Busy week

We are having computer problems so I'm trying to NOT get behind again! UGH!

So last Tuesday, Steve's half-sister from New York and half-brother from Michigan were able to come to our house to visit! I had never met them before and wasn't able to go back to Creston with most of the family last Sunday so I was happy that it worked out to have everyone to our house to hang out. We just ordered pizza and hung out and talked. The weather was perfect and it was a really good night. The kids were good and they played with their cousins and Piper kept everyone entertained like normal.

Steve, his dad, Roxanne, Jason and Matt

with Ron and Diane

All the adults

This was the first night of the girls being up too late. Piper went to bed about 9:30 and Presley about 10:30, way too late when we have to wake them up by 6:30!

Wednesday night was our normal.....P had gymnastics and Piper and I went to dinner at El Mariachi (she is becoming less and less good for me here. This trip included her peeing her pants, thankfully I was prepared with extra shorts and underwear in my purse! ha!).

 

Steve's employer, Edge Commercial had a night at the ICubs game on Thursday. So I left work at 4:30, got gas, picked up Piper, went home, changed, got back in the car and we all drove back downtown for the game. Free tickets and money for food/drinks! It was nice! The girls were good and sat still for the first 20 minutes, eating popcorn. Then we had to go to the bathroom (have I mentioned that I hate potty-training?), then we had to look at the river, then we got more food. Then Piper decided that she purposely wanted to lose her shoes over the side of the railing, trying to fling off her shoes, then trying to throw them over. So I had to carry her shoes and she went bare foot the rest of the night! Then she would take off running, then we had another bathroom break and then I was ready to go. She is so much fun these days! And of course, we got home late again but an overall pretty good night!

Kids

Oh my darling children say SUCH funny things and I have to remember to write them down so I don't forget!

- Presley told me a boy her her class broke his arm, so he was having to use his 'non-dominate' hand? Really?  Now she has been wearing a koozie on her hand as her 'cast'. Um ok.
- Presley told me the other night that she knew what 'equivalent' meant. She did describe it, not in the same sense that I would've but my guess is that they learned a dumbed-down version since they are 6 years old.
- Piper didn't want to go to bed the other night (like most nights these days!) and she is yelling from her room...'MOM. MOM. MAMA. JESSICA!' My jaw dropped and then of course couldn't stop laughing.
- We were talking about how her friend Allie was moving b/c her parents weren't going to live together anymore. And Presley casually said 'I want a step-mom'. I was shocked and a little confused and she said again that she 'wanted two mom's!' I couldn't believe her, I know she thinks I'm mean, is she hoping that having another one will mean that one will be nice?! Good Lord, I am doing something wrong as a parent for sure!
- We read Wacky Wednesday almost every night to Piper. Yesterday they got in the car and Steve had put the 3rd row seat up, when normally it is down. Piper looked back at the seat, confused....and she said 'That is Wacky Wednesday!' LMAO!

Potty Training

So Piper started in underwear last Monday at Generation. She is doing great for them!
Monday - one accident
Tuesday - two accident (one #1 and one #2)
Wednesday - one accident right at the end of the day
Thursday - two (one #1 and one #2)....we have a problem with pooping on the potty like we did with Presley
Friday - dry ALL day...even when we went to the carnival and she was dancing all night, she went twice in the porta-potty and did great!

The weekend did not go so great. We are just not very good at remembering to take her and go, so we resulted to diapers for most of Saturday and Sunday when we weren't at home. She does a good job of still going potty in the bathroom even if she has a diaper on we just need to get better about reminding her. Of course, yesterday she was dry all day and when I got there to pick her up...she looked up and me and said 'mommy, i pooping'...sure enough, in her underwear so I was the lucky one to change her. Oh well, we are happy she has decided to do this herself instead of us having to force her!

Weekend Update

Saturday morning Miss Piper was up at 7:30, which I was up anyway. I thought I heard her and looked into the hallway and saw her little feet sitting there with her sandals on...so I was hearing the velcro of her sandals and the squeaking of her door opening, making just enough room for her to squeeze her butt in the doorway. We had to wake Presley up at 9 so that we could get up and ready for the parade at 10. We love this parade, it isn't too long, it isn't too busy and we don't have to fight 10000 other families and kids for tootsie rolls. We sat next to our neighbors from down the street and the kids did great!

