MLK Day

Sunday night we ventured out of the house and went to FiveNineteen for dinner (it is the old Legends in Urbandale). It is locally owned and it was good! Great place to watch games, good for kids and there wasn't a wait!


Yesterday  was MLK day and the girls and I were home. Presley and I just finished reading Who was Coretta Scott King, so perfect timing with this day of remembrance!
Surprisingly we were up and out of the house by10:30, which never happens! We ran dropped off something at a neighbors house, ran to my mom's to drop some stuff off at her house. Then went to Glazed Expressions to pick up some old pottery Piper had done at a birthday party a couple months ago and then headed to Target to get some stuff. It is so much better going to Target without kids! They make me shop faster, that is for sure!
Presley was complaining about her throat and head hurts but we got home and she played, then she would lay down, then she would play, then lay down. Eventually we got ready for gymnastics, which she didn't really complain about it!

Today....the weather again. I hate driving in crappy weather. So I was really hoping that school would get cancelled but it didn't so I went to wake up the girls.....and Presley was bright red with a temp of 100, so I offered to stay home with her.....now we are waiting for the weather to turn since school is now getting out 2 hours early.

I am supposed to go with my sisters and mom to Wisco tonight for Boy Band Trivia, but we'll see if the weather cooperates or not! 

Long weekend.

Last week seemed to go so slow...mostly b/c work was slow. I was able to sign Presley up for Girls on The Run, I read a couple books, did a couple hours of work and Friday I took 2 hours of PTO to leave work early, which worked out since the weather turned gross.

Friday we started the painting of Presley's room. So it was my job to keep the girls occupied while Steve shut himself in there (and we locked Presley out!). Instead of gifts for her 10th birthday coming up, we decided a room remodel was a good alternative. She picked out the baby girl pink when she was 3.5 yrs old and it was due!

My parents got the girls Kiwi Boxes for Christmas. They are pretty cool, based on age, easy to follow instructions and you actually learn! So Piper and I did one of hers on Friday night. 

Presley and Steve slept in the basement and Piper and I had a slumber party in our bed. Saturday morning Steve went right back to painting and again, I tried to keep the girls busy without killing each other.

Saturday night we had popcorn, watched a movie and then Steve and the girls slept in the basement and I got my bed to myself! AHHHH...….

Sunday we worked on the finishing touches of the room. We are still waiting on her new bedding but the bedding she had before still looked good so we decided to use for now. I kept them busy by doing this science experience activity set that we got, they thought that was pretty cool. They actually played pretty good too, eventually we had the room ready to show Presley, she was so excited. She knew it was going to be blue and beach themed but other than that she had no idea what to expect so she was nervous and excited!

This girl, is so freaking adorable!

I think she was pretty happy with it! And I think it came out great! Ever since she has been to the beach in Mexico, we have realized that it is truly her happiest place! The smiles she has there are priceless, so bringing some of that home! 

2019

I didn't make new years resolutions or goals in 2018, but decided to try this year and see how it goes!

1. Have a will made up - I really wanted to have this done last year and just didn't.

2. Say 'You're welcome' when someone says thank you to me - You will realize that most people DO NOT say 'you're welcome'. They say 'yeah', 'of course', or 'no problem'. Drives me crazy, so I'm trying to change!

3. Do more purging and getting rid of stuff - we did have a garage sale last year but we still have so much to get rid of. This past weekend we purged both girls' rooms, so I guess that is a good start!

4. Learn to be more 'techy'. I just don't know enough about current technology and social media and feel like I'm getting left behind and that my kids are going pass me up! I have Snapchat that I look at maybe once a week and I have Instagram that Presley looks at more than I do, so maybe I can learn a couple things!

5. Get to my goal weight and maintain it! Run a 5K with Presley and get back into shape. I haven't worked out at all since vacation!

Random

- Presley has been complaining about her ankle for almost 2 weeks now. We actually took her to the doctor last Friday for it. They did x-rays, not broken, which I knew. So they gave her a little boot to wear to help a possible sprain. I just keep hoping she will forget about it and it will magically feel better!

- When we gave Piper her bed this past weekend, she gave both me and Steve hugs and said 'thank you mommy!' It is just always nice to hear you kids be thankful and kind without having to prompt them! :)

- Our 40th birthdays are this year! We are planning on doing a Nashville trip in May for 2 days and then heading to the Kentucky Derby! Hopefully we can make this plan work out, could be a lot of fun!

- Presley decided she wanted to join Girls on the Run this year! I was excited that she chose to do it again and this gives me motivation to start running again! …..and it totally helps that 4 of her closest friends are signed up too!

- Steve and I are back on Keto after about a month hiatus and gaining some of our weight back. We were all in, full carb intake during that time and it was awesome! :) So over the last 10 days we have done pretty good! I had one cheap meal, Saturday night and have lost 4 lbs and Steve has lost 8!

