Goodtimes3

Two things.....

2012-02-11T14:44:00.002-06:00

Don't judge our closet full of shoes, this is just stupid. We have a problem and this isn't even all of them. I think maybe we need to purge and organize this mess.

Two things they don't make for toddler girls....plain colored underwear (they all have characters on them) and Toy Story underwear! So I bought some little girl size 4 underwear and took the decals our friend Susie gave us (thank you!) and made P some of her very own GIRL Toy Story underwear!

Okay, just a couple more!

2012-02-11T12:56:00.002-06:00

It's hard to tell in this small pic, but I love the look on everyones faces after they jumped. Smiles all around!

Presley

2012-02-10T21:15:00.002-06:00

Her 3 year stats, which I'm not totally convinced these are very accurate but oh well. One pound or a half inch is such a minimal change in kids but huge on the percentile scales.
She is 36.5 pounds, which is about 90%
She is 37.5 inches tall, which is about 50-75%.

She has started stuttering when she talks. She has never been a great talker and her speech is sometimes hard to comprehend but the doctor says this can be typical for her age, so we'll just wait it out for a couple months and hope that it corrects itself.
On the other hand, in the last couple weeks she has put together longer, more complete sentences so that is good!

Five Question Friday

2012-02-10T20:54:00.005-06:00

1. How often do you shave your legs in the winter? Twice a week....or until my legs itch so much I can't stand it! LOL

2. Valentine's Day cards for your spouse: funny or romantic? Honestly, I have no idea. I don't know if we buy each other cards and if we have in the past (isn't it bad that I don't remember) I have no idea if they are funny or romantic. Knowing me, I probably buy one of each.

3. What are you most looking forward to about spring? The sun. Winter makes me want to hibernate.

4. What's your favorite way to pamper yourself? Haircut, highlight, pedicure....if I'm really lucky a massage.

5. Does your tax return go into savings or do you spend it instantly? Usually we payoff any credit card debt we might have, then the rest goes into savings. It's one of my favorite times of the year! LOL!

Days 4. 5, and 6

2012-02-09T21:11:00.007-06:00

Saturday after the wedding was a headache, hangover morning for me! After spending the night drinking white russians and dancing in the disco....this girl was in bed until 11:30 am. Most of the group went on an excursion that day and Steve and Brandon spent some quality time together while I sat myself down in chair by the pool for the afternoon. It was perfect and good time alone reading in the sunshine!

That night we all went to the mexican restaurant, it was Sarahs birthday that day and they all sang to her! Not embarrassing at all! ;)

Sunday was our last full day of vacation! We hung out by the pool and the beach.

The kayaks were a hit, Steve still thinks he is sore from either this or the football they were playing. Football americana!

Then Steve tried some windsurfing....which looked extremely difficult but he wanted to give it a try.....

and he kept falling off and then eventually got kicked off....they told him he was no good. HA!Then Steve got ahold of the camera....and there are way too many pictures of girls asses on the camera....but I thought I would give him props on this blog and entertain any males that might read this....so here you go!

Monday morning we got up and enjoyed the last couple hours we had at the resort. Some people went deep sea fishing in the morning.....which was a disaster. They were actually just happy to get back alive....after the huge waves, sea sicknesses and no life jackets! (if you get the chance try to watch Brandon Cross's video on Facebook in regards to this boat trip!)

The airport when we were getting ready to leave...grass roof, 6 planes parked right outside that you just walk out to and board on the runway. Love it! I'm ready for another trip!

The Wedding

2012-02-08T21:51:00.008-06:00

It was a beautiful day for a wedding! Congrats to Nick and Sarah and thank you for inviting us to spend this time with you! I have a TON more pics but don't have the time or capacity to put them all on here! You guys will get a special wedding CD full of pictures! Enjoy!

Day 1 and 2

2012-02-07T20:45:00.005-06:00

After a long day of traveling we finally got checked in to our resort early afternoon on Wednesday. It was amazing, awesome, beautiful and huge!
The whole group (about 30 of us) ate at the steakhouse and then headed over to the sports bar (shocker for a bunch of Americans, huh?)
Steve and Brandon posing for the camera.

Steve, Brandon and the groom, Nick

Of course, we tried to get a nice picture and Brandon just had to be a part of it. Now, if you know Brandon he is always the life of the party. He is social, hilarious and loves the camera (probably why he moved to Los Angeles a couple years ago to pursue acting).

The girls at the Disco after a couple hours of some dancing to mostly songs in Spanish! (Katie, Randi, Logan, Sarah, Kristin and the bride Sarah)

Thursday (my birthday!) we walked up and down the beach, in amazement at the number of topless girls, thongs and guys in speedos! This resort was completely NOT Americanized! There were mostly Europeans and South Americans and hardly anyone but the staff spoke English. We found the biggest difference is self confidence in the people from other countries (from their minimal amount of clothing and their willingness to pose with trees, fountains and animals like they are posing for Playboy) and the lack of clocks (we had one in our room and that was it, NO JOKE!), they aren't in a hurry, they have nowhere to be (which we shouldn't either since it is vacation), they don't say excuse me or sorry if they are in your way...it's just different.

That night we had dinner at the Japanese restaurant, it was AMAZING! It was our favorite place to eat!

Me, Cari and Randi outside of the restaurant.

Randi getting some experience at the grill.

Thursday was an early night for me b/c I was exhausted and it was my birthday so I got to do whatever I wanted! It was a great way to spend my 33rd birthday!

Sneak peek : Dominican Republic 2012

2012-02-07T15:15:00.003-06:00

I have almost 600 pictures to go through, you will get tired of the pictures that I'm going to post on here but too bad! LOL!

Golden birthday!

2012-01-30T21:08:00.006-06:00

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

2012-01-30T20:07:00.004-06:00

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!

Busy weekend fun!

2012-01-29T20:24:00.004-06:00

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!

Five Question Friday

2012-01-27T20:53:00.003-06:00

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.

More Presley

2012-01-22T20:08:00.003-06:00

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

2012-01-22T19:52:00.004-06:00

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!

Five Question Friday

2012-01-21T11:48:00.003-06:00

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.

Goals for 2012

2012-01-18T20:42:00.003-06:00

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.

Weekend relaxation

2012-01-17T17:44:00.003-06:00

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!)

Random

2012-01-14T21:05:00.004-06:00

- 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

2012-01-14T20:23:00.003-06:00

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.

First time for everything...

2012-01-08T15:26:00.002-06:00

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!

Random

2012-01-07T20:49:00.008-06:00

- 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!

2012-01-07T19:55:00.005-06:00

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

2012-01-07T19:43:00.005-06:00

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

2012-01-07T13:39:00.004-06:00

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?

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T20:41:00.004-06:00

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!

Five Question Friday

2011-12-30T21:24:00.003-06:00

1. What's the oldest piece of clothing in your closet? Oh, man. I have a pair of sweatpants that are at least 15 years old. They are super thin, the crouch is ripped out, the elastic waist is completely gone. They aren't pretty.

2. How many random blog readers have you met? Random? None, that I know of.

3. Do you let your kids stay up till midnight on New Years Eve? (Or, if you don't have kiddos yet, did you get to stay up until midnight as a child?) Presley is a night owl. Last year she did good staying up until 11:30, we'll just have to see how this year goes. We have no problem letting her stay up late as long as she sleeps in the next morning!

4. What are the gas prices where you live? Today it is $3.09....I think normally we are lucky enough to have some of the lowest gas prices around.

5. What is one resolution that you know you should do but are too afraid to try? Where do I start? Chewing my nails, giving up fried food or pasta, giving up my apple cidar or mint mocha every day, limiting my time on Facebook....I just know I will fail at all these things, so it's just best that I don't try! LOL!

2011

2011-12-30T20:54:00.004-06:00

So 2011 is about done. I can't say that I will miss it. It started out a rough year, my first funeral in over 10 years. Brendan, I still can't look at pictures of that grin without tearing up. You brought laughter to so many peoples lives. Not thinking about you is an easier way to deal with you leaving us, but thinking about you and your completely unexpected departure makes a person completely thankful for the days and people we have in our lives NOW.

2011 included me watching my sister mourn...for months, losing herself in sadness....my other sister battling to make a perfect life for her son. Then my grandma passing in May....attending 2 funerals, more than I had been thru in the last 20 years combined. Our marriage, my patience, our teamwork, we have been able to work thru so many things...so many struggles around us this year....and yet, we are happy, laughing and still cheering Go Hawks and Go Pack Go!

Don't get me wrong, 2011 was full of good times too. Both of ours jobs are busy and thriving, plenty of overtime! Our daughter has grown so much, it is hard to believe she is almost 3...especially since she acts like she is 13 years old. Financially, we are doing better than we ever have which has allowed us to travel on our cruise, to Vegas, our Green Bay Packer game and our upcoming trip to the Dominican. And also established a savings account for us and Presley (she has more in her savings account at 3 years old than I did at 20! LOL, which might not be saying alot!) I have watched my daddy retire and our family come together in rough times. We have managed and we have become stronger. We are lucky to have each other and to always be there for each other....but I'm anxious for 2012.

Sunday Funday

2011-12-26T20:42:00.004-06:00

So after some presents and eating we did some playing and games. We played Logos, which was fun and interesting and Pictionary. I'm no where near an artist and Steve and I actually won! I wish I had some pictures of my lovely drawings b/c it was good comedy!

Of course, the Packer game was on so we watched the Packers win another game and we headed home at half time. Presley once again didn't go to bed until 10 pm, but she was so good all day with no nap!

I'm loving the three day weekend, especially when Presley sleeps until 10 am! We decided we'd go take Presley to her first movie. We actually had $60 to use at Carmike cinemas so we figured that if she hated it, we wouldn't be out any money. So we headed to the noon showing of The Chipmunks b/c she loved the commercial every time she saw it! After 15 minutes of waiting for the movie to start and then sitting thru 20 minutes of previews, Presley did so good sitting, eating popcorn and watching the movie. It was a success!

We got home with enough time for Presley to have some quiet time in her room. Sometimes she naps, sometimes she doesn't. Well today, she fell asleep....unfortunately her babies won over her pillow and she slept at the foot of the bed!

It was a fantastic weekend! Lots of good family time and Presley was so good (well, until tonight when she decided that she was going to be less than pleasant). I'm hoping we can have another great 3 day weekend over New Years!

Santa!

2011-12-26T19:35:00.004-06:00

Santa came! Presley was up (not bright and early as most kids) about 9:15, I think Steve and I were both awake before she was. Santa tried to keep the presents reasonable, kids get so many toys and her birthday is just around the corner too.

Santa's cheap version of an American Girl doll.

After Santa presents we got ready to head to my parents house for my family Christmas. It was such a good Christmas, we all got a lot of good stuff. Presley's favorite present was a Kodak kids digital camera from Grandma and Grandpa! She took pictures of everything, 100 pictures she took and about 95 of them are crappy! LOL!

Ga and Pa with Bossy and P.

