Thundergirls!

I feel like we have actually had some fall weather this past week! It works out when the weather is nice on Monday's b/c Steve will take the girls to gymnastics and then I meet them there. He jets home to start dinner and I bring my workout stuff so that I can walk while they are in class! Though with the sun going down earlier and earlier, this might be the last week for that :(

Tuesday I was WAY over due for a hair cut and highlight. I hadn't been since March which is about 2 months overdue and my roots showed it! It is always nice to sit and drink some wine, read my book and just relax for 2 hours!

Wednesday I had my annual dermatologist appointment. Always relieved when there is nothing she finds concerning and nothing she needs to remove from me! 

Thursday was Wallace Elementary Halloween skating party. Reminds me of when I was in school! All 4 of us went this year, though Steve didn't skate and Piper didn't dress up?! WTH?! Presley was excited that some of her friends were there. She just goes off with them but she does come back to me when she needs someone to skate with her. I will join her for as long as she wants me to!

Piper had never been skating....we got her the skate mate after trying to help her by ourselves. She did so much better with this thing and could go out by herself and skate with friends. It was too cute!

Friday we didn't do much. Piper had a birthday party next door and Presley just wanted to hang out at home. So we did! We watched Student Exchange, which was a Disney Sunday night movie from back when I was a kid! She didn't seem to mind it and I loved watching it again!.

Saturday we had Presley's last soccer game! They had named their team the Thundergirls at the beginning of the season, so cheesy but they loved it! The weather was amazing! Presley had quite the cheering squad with my parents and Holly, Jerry and Mary there. I'm sure she really the yelling from the sidelines! Usually she just rolls her eyes at us. #winning

They actually did win this game. They only one 2 games this season but all of them seemed to get so much better these last couple weeks!

Since I have taken so many pictures and sent the team a link of pictures for the first 3 games, I think I became the designated photographer for the team. One of the mom's thanked me and is anxious to get the last 4 games worth of pictures. So I guess that gives me motivation to actually do something with them. We also initiated the team picture at the end of the game! Go us! :)

After the game we made a quick trip to Target and then another quick trip to Hy-vee for some things and then headed home to get ready for the Iowa game. Jordan, Allie and Derek came over to watch the game with us. Allie is SO good with the girls, it is nice b/c she does a really good job of keeping them occupied! No wonder she is a teacher! The game was not the outcome we had wanted but we had a good time watching it together anyway. 

Week in review

I can't say that I'm enjoying this 'fall' weather we are having. I just want normal fall weather. Not cold, not rainy, not snowing, not windy. I don't think that should be too much to ask! :)

Monday Steve took the girls to gymnastics and said the Jeep wasn't running right, check engine sign has been off and on for months and it was burning oil badly. So Tuesday Steve decided we needed an updated Jeep. Our other one was coming up needing some expensive car repairs and once Steve gets something in his head, it is hard to talk him out of it. So he traded in our 2007 for a 2012 (we have never owned a brand new car!) and really this new one makes our old one look like a little bitch.  The new one is jacked up on the big tires and such. Steve is pretty much in love.

Presley had a make-up gymnastics class Tuesday so after his 2 hours at the car dealership he came and picked up Piper so she didn't have to sit there for the whole time. I walked outside for a bit while she was in class until the it was getting too dark for me to really feel safe walking by myself.

Wednesday Aunt Holly picked up the girls from school and took them out for ice cream for Piper's birthday present. I love this! It is time she gets to spend with them and this was she isn't spending money on a present that she doesn't really need. She did this for Presley's birthday too and now Orange Leaf is their favorite place for ice cream!

Thursday I had my annual girls pumpkin beer night....however we couldn't find any place that had pumpkin beer since Rock Bottom closed last year. So we just had a girls night! We went to Iowa Taproom and the 6 of us had so many laughs! Steve and I have been trying this Keto diet thing the last 2 weeks so I was good during dinner and ordered a bacon, blue cheese burger with no bun and cottage cheese! It was really good. I should've skipped the beer, but I did okay.

Friday we decided to get together with the neighbors and hang out. We stayed for a couple hours while the kids played and we just talked and such. It was a nice, laid back night.
The 5 kids and Presley was the one I couldn't get to look at the camera!

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Pleasant Hill for our first soccer game of the weekend. It was cold but the wind was blocked so that helped! The first half none of the girls looked like they were really into playing....walking, not aggressive, super annoying. But then they must have woken up and they played a little better.

At one point the mom next to me told her daughter (who played for the other team) to keep an eye on Presley! :)

Presley has found her elbows and aggressiveness in soccer and I am loving it! The girl in the pink headband was good and fast, Presley took her down.

We drove from Pleasant Hill back to Urbandale and had a quick lunch at The Chicken Coop (so Steve could see part of the Iowa game!), I was good again and had a burger with no bun and cottage cheese and then we headed to our next game. This is the first and only game we have won this season!