Piper was a pro at waving and jetting out into the street to get candy (very safe, I know) and running back to put it in her 'purse' (or bag, as most people would call it!)

We got home from the parade, Piper went down for a nap, I ran to Target (first time by myself in over a month! WHAT?), and Steve and dad got the shed one step closer to the end! :)

We ended up having the family over for dinner that night, (minus Sam, Scott and Boston since they were on their boat) Steve made a great dinner, the weather was perfect for sitting on the deck and chatting. It was very nice!

 

Sunday the girls slept until 9 and 10, (they might like to sleep in but Piper does not like to GO to sleep at night!!!) We got up and ready and headed out for a picnic lunch with the family at a nearby park. We all ate, the kids played at the playground, then the sun started to beat down and get hot.

Happy Fathers Day Daddy!

Happy Fathers Day babe!

We got home and tried to put Piper down for a nap.....TRIED. She normally has no problem going down for naps and maybe it was b/c she didn't get up until 9 but she was not interested today...which sucked b/c Steve was going to take Piper to Creston tonight for a family thing but with no nap, that wasn't going to be an option!

So while Piper napped/played in her room for 3 hours, Presley was able to have her friend Dani over to play! Finally a play date that went good! These two were good friends in school and they only live about a mile away! So it worked out!

We have two days with no evening plans and then 4 busy days!

Dancing Queen!

So after the carnival we made our way over to the band/beer area, Piper was very interested in dancing. She slowly walked to the dance floor, by herself. Being the only one on the dance floor.

She took it all in, took a look around her......

and started jumping up and down (or dancing according to her).

Literally jumping and jumping and jumping.

Then a couple other kids went on the dance floor without shoes on....so she RAN over to us, whipped off her shoes and headed back out on the floor.

She started copying the moves of the other little girls, shaking her hips, moving her arms, flinging her hair....it was awesome!

It was SO fun watching her! She was having SO much fun without a care in the world......totally opposite of Presley and Boston who stood by watching and chasing each other around the table. The girls were SO good this night and we were out a lot later than we had anticipated (b/c we NEVER know how sassy and naughty they are going to be!).

Fun week

It was a busy week, I played single mom from Mon thru Wednesday and it just wore my patience too thin. Drop-offs at school went good, I was consistently late for work by about 15 minutes but whatever. By Tuesday night Steve started to feel better and start moving again but the girls were just too crazy and not careful enough around him. Wednesday I had to leave work early to pick up both girls and get Presley to gymnastics by 5. We got there with 10 minutes to spare and at 5, Piper had peed her pants. The next hour was basically me trying to keep Piper entertained. I really wanted to actually watch Presley but Piper did not make that easy for me.

 

Thursday my mom was nice enough pick up the girls from daycare and Steve met me at Jasper Winery after work to enjoy the weather, beers, friends and The Nadas playing. It was the perfect night and just what I needed to unwind a little! :)

 

Friday we went to the Johnston Green Days carnival! Presley loves all the rides, but my body can't handle them anymore! I want to ride them but I think I am just too old. Sucks. Her favorite ride (my old favorite ride) the Tilt-a-whirl!

and she took on the Mixer (barf), she loves them all.

Sam, Scott and Boston were able to meet us out and have some fun too!

My baby.

The only 'ride' Piper went on, the slide. She cried the whole way down.

Piper preferred to cover her ears during the carnival b/c it was too loud.

She was a shaggy, hot mess! We should've been embarrassed by her! HA!

Weekend fun

Some of these are from last weekend, when we actually had sunshine and played outside! I love seeing Piper in Presley's old swimsuits, but it just makes me realize how fast she is growing up!

A little dancing before bedtime!

Playing on the neighbors swingset is much more fun than playing on your own.

 

So Friday I picked the girls up from daycare and then headed over to Holly and Jerry's for a while. We haven't been over there in forever and it is always nice to hang out and have the girls play with Mary. It took them forever to warm up and leave me alone but eventually they would go off  and play! Thanks guys for having us over!

 

Steve is out of commission for a while and so I was a single mom for the weekend (no, he did not get fixed! ha!)....and then Friday night I started to feel like crap. Of course. I slept like crap and Saturday morning I was dragging, at least the girls slept until 8:30! We hung out and I managed to have them both in timeouts throughout the 3 hours we were home....then we headed to mom's. She watched them for a couple hours so that I could go into work for a couple hours.

