11 am this morning. Of course, I woke up at 8:30 b/c I'm old.
Any whoooo, Happy New Year to everyone! Welcome 2012!