We got home and were cold and wind-burned but so proud of Presley in these games! We hung out for a couple hours, I might have snoozed on the couch, the girls played, Steve watched a little football and then we met my parents and uncle Dave and Steph at Smokey D's for dinner! It was busy but it was good! We headed back to my parents house for a while to chat and hang out.

Sunday morning Steve headed out to golf and the girls and I got ready for Presley's 3rd and final soccer game of the weekend.

Again she did really good but they lost. This is just a rec league so all girls play and get to play any position they want. So there are games you have a brand new goalie in or some of your not so aggressive players are playing on offense...maybe I will see if I can convince her to play the competitive league next year.

Then we headed to the grocery store to pick up a couple things, came home, had lunch, the girls played while I boiled eggs, made fat free jello and a broccoli casserole (I was actually in the kitchen cooking!!). I did dishes, laundry, picked up some things and all in 1.5 hours before we had to leave for volleyball! I felt very accomplished! 

Presley did an awesome job at serving  in volleyball and next week is our last week. Piper was happy b/c her friend Olivia was there so they kept each other company!

We got home about 4:30 and the girls had a snack and played while I worked out. Steve got home about 6 and started dinner while I continued the picking up and laundry and just getting stuff ready for the week ahead!

Overall a busy weekend, we aren't used to this many sports in a weekend! :) 

Presley

Sometimes I think this girl doesn't get enough face time around here or anywhere and she is getting to the age where she is normally too cool for us but man, I love this girl. This weekend she was SO good and SO nice that it was a little odd! She might have just been sucking up to Piper so that she would share her new birthday presents with her?! Either way, I'll take it! :)

This natural, perfect smile was just what I wanted to see! She can be so funny when she stops worrying and steps out of her shell and I was so happy to get a couple pictures of her!

Sunday morning we slept in until about 9, I worked out, Steve did some food prep. I went to the grocery store, the girls played really, really nicely most of this day also! Steve headed to Adel for a charity event with his family. We were going to go but a lot of it was outside and the weather was crap we didn't want to listen to the girls complain the whole time, so we opted out.

Then us girls headed to volleyball. They are playing 'games' now, which isn't really scored and there is very little volleying. The one thing this girl can do, serve! She can get about 90% of her serves in AND over the net which is so awesome b/c a lot of the girls can't. I really hope she sticks with volleyball....I will let her give up cheer, volleyball I might have to push for though!

Cheer/Party

After a crappy week of weather they were finally able to schedule the cheer camp performance for last Thursday. It was cold.....but it wasn't raining and it was sunny, so guess we'll just try to be positive!

As I previously mentioned, she really didn't want to do this and kept telling me that cheer was dumb. Even though her shirt says Future Johnston Cheerleader, I have a feeling that just isn't true with this one! But she did it, with little enthusiasm! :)

Friday night we stayed in and cleaned b/c our house was a mess and we were having Piper's birthday party Saturday afternoon! Presley's soccer game got cancelled for the 2nd week in a row and I'm not complaining since it has been cold and rainy. But I have a feeling the weather might suck even more by the time we actually play them!

Piper was so excited for her pig party. This was probably the cheapest party we have had. We bought about $40 on some pig stuff, piñata and candy to fill it plus $35 on the pizza/cake! Okay! We were able to use all of her stuffed pigs for decorations!

The girls were so loud! OMG! 10 little girls were able to make it (only inviting 12) and most were from her daycare last year. There was screaming and laughing and shrieking and giggling. SO LOUD. We let them play for a while and then we did pin the tail on the pig (we just took pink ribbon and made them curly!), we weren't going to order pizza but Piper insisted that you couldn't have a birthday party without pizza, so we caved.
We did pizza, cake and ice cream and then opened presents!

Then we did the piñata about 20 minutes before they were to be picked up. It took them a while to get it open but once they did, we just dumped the rest on theirs heads! :)

 The gang, the nice picture!

 Silly faces

Mean faces

 Sad faces

The party was good and she got some great stuff! Presley and Piper played so well all afternoon and evening, it was a little spooky for me. :) I asked Steve if there was a full moon b/c I wasn't sure what was going on with them!

6 years old!!!!

I had Monday off for Columbus Day....all to myself! I helped get the girls ready, laid around a while, worked out then headed out about 10:15 to stop at McD's to pick up lunch for Miss Piper (they have lunch at 10:55!). I figured I would have lunch with her since her bday was Wednesday. She was so excited to see me. It was fun!

One of the associate came over to tell me that she just loves Piper and told me how sweet and nice and smart she is and how she is trying to get the Gifted and Talented folks to come see how smart she is. It was awesome to hear b/c we think she is pretty sweet and smart too.

Tuesday she started Spanish! There is a weekly after school class for Spanish for the next 8 weeks so we signed her up! It's pretty cute!

Wednesday was her birthday! She was very excited to take her brownies to school! Her teacher does an awesome job making each kid feel so special. She makes paper hats for the birthday kid and then every child makes a card for the birthday kid too! What a nice idea!