Christmas #1

2011-12-26T18:28:00.007-06:00

We always do Steve's family gathering on Christmas Eve, so Saturday we headed off to Earlham. Thanks to Jason and Christie for hosting as always! We did alot of eating, talking and opening presents. The kids got to open their presents, most of them are getting older now and the gifts get less exciting. Presley and Ava still get plenty of fun presents though and the adults have the white elephant gift exchange which is always fun.

Roxanne scored a toilet piggy bank, which Steve later stole from her?! Not sure why, but we are now the proud new owners of this lovely gift.

Christie was lucky enough to get back the buffalo statue that she gave away last year! Pay backs!

Steve and his nephew Jordan fought over this 1989 Chevy jacket, I guess they thought it was cool?! Jordan took this home and Steve is still super jealous of it!
Presley was a million times better than she was at Thanksgiving! She was social and fun, talkative and nice! Ava and P got along great! They posed for the camera over and over again! (I had my hair straight, so she wanted me to straighten her hair too! :) Can you tell?)

Presley was nice to all of her cousins! She was even on the floor wrestling with Gavin and Sam! It was crazy to see her so interactive!

P, Gavin, Sam and Ava posing for a picture.

They even did some dancing. Ava was more willing to entertain us with her skills than P was.

Then of course, we had our family pool tournament....Steve won again. I love playing pool against Steve b/c it reminds of the good ole days at Mickey's.....we played pool all the time into the late night hours!

We finally got home about 10:30, Presley fell asleep on the way home....perfect timing for Santa to come!

Random

2011-12-23T21:36:00.004-06:00

- I was able to cross two things off my 'life list'! yee-haw! Visit Lambeau field and going to a pro-football with my husband. I almost donated blood (to cross anothe thing off my list) at work, but we have been so busy for the last......10 months....I just never got around to signing up....blah blah..excuse, excuse. Work at most times is at the point where I try to multi-task when I get up from my desk.....twice a day. Stretch, go potty, get a snack, chat, grab all my papers off the printer....and back to my desk.

- We had a family dinner at the dining room table tonight. Normally we eat in front of the TV, bad habit...I know. P and I got home, Steve was cooking, we put on some music, did some dancing and ate dinner. Then P had to poop. Buzz kill to our family dinner. She is still doing-the-duty in her diaper. We cannot break her of this habit and then she wanted to go under the dining room table....AS I'M EATING! Sorry child, if you are getting a diaper you are getting limited to the areas in which you can squat....under the dining room table, especially when we are eating is just not going to be allowed. You'll get over it.

- My baby is almost 3. I have asked her twice what she wants on her birthday cake....the first time she said 'pink'. Then I gave her options...she decided 'Toy Story' this time. We'll ask her again in a week and she what she says.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T21:22:00.004-06:00

The holiday weekend 2011 has begun. Yes, I was one of the lucky ones who got to work at full 9 hour day today. It is what it is, 9 hours of overtime on the paycheck, can't complain.

Happy holidays from our family to yours.

Our beautiful baby girl who is semi-looking forward to Santa bringing her 'pink toys'.

You better be good, you better not cry.........

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas! I hope everyone gets everything they have ever wanted and more.

I sure do like those Christmas cookies....

2011-12-21T20:10:00.004-06:00

Every year we decorate cookies and with the kids it is....more work but still fun!

Presley wanted to help, however if any frosting...even the tinest bit of frosting touched her, she wanted it cleaned off. We forgot to get a picture of her mountain of sprinkles on her cookies!

This picture reminds me so much of Steve, focused and particular!

Boston, the cookie monster!

Steve's' state fair' quality cookie

Our final product! Santa will be happy with our cookies!

Huh?

2011-12-21T18:52:00.003-06:00

So I'm friends with a guy on Facebook who I went to highschool with. But I can't understand some of the things he writes b/c of the slang he uses. I'm sure he uses his phone and wants to make everything as simple(?) as possible, but really, it's funny!

- i just luv ppl dat wanna talk cout u den realize ur there in da building n den dey leave da complex fuccin funny cut just wanna knw wut I did tho? Oh fucc it cum wit it words ain't shit!!!!
- ‎4am n still drinkin almost dun nyght fb
- Dnt kicc a fresh turd on a hot day!!!!
- Fuccin shit talkers y'all dnt knw shit! We is good friends n I did offer so shut da fucc up!!!!
- I'm gonna drop dat shit!!!!!! Where my pamper at?!!!

I'm not making this up. Who talks like this It's great entertainment, like a puzzle that I have to try to figure out!

Steve, the energizer bunny

2011-12-19T21:44:00.008-06:00

My husband was full of energy this weekend. I worked Saturday morning and when I came home Presley and Steve were having a tea party, she was so excited for me to join! Then we all went to the grocery store and then Steve went to Walmart to finish our Christmas shopping.
When he got home he started cleaning out his closet (no man needs 22 pairs of jeans...of which most of them had holes in them from work). Then he started cleaning our computer room, I can't begin to tell you how bad this room was this picture from blog back in February is very organized compared to what he was dealing with! (http://thegoodlife-jgo.blogspot.com/2011/02/30dbc-day-8-short-term-goals-for-this.html). Presley and I made Christmas cookies while Steve continued on that task.

Yesterday we headed to the mall for the Hoover High School band fundraiser mexican lunch and raffle. (I won a Holiday Barbie and my parents won a painting and a handmade doll house!) I was the lucky one who got to ride the train with Presley this time, she was so smiley and happy on that train! P and I went to my parents house to watch the Packers (enter sad face here) while Steve went home to clean his truck, the bathroom and clean out the garage (b/c at some point it will snow and we'll want both cars in there). In addition to that he vaccumed and did laundry! Be jealous girls, he's all mine! I ordered our Christmas cards, picked them up on the way home and we got those stuffed, addressed and stamped and ready to go in the mail today! Then we wrapped all our Christmas presents and still had an hour to sit around and watch some TV!
It was a fun, productive and stress free weekend!

A week in review

2011-12-19T21:16:00.004-06:00

I had an extra day of PTO I had to take so I made my weekend a little longer and took Tuesday off too.

Samantha and I took P and B to the mall to hopefully see Santa and ride the train. Both kids wanted to play in one of those little quarters machine rides....as you can tell Presley was not impressed (similar to our Adventureland experience). The look on her face says "get me the hell off this thing"!

Surprisingly she agreed to ride the train with Boston and Sam. She was so proud of herself!

Santa was a no-go for both kids. Both were extremely not impressed, scared and not even willing to give him a fist-bump!

I then took Presley to Aprils for the afternoon and went to get my hair cut! I was extremely needed and it always takes her 2 1/2 - 3 hours to highlight, wash, cut, blow dry and straighten my hair.

Wednesday we had Holly's birthday dinner at my mom's house (which was the night our computer crashed) and then Thursday we had a girls night birthday dinner at the Olive Garden.

As I noted before, I knew Steve had done his research around a new computer. He tried fixing ours, which he had done before...we looked into having it fixed but that computer has been on it's way out for some time now. We actually had a $200 gift card to Best Buy, so that helped in our decision. Friday night Steve went out and purchased a new lap top!

Packer weekend : Part 3

2011-12-19T20:45:00.004-06:00

I'm a week behind, ugh! Let's see....Monday morning we decided to hit up the Packer Hall of Fame before we left town. My mom said I was stupid if I went to Green Bay and didn't go there, so I guess we didn't have any other choice but to prove to her that we aren't dumb and I am still the smart daughter! (LOL, totally kidding!)

We took way too many pictures so I'll control myself and only post some of them.

We were the first ones there at 9 am, which was so nice not having to fight a crowd....and I could sexually harass the statues!

Me and my boy Clay Matthews

We even had the chance to Lambeau leap....which I didn't try b/c there was no way I was going to jump that high and I didn't want to face plant into the green padded walls....especially when Steve had the camera!

4 Super Bowl trophies! Yeah baby!

The drive back home was long, but we made 2 stops along the way....to get cheese curds and in Williamsburg for 20 minutes of power shopping, a quick dinner and to gas up!

Presley was happy to see us but we knew she had fun and was good hands with Holly and my parents! Thanks to them again for being so awesome! We are lucky to have all of you!

Of course, the Packers lost their game yesterday. We figured we had to lose one along the way, preferably not in the playoffs or the Super Bowl, so we can't complain!

MAYDAY, MAYDAY

2011-12-16T11:19:00.002-06:00

Our computer has crashed. Bummer! No blogging for me until we figure out what is wrong and what we are going to do.
Knowing Steve the way I do, I'm sure he already has a new laptop picked out and ready to bring home. Merry Christmas to us!

Packer party : Part 2

2011-12-13T21:53:00.008-06:00

We got to town about 4:30 Saturday afternoon. The hotel was perfect, full of Packer fans! The Hyatt on Main (if anyone is planning a trip!) had a bar/grill where we sat, drank, ate, talked and then played some shuffleboard (which I am not good at). It was nice and relaxing!

We slept in (until 9, which is about normal for us), ate the free breakfast and got ready for our day! Me in my (or Holly's) Clay Matthew's jersey and Steve in his Bo Jackson Raiders jersey. The weather was supposed to be around 40 degrees which I was super pumped for! When we booked this trip I was prepared for it to be zero degrees with snow on the ground. No snow anywhere up there and 40 degrees, heck yes! It could not have been more prefect!

The city bus picked us up right outside of the hotel, for free! It dropped us off, right outside the stadium and then we had the same free ride back to the hotel afterwards!

We found the Stadiumview bar, which was perfect! Busy, beer and a live band. Perfect!

Steve got some slack for being a Raider fan, but for the most part people were nice about it. He didn't wear a spike necklace or paint his face, so I appreciated that!

We did get asked where we were from b/c we had a 'southern accent'! LOL. Sure, ok.

When they say there isn't a bad seat in the house, they aren't lying. Well, until you have bitch and a douchebag sitting behind you. They COULDN'T stand the fact that Steve was a Raiders fan. They asked Steve when his team was going to show up to play, they yelled "CHEATERS" every time the Raiders got a penalty (they sure didn't yell that when the Packers got a penalty though!).

She said she didn't understand how I could even live with him being a Raiders fan...well, dumb bitch....I didn't pick my husband b/c of what football team he roots for. Besides that entertainment, it was a great game. 13-0 baby!!!

Since the Packers were winning by so much, we did spend a little time walking around the stadium. I just love it!

We found our free bus back to the hotel, ate some pizza at The Pub and went to bed! I'm pretty sure I was asleep by 8:30, but hey, it's my mini-vacation I can do whatever I want!

Sorry, I'm not done with the pictures...Part 3 is yet to come.

I will convert someone out there to become a Packer fan by the time these blogs are over! :)

Road Trip : Part 1

2011-12-13T21:22:00.006-06:00

Steve and I took the opportunity to drive to Green Bay to watch my Packers play his Raiders this past weekend. It was our anniversary and Christmas presents to each other. You will get the extra special opportunity to see this trip thru all my pictures! Lucky you!

The drive was 6 1/2 - 7 hours, my source of entertainment was the billboards along the way.

