Weekend Update

We didn't have a soccer game this Saturday and the weather was supposed to be hot! We woke up and got packed and headed to Lake Panorama to hang out by the water with Steve's family. The kids spent a lot of time in the water and playing.

Presley and Ava doing gymnastics on the water mat.

And playing 'King of the Mat'.......

and P managed to take down Ava and knock her off the mat! 

All of Steve's family was there and we had pizza for dinner. The moved a TV out by the lake so we could all watch the game 'beachfront'. It was awesome and the perfect night! (despite the heartbreaking Iowa loss!)

Jason, Roxanne, Jerry, Matt, Steve

Piper fell asleep fairly early (compared to the rest of us) but we all hung out and talked after the game. We slept in pretty good on Sunday morning and Presley and Ava went back to the water. Presley even getting in the kayak! I never thought she would get in this but she did and she does really well in it!

And they got to go tubing again. They have so much fun out there! It makes me a little nervous b/c I'm waiting for the day that they do flip over and into the water but so far that hasn't happened! :) Thank you to Jason and Christie for having us!

We left about 1 pm, neither kid was happy about it but we needed to get home. We hadn't really been home all weekend and Presley had volleyball. This is the first time that she has really complained about it but know that she didn't want to leave the lake and she was tired....but we pushed on and went. Most of the girls can't really get it over the net consistently but they do play 'games' so they can get used to the rules and idea of the game. There is very little 'volleying' that actually happens. But she does a pretty good job getting her serves over!

Of course when we got home she wanted to practice volleyball. So we got her ball out and practiced in the front yard a bit! We had a nice dinner, took early baths and they were both asleep by 8!

Happy Birthday daddy!

Most of our weeks have the same schedule...Monday - nothing. Tuesday - Presley gymnastics. Wednesday - Piper gymnastics. Thursday - Presley soccer. Occasionally we have been squeezing in a Target run or dinner out. Then the weekends get busy and before we know it, it is Monday once again!

 

This Friday we celebrated my dad's 65th birthday! We gave him cash to buy a new edger.....$65 one dollar bills and then some other bills that Holly did origami with :)

Dad filling up shots full of some cherry liquor thing that one of his coworkers makes, it was really good!

Look how cute these two are! 

We hung out and had a great dinner, the kids played, we talked and drank and had a good night! Happy Birthday Daddy-o!

Weekend in review

Our weekend wasn't really THAT busy, we decided to head up to Beaverdale Fall Fest and walk around. We saw the car shows, saw some people that we knew, ate and drank a little and then headed home, not too late.

Saturday morning we got up for Presley's soccer game. She did pretty good, still a lot of following the ball around instead of playing 'defense' or 'offense' but she does get in there and she is still learning. I love it! After soccer we ran some errands, did some stuff around the house and then watched the Iowa game. The girls were really good about playing during the game since they have NO interest in it. 

After Iowa won their game we headed to Ankeny to Firetrucker Brewery. The Sheet was playing there. They are a new reggae type band that we have really come to like this summer, so this was perfect to take the kids to. We got some McD's, took some coloring books and markers and enjoyed our couple hours there.
The lady in the background of this picture bought 2 cupcakes off another group of people that were there and gave them to the girls! And then thanked us for the extra entertainment (talking about Piper b/c she is so fun to watch!). I love nice people!

 Sunday morning we got up for Cohen's 1st birthday party at a nearby park. It had a pirate theme and was so cute. They put a bunch of coins in a grassy area and all the kids went on a treasure hunt, once they each collected 5 coins, they got their 'goodie bag' filled with pirate stuff like an eye patch and am inflatable sword!

 Birthday Boy!

 Ice cream sundae bar and little Captain Morgan bottles for the adults! :)

  Piper had another birthday party at Skyzone, so Steve took her to that while Presley and I enjoyed the rest of the party before we had to leave for volleyball!

Volleyball is so hard for these young girls but I'm so happy that she is doing it and she isn't complaining about it....yet!

 This little monkey wanted to go and watch her sister....but really she just wanted to play with the extra volleyball, run around the courts and continuously wanted to run out and "tell my sister something".

Overall a good weekend with lots of family time. Weather was perfect, the kids were good, the Hawkeyes won (we won't talk about the Packers)

Ed Sheeran

Presley's first concert! I was able to score some pretty good seats for Ed Sheeran in Omaha for Tuesday night, so about a month ago I booked the hotel room and Presley was excited. She might have been more excited about the hotel room than the concert but oh well! :)
That morning we packed up our stuff in the car, I dropped her off at school and then my oil change light came on. Damn it. I was planning on leaving work early anyway, so I headed to the quick lube oil change place about 1:30 and was able to pick up Presley about 2 pm as planned.
We headed to Omaha! She was really good on the ride there, I didn't even think about the fact that we could've brought a movie for her to watch! Oh well!

We got check into the hotel, got changed and such and then walked to the Old Mattress Factory for some dinner before the concert. I knew this place got super busy so we were there by 4:45 and done by 6. She was excited to enjoy a milkshake and we played a lot of 'would you rather....' to pass the time.

She participated in my picture taking! This girl is too beautiful, I just love her!

We ran after this van to take her picture in front of it before it went driving off.

We got in there early, which I rarely do for concerts but I wanted her to get the full experience of a concert. Row 22, right in the middle!

