Christmas!

So we have to work this week, I choose to take the Thursday after Thanksgiving off instead of Christmas Eve b/c we never really do anything anyway and I know there are alot of other people who travel for the holidays that want it off. So I work, it's not so bad since we are busy (with half of our staff on vacation!) and the days go by quickly. We were lucky enough to get off an hour early on Tuesday, so we ordered pizza for dinner and just played for hours downstairs! We tried to get the girls to sleep early, so that Santa could come......however, Presley told us she was happy Piper the Elf was no longer coming back b/c that meant that she could cry and throw fits! Guess she wasn't worried about if Santa was coming or not! I'm not sure Piper the Elf had the right effect on her! LOL!

 

This morning they were up about 7:30, earlier than we would've liked but we'll take it! Presley has been asking for a scooter and a baby doll for Christmas so Presley got her pink scooter from Santa!

and her baby doll from us! Piper got a matching one in a green dress. P was excited that she now has 2 American Girl dolls....little does she know, neither one of her 'nice' dolls are American Girl!

They opened up the rest of their Santa gifts and played, then we got ready and headed over to my parents for Christmas. I was determined to get our family picture taken, so we did it right away before we would forget!

Grandma and Pa with Presley and Piper

Piper loves animals and got this cute little zebra from Sam and fam!

P got this bracelet making kit (you know with about 3000 beads) she loves it. Notice the Christmas pony tail thing, the headband and the barrette she has on her head. She likes a little of everything!

My daddy got us all crown......crowns for his princesses! :)

I got us cute matching Packers shirts!

and my daddy, we got a once in a lifetime exotic car high speed ride along experience in Kansas City, he was more than excited!

http://www.cloud9living.com/kansas-city/exotic-car-high-speed-ride-along

We played some game, ate alot of food (which seems to be a these with our family), drank a lot, laughed alot and were home by 7 to get the kiddos to bed since we do have to work tomorrow! I think we had a great day and I think the kiddos did too! I think we do a pretty good job of NOT going overboard with the gifts so that they don't get TOO spoiled. I figured we are going to spend minimal money now while they are still too young to really realize! And really that is NOT the meaning of Christmas anyway!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and were able to spend time with their families, like we did ours! Merry Christmas everyone!

Blur

Man, where has last week gone?! Presley was 'student of the week at preschool', we really had no idea what this meant but she got to take pictures to school and show and tell items during the week, by Thursday she was done with it and didn't want to take anything more. I think they make her get up in front of the class and talk about her toy and she probably didn't want to do that anymore! LOL! Monday night I was lucky enough to get a copy of a book that one of my friends is in the process of writing and you know what I did on Tuesday night? I was up until midnight reading that thing! LOL!

I had my late nights last Monday and Wednesday. Finally Wednesday our Christmas cards were ready at Costco, so I got off work at 7, ran to Costco, got home about 8, then helped get both girls to sleep, ate dinner and spent from 9-10 on the cards (with the help of Steve, looking up addresses, and sealing envelopes).

Friday we actually went out to eat. The past two times have just been stressful and left us wondering why we even bothered....this time was much better. Buffalo Wild Wings, food the kids liked, loud enough to drown out Pipers screaming and enough TV's to keep both of them occupied!

 

Saturday morning I got up at the butt crack of dawn and went to work. I got home about 11 and then Steve headed to the grocery store. Presley and I made banana bread (this girl LOVES banana bread!), then we made Christmas cookies for Santa! She was a such a big help and like I said before, she is just proud of herself and everything she does. It's so cute!

Then b/c it was cold and the weather was going to get crappy we stayed inside and wrestled, had a tickle fight and had fun!

My babies

After dinner and bath time we did a gingerbread house! Well.....Steve and Presley did. She is very particular, she gets that from her daddy!

So proud!

Sunday Presley slept in until 9:30! But then she was anxious to decorate our cookies!

or eat frosting and sprinkles!