I got done about 3 and then we hung out at mom's for a couple more hours, then went to dinner at El Mariachi. I know, I know...I go there WAY too much but it really is the easiest, fastest thing with a patio close to our house. I think this was the first time I had taken both girls to dinner by myself and I know why. Presley ended up spilling her milk, Piper refused to sit in her chair or keep her shoes on. Then she wanted to splash in the spilled milk, then she wanted to clean it up.....I mean, really?

 

I slept like crap Saturday night but again, the girls slept until 9 so I really can't complain. We hung out and once I got moving I started to feel a little better and was able to get some stuff done around the house. After lunch, we went and got ice cream and by the time we got home, it was raining! So what else were we going to do? Play in the rain!

They had so much fun but then I was the party pooper and put Piper down for a nap. Presley and I hung out in the garage and played school and I did some reading and she played in the rain a little more. It was nice afternoon! Then we basically hung out inside for the evening (you know, once the sun came out?!). Overall a successful single mom weekend (tiring for sure)! Now I'm hoping the morning dropoff will be good too. This will be the first time I've had to get them both up and out of the house by myself (which would be fine if I had children who didn't try to make everything more difficult for me!) and drop them both off (which wouldn't normally be a big deal but Presley's summer KTC is at another elementary school, that is completely out of the way!)

Wish me luck and for Steve to get back on his feet soon so we can tag team our divas together! HA!

Just another week

Monday Presley decided that it would be a good day to stay with Grandma, so Boston and P went to their house for the day to hang out and have some good Grandma/Grandpa time. They went to Mullets for breakfast/lunch, played outside in the sprinkler and had some tv time with lots of snacks, just the way grandparents should do it! :)

Tuesday was my late night, I went in at normal time b/c we are actually pretty busy, which is nice it's just hard finding extra hours to work with our schedule these days. I worked until 6:30 so that I could be home to help with bedtime. This was the day Piper was called the 'bossy one' by the girl at daycare. She was 'pretending' to be the teacher and telling the other kids what to do....Typical? Yes!

Wednesday is gymnastics for Presley and of course, it is at 5 pm so Steve takes her b/c I would have to leave work early to pick her up and get her there on time. Piper and I had our dinner date at El Mariachi! She was not as good as she was last time we went. She dropped her fork and insisted on getting it, then proceeded to stay under the table banging on the table leg with the fork, all while singing 'I'm squishing up my baby bumble bee, won't my mommy be so proud of me!'....it sounds cute right? Not so much. Typical? Yes!
When gymnastics was over Steve and P went to dinner and Piper and I hung out with the neighbors until it was time for a bath!

I picked up Piper from Generation today and her teacher Lennie (who we LOVE!) has been so impressed with Piper's potty training that she suggested doing underwear next week! WTF? So Monday, we'll do underwear and see how that goes. I foresee accidents, but I guess that is bound to happen!
Presley can be SO good and she can get SO hysterical about some things. She got in trouble and it literally is THE.END.OF.THE.WORLD. She cannot calm down, she freaks out, calls names, say ridiculous things, she can make herself literally sick! It's like the movie The Exorcist! No joke. It's scary and sad and worrisome. We try to get her to calm down without giving in but it is hard.

Random

- Presley has been going to summer KTC for almost 2 weeks now. She was very nervous the first day, she was afraid she wasn't going to know any kids or any teachers (which she didn't). But she quickly warmed up and didn't cry on the first day! She has already made some new friends and got reunited with some old ones (that went to different elementary schools this year). They do something with them every day...from movies, going out to lunch, bowling, the zoo, they have on-site days (glow in the dark day was last Friday, this week they have Dr. Seuss day) and on Friday they get to go to Adventureland. This makes me super nervous, but I know this they do this every year so I just have to trust the program!
- The best part of this KTC program, they offer swim lessons! This also makes me nervous, but she needs them badly! I really want to go spy on her during them. I was really hoping to get her signed up for two sessions but they are full. Boo.
- Piper is SASSY! I know she is getting alot of her attitude from Presley which is so hard to control and/or ignore. And she still takes about 1.5 hours to get to sleep every night. We have a routine, she had a blanket and paci, she either wants our constant attention or isn't tired. I don't feel as if we need to let her 'cry it out' like would we do if she was a baby, but I think we might have to resort to that!
- Conversation with me and Presley the other night reading her Judy Moody book and they were talking about a 'venus flytrap'
P : "A PENIS?"
Me : "No! A VENUS....a 'v', like violin and vase.....VENUS"
P : (giggle, giggle) "A penis flytrap!!!"
Me : "Do you even know what that means?"
P : (giggle, giggle) "a boys privates!"
- I'm off to eat a spoonful of peanut butter with m&m's on it. Don't judge.