- I got my DNA results!  I thought we were more German than English, we were wrong. I am almost 50% English. And it is crazy how different my results are from my sisters! For one, I have more Irish than they do, never knew I was Irish at all! and the 1% Congo, how neat! There is so much more info on this website too and I love family tree/ancestry type stuff. I used to really dig into it and have gone back on my mom's side of the family pretty far with the info I was able to find!

- I've been reading some good books lately. Psychological thrillers, cop, murder mystery dramas. I should add up the books that I read in 2018 b/c I think it would be eye opening to how I spend most of my time!
 1. The Archie Sheridan series by Chelsea Cain
 2. The Ash Park series by Meghan O'Flynn
 3. Books by J.T Ellison and Greg Olsen and John Marrs are also really good! 

Weekend in Review

Friday was the perfect night to just stay home and do nothing! Steve was playing poker and I made my self comfortable doing my puzzle with a glass of wine and the girls played and played. I love when they can just get along and play!!

Saturday morning we woke up to white blanket of snow. Finally! I hate snow but getting it on the weekend when I don't have to drive anywhere is what I prefer! The girls loved it, they weren't out there as long as I thought they would be but I was glad we got to use the sleds that we bought 2 yrs ago and haven't really used!

Steve ended up taking Piper to Hobby Lobby and the store with him and Presley and I tackled her room. She is getting a complete room make over for her 10th birthday so it was time to clean, purge, throw things away, organize....ahhhh it felt SO good to get that done and we are hoping to get her room completely done this coming weekend. She knows it is going to be blue and beach themed, but other than that, it is going to be a surprise for her!

When they got home, Steve went to the basement to watch the Iowa basketball game with neighbor Jason, the girls went and played and I again, sat and watched some Netflix.
That night Presley and I went to El Mariachi for dinner and then the 3 of us girls cuddled up and watch Boss Baby (and like normal I fell asleep during it)

So we are redoing Presley's room but have been talking about getting Piper a smaller bed. Hers is just too big for her room and the mattress is old and gross and she had very little storage for books or toys. Steve found a good deal on a swap site and went to get it Sunday morning. She was SO excited and of course, Presley said 'it's not fair!'....yes, I did say we are COMPLETELY redoing her room but that doesn't make a difference when your sister gets something. *insert eye roll*
So we were able to completely clean and organize Piper's room too!

Old bed

 New bed, so much more room and storage!

And she always sleeps on the floor, so guess where she slept on the first night? On her nap mat under her bed. Of course.

After getting her bed together and cleaning her room and the rest of the house, we headed to my parents for Jordan's 2nd birthday party. It was short and sweet with just our side of the party, Samantha made an awesome cake. She is so creative when it comes to cakes or cookies for her boys' birthdays!

After that party, we headed home and I went to Sarah's for a botox party. And I was the only one there that didn't get botox! Ha! I just don't care enough and don't always love the way it looks when your forehead doesn't move at all! HAHA! It was a good time anyways and I met some other really cool girls while there!

Today was just another day of me getting up late, waking up the rest of them late, getting to work late and then sitting there for 5 hours before having any work to do. Can you tell I'm annoyed with this typical work day?

We are starting off the week with me not liking work, Steve not feeling good, Piper has a bad cough and says her throat hurts and Presley ankle has been bothering her....but if this is as bad as it gets for us, then I'll take it! Perspective!

2019

We woke up, cleaned from the night before and got ready for more people to come over. Jordan and Alli came over to watch the Hawkeye bowl game and then we had some other neighbors from down the street come over with their kids too.

Presley friend Leah stayed until the end of the game so Presley was occupied and Juliana is the same age as Piper and they all kept her little brother Rowan occupied and happy in the basement while we watch the game. And it was a good game! :)

That evening we hung out. I think we were all tired. I was lucky that I had Wednesday off too since the girls didn't have school. We met my mom and Boston at the Ninja Gym about noon to waste an hour. It is such a nice, little place for them to run off energy that doesn't cost that much either!

After that we all went to the mall to get some ice cream and then the girls and I ran to Target to pick up some stuff. I really prefer going to Target by myself and it has been too long since I've done that, I think I'm due! :)

Friday the 4th, Steve headed to The Boat House after work and the girls and I came home. Before I knew it Sarah, Carver and Cohen were over hanging out before they went to dinner, however they never left for dinner. The kids were playing good and Sarah and I can and do talk for hours and time just got away from us. We got some snacks out, made some popcorn. Steve got home, Kyle and Collins headed over about 9 and then before you know it....it was midnight! All the kids were still behaving and time went fast!! and we had a really good time!

But, we had to get up the next morning to leave for Omaha with Holly and Jerry and both Steve and I were DRAGGING!!!! We had planned this weekend for a while now, as a birthday get together for Holly's birthday back in December. We headed out about 10:30 after dropping the girls (and Rocky) off at my parents house.