I'm not even sure what this advertisement is for?!

Yes, the small white print under Mustard Museum......says Poupon U.

Love it.

Now I know what to get Steve for his birthday! A longer shirt to cover that butt crack!

Do these signs actually work to sell things?

Steve hated this cheesy sign. You better believe that I shouted BEEF-FENSE while we were at the game!

The closer we got the Green Bay....the better the signs got. The green and gold oozed from this city and I loved every minute of it!

Goodbye rat tail!

2011-12-06T20:16:00.006-06:00

Her hair looks so long and straight......(when wet)

but there has been that long curly rat tail, looming in the back of my mind.

It was time to get rid of the that hint of white trash in my baby.

She did so good. She was unsure at the beginning (like always).

and my BFF Josie (AKA, the girl who does my hair who I want to be my BFF) was great and didn't charge us! Woohoo! I'll make sure to tip her really good when I get my hairs did next week!

Of course, when we left Presley got a sucker for being so good. Then she wasn't happy with her choice in flavors..too bad child, sometimes you have to live with sucky choices. That was the start of her breakdown.

We stopped by Radio Shack, who would've thought Radio Shack is where she would find the ultimate toy that she just HAD to have?! A Bratz doll and Tea Cup pets (?)....BREAKDOWN!

Goodness, we were those parents with the screaming bloody murder child...to the point where people on the lower level were looking up and people in stores were looking out. I'm sure there were people who thought we were kidnapping her! We just had to laugh about it, there was nothing else to do....besides laugh and leave!!

Five Question Friday...3 days late

2011-12-05T20:41:00.005-06:00

I will get the hang of this Friday post eventually. I might have to set myself a reminder or something.

1. What is your favorite Christmas decoration in your house?

I love that I still have all my stuff from when I was a kid. My parents bought us a new Christmas ornament every year...and I have all of them. I actually started buying Steve one a year and now we have been doing it for Presley too (well, Holly has. She gets P an ornament for Christmas which is great b/c kids really get too many toys anyway!

2. Do you finish your Christmas shopping early or are you a last minute type?

Every year I tell myself I won't wait until the last minute...and every year we are out the weekend before Christmas buying gift cards to stuff in cards for gifts.

This year...we have 2 nephews (in case you lost count we have 8 nephews and 3 nieces) left and Steve is in charge of them. So I'm done! Booyah!

3. When do you turn on your heat? Whenever it gets cold. I hate being cold and why should I be uncomfortable in my own home?

4. Do you ever wish your blog was private? Nah, not enough people read it or really care about what I have to say for me to worry. I do try to avoid using last names and if anyone wants me to remove their name or picture I hope they let me know!

5. Do you put your deodorant on before of after you put on your shirt? After, duh. What kind of question is this?

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

2011-12-03T21:45:00.003-06:00

Saturday family night

2011-12-03T21:18:00.004-06:00

Since the weather has been rainy and yucky all day we decided to get a gingerbread house and try that experience with Presley. She was very excited! She was alot more into it and helpful than I thought she would be.

She was patient, particular.....

very focused......

and very proud! (not to mention, pantless)

I LOVE how she is looking up at daddy in this picture! She adores her daddy!

My two favorite people.

Three trips to the doctor in one month?!

2011-12-03T20:54:00.004-06:00

is by far the most time we have spent at the doctor in such a short amount of time since she was born! I take complete responsibility for it, since I completely jinxed us. Sunday we finished her prescription for amoxicillin for her ear infection...Monday she woke up with a rash on her face, that ended up spreading to her body....Tuesday a little worse...Wednesday it was too bad for us to ignore any longer. Steve was able to get away from work for a couple hours to take her back to our favorite walk-in clinic. And again she was very good for the doctor, allergic to amoxicillin is the outcome. I never would've thought! We are so happy we took her in when we did!

Steve and I took turns working late and getting in some more overtime. Monday he worked until 7:30 and then Tuesday I worked until 7:30. I am thankful to have a job, however maybe they could hire some more people to make up for all the hours of overtime we are having to work?!

Last night I went out with some work people for 2 coworkers going away party! I was still home by 10:30....a friend of mine jokes that I turn into a pumpkin after 10 pm b/c that is usually my 'time' to go home! I know I don't want to feel like crap the next day so it's just better for me to check out early and still get a good 8 hours of sleep!...b/c I was at work by 7 am this morning!

Random blah

2011-11-29T20:50:00.002-06:00

1. To my friend Nicky, whose name I spelled wrong. I apologize, for I do have 2 other friends who spell their name as Nikki...I should've known you would have to be different! :)

2. I was creative! I wrapped some of our pictures to look like Christmas presents, an idea I totally stole from our friend Cari!

3. When Presley and I were at Dahls last week I bought her a book. I noticed the wording at the bottom of the book as we were in line to check out.... A Book of Visual Discrimination.

So what exactly does this mean? I'm confused. Maybe I'm taking it too literally? The book is about helping Baby Donald find his black and white kitten...and of course, there is a black and white toy, coat, and slipper so it's SO hard to find the kitten...or not.

4. I finally made a hair appt for Presley to get her curly rattail cut off tomorrow night and the girl has come down with some sort of virus/rash....which we think might be Fifths disease b/c all the symptoms fit. She looks terrible, circles under her eyes, rash on her cheeks and on her body. She hasn't been eating good and not playing like she usually does so instead of a hair cut there might be a trip to the walk-in clinic!

Long weekends really should happen more often!

2011-11-27T20:03:00.008-06:00

After a wonderful Thursday with my family, I was one of the lucky ones to have to work Friday. Thank goodness it was only a half day! I was able to leave at eleven and went to Daytonas to meet Steve, Presley, Holly and Uncle Dave to watch the Iowa game.....kind of a waste of time since Iowa didn't really show up to actually play. Oh well, it was still fun to get out of the house to watch a game.
Our friend Brandon came to town and hung out with us Friday afternoon and night. We were all lazy and didn't do much, but it was nice to just chill out! Although Presley was not impressed with Brandon so she spent most of the night scared of him and hanging on to me! All weekend she didn't eat much and was cuddly, her ear infection should be cleared up by now but something just seemed off with her.

Saturday morning Presley and I went to the grocery store, she was adamant about getting Cheerios and blueberries and continued to remind me every time we turned down an aisle! She took an awesome nap as the boys got ready for their night out for Nick's bachelor party downtown!
We then met my parents and Holly for dinner (again Presley ate nothing but a couple chips) and then went to my friend Sarahs house for a little while. It was a good girls night for me and my baby.

Today we had Steve's family Thanksgiving in Earlham at noon. Steve got about 4 hours of sleep so he was exhausted and Presley was not in the mood to be social at all and still wasn't really interested in eating anything besides Cheerios and fruit! Presley wouldn't leave our sides (not even to play with her cousin Ava) and was scared to walk across the room b/c of all the people around (BIG WIMP!). We left about 4 and P fell asleep in the car on the way home (something she NEVER does!). Since she just hasn't seemed herself we put her to bed early, which doesn't matter since she is still in there calling for me and talking to herself!

Five Question Sunday?!

2011-11-27T19:21:00.003-06:00

Sometimes there just isn't enough time on Fridays so Sunday will have to do!

1. Is there a special dish you prepare that you are famous for?
Nothing. I don't cook. Usually my mom does most of the work, over the last couple years we have chipped in and brought a dish or two. Steve is usually the one who spends the time and effort into preparing something.

2. Are you (did you) go Black Friday shopping ? Heck no. There is nothing worth my time, patience and stress to go thru that hell.

3. What are your strangest holiday traditions? If we have good weather, four square with the family. Though this year we had great weather and no four square ball! Obviously we were not prepared!

4. Apple or pumpkin pie? Both please! Holly actually made both this year and they were both pretty darn good!

5. When will you put up your Christmas tree? This year we did it the night before Thanksgiving b/c we knew we had a busy weekend! Presley really wants us to leave the lights on all day and night!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T20:07:00.007-06:00

You know what is better than Packer Sunday? The Packers winning on Thanksgiving Thursday and being 11-0!
We celebrated the win with a famiy picture, since Steve is always the one without a Packer shirt on, he had to take the picture. Sorry Steve...maybe Santa will bring you a Packer shirt so you can be like the cool kids.

The weather could not have been more perfect for this day! It was so nice to be able to spend some time outside! We didn't have a four square ball, so we weren't able to play our usual family game!

Presley wasn't too interested in the game, so she played with her baby dolls. She played so good by herself and with Boston today! Maybe she would like football more if they wore pink?

Shots were had by all (for those over 21 years old!), every time the Packers scored. Yes, my parents did 4 shots....but they were little shot glasses! :)

We did get a nice family picture taken, since it's been over a year since we've had one! Oops!

Dinner was great (thanks mom!) and we all ate too much!

By the end of the day, clothes were optional (for kids under 3 years old).

It was a wonderful day with the family! It makes me so thankful that we are all so close and are able to get together with no traveling and lots of laughs!

Thankful

2011-11-23T22:05:00.003-06:00

There really are too many things to be thankful for this year...which is a good problem to have! So I will be short and sweet.

1. My baby girl. Funny, adorable, challenging!

2. My husband. Patient, witty and a wondeful father!

3. My parents. Hard-working, loving, willing to continually give to all of us.

4. My sisters/friends/family. You keep me grounded, social and entertained!

5. And everything else in my life! I couldn't be more thankful for everything!

Our Princess

2011-11-23T21:24:00.002-06:00

There are no words......

Monday Fun Day

2011-11-21T21:11:00.003-06:00

I actually had today off ! I have 2 days of PTO that I have use before the end of the year or I lose them and I'm carrying over 5 days into next year! I've always been the person who is trying to make it until December on my last 8 hours so it's very nice having extra PTO days especially since I already know of 3 weeks of vacation I need next year!
So Presley and I hung out in the morning and then my mom was nice enough to let P take her nap there while I did some running around. It's amazing how much I can get done in 2 hours by myself. Loved it!

There was a brief moment of talk of Boston not being with our family on Christmas b/c his dad wants to take him to spend the holiday with his family. That talk was put quickly to rest and not b/c we are being selfish in wanting Boston there with us but b/c some fathers want to be with their kids when it is convenient for them and are unwilling to help in any other way. Just b/c you donate sperm, doesn't mean you are a father.
Of course, my family is appaulded in thinking that there could ever be a holiday where someone isn't there. It just doesn't happen with us. It's been the 5 of us, we are always there...there is no option or thought of missing a holiday. We don't come from a divorced or remarried family where you have multiple holiday celebrations....it's always just been the 5 of us. We are close, we want to pass that down with our growing families. Plus it would break my heart to think that Presley wouldn't have Boston there on holidays...they adore each other as brother and sister would!