Week in Review

Monday was my late night and Steve took the girls to Dairy Queen for dinner....nice daddy, lucky girls!
Wednesday Presley had summer gymnastics so Steve took her to that, he said there was a lot less people there and only 4 girls in class that night so perfect 'Presley' conditions! She did good and enjoyed it! Piper and I have started a tradition of going to El Mariachi for dinner when they are at gymnastics. Presley doesn't like eating there and Piper is so good when it is just the two of us! :)

Thursday we decided to take girls to Camp Dodge to watch the band Brother Trucker. They have a summer concert series, you can take your chairs, blankets, coolers and food. They sell food and there is plenty of room for kids to run around. Our kids were running in circles, wrestling each other on the ground, Piper decided that spitting was her new favorite thing (wtf?)...I'm sure all the people around us thought they were out of control.....hey, if they aren't fighting and screaming, we are mostly happy! We left there about 8 and then all hell broke loose. Presley completely lost her cool and when she gets mad or upset there is NO calming her down. So after screaming, kicking, name calling, crying she was sent to her room for the night when we got home.....which of course made her do all those things even more for even longer. ugh.

Friday night we decided to hang out and order pizza. My parents stopped by b/c they hadn't seen the girls in a couple weeks and missed them. So it was a good night in!

Saturday morning Steve was able to get some guys from work to help pour the concrete for his shed! Some cheap labor and a concrete truck in the cul-de-sac was the perfect way to start our morning (sorry to our neighbor who was having a garage sale!)

While they were doing that I took Presley and Piper to a nearby park to waste some time in the nice weather and then met my mom for lunch!  They were mostly good (95% good for Presley, 20% good for Piper). We came home and Piper went down for a nap and Presley and I headed to meet Samantha, Scott and Boston out on their boat! It's so close for us to go there and it was nice to hang out on the water. The weather was kinda cool and I knew that neither one of us would be getting in the water but it was still nice to hang out. Afterwards we had dinner at the marina, just the two of us! It was a good girls afternoon doing something a little different for us!

That night we had a first.....for about 10 minutes, the 4 of us sat on the couch, eating popcorn and watched (part of) Annie. Then Piper was done sitting still and it was time for her to go to bed.

Sunday morning they girls were up at 7 am....WHAT? WHY? So we got up and ready and decided we'd try to do brunch out....we went to 1908, they have a great patio, it is never busy and they have food the kids will eat! So it was a fairly successful brunch out! Then we made a Target run...now I have been to Target in over a month and Piper.....I have no idea how long it has been since all 4 of us have been into a store together...and we were reminded why we don't do it. Neither one wanted to sit in a cart (which is fine when it is Presley), Piper wants to run away and if you chase her, she thinks it's a game. Eventually she just wouldn't listen and wouldn't stay with us so I took her to the car (kicking and screaming for daddy down the aisles of Target) while Steve and Presley finished.

Sunday afternoon (while Piper was napping) we enjoyed the afternoon (do you feel sorry for Piper yet? she gets left out a lot but she is just NO fun! ha!). Presley got in her swimsuit and played in the babypool and sprinkler, I got my Kindle out and layed in the hammock and Steve hung out and did some yard work. The weather was toasty warm and we enjoyed the summer weather!

 

Friday Fun

So last Friday we had a date night.....We got Carlyn to babysit and then we went to The Radish in Grimes for dinner....it was very good! We were pleasantly surprised! Then we head to the Steel Panther concert at Val Air. We saw them a couple months ago and loved it! Again, it is SO raunchy and wrong and people can easily get offended and you are guaranteed to see boobs.....and we laugh so hard the whole time!

and then Cory Taylor from Slipknot got up to sing with them for a couple songs. I'm not a big metal fan but supposedly this is a big deal

It was a lot of fun and we were still home by 11:30! Piper slept until 9 and Presley got up a little before 10 Saturday morning...Carlyn must have worn them out! Saturday we didn't do much, hung out, spent time outside, ran errands...Steve smoked some meat for dinner and worked on getting the shed ready to have concrete poured tomorrow!