She wanted bacon and waffles for dinner, so we did! She was very happy! Then we did gifts. I never like to spend too much on presents for their birthday usually b/c the actual party costs so much money (though this year it didn't, more to come on that!)

 We did a little cake for that night and she was so excited!

Thursday she had her 6 yr doctors appt. It was short and sweet. She is 42.2 lbs which is about 34% and 3'8" which is 28%....so a little petite, which we figured seeing her with her friends. Other than that she is normal! She does has sensitive skin so we are using an eczema lotion on her now.

Sweet Piper. You are just that. Sweet. You are so smart and funny! It is amazing what comes out of your mouth on a daily basis! You march to the beat of a different drum and you don't care, which is awesome and a little like your daddy!

You are affectionate and a very good sharer (which is a good thing considering your sister wanted ALL of your birthday presents!).

Some of your favorite things : pigs, bacon, steak, coloring, writing, reading, being the teachers pet, learning anything and everything, wearing my shoes when you play school or house with Presley, playing hangman and cuddling with me! :)

You are in between clothes. Your 4/5s are too short but the 6's just hang on you, so we are going with the high water look for now! :)

You are very excited to be police officer for Halloween which I think is freaking adorable!

You love the camera and will pose any time you are asked and sometimes you insist that I take your picture just b/c you think you are being cute!  (and most of the time, you are)

My favorite nights are when we read together and then you ask me to scratch your back and sing 'You Are My Sunshine'. I really take in these moments and just enjoy them. I will admit when this happens, I usually have tears in my eyes b/c I just don't want them to grow up!

October!

October is here and half way over now! BUT.....the first week of the month Presley started cheer camp at school. She didn't really want to do it but somehow I convinced her. Piper had NO interest at all and turns out Presley is the ONLY 4th grader doing it in her school. WTH? Oh well, guess this will be the last year for us.

That Tuesday I had my wine making night with Sarah. We did dinner at The Cheese Bar and then did our wine making which I have really come to enjoy. We hadn't been out together in a while so it was really nice to catch up! After that we headed closer to home and went to Lynn's. We actually saw some people that we know. Drew (who is a rough man and normally goes to The Boathouse and Deb who is a PT bartender at TBH also!). As normal, we were out too late and Wednesday morning was a rough one! :)

I had taken that Friday the 5th off from work since the girls didn't have school so we slept in a bit and then it was time for the girls to get their hairs cut!! It had been about a year!! Presley just wanted a trim, she is really into growing out her hair right now which is fine. Piper however, needed hers CUT badly. It is straight and thin and I just didn't like it hanging there. She wanted to go shorter than I did, but Josie convinced us it would good and we would still be able to do ponies to get the hair out of her face!

 I love, love, love Piper's hair cut! This length is SO much better for her!! (she kept saying that she looked like a mom in this outfit!)

Saturday we had our 3rd annual Adventureland Oktoberfest! The weather was chilly for sure but we get in for free with our season passes so we figured we might as well try! We bundled up so it really wasn't that bad and it only rained for about 30 minutes and we were under a tent watching the Iowa game! So it all worked out!

Our friend Baird playing.

 There is live music and different entertainment around every corner. This was the worst entertainment we had seen. None of them really looked like they knew what they were doing and it almost seems like a joke.

 Royce Johns in a awesome young up and coming country singer that plays in the area, he was really good and it is so fun to watch them play/sing with the roller coasters flying by in the background!

Then of course, we had to make our way over to Hansen. Um Bop! The crowd was very big and everyone was very into it. Steve made fun of me b/c I am pretty much the only person there (besides the media) who has an actual big camera that I take every where with me!

Some more of the entertainment. Not a good picture since it was cloudy and raining but these 3 girls were doing some stunts on a motorcycle with minimal clothing on, so the crowd seemed to enjoy it!

The Polka Police, we had never heard of, but they were playing and giving away some of the pumpkin spice donuts so I had to have one!

Casey Muessigmann was awesome! We have never seen him before either and was on Season 3 of The Voice. We would definitely see him again!

 Steve, Samantha, Nicola and Brent

Our nephew Derek and his girlfriend showed up with his friend Travis and his girlfriend. I am not sure why I needed to be in a picture with these super cute young girls!

Of course, our new favorite band The Sheet was playing, so we stopped by and saw them for a while and I had a cheeseburger which was awesome (it probably really wasn't but by then, I was starving and needed to eat!)

They have all sorts of yard games and drinking games around every corner also, it really is such a fun event! Surprisingly, we didn't actually ride any of the rides!

Finally the last band of the night was the Spazmatics. We saw some of them last year and they are really fun! Singing old school songs that everyone loves! Such a good time, but we were pooped by the time they got on stage!

We did stay a while and then headed out to get closer to home. We stopped by TBH on our way home, which we really didn't need to do but it was only 10 and the kids were at my parents all night!......so why not!?

Sunday we didn't do anything. It was cold and rainy and we were TIRED!!!!! I might have taken two short naps and we opted to skip Presley's volleyball practice that day, we NEVER let her just skip but we just didn't want to leave the nice warm house! :)