- Somehow Holly convinced Presley that she is pretty too. I said the Little Mermaid was pretty and Presley said "No, Pa and Holly pretty"! So at least Pa isn't the only pretty one anymore! :)
- P now likes Strawberry Shortcake b/c pink is her favorite color.
- She will only wear her green pajama shirt to bed b/c daddy wears a green shirt to bed. And she is no longer interested in wearing onesie/footsie pjs! Those are my favorite kind so this is hard for me to accept.
- It's 9:30, Steve is sleeping and Presley is still in her bed talking...after an hour of being in there with the lights out.
- We've realized that Presley does get out of her bed (she doesn't leave her room....yet, knock on wood!!). I noticed when I got her up this morning there was a book and toy in her bed....that weren't with her when she went to bed last night! Sneaky little thing.

Full weekend fun!

2011-11-20T20:38:00.004-06:00

After a very stressful Friday at work (the point where everything piles up into the same horrible day and you just lose it, that was me!), I got up and went back to work early Saturday morning. I guess I'm a dedicated employee or something.

Presley was up ALL night Friday night. It was as if she couldn't get comfortable and she kept messing with her left ear. Steve was nice enough to deal with her for most of the night since he knew I had to work. He tried her bed, the couch, cartoons...the girl wouldn't sleep!....at 3 am she even asked if they could go outside and play!
Of course, I had just taken her to the doctor last Friday and nothing was wrong. And of course, I had opened my big mouth and said how we were so lucky b/c she's rarely sick....and guess what?? Ear infection! It was been a very long time since she's had an ear infection so we won't complain!

We had asked Andrea to babysit Presley for us on Saturday night so we could go to the Zac Brown Band concert with Jason and Christie (my brother and sister in law). She came down with a bad cold so Holly saved the day and watched P for the night! We had dinner at the Royal Mile (downtown was EXTREMELY busy and packed full of people!) and then enjoyed the concert. It was a lot of fun and we saw quite a few people we knew (so we aren't quite fully out of the social loop!)!

Sunday morning we all slept until 9:30! Guess we were all tired! :) Then I went with mom, dad, Holly and Tami to Centro for brunch and then to the Civic Center to see Wicked! It was amazing! This is the second time I've seen it and it was just as good as I remember! I wish Steve was interested in going b/c the powerful voices on those people gives me goosebumps and I would love for him to experience it too! Hopefully, Presley will be interested someday too!

M/T/W/TH, if anyone cares

2011-11-17T21:17:00.004-06:00

Monday night we had the family over for dinner and to watch the Packer game! We are 9-0 baby!! We don't need to go undefeated but another Super Bowl would be nice! We got to hang out with Holly's new boy (you'll have to get more details from her!), we were all up way too late. Presley who didn't go to bed until 10:30 and was nightmare Tuesday morning (but that isn't too different from any other morning)!

Tuesday I worked a little late and then met up with Holly and Nicky to go to the Gavin Degraw concert at Prairie Meadows! It was SO fun! Holly and Nikki are both super funny and we laughed all night long. Nicky is a really good dancer! ;) Plus it was super nice that it was over by 10 pm!

Yesterday we decided to meet after work for dinner....one of our favorite places, Jethros. Presley had to go 'potty' 3 times in one hour while we were there. Well, she only had to go potty once....and then decided that she wanted to go to the bathroom just b/c she wanted to wash her hands. I mean, I appreciate her wanting to be clean and everything...but just b/c she could reach the sink and paper towels by herself, she found it 'fun'. It's not so 'fun' for me.

Tonight I worked late and didn't get home until after 6:30, which I hate! Steve made dinner and put Presley to bed and while I had energy I did dishes, some laundry, picked up and started blogging! I haven't been on Facebook for 4 days which is completely unlike me! We have another couple busy days ahead of us. Give me some redbull and motivation!

On a side note:
Two things I love:
1) watching Presley sleep. Since she wasn't feeling good she was waking up in the middle of the night (which she NEVER does)! Even at 2:30 am, it is so sweet to hear her calling for 'mama'! It's nice that she has a big girl bed and I can just climb in with her for a while! She cuddles and falls back asleep....which makes it very hard to leave her.
2) when kids say thank you without being prompted. Presley is pretty good about saying thank you when needed. Of course, we encourge and reminder her sometimes too but the fact that she'll tell me thank you when I help her put her shirt on or give her a cup of milk just makes me smile!

M.I.A

2011-11-17T20:54:00.005-06:00

Unfortunately, life has been calling me so I've been absence from the internet. Let's see....where do I begin?!
Last week I took Thursday off since Friday was Veterans day and we didn't work....nice long weekend for me! Thursday I took Presley to daycare late and then went Christmas shopping! I always wait until the last minute and I hate going to the mall after Thanksgiving (too many years working in retail). I got a lot done but still have more do to (with 11 nieces and nephews and all of our other family members)! I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon and then spent a couple hours by myself at home before picking Presley up from daycare. I had a great dinner with my friend Shannon that night! It was so nice to be able to catch up and chat with her, it had been extremely too long!

Friday I took Presley to the walk-in clinic for her terrible cough. It had been over a week and so bad that she would end up gagging! :( I figured I had better get in her, just in case, before the weekend started. Of course, there was nothing they could do...like I thought. Presley was so good for the doctor though. She hates her regular doctor but she let this doctor listen to her heart and check her ears and throat (by actually opening her mouth, sticking out her tongue and saying ahhh), then she said thank you and bye to the doctor. This the most cooperative she has been in a long time! LOL! She actually has been fairly good these days when we take her places....NOT fighting to get in her car seat, sitting in the cart. It's been nice, I'm sure it won't last long but we'll take what we can get!

Saturday I had girls night! It had been too long since seeing everyone! We went to the Kirkwood Lounge for a change from our mexican dinners. It was really good, a little pricey but with my girls it was worth it! We actually had 3 new girls come too, they were able to experience Holly in one of her super funny moods!

Sunday Steve worked with his brother and the plan was for Presley and I to go to the grocery store. Well, after 1/2 hour of trying to get her dressed and 45 minutes of convincing her that I HAD to brush her hair (believe me, I had to brush it!)....we then had a meltdown fit. So the grocery store was crossed off our TO-DO list.

Weekend update

2011-11-08T20:07:00.003-06:00

After spending all last week with a severe cold, I ventured out Friday night to the Cystic Fibrosis Wine Opener with my sisters! This is the 4th of 5th year I have been and I am always amazed at the generosity of everyone! It is crazy the amount of money they can raise with one event to support such an great cause.
Saturday we actually left the house, as a family for the first time in over a week! Completely unlike us, but with Steve not feeling good for a couple days and me fighting thru my cold and working....home on the couch is where we spent all last week. I feel bad for Presley since we didn't take her to waterbabies on Wednesday....so Saturday afternoon we went to the mall and out to dinner. Presley has (knock on wood) been pretty good lately when taking her to places and having to get into her carseat..maybe she has realized that there is no getting around it?!

Sunday we had our weekly Packer party at my parents house (our 8-0 Packers!), Steve worked on installing another window in house (our slow process of replacing all 17 windows). Only 10 more to go....which can wait until spring.

I'm not a very innovative or creative person. If anyone has been in my kitchen you have probably noticed the cobwebby walls/ceilings (or maybe not, but I hate it). Our walls are very finely textured so when trying to dust or swiffer any cobwebs off, it always ends up leaving pieces of towel on my walls and it looks dirty and disgusting...it's been bothering me for years!!! I finally had a brilliant idea, which is probably dumb to most people....but I took my lint roller and rolled it over all my kitchen walls and got all the cobwebs off! Seriously people, I was up on a stool......lint rolling my walls. It was awesome.

Conversations with a two-year old

2011-11-06T08:15:00.007-06:00

After reading Presley some books while putting her down for bed:
Steve: It's time for bed, daddy is going to leave now.
P : No! I cry!
Steve: You don't have to cry.
P : I do!
Steve: Why do you have to cry?
P : cuz I miss you! (heart slightly breaks)

Me: Presley you are pretty!
P : Noooo (like being pretty is so silly!)
Me : Who is pretty then?
P : I don't know
Me : Are mommy and daddy pretty?
P : Nooo
Me : Is Grandma pretty?
P : Nooo
Me : Who is pretty?
P : Pa! (so now Grandpa is the only person in our family who is ever pretty!)

Steve reading Presley a book:
Steve : Let me see the book, please.
P : No, it's my sisters.
?!???
Steve : Who says that, Presley?
P : Fia (Sophia, her bff at Aprils daycare talking about her sister Georgia)

Presley after she put her baby down for a nap:
P : Mommy, you pick up baby.
Me: Why don't you pick her up?
P : She too heavy!
Me: Your baby is too heavy for you to pick her up?
P : Yah! She too little to walk.
(this is probably b/c I keep telling her that SHE is too heavy for me to carry all the time!)

Presley playing outside at Grandma's house with her baby laying face down in the driveway.
Me: Presley, did your baby fall?
P : Baby fall down, got owie, on her leg.
(this is probably b/c we had just talked about how Grandma's legs are healing from when she fell down the stairs!)

Dis and Dat

2011-11-01T20:25:00.006-05:00

I mean really, what 2 1/2 year old needs 8 pairs of shoes? Well the flip-flops are probably done for the year and the pink All-Stars are a little big, so we'll save those for spring and the red Dorothy shoes probably won't be worn until Christmas!..... So really, she only has 5 that she'll be wearing this winter!

and here is one wall of her room that we finally completed! Colored and mirrored circles!

Our fantastic family friend Susie gave me an awesome idea, she gave me Toy Story iron-on decals so I can make Presley some girl Toy Story underwear since I had mentioned they don't make Toy Story underwear for girls! Thanks Susie, you are so thoughtful!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T21:39:00.005-05:00

We headed to Earlham this afternoon to go trick or treating. We've gone there the last 2 years and since Presley and Ava are the same age, it's worked out nicely for them to go together. We got there early and had dinner and to give Presley some time to warm up to her surroundings. It didn't take long for them to start chasing each other around the house.

Dorothy and Barbie Princess (Ava's outfit was a little small for her though, it was falling in the front and couldn't be velcroed in the back...we eventually called her The Walk of Shame Barbie...we are mean, aren't we?)

Sam as the local law enforcement and Ella in her kimono.

There are so many kids in this town there are lines to the houses! It's amazing! Maybe this happens in your neighborhood...but this never happened to me growing up and I know our neighborhood isn't like this now! Some people give away full size candy bars, I'm telling ya, if we ever move to Earlham it's b/c I love Halloween in this town.

Presley did GREAT! She walked the whole time, following Ava. She reached into the candy bowls, a couple times she said 'trick or treat' and a couple times she just said 'smell my feet'. And just about every house she said thank you....so I guess that is the most important part!

Overall, this Halloween was a success! (thank you Lord!...another breakdown like we had at Living History Farms and I was willing to never take her anywhere ever again!)

The girls enjoying their candy.

Now that she is asleep, I'm going to enjoy a piece or two of her candy. Good-night!