Sunday was more of the same. Piper slept until 8 and Presley almost 9. The three of us girls went to go watch Mary's softball game, they didn't win but I love watching them play....it's too cute though I don't think we'll get Presley to play after watching the game and hearing the parents yell at the kids on the field or up to bat....it would be too much pressure for her! HA!

That night we had Jerry and Holly over for dinner, Steve made pizzas on the grill, we sat on the deck and talked and ate. It feels like we haven't really seen the family in a long time so it was nice!

Last Day of Kindergarten!

I seriously can't believe she is going to be in 1st grade! The Tuesday after Memorial Day was their last day of school, they had a bbq lunch and the parents could come and then you could take your child home with you if you wanted. So Steve took a half day and had lunch with them and then got her pictures taken with her teacher Mrs. Kuhlman.

and their math teacher Mrs. Steiert

We got a million papers sent home and ideas for good summer projects! I have a hard time throwing any of it away!

So between the last day of school to the time that summer KTC starts, there is a day of no daycare. So I took the day off to kick off her summer the right way! She slept in and we got ready to head out for breakfast!

The weather was perfect so we went to Mullets for brunch on the patio!

Then we headed to the zoo! I will say she is not 100% interested in the animals. She likes the sea lions and feeding the koi fish but doesn't like walking.

She likes snacks and riding the merry go round.

She wanted to ride the train (but didn't want to walk to it) and wanted her face painted once we left?! Perfect timing kid.

We got home and right away she wanted to get the water buckets out and play. Eventually the swimsuit came out and then the neighbors joined. We are very lucky to have them close and have them get along most of the time! Steve got home and we headed out for an early dinner on the patio at El Mariachi (without Piper, sorry Piper!).

Memorial Day Weekend

I know, I know...I'm almost 3 weeks behind! How is the possible? This never happens to me! So we have been busy and I have no idea what I'm mentioned before. Presley has been taking gymnastics, she loves it and has learned alot, we love it there! Piper has been potty training....b/c SHE wants to. This current week she has done amazing at being dry for most if not ALL day, she lets us know when she has to go but there is still no #2 on the potty (which was just like Presley!). So we are very proud of her and we are so happy that we haven't had to push her into it!

 

Sister nonsense....occasionally they get along and play school or house.

So the Saturday of Memorial Day we got up, packed up the car and headed to our babysitter, Carlyn's graduation open house. Unfortunately she has decided that graduating and going to Iowa is a better idea then hanging around DSM and babysitting for us! :)

 After the party we headed to Lake Panorama for the night. We got there about 1, tried to put Piper down for a nap (that didn't work). The weather was overcast and chilly but the kids didn't seem to mind!  We hung out, the kids played, a little fishing, some drinking and alot of talking!

The next morning we did some more hanging out. The weather was still less than desirable but again, the kids didn't care. Presley spent most of the morning playing with the other kids either in the mud on the beach or on the merry-go-round spinny thing at the park (makes me sick just watching them on that thing!). We headed home about lunch time so we could unpack, Piper could nap, we could do laundry and such.

Then about 4 pm, we got back in the car and headed to Earlham for cousin Derek's graduation party! We got to see the whole family, we hung out and ate and the girls had to check out the bathroom (my least favorite party of potty training is the amount of time in bathrooms doing NOTHING). It was nice!

 

Monday we finally had nice weather so we spent time outside! Our kids would love to just be outside playing with the neighbors all day long! Sunscreen has already become our friend!

She played with bugs and got out the sidewalk chalk.

The neighbor girls Naiah and Kinsley

Talia

Kinsley (who is 2 weeks younger than Piper, though Piper acts much older...and she is so well-behaved and quiet.....Miss Piper is so the opposite!)

Anika, who moved to the neighborhood a couple months ago and was in Presley's class!

Miss Piper cheesing after running down the block. She is naughty, we are trying so hard to teach her NOT to run away from us, or down the block from us!

Playing in the back of the car....one of their very most favorite things to do!