Every cookie she decorated she would take over and show Steve 'look at my snowman daddy!'

Then we headed over to my parents for the Packer game. We won't talk about the outcome. But another good family Sunday together!

 

We haven't talked much about Miss Piper the Elf, but she has been around. Here and there, hanging around. I think we are all trying to get used to each other. Presley is not 100% on board but she does look forward to finding her every morning!

Sunday

Sunday we all headed over to my parents house for a tri-party....xmas cookies, Holly's birthday and the Packer game!

Presley can be such a good helper most of the time. She helped stir the frosting and get things ready for us to decorate cookies, she is always so proud of herself when she can help!

Some of our masterpieces....we are SO creative! or not.

My sweet, smiley baby!

It was a good afternoon (it helps that Miss Piper sleeps all afternoon!)! Had lots of sugar, Happy 33rd birthday Holly, and Go Pack Go!

Review of 2013 (yes, it is almost over!)

2013 Goals

1) Lose 10 pounds - Done from April to October I lost those pounds (we'll ignore the weight I just gained on vacation! LOL)

 2) Sign Presley up for full time daycare/preschool either in June or September (we'll see how her attitude is and if my mother is willing to deal with her all summer! LOL) - she started in June and finally stopped crying at drop off in September, she loves it now!

 3) Sign Presley up for soccer or dance. She loves gymnastics but I think she need something additional to help burn off some energy. - soccer was a disaster, cheer wasn't all that great either (she participated in about half the classes) and she has decided that she doesn't want to go anymore. I don't want to force her.

 4) Take Piper to waterbaby classes like we did with Presley! - Oops!

5) Payoff off the Equinox and my student loans (it's a stretch to do both this year but we can try!) Equinox was paid off this summer, student loans I will be making my last payment this month! Woohoo!

6) Limit my time on the computer while the girls are awake! I think both Steve and I need to work on this and I think as the weather gets nicer it will be easier to get out of the house and not be tempted to turn on the computer all the time. - I'm not sure there is a good way to measure this. I did give up Facebook for Lent, but other than that I can't say either one of us is very good about getting off the computer when they are awake, so I don't really feel that I can cross this one off my list. But this is going to be a continuous goal for us into 2014.

7) Limit the amount of overtime I work. I actually did a good job of NOT over doing the overtime this year, with being prego and the house and preschool, it was just a crazy summer filled with appointments and places to be. Though I am thankful to have my job, I have to remain focused on my family. I will not give up every night or weekends for work. This is hard sometimes when my desk is overflowing and people are screaming or crying b/c they won't have a place to live if I don't get their loan approved YESTERDAY. - Well since overtime wasn't really offered too much this year, I guess I was able to accomplish this! However, it appears this next year we'll be busier so I might have to add this to 2014 goals!

8) Donate blood. This is on my life list but really shouldn't be that hard for me to do. I just need to do it! - Oh yeah! I did it, and it was simple and easy. This has been on my life list also and then when my friend Colleen needed blood with the birth of her son, I knew this was the perfect opportunity to give back!

 

Six for eight, that isn't too bad!

Ugh

Last Monday night Steve started to NOT feel good, headache and just sick. Then I got a text from my mom that she was sick too....so this girl extended her vacation one more day and stayed home last Tuesday with Piper.
Wednesday I took Piper to moms and Steve went to work, still not feeling good. And then when I left moms after picking Piper up the car wouldn't start. Nothing. Nada. Great. We had just replaced the battery in the Equinox 3 weeks ago, his work truck had the battery replaced just that morning and now this car? How does that happen?

Thursday he stayed home and missed his work Christmas party! Friday and Saturday he still didn't feel good. But managed to take the car to get fixed and he still helped with the girls as much as he could. Friday night Presley and I had a girls movie night watching Home Alone, I love this movie and I was hoping she would too so I bribed her with popcorn to watch it with me.
Saturday morning we went to pick up the newly fixed car and then Presley and I headed to the store. Then we did nothing all day. It was kind of nice!