HoHum

2011-10-30T14:16:00.006-05:00

Well our busy week and weekend turned out to be the opposite. We did our waterbabies class on Wednesday, Steve got into the water with P this week. He was less than thrilled about it, but they needed the bonding time too! She is still a little scared to get into the water, but once she is in, she doesn't want to get out!
Thursday we ordered some pizza and did our pumpkin carving. Presley wanted nothing to do with it. Because 'her hands would get dirty'?! Really, I thought kids this age didn't care about getting dirty.
She is weird back in August all she wanted to eat was the frosting off of Boston's birthday cupcakes. Last weekend we made cinnamon rolls, and she didn't want frosting?! So she had a plain cinnamon roll. My mom made cookies with her last week and she didn't like it when she got frosting on her hands so she ate a cookies with no frosting?! Whose child is this?

Friday night we had a babysitter so we could go out for a while since we both had work outings we wanted to attend. Well Mr Goodrich thought he was 21 again and we were home by 9:30 with a slightly intoxicated daddy. I hardly slept at all that night and Steve woke up feeling like crap. Presley and I have been fighting off colds all week and with the minimal sleep that I got, I wasn't 100% Saturday either. We had busy, busy plans for Saturday and we missed out on all of it. We stayed in our pajamas all day, we all took naps and we all went to bed early!

Sweet Street

2011-10-30T13:47:00.004-05:00

So in my attempt to start organizing the toys in the basement I went thru the boxes of Sweet Street stuff we got from Andrea. I counted 42 people and I'm sure I'm missing some, like the ones she has laying in the Sweet Street swimming pool or locked in the ice cream truck!

and a large variety of tables, chairs, beds and anything else you could ever want in a little town.

along with a detailed little hospital,

and the school house and bus. P LOVES playing with this stuff and I love watching her little imagination run wild!

Friday dance party!

2011-10-23T09:19:00.006-05:00

Friday night when we got home from dinner I told Steve to turn on some music! I knew if the TV got turned on that I would sit down and not move, and there were some things I wanted to get done! So the music went on, I got busy while Steve and Presley danced and rocked on!

all wrapped up after her bath!

Saturday night we went with some friends to Living History Farms for their trick or treat. We had warned Presley all day that we weren't going to carry her and we thought she was prepared....we were wrong. We thought if she saw her friends walking too that she would be more willing to follow them....we were wrong. She sat down on the sidewalk and screamed b/c she didn't want to walk. So the first half of the night I carried her, the second half she got brave and walked on her own. We've decided that we just need to show up to our destination an hour early to give her time to get comfortable with her surroundings! LOL!

Our Dorothy (she really just loves her red shoes!).

and her cowardly lion, Boston!

Miss Ava, our pirate!

We tried to get a picture of all the kids together, however since this was during the first half of the night Presley wouldn't let go of me so we adjusted and had mommy/kid pictures instead. Our other two trick or treaters were Bridget (Jessie) and Conor (our wild lion!).

We even rode on the hayrack ride pulled by horses! So the night ended up a success. I will say Living History Farms vs Night Eyes....I'd go Night Eyes. We've tried both and it seems Night Eyes has more to keep kids occupied during the long walk.

Random randomness

2011-10-21T20:40:00.005-05:00

- I obviously need to catch up on the news....Occupy Wall Street/Occupy Iowa....what the heck is this about? I know the news showed people holding signs that said that big banks were bad....ok, but a big bank gives me a paycheck every week?! So I need someone to explain in simple terms what these people want
- I saw a commercial for ITT educational institute that rubbed me the wrong way...it was about a man who did construction and was always away from him family working, not making very much money so he decided to go back to school to get a degree...now he is providing for his family and never missing family obligations. Here is my problem. Steve does construction, he is always around, he is around and has more flexible hours than I do. He doesn't miss anything due to his line of business. We have been very lucky with his employer (knock on wood!!!!) and he makes more money than people we know who have college educations, so this commercial does not portray our experience with construction and I don't like it.
- Potty training is still going pretty good, still no pooping in the potty and we've had a couple accidents this week....very not like Presley, but overall we are all adjusting and she is excited about her new princess underwear (even though she can't name a single Disney princess!) and they don't make Toy Story underwear for girls!
- The Green Bay Packers are awesome!
- I don't mind the speed cameras on I235 but that is b/c I only drive to work on it twice a week and it's usually so busy that I'm not going over 50 miles an hour anyway. And I think it's an easy way for the city to make money from the people who are breaking the law! LOL!
- I'm loving the new shows Revenge and Person of Interest! LOVING!
- We are trying to prepare Presley for Halloween, getting her excited for her costume, telling her what she should say if she wants candy....Trick or Treat, smell my feet!...... And she'll say 'smell my feet!' or 'candy please!'.....talk about two different ends of the spectrum! HA!
- The big girl bed is working out nicely, (knock on wood) she hasn't got out of her bed yet! She wants us to lay with her for a while and read a book or two...and she cries if we leave but she has yet to get out of bed, even in the morning she doesn't get up! She'll sit and read and talk to herself until we go and get her!

Weekend run down

2011-10-16T19:49:00.006-05:00

I was lucky enough to have Friday off to be with P. My mom wasn't feeling completely up to watching Presley yet and really at this point a nice day off with my baby didn't sound so bad. We hung out all morning in our pj's and while she took a nap that afternoon I got some cleaning done. We only got dressed to meet Steve for dinner and then went right home b/c I had to be up early for work on Saturday morning (to make up hours for missing work on Friday!).
After work on Saturday we decided to head to the pumpkin patch!
Presley was not overly impressed. She didn't want to walk, she wanted to be carried! It drives me crazy that she won't walk by herself, heck some days she doesn't want to walk from the kitchen to the family room in our own home! (that usually results in one of her screaming tantrums, b/c I refuse to carry her!)

This was as close as she got to playing in the corn.

This was as far as she would go into the bouncy house.
and forget us getting on the tractor to ride out into the pumpkin patch to look for pumpkins! Heck no, the girl screamed when we got close to it...there was no way we could get onto it without ruining everyone else's ride with our screaming, crying kid.
So we walked, once we got away from all the other people she was willing to walk. She was more willing and helpful in finding some good pumpkins!

We had Brock, Jackie and Ava over to watch the Iowa game on Saturday night. The girls were a little more willing to play together this time. Jumping on Presley's bed was a big hit with them!

Finishing the Coors Light baby keg was the highlight of our night. This is how we party now!

Since Presley was up until 10 pm and had played hard most of the day with no nap....she slept until 9:30 this morning! We all did! I haven't slept that late in a long time, it was SO nice! P and I went to a baby shower this afternoon. It would've been nicer if she wasn't so anti-social and would go play without me. She wanted to play outside with me....while everyone else was inside. So we spent most of the time outside (missing the baby shower games, oh darn!) or downstairs playing (missing all the presents being opened). Fun!

We got Presley's Halloween costume, now the goal is to talk her into wearing it! She keeps saying she wants to be a princess.....which she won't be. Sorry P.

Random

2011-10-12T21:10:00.006-05:00

- My brother-in-law Matt had hip replacement surgery yesterday, we are hoping for a speedy recovery for him to get back on his feet and start feeling good again!
- My sister Holly is thinking about moving to Colorado. She has been thinking about and wanting this for a while now, if the stars align correctly and things work out for her she might actually do it! We would miss her terribly! She is my bestfriend, the person I can count on all the time to be there for me! However.....there is no reason that she shouldn't go! Take a risk, if it sucks and doesn't work out...move back but at least you can't say you didn't try, or always wonder 'what if?'.
- My mom is starting to feel better and get moving! She actually left the house the other night and when I talk to her on the phone she doesn't sound too drugged up! :) Samantha has tomorrow off so she is going to help my mom with Presley and Friday's daycare is still up in the air. My family is awesome, I love the way we can all pull together and help each other out when needed!

Waterbabies

2011-10-12T20:54:00.005-05:00

So last year we took waterbabies class and P loved it! I thought it would be a good idea to do it again this year to get us out of the house with the weather turning colder and I want Presley to be comfortable in water and learn how to swim. We had no idea how she would react this year, we were hoping she would love it but she is very unpredictable!
We had our first class tonight and the minute we got in the pool she started crying and screaming (the only kid crying)! She wanted OUT of that pool! She cried for a couple minutes and then sat on the side of the pool for a couple minutes. Once they got the pool toys out she was a little more willing to get in and have some fun!

Learning how to kick!

Jumping into the pool (which she was too scared to do last year).

and pouring buckets of water on mommy's head!

Word of the weekend...Productive!

2011-10-09T20:12:00.005-05:00

It was one of those weekends that we had SO much to get done that I made a list of everything b/c I couldn't stop thinking about it and didn't want to forget anything.
Friday night I started witha bottle of wine and some paint. Since Steve put new windows in the bedroom last weekend we had been living with sheets over our windows b/c we needed to repaint the trim. That was my exciting Friday night and I was sleeping on the couch by 9:30 pm! Wow, I'm awesome!
We FINALLY got Presley's bedroom furniture! So we had some nail holes to fill and painting to touch, the crib came down (tear!), the new bed put up and clothes transferred from one dresser to the next. We got it pretty much cleaned and put together, but we don't have anything up on the walls yet....they are plain baby pink, screaming for an update!

She was very excited (mostly about the lamp that she can turn off and on) and did very good during both naps and going to sleep last night. Of course, she doesn't actually sleep during her naps but hey, she didn't get out of bed so I'm calling that a success! Tonight however, she has decided that she doesn't want to go to bed....guess she can scream herself to sleep like she did 2 years ago.

Of course, not everything this weekend has been that smooth and great. Saturday night we had some family issues which resulted in Steve going to Earlham at 10 pm and not getting home until 2 am Sunday morning. We had planned on going to the Winterset Covered Bridge days today, but after little sleep and still plenty to get done around the house we decided to hang out at home once again. The only time Presley got into a car this weekend was our quick 20 minutes trip to the Halloween store to get some ideas for her costume! (which is nice b/c all she does is fight when she has to get in her car seat....at what age can we ditch the car seat b/c I'm tired of fighting! :) j/k!)

Many things got crossed off my list, but unfortunately there are still too many things on it.

Seven loads of laundry, interior and exterior window trim painted, blinds up, P's room is functional, Steve got a haircut (yes, it was on my list!), trip to Wal-mart, trip to Dahls, cars cleaned and 3 hours spent entering family tree information into Ancestry.com (not on my list!)! I feel a sense of accomplishment!

I'm dreading going to work this week. They have changed our workflow and the control that I have over my day and my production. I don't like it, I have no problems getting my work done in my 8 hours and I feel like I'm being punished b/c there are people that can't do the same. I don't normally dread going to work but I am this week and I don't really like this feeling. I need to suck it up and stop complaining.

Let me toot my own horn real quick....about a month ago they pulled the year to date numbers for initial decisions and for final loan fundings, yours truly was #1 on both of those lists (over 60 underwriters). Go me!

Somersaults down stairs is dangerous!