James Blunt opened, he has 2 songs that I know and the first thing Presley said when the lights went down and he started playing was 'This is weird!' HAHA!

Then Ed Sheeran came out, he is so awesome. I didn't realize that it is literally only him on the stage and he 'records' and loops himself singing and playing to make it sounds like there are instruments and backup vocals playing with him. SO creative and so awesome to watch and hear the process of the song!

It was good that he had a very high screen since we were on the floor and Presley sat for most of it. She complained that her legs hurt (which she is either super out of shape from soccer or is having growing pains). She enjoyed parts of it but I think she was overly stimulated and tired by the end. We left early about 10:15 and she was asleep by 10:30! She said she enjoyed the concert and I know I did! :)

We slept in Wednesday morning and got on the rode about 9:30. Once we got to DSM, we ran thru McDonalds and went to school. I ate lunch with her there and then she went off to class and I went home. I was originally was going to keep her home with me or do more in Omaha this day but since she was sick and already missed 2 days, I figured she better go! I did a lot of cleaning and laundry, worked out and actually sat down for a bout 45 minutes to read some of my book before going to pick up Piper for gymnastics!

Tonight I took Presley to soccer practice, I took a walk with one of the other mom's for about 45 minutes! It was perfect to walk and talk while they were practicing! We did see about 15 of their scrimmage and Presley looked more aggressive and more confident, so hopefully that will carry over to her game Saturday morning!

Soccer

We all got up today to watch Presley play in her first game. She was nervous, she was worried they were going to lose and I reminded her that no one was going to be perfect and it's just for fun. I just wanted her to try her best and have fun!

There are four #8's on the team! We just choose a # when you order the jersey so this must be a popular # :)

 She got to be a team captain for the coin toss.

 She played, she tried....she is not real aggressive and doesn't like to run too much, so we'll have to work on that! :)

 This was her good run....running after the ball....

 turning the ball toward the goal......

 trying to score....but the goalie stopped it.

We are very proud of her actually trying, playing and without crying and whining and complaining. I hope she keeps this attitude about it and keeps trying and learning! 

Labor Day Weekend

Three day weekend! Something we all love! And we had minimal plans, which is even better! Friday night we decided to just chill. We ate dinner, the girls played and then we had movie night at the shed and watched Toy Story 3. We hadn't really realized that Piper hasn't seen the movie since she has been old enough to remember it so she was very into it!

 She loves cuddling with daddy!

Saturday I got up and worked out, Steve ran to Wal-Mart before the Iowa game and then we hung out and watched the game while the girls played and hung out (neither one is interested in watching the game with us?!)
After that Steve headed to the UNI vs ISU game with a neighbor. The girls played and played with the neighbors, at one point we had 6 little girls played in our basement but they all play so good and get along so we don't mind!

We did leave about 3:30 to head out to pick up Presley's soccer jersey's! Then we met Holly, Samantha, Boston and Jordan in Ankeny for dinner. The weather was perfect and the kids were all good. Once we left there we swung by a park for a couple minutes and then headed home.

She wanted to send a 'rock on' picture to Steve! :)

 This is the typical look I get from her these days when I want her to smile!

 she finally caved and smiled at me!

That night we just hung out and watched a movie and cuddled on the couch. Presley still doesn't seem 100% after being sick last week but no fever. Lots of coughing and just isn't herself so hopefully she can get rid of that soon!

Sunday we decided to go to Adventureland one last time and Sam and Boston were able to join us too. It was the last weekend for the waterpark and the weather was supposed to be hot so it seemed like a good idea (to us and everyone else apparently!)
We got there when it opened at 10 and didn't realize the waterpark didn't open until noon, which worked out since we had $20 in arcade gift cards we had to use. So we spent that and won some junk toys and candy and went on our merry way!

Piper was so excited that she was tall enough for the bumper cars, must have been her pony tail giving her a little extra height but she loved it!

We did a couple rides and then headed back to the water park, where we stood in line for 20 minutes waiting for it to open....and the line was insane but we were able to get some good chairs once we got in so no complaints! Piper decided right off the bat that she wanted to go down the big kids water slide....um okay.....she went up there and went down without even thinking twice about it!......This girl I had to FORCE down the littlest slide at the beginning of the year! They all the love slides but Boston and Presley's favorite thing is the lazy river! Lay on a tube and just float, so we did that a couple times, we ate lunch, did the wave pool for a bit and they did more slides.

Our neighbors Matt and Kari showed up with their 3 girls so we hung out with them a bit, did the lazy river a couple more times and then before we knew it, it was closing time for the waterpark! (5 pm) We started on our way out, did a couple more rides but for the most part we were all beat! We got home about 6, ate dinner and all got straight in our pj's and vegged out in the basement for the rest of the night!

Monday I got up and worked out and then we cleaned, the house needed it! Then I made a Target run by myself, which is always nice! Neighbors Sarah and Kyle invited us over to grill out for lunch with other neighbors Wendy and Jason, so we headed over there when I got back and we ate and chatted. The weather was perfect with a jacket on! All the kids played good and actually sat and watched most of a movie (again, Presley still not seeming like she feels the greatest). We headed home about 5, eat some dinner, took baths and went to bed early! It was a good weekend filled with good family time that we all enjoyed!