We stopped at Texas Roadhouse and saw Cross who was working. We had some appetizers and drinks and then headed to our hotel. The weather was perfect so we were able to walk around with no worries and enjoy some different places. And just like the last time we were there, we spent way too much time at Billy Frogs but we still had a good time!

Steve's cousin Kelsey met us out and we did dinner at Jams (again) and again, it was SO good! Highly recommend! After dinner we headed to a brewery around the corner and enjoyed a couple more drinks. After that we were all winding down and getting tired.

We headed back to the hotel about 11 and got up the next morning, had some breakfast and headed home! Thankfully when we got home with the girls, they were good and playing really well together, so I curled up on the chair and took a quick nap! 

New Years

The 3 days after Christmas both Steve and I had to work, we were able to get our babysitter Brittney to watch the girls at our house! It was SO nice to get up and not have to get kids up, ready and drop them off in the morning! I was actually on time to work these 3 days!  I took most of the Christmas decorations down on Friday night and just tried to get the house a little more organized after the chaos of the holidays!

Sunday I was able to meet my family at Wisco to watch the Packer game, which was a sad pathetic attempt at them trying to play football. Steve had to stay home b/c the DirectTV guy was coming to fix our signal and he was smoking meat, so the girls decided to stay home with him! Score for this momma! Wisco was SO busy for the game and the service was SO slow but the waitresses are SO nice and friendly to us, that we still like going there! After that game, I met Steve and the girls at 1908 so they could have some dinner and Steve could watch the Raiders game. We hung out for a couple hours and then headed home for the night.

Monday, New Years Eve, Brittany came over in the morning so we could go to work. Steve had a short day and was home by 10:30, the girls hadn't even come out of their rooms yet so she didn't even see them that day! 

We really didn't have any plans for that night, so a couple days prior Presley invited a friend to spend the night and we invited some neighbors over. Their girls play so well with ours that we knew they would all have fun! I got off work at 3 and came home to help get the house ready for our night.

Piper rocking out!

 I have no idea....they came out with make-up on and it looks like we have some weird parties at our house!

Leah, Presley and Bella

 Gianna and Piper

 We did the saran wrap game for the kids, they liked it and everyone got some fun little things.

 The karaoke machine was a HUGE hit with these girls....singing and dancing!

 These two are two little sassy peas in a pod!

The gang! Thanks David and Angie for coming over! I didn't think any of us thought we would all make it until midnight and surprisingly we all did!

Christmas 2018

I didn't feel prepared for Christmas this year, I think with vacation and having to work Monday and Wednesday around Christmas, didn't help.
Saturday we did some of our own festive things....we decided to NOT do cookies or a gingerbread house but do Christmas trees instead, it was actually way easy and just as fun as cookies.


Sunday we headed to Holly and Jerry's to do Christmas cookies with the family! It can always be interested to see what the kids do. Like Jordan pouring red sprinkles ALL over his lap.

That Sunday we had our Goodrich Christmas in Earlham. It was great like always. Normally our girls play with cousin Ava and we don't see them.....well Ava didn't feel good so the girls started to get whiny buuuuuttttt, Ava's cousin (on the other side) Nora, who just turned 5 is great for entertaining them. They got comfortable and started running around playing, picking on their older cousins so that was nice.

The 6 kids opened their presents and then the adults, 25 of us!, did our while elephant game. It is always a good time!
We had our typical family pool tournament and like most times, Steve won. Brat.

I had to work Monday, Christmas Eve which sucks but whatever. I do nothing most of the day anyway and we got to leave 1 hour early! WOOHOO! HA!

We do have pretty good Christmas Eve traditions over the last couple years. Busy but fun and the girls love every minute of it! They open their gifts from each other and surprisingly they were very excited and THANKFUL to each other!
They open their presents from us. We really needed new tires on our old Frozen Jeep, well one thing led to another and before you know it, Steve decided to take the whole thing apart and paint it to look just like his does! He was super excited for this project and the girls thought it was pretty cool too.

We also always get them new jammies, some snacks for our movie night and Adventureland season passes.
They get to take a bubble bath in whirlpool bath, which is overwhelming with bubbles. But so fun for them!

Then we do fondue! Strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, rice krispies, bacon and pretzels! So fun and yummy!

Santa actually came this year. And I have so many more pictures on my good camera, but have been too lazy to upload them (and obvious too lazy to blog also!) But Santa brought a karaoke machine! So far it has been a hit!!

We spent the morning at home, playing with our new gifts and such. Presley was excited about her electric scooter and Piper excited about her new winter scarf. Then we headed my parents house for our family Christmas. As always it was good! So many good presents, food, drinks, conversations and games....and the kids go and play and leave us alone! :)