2011-10-09T15:48:00.004-05:00

Six o'clock Wednesday morning, on my way to the shower, I heard my phone ringing. Really, there was only one option on who it was, my mom. She was probably sick and wouldn't be able to watch P that day. That actually would've been a better scenerio than what actually happened. My mother fell down the stairs Tuesday night and could hardly move. Cuts and scrapes, swollen knee, bruised ribs....welcome, pain killers! No lifting for at least 2 weeks! She excited b/c that means no laundry! This also means no Ga (or grandma as most kids would say) for daycare either. Samantha and I shared our kids on Wednesday, so we eached missed a couple hours of work and we are lucky enough to have April who is able to watch P for many of the days that we need!
As you know, we just finished our basement. We didn't carpet the stairs (mainly the cost and b/c Steve comes home from work so dirty sometimes that he travels straight to the basement to undress)....P has never been around stairs (thank you ranch style house) so now I'm all freaked out that she'll fall down! You forget how dangerous they can be! My mom is slowly feeling better and I think we'll all be more aware when it comes to safety on the steps! Love you mom!

(Almost) 25000 calories in one meal

2011-10-09T15:44:00.004-05:00

Tuesday night I was able to join Holly, Nicole and Tami at Zombie Burger. It is a must try!!! So good, so unhealthy and so wonderful! You won't regret it!

Holly has pictures on her blog, check it out!

http://mysocalledlife-holly.blogspot.com/2011/10/zombie-burger-must-try.html

Picture Perfect Presley

2011-10-01T20:43:00.008-05:00

Sorry for the overload of pictures, but she was cooperative and posing for the camera this weekend. So I kept on clicking and she kept on posing (maybe we shouldn't watch America's Next Top Model together anymore)!

Presley and her baby are best friends!

Her babies riding her trike. Why not?

We didn't do much this weekend, tried to get some stuff done around the house and enjoy the weather while we could. We got out our Halloween decorations, Steve put new windows in our bedroom and we did some shopping (thank you overtime money)!

Packer Sunday!

2011-10-01T15:44:00.005-05:00

Sunday we had our friends Jared and Colton come over! Presley was excited to have a baby in the house......but then she was just mean to him, like she is to Boston. She wants the power in the house and I think when there is a baby around, she feels the power struggle! LOL!

So cute!

Since I was taking pictures of Colton, P decided to pose too....b/c we don't have enough pictures of her quite yet!

We went to my parents house that afternoon to watch the Packer game (after DirectTV came and hooked us up with the NFL network and then ruined our internet connection)

I don't know what to do with her hair anymore, another hair cut might be in order soon.b/c I'm pretty sure this look, isn't for her!

Internet, how I love thee.

2011-10-01T15:20:00.004-05:00

Finally, we have internet....hopefully it will continue that way! I feel like I've been gone for so long and it has only been a week! HA!

Last Thursday we watched Boston for a couple hours so my parents could go out to eat and then they watched Presley for a couple extra hours on Friday so we could go to dinner for our anniversary! We went to downtown to Splash (it was SO good!) and then sat on the patio at Mickey's and had a couple drinks. It was very nice to just go out as the two of us.

Saturday I went to work for a couple hours and then went shopping by myself! I left the mall with nothing for Presley! That NEVER happens! I got a shirt for Steve and bought myself some stuff too. Both P and I really need some long sleeve shirts since the weather is getting colder!

At this point, the baby doll goes thru more diapers and wipes than Presley does!

P has been doing really good with the potty training though she still will only poop in her diaper but that seems to be normal for this stage of potty training. Two weeks in big girl underwear and no accidents! Now Steve just needs to remember to put the toilet seat down!

Connection lost

2011-09-28T07:35:00.001-05:00

We are having serious internet problems at home (I'm blaming DirectTV for messing something up when they hooked up our service on Sunday). So hopefully I can get up and running again soon.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this!!

2011-09-25T20:45:00.003-05:00

http://blog.pigtailpals.com/2011/08/waking-up-full-of-awesome/

I might be a slight feminist. I never really, realized it until I took a class on Feminism in college...not by choice, it was a Humanities class of some sort and the professor chose to focus on feminism for the semester.
I would not have done well in the 1950's, I do not believe that the woman should stay home while they man goes to work (though Steve would have no problem being a stay at home dad!). Maybe b/c I have 2 sisters and we are all 'strong' women. I want Presley to grow up this way too! I would probably vote for a woman president b/c she was a woman!...don't judge, there are people who WON'T for her b/c of that same reason! (Let's face it, I don't vote anyway!)

Who are we to judge?

2011-09-22T21:42:00.004-05:00

I saw a homeless man on my way home from work the other day, standing on the corner with a sign asking for money. I always want to give money to these people but I don't b/c I figure they are going to buy alcohol or smokes with it. Plus, I've seen on those Dateline shows about the homeless people who can earn quite a bit of money standing on the streets collecting money (with a poor, skinny dog next to them....that makes it even harder to say no to them!)
However, then I began thinking.....who cares how much money they make in a year? And what if they really don't make any money! If they are willing to stand on a corner and beg for money then they are full-time bums. If they spend all their hard earned money on food, smokes or beer....then that is their right. No one gets to tell me how I spend my money, why should we judge them on how they spend theirs?

Miss Independent.

2011-09-22T21:34:00.004-05:00

Ok the girl is independent. She has to do everything on her own. EVERYTHING!
- I closed the door that she wanted to close herself....she opened it and closed it again.
- I turned off a light that she wanted to turn off herself...she turned it on and turned it off again.
- I picked her up and put her in the bathtub (which caused a screaming, crying fit!) b/c she wanted to get in the tub herself....so she got out, then got back in.

Four years

2011-09-22T21:19:00.003-05:00

Married to my best friend.

The person who knows me better than anyone else.

The man who gave me our perfect little girl (who is also the biggest challenge of my life).

The guy who can fix the kitchen sink, remodel the bathroom, make me dinner and help me shop for clothes.

Who will laugh at me when I'm funny (or when I think I'm funny) and argue with me, just to argue.

He will agree to disagree and help me with my fantasy football team.
He knows that I think food can make everything better and I know that he could never spend enough time in a home improvement store.
Stephen, I love you! Thank you for being the most wonderful and understanding husband and father. We are very lucky to have you in our lives. XOXO!

Random Ramblings

2011-09-20T20:55:00.004-05:00

- Our anniversary is Thursday, my mom is watching P on Friday night so we can go out to dinner. I asked Steve where he wanted to go and he mentioned Zombie Burger. Really? How romantic. Needless to say, we aren't going there. He even said he would trim his nose hair for me. Wow! I'm lucky! Don't be jealous ladies!
- Presley has done pretty good at potty training over the last couple days. We aren't pushing it but she stayed dry almost all day at daycare! So I guess at this point, we need to be better about reminding her and stop being lazy about the whole thing.
- She has such an imagination! She changes her babies diapers, all the time. The amount of diapers and wipes we go thru for her babies is dumb. If her baby poops, she barely holds the diaper and wants to throw it away.
The other day she wanted to go to the store. So she got her purse and baby...then brought her shoes into Steve so he could help her put them on. I asked how she was going to get to the store, and she simply said 'momma's car'.
- Tonight we were at Target and P stopped at the baby sandals and said 'Look, so coo-te!'......in a completely high-pitched, fake voice. It was SO funny b/c she is obviously copying us.
I was crying at Extreme Home Makeover the other night and looked over at her, she was fake sniffling, squinty eyes, pretending to cry like me!

Scary

2011-09-20T20:33:00.003-05:00

I work with a lady who has two teenagers in highschool. The stories she tells about highschoolers these days are SCARY! It makes me want to homeschool my kid and keep her in a nice, safe bubble.
I remember in middle school seeing a girl bring her birth control pills to school and I was appalled! I was too innocent for that. Now girls just go get the morning after pill....just in case! Why get birth control?
And a girl at their school took a picture of herself topless and sent it to a boy....who sent it to his friends. Well, you know it doesn't end there...now everyone has seen this picture. And this happens ALOT, boys and girls taking pictures of themselves.....HELLO!!! With technology, Facebook, Youtube.....why are kids SO dumb??
Seriously? It makes me sick to my stomach. What is wrong with kids today....and their parents? That's why I was good in highschool, I didn't want to disappoint my parents! Why are kids NOT scared of their parents anymore? So I'm hoping that I can raise my little girl to be confident and smart (there are enough Teen Mom's on MTV already). And I'm asking the parents of the all little boys out here, please raise them to respectful and caring (Let's avoid the Jersey Shore douchbags).

Are you ready for some football?

2011-09-18T21:04:00.006-05:00

Saturday we had Brock, Jackie and Ava (who just turned 2) over to watch the Iowa game! Hoping to watch the girls play together, eat some food, drink some beers and have a lot of laughs! It was good Iowa comeback game!

The girls actually didn't play together that much, they got along fine but mostly played independently. They were so cute together with their curly hair!

That night we thought about going to Beaverdale Fall Fest, but it was a little chilly so we got together with Brock, Jackie and Ava and went out to dinner instead. Dinner with two 2 year olds, is not nearly as relaxing as we were hoping it would be! HA! They both had a time out, they both threw food on the floor....but overall it was still nice to get out of the house!

Sunday we had a Packer party! My uncle David from Colorado and his girlfriend Steph, mom, dad, Holly, Sam and Boston came over to root for the Pack! It was a good game! Another victory for us! As always we had way too much food, but I managed to eat a little of everything (ok, ok...ALOT of everything)

P and B, nervous about the game!Or watching a cell phone commercial.

On a side note, Presley did very good about using the potty this weekend! Again, we didn't push it. She wore her pull-ups and told us when she needed to go...and the smile on her face when she does is awesome! She is SO proud of herself!

And she has to do EVERYTHING herself. "I do, I do!" She wanted to help me with laundry, but she had to do all of it (hmm....maybe I should use this to my advantage!), I turned off the lights and she ran back in there and said "NO, I DO!". She turned the lights back on and then turned them off again. I should be thankful that she wants to do things b/c I'm sure it won't last long however, it does take more time for everything we do.

Potty time

2011-09-15T20:31:00.004-05:00

P is by no means potty trained. On the weekends she might spend 4 hours a day in big girl underwear. Sometimes she does good, other times...not so much (like Saturday when she peed her pants twice). I always ask her 'what are you going to do if you have to go potty?' and she says 'tell mama'! She might sit on the toilet 5 times in an hour and never go, and 10 minutes later pees her pants. FRUSTRATING, which is why we haven't been pushing it with her.
However, last night when we got home from dinner she ran in to her closet (her pooping spot) but she had a pull-up on! So nope, we got her on the toilet and she went potty so good! Put her diaper on, she ran in the closet and pooped.....we can only ask so much from her!

Tonight we were at our nephew Austins football game and she says 'mommy, I go potty.' Here she was telling me she needed to go potty and there was little I could do. We even asked her if she just wanted to go in her diaper! 'No, I go potty'. Great, so the options are the porta-potty's near by....which was NOT going to happen, or trekking it up to the school to see if it was unlocked, hoping we could find a bathroom.....all before she peed in her diaper. So I took a diaper with us (not confident this was going to happen) and off we went. We finally found the bathroom (as I'm looking around for a diaper changing station, which I realized they don't have those in highschool bathrooms, duh.) Took her DRY diaper off, put on her toilet and she went! I was so proud that she was able to hold it for that long, especially since I didn't believe her! LOL! I guess we should really give her more credit!