The girls

I started this typed this 2 days ago and never posted it. Amazing how much can change in 2 days! HA!
I feel like after all my vacation posts that I should devote a little time to the two lovely ladies in my life!

Presley has been doing so good. I will say the last 4 months she has been the best she has ever been. For the most part she is good with Piper, she eats good, she even goes to bed good (she is usually always asleep by 8:30!) She can be SO polite and helpful, it's almost weird sometimes! HA!
She is still great in school and they love her. We had our first 'incident report' from preschool today and it wasn't even anything good! LOL! She has a scratch near her right eye but she didn't know how she got it or if someone else did it to her.  Of course, in the last 3 nights we have had 3 fits. Nothing like they were before but your typical 'stop staring at me!' comments, then we laugh at her and then she cries b/c we laughed at her and we 'aren't nice'.....blah, blah. The eye rolling and snotty attitude has made more of an appearance in the last 3 days (I might blame Piper the Elf!)

Piper in the last 2 weeks has changed. Before Thanksgiving she got a cold, she stopped eating (fruit is really the only food she'll eat these days), she hates her baths (it is the weirdest and saddest thing! She shakes and screams the minute her feet are in, you can't get her to sit down, it's like she is in pain!) She is now teething 3-5 different teeth, she sleeps good once you get her to bed! She now has her appetite back! Guess she is finally over her cold and teething and back to her normal self! Still hates the bath though.
She still doesn't really say 'words', but that is similar to the way Presley was too. She loves reading books, the same ones over and over again! And this girl is clumsy! She tries to do more than she can really do like lifting heavy things or running faster than she can, she has bumped her head more times in the last 6 months than Presley probably has her whole life!  I started thinking about how much we baby her. I'm just not as excited to get to the next milestone with her. She is still rear facing in her car seat, we are still giving her a nighttime bottle -don't judge- (of milk), during the day she drinks out of a sippy cup, we just haven't really even tried to get rid of it at bedtime! She is going to grow up,whether we like it or not....now we just need to accept that! HA!

Home Sweet Home

 

Of course we come back to chilly temperatures and SNOW! Everyone slept late on Sunday morning, I was the first one up at 8:15 but the other three didn't get up until 9:30! Steve took Presley to Target for our grocery shopping and to get presents for the double birthday party that she had that afternoon!

Once the got home from the store the snow had piled up and she was ready to get out in it!

Steve pulled her around the yard and they went sledding down the hill on the side of the house, which looks pretty fun and I might have to try it out sometime this year!

and she was obsessed with eating the snow!

Then I took her to her double birthday party for two kids in her preschool class at Monkey Joes! She did pretty good playing and having fun. She did not like Monkey Joe though, she cried when he came in the room and really, I don't blame her!

 

I decided I had to get our pictures taken for Christmas cards to be sent out! I'm so behind this year! We just take them ourselves b/c it is just quicker and easier, especially when you don't know what they heck they are going to act like!

In the process of trying to get them to smile, Steve got them laughing hysterically!

Needless to say, these pictures will NOT be on the Christmas cards! LOL!

 

Today I took the day off to give my mom another day without the kids! Presley went to preschool and I took Piper with me to work just to make sure my badge still worked to get into the parking ramp, then we did a Target run (b/c it has been over 2 weeks since I have been there!). We came home, did some cleaning, some organizing, some laundry and enjoyed a little time with my baby girl!

 

We also had our first visit from our Elf on the Shelf...who Presley has named Piper. Real original huh? She wouldn't budge, so Piper our Elf has been introduced. Presley was really not interested, so we'll see how the next couple days go and see if she gets into it or not.

 

Steve hasn't been feeling good tonight, he worked outside all day and then just went downhill once he got home. Then I got a text from my mom that she is sick too! So at this point I'll be extending my vacation one more day! Though if Steve is feeling better, this will be my last day of vacation and I get to jump back into reality of work tomorrow.