Sweet overload

2011-09-11T21:22:00.004-05:00

We were lucky enough to inherit Andrea's (P's babysitter) Sweet Street collection! It's awesome! Little houses and stores, with little people and all the needed accessories! There are 4 boxes of this stuff, most of it we haven't dug out yet! It is perfect for a little girl, heck I wish I had this stuff when I was a kid!

Do not be surprised to walk into our basement and see me and Holly down there playing with this stuff. Just saying....it could (and probably will) happen.

Steve, being the ultimate handyman and father decided to build P a table for the basement, the perfect size for all this! He also hung up a cool little picture holder for her art work under the window!

We made sure to put out our American flag today in remembrance of the 9/11 attacks 10 years ago. Today I have avoided the anniversary specials on TV, after watching it Friday night I just can't watch it again. I remember working at Von Maur that morning, then family and friends started calling and rumors started spreading. We had no real access to TV or radio, so all we had was the phone calls. The mall closed early that day and I drove straight to my mom's house. The last thing I wanted was to be by myself. The coverage was haunting. We will NEVER forget!

P Pics

2011-09-11T20:58:00.005-05:00

I felt like I hadn't taken pictures of P for a long time, so today I got the camera out and followed her around. She was not fond of the paparazzi but I was still able to get some cute ones of her (without her pouting, hiding behind her hair or running the other way).

Party on Rocky

2011-09-11T20:39:00.003-05:00

Holly had a 50ish birthday party for her dog Rocky. I know, she's weird but it was fun and there was a good turn out with 4 dog friends and many human friends attending! Rocky even wore a tie for the event!

My daddy and his twin brudder, aren't they cute!

Even the kids loved the party! Conor and Boston tried to tease the dogs from the other side of the fence, notice Rocky off by himself. He's a loner, a rebel.

Notice how Conor and Boston are the same size, actually Boston weighs more than Conor and he is 3 months younger!

After the party we went home and watched the Packers win their first game. Woot Woot!

Friday night, I made the mistake of watching a 9/11 special on TV. I wasn't going to watch it b/c I knew I would cry and I didn't want to spend my night sad. Then I thought maybe it would be good for me, to help me really remember what 9/11 is (was) all about. I was wrong, it didn't make me cry. It made me bawl like a baby, bawling tears on my couch. P was worried, she kept asking me what I was doing b/c she didn't understand my sadness! :(

Update

2011-09-08T21:21:00.004-05:00

I know you all have been dying to find out about my lasik eye appointment...well the doctor I saw does not recommend me as a candidate for the surgery. Lovely. I knew that was a possibility but I know other people who have worse eyes than I do that have had it done, so I was annoyed.
If you know anything about eyes or how bad they can be....Steve's are -1.25 and -1.75........mine are -10 and -8.25.
However, I got referrals from 2 different people for another doctor that I want to see. BUT (BIG BUT here)....on his website they give you very detailed information on the process and necessary precautions you have to take....including not wearing your contacts for 2 weeks before the procedure (which I could do if I really had to, even though I get bad headaches at work when I wear my glasses) and NOT wearing eye makeup for a week. What? Excuse me? Not going to happen! I don't go out in public without eye makeup, it's not an option. I told Steve that I might not have this done b/c of that reason! Isn't that terrible, that that would be the reason I wouldn't have the surgery done?

Random

2011-09-05T21:32:00.004-05:00

- A family friend's son David (the one who ate cuy) asked my mom the other day if Presley had a wig on. Is that a bad sign? Is her hair that big?
- Presley was pretending to put on make-up today. I told her she is way too pretty for make-up!
- I bought Cake UV vodka.....it's supposed to taste like white cake mix, and it does! Holly and I tried it tonight, with shots. We toasted to '5:15 on a Monday night'! Why not?
- Weather like this makes me wish I was still a runner! With our Dominican trip in February, both Steve and I will have to cut some pounds after Christmas! :) Maybe I'll become a runner again closer to December. (I'll dig out that treadmill in the basement)

Can you hear the squeals?

2011-09-05T20:48:00.008-05:00

Do guinea pigs squeal? Well, P and I went with Pa, Holly and family friends the Riders to a Ecuadorian meal at Mi Patria on Friday night. Susie and David ordered the cuy (a Peruvian delicacy)! I tried a small bite, kinda like chicken.....only not.

It was great to try a new restaurant though and wonderful to hang out with everyone!

Saturday we traveled to Earlham to watch the Iowa football game and have our family fantasy football draft! The Iowa game resulted in a victory! Go Hawks! Presley and Ava played good together all afternoon!

Steve is in 3 fantasy football leagues this year....oh man. He did receive the traveling trophy for the league that he won last year.

Yes, it is as obnoxious as it looks! He wants to make a shelf to display it. (hopefully he's thinking in the garage?)

Sunday we decided to have a day of busy-ness! We got SO much done around the house! All the normal cleaning, 6 loads of laundry, I went thru all of P's clothes and boxed up all the ones she has grown out of, deep cleaned the kitchen, a trip to the grocery store. Plus, more work in the basement! (blinds up, hung the TV, got half of the new couch (the other half is on back order), railing up, door knobs on, finished painting, plus Steve made a floating shelf for underneath the TV)

Today, we wanted to have some time outside! Since we were so busy yesterday we didn't get to enjoy very much of the awesome weather we are having!

We decided to head out to Jordan Creek. We had a nice lunch on the patio at Bravo and walked around the pond.

Then while P had her nap (or quiet time), Steve cleaned the garage and I headed to Target for some retail therapy. Presley benefitted the most from this trip, like usual!

Our neighbor and one of P's up and coming BFF's, Bella was outside and Presley was SO excited to play. I love hearing them play and talk to each other! They both had to get their babies and strollers and were pushing them around the yard! Adorable!

If we continue to live next door to each other, these two are going to be trouble! :)

4 years in the making

2011-08-31T22:00:00.004-05:00

We've been in our house for a little over 5 years. About 4 years ago we (in which I really mean Steve) started framing the basement (one of the 3 rooms in the basement).....then life happened (you know, we got married and had a baby and everything else). Then last summer this is what we woke up to in the middle of the night.

Our basement, slowing filling with water.

Which resulted in over a foot of water in our 1400 sq foot basement. A mess and a lot more work, but left us thankful that we had never finished what we had started.

But over the last 6 months we (again, mostly Steve) rocked out on getting this done. With our insurance updated to cover sump pump and sewer back up issues....we were a little more comfortable with continuing this work!

We painted, put up trim, installed doors......

and today...got carpet installed (the only thing we hired someone to do for us!)

We still have a couple finishing touches to complete. And maybe we should look for furniture to put down here. As you can see, P is already making her mark on this room. All night long she's wanted to go up and down the stairs. 'mama, i go downstairs by myself!'

Steve already has ideas on what he is going to do with his man-room (the 3rd room in our basement). Our agreement was that he had to finish this room before starting his man-room! There has been talk of a poker table, pool table, of course a long bar (that he wants to make out of concrete) and I think I even heard talk of a mini-golf course. Big dreams for a 450 sq ft room. I'll have to take before and after pictures of this room too (so you might see those in a couple of years!) LOL!

One by one......

2011-08-30T20:30:00.005-05:00

working on crossing off items on my life list!

- my daddy's retiring (#22)! We are so excited for him! Way to go daddy, we love you!
- I bought tickets for the Packers/Raiders game in December! (#12 and #18, kill 2 birds with one stone!) If you know me at all, you know my family are big Packer fans and Steve (for some unknown reason) is a Raiders fan. So we will be at Lambeau cheering on our teams, probably in 0 degree weather while it snows...but really, that's how you have to do it in Green Bay! That is football! (Happy early anniversary and Christmas present to us!)
- my consultation for laser eye surgery is tomorrow (step 1 for #36). If I get it done, it probably won't be until the beginning of next year but it is a step in the right direction!

BLAH

2011-08-29T20:45:00.006-05:00

- I haven't been to the dermatologist this year...time just got away from me. I called Friday to make an appointment...their first opening January 19th! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? It will be 2 years in April since I've been, this body can't go that long without having something removed! Plus we leave for the Domican 2 weeks after that! Just what I need is more scars....guess scars are better than skin cancer. Perspective!
- I have my consultation for lasik eye surgery on Wednesday, we'll see if I'm eligible and how much it will cost...blah, blah. Wish me luck and we'll see when and if I get to cross another item off my life list!
- My sister Holly is funny! The Holly we know and love was missing there for a while, but she is back and better than ever! I'm so glad she was able to relax, reflect and find herself in Peru. I really think it was life changing experience for her! Love you HoMo!
- You know what I like about winter? I don't have to shave my legs as often. Steve is a lucky man, isn't he?

You're gonna love it at Adventureland......or not.

2011-08-28T20:24:00.003-05:00

I got cheap tickets to Adventureland thru work and we haven't found the time to go. We decided to break down and go since we knew it was probably never going to be a 'fun' family adventure and there was no way we would be there more than a couple hours. We knew P would never ride a ride by herself...and we were right.
We got up at 9, were on the road by 9:30 and got to the park when it opened at 10.....and we were home by 1:30. The weather didn't help either, we were unable to enjoy the new water park b/c of the lightening and rain. I'm sure she would've liked that part, oh well maybe next year.
We forced her to ride the tea cups with us...she screamed the whole time. She was not interested in riding anything...with or without us.
We rode the train, she liked that.

Side note: The penny and nickel arcade, do not have any games you can play for a penny or nickel. In fact....they don't even charge a quarter or 50 cents....it's $.30 or $.55?! Nice money scam.

Dis and Dat

2011-08-25T20:39:00.004-05:00

- P and I had waffles with peanut butter and syrup for dinner last night. We sat at the big table and had a quick 10 minute supper. It was nice. She is a mama's girl! She likes to test my patience. I need to appreciate the time that she does want to be with me b/c I can guarantee that it won't last long.
- So they are putting speed cameras on the interstate, some people think it's just a scam for the city to make money. You know what I think? Go for it! If the city can make some money by fining people for 'breaking the law', I think that's a good idea. If the money doesn't come from my pocket, I agree with the cameras!
- Her big girl bed is on back order for 4 more weeks but the carpet for the basement is being installed on Wednesday! So I might have pics next week of that!
- I am super duper excited for Parenthood and The Sing Off to start this fall. The last thing I want or need is an excuse to watch more TV, but I've got the DVR programmed for these two shows!
- P is so funny!! I told her it was night night time...and she says in her sweet, innocent voice "I cry! I say momma, momma!". She warns us when she is planning on crying. Lovely.
I asked her if she was going to be good at grandma's today and she says 'ya, ga buy more pan-pans' (or what she means....yeah, grandma bought more pancakes). And the first thing she says to my mom when we walk in the door "Buy more pan-pans?" (aka, Did you buy more pancakes?) This girl is overly obsessed with pancakes!
- I don't like seeing commercials for places we don't have in DSM. No Dave and Busters, no H&M...are they just teasing us?
- One of my pet peeves - leaving the shower curtain open after a shower. Shut it! No one needs to see the tub!
- I love a good neck and back cracking.
- My grandma's birthday is today, it makes me sad! :( I drank a beer for her, I know she is happy knowing that we are all thinking about her today. We love you Grandma Dorothy and miss you very much! Have a brandy manhattan and dance the night away!

Remember the movie The Never Ending Story?

2011-08-21T20:49:00.005-05:00

Where has the last week gone? Monday Steve headed out to the Iowa State Fair with his friends, Tuesday I worked late. Wednesday I went to the fair with Holly and some friends (see Holly's link for pictures of that night! http://mysocalledlife-holly.blogspot.com/2011/08/iowa-state-fair.html) , Thursday Steve worked late and then Friday we headed to Earlham for the first highschool football game! It's always fun to go to Earlham where we know half the town and we got to watch Jake (a senior) and Derek (a freshman) both get plenty of playing time in the football game (which they won!).

Saturday I got up and went to work (hopefully this overtime thing will be coming to an end in the next month or so!) We hung out most of the day, all three of us taking short naps.....well I think Steve and I both got a little sleep, Presley played in her crib for a couple hours.

We actually had a babysitter lined up for the night! Yeehaw! My friend Sarah had a birthday party so we decided to take advantage of the night and go to dinner and drinks before heading over to her house! Andrea came over and Presley was SO excited! No tears or being scared that we would leave! It was nice and a little sad! We enjoyed our night, the weather was perfect and we were able to do a little bit of everything in that short 6 hours! Thanks again Andrea!

Today we decided to take Presley to the fair, we actually got 2 free tickets from my friend Nicole so that was an added bonus! We got their early, to beat the traffic, people and heat!

Our first food of the day....corn dog! It's basically a tradition at this point with us, that we always havea corn dog first!

We always tell P to chew her hotdogs good, this is her showing us that she did. Smart ass kid.

Second food...deep fried butter on a stick. Yes, I did it. And yes, they take a whole stick of butter dip it in a cinnamon sugar batter, deep fry it and then put frosting on top. Really it doesn't taste like butter at all, the butter melts into the batter so it's really like eating a cinnamon roll or soft cake batter! Not sure I need to eat it again, my heart will thank me.
The fair had a nice little farm experience for kids. They got an apron, hat and basket to start the journey (notice our kid with neither the apron or hat on). They basically got to 'plant' and 'harvest' vegetables, pick apples off trees, ride toy tractors (which she didn't want to do either) and then at the end you took all your produce to the farmers market for money. All kids got $1 to spend in their 'general store'. There was milk, juice, apples, Twinkies and you guessed it...bananas! P saw the bananas and there was no question what we were leaving that store with!

We saw lots of animals too! Presley was much more interested in these animals than she was when we went to the zoo. I don't know if it was b/c there was less people (since we were there early) or b/c we were able to get closer to them (She still doesn't want to be within a foot of any of these animals, so the petting zoo was not an option today).

Then we made sure we attended the mullet contest. All I can say is WOW! Some people take their mullets seriously, some people live this life style to the fullest!

Yes, brushing the mullet before the contest will help your odds to win.

Classy and trashy, right?

The winner, cut-off jean shorts and the ever popular midriff shirt.

Are their mothers proud? Do these guys get laid? Do their spouses help maintain these healthy heads of hair? How many of these guys were from the east-side of DSM? Just a couple questions I've been wondering since this contest. A contest that brings out the true meaning of the Iowa State Fair.

Being a mom....

2011-08-16T11:44:00.001-05:00

......is the most difficult thing I've ever had to do. I second guess everything I do with her, you never know what is going to impact her either positively or negatively. And everyone judges you, no matter what decision you make or how you handle every situation.

There seem to be so many mom's that have everything together, all of the time. They have 3 kids and still seem to be able to paint their kitchen and sew a quilt during nap time. I don't think I ever have that much control or organization in my life. Sometimes I envy stay-at-home mom's for wanting to stay home and having the patience to do so but when I really think about it, I don't want to be a stay at home mom! I don't have the patience, I like getting away, I like to be able to go to work and talk to people (even if all we talk about is how much we hate work!). Sure I wish I could get more done at home during the week so we don't spend every Sunday going to the store and doing laundry but man, do I love picking up Presley from daycare and having her run to me with open arms for a hug! There is no better feeling than that!

My friend Shannon introduced me to a book that I just started reading that I am loving! "I WAS A REALLY GOOD MOM, BEFORE I HAD KIDS".....one of my favorite quotes from the book is "I love being a mom, I just don't like doing it!". It talks about how a lot of mom's pretend they are completely happy and have everything in order, but most of the time it's just a front they put on to make it appear they are 'good moms'!
The very first chapter asks "Does this sound like you?"

- You feel guilty that you like going to work so much
- You consider a trip to the dentist your special 'alone time'
- Reading before bed feels like a luxury
- You find that slowly browing the aisles at Target, by yourself, is better than therapy.

YES! Of course, most of it is all common sense stuff but they it makes me feel like they wrote this book for me!
I am lucky enough to have a husband who will do anything for me and P. If I have to work late, he is perfectly capable (and willing) to take her to the mall or a park, feed her dinner, give her a bath and put her to bed! I don't know what I would do without him. When I'm losing my patience with Presley, he reminds me that she is only 2 and that she doesn't know any better (which I don't always agree with)...and he tries to NOT lose his patience with me! LOL!

Life List

2011-08-15T21:31:00.004-05:00

So I added a tab to my page called Life List. It's basically a list of the things I would like to do, no time frame, no certain order of events. Just goals, whether simple or impossible...it gives me something to strive for.
I've seen others do this also and I've had a list started for a while now, but never knew a good time to post it. So I've added this tab, and I can add things as time goes on and cross things off as I accomplish them! Thanks for following me on this journey! (and I will NOT call it a 'bucket list', that sounds too morbid!)

Another busy weekend

2011-08-14T16:48:00.006-05:00

Saturday morning I got up to play in a volleyball tournament. I was hoping I would be more of an alternate, but turns out I played a lot. It was fun! The weather was perfect and it was nice to hang out with co-workers outside of the office. We were not good. We should've been good, we just couldn't get it together. But now I'm sore! I feel like I'm 70 years old...... my legs, back and arms HURT!

So after that I ran home, showered and then we headed to Earlham for a summer BBQ. There are so many kids in that town it is unreal. We are pretty sure there were kids there, whose parents weren't there! There were at least 50 KIDS there, plus all the parents! There was tons of good food and when it got dark they had a DJ and the basketball court was upgraded to a dance floor!

Once again, Presley and Ava had a blast together!

Sunday morning I got up and went to work for a couple hours (get a jump start on my overtime for the week!). Then we had Boston's first birthday party! The cake Samantha made was awesome! She did such a good job and took a lot of time and effort to make the party a success!

Boston and his cake. He was not impressed, maybe b/c he was given the ducks' head to eat?! He mostly wanted to throw the frosting on the floor for the dog to eat.

Presley was not in the best of moods today. Everything created a melt down out of her! EVERYTHING! She had been up late and with no nap and lots of playing, she was just tired! We have another busy week ahead of us so hopefully she'll nap good and get caught up on those needed z's!!

More evidence of a 2 year old

2011-08-09T21:14:00.003-05:00

Nothing like sitting down on the couch to watch some TV before bed and looking across from you and seeing these two guys staring at ya.

and then going to bed and seeing a nice, little picnic all set up for me!

Gotta love that girl!

Weekend fun!

2011-08-07T21:20:00.005-05:00

I think I'm beginning to realize that summer is almost over and there are too many things left that I want to do with our weekends and there aren't that many weekends left! So this weekend, we kept busy! Saturday Steve went to work for a couple hours and then I went to work for a couple hours and after Presley's nap we had dinner at Jethro's in Altoona before we headed to the horse races! Since it's not 100 degrees outside, we can finally enjoy some outdoor activities!
I love her little profile!

Sunday we headed to the Blank Park Zoo for a couple hours. It was busy and Presley was not all that into it. She never once wanted out of her stroller but she liked the monkeys and giraffes.

She was not impressed with the petting zoo and she was scared of the dinosaur exhibit! But can you blame her? I figured she likes Dinosaur Train and Barney...they are dinosaurs! I guess to a 2 year old, they are not quite the same!

We are still hoping to take her to the Omaha Zoo soon, maybe it won't be as busy and she'll want to be more interactive! Of course, Adventureland and the Iowa State Fair are still on my calendar too....if we can find some free days before football season starts! LOL!

So grown up!

2011-08-07T20:51:00.006-05:00

What happened to my baby?
Where did she go? Who is the tiny, little person?

And she's wearing high heels already? (of two different pairs of shoes, of course!)

Ran, ran, random

2011-08-02T21:37:00.003-05:00

- We bought Presley a big girl bed! We should get it in the next week or two, but now we need to find bedding for it! It is hard to find bedding that isn't too young or too old! As I've said before, no offense Disney princesses, but Presley just isn't that into you!
We'll see how the transition from crib to bed goes, but she did good in Spirit Lake when she napped in our bed and today at daycare she took a nap in a bed too. Bed time might be rough but we have a baby gate that might help keep her contained! (pictures of her room, will follow in the coming weeks!)
- We are still in the process of finishing our basement. We haven't really done much since March, but over the last couple weeks we've been working on the last couple things. We have Lowes coming out to measure for carpet soon and by football season we might have a room Steve can hibernate in every weekend thru December! (pictures will follow soon also)
- Of course, Steve says he can't watch football on our crappy old TV's, yeah well he might have to suffer for a while. We have our old, big 42 inch, a 25 inch and a 13 inch TV all sitting in our basement not being used...there is no need for another TV! (anyone want to buy a cheap television?) Plus, we have P's bedroom, new windows and Dominican Republic trip that need to be paid for first! :) Oh yeah and a fridge that is conveniently leaking water all over the inside.
- When we were at Walmart in Spirit Lake somehow we mentioned to the cashier that we were from Des Moines. And she casually stated that being in Okoboji was better than being in Des Moines, we agreed b/c Hello! We are on vacation, so of course it is better! Then she stated b/c Des Moines has a lot of crime?! Come again? I didn't really know what to say to that, is that really what other people from different towns in Iowa think of Des Moines? So Steve stated "Well, not the part of town we are from!" I think maybe that girl needs to get out more often.
- Steve's next job at work is remodeling the morgue at Broadlawns hospital. Interesting!
- There is a lot of talk about the debt ceiling. I'm not sure what this is or how we fix it. I know alot of people blame Obama, but I'm not really sure we can pin all this on him but I really don't know anything about politics. I did vote for Mitt Romney in the phone survey that I rec'd the other day, I think he is republican so my mom probably likes him. Steve thinks he has a cool name, but I pick my race horses at Prairie Meadows by how much I like their names and I'm not sure I should be choosing my president and race horses with the same criteria! LOL!