Frozen

Ironic title for a post when it is 90 degrees out!

So Monday I got an email from our neighbor that her 4 yr old daugher was having a friend birthday party that afternoon at 4 (yes, 4 pm on a Monday afternoon) and she wanted Presley to come. Talea loves Presley and Piper and Presley has become SO comfortable with their family since we moved in! (considering last summer she wouldn't go in their yard!)
The party was Frozen themed and they had an Elsa princess, coming as a surprise for the girls! Steve got P to the party, she was willing to stay without him there and she participated and didn't want to leave when it was over!

I got home and she ran out and said "Mommy! I got to meet a real live Elsa princess who lives in Urbandale!" She went on to tell me that Elsa is friends with all the other princesses too and how when she turns 6 she wants a Frozen birthday so Elsa will come! (no pressure!) She said she doesn't want a Hello Kitty birthday b/c Hello Kitty doesn't come to birthday parties! HA!

Tuesday we had bad storms overnight so my mom was without power that morning, so she was nice enough to just come out to our house. I quickly 'picked up' the house, so she couldn't see how messy we normally are and let the girls sleep in! She had to wake both of them up at 7:45, to get them up and ready for swim lessons at 9. Presley did good for her, did everything she was asked but blow bubbles! She'll put her face in the water but she won't blow bubbles (I think she is afraid to get water in her nose or mouth!) Piper was a maniac as normal.
Mom was nice enough to take P to preschool after lessons, do our dishes for us and clean the stove! LOL.

Today she did about the same at swim lessons, which I'm happy with. I'm happy that she got in the water and that she is actually participating, really that is more than I expected! HA! We just hung inside tonight, it's hot out but my problem is the freakin cicadas around! OMG! They are so loud and they are just flying everywhere! It makes me NOT want to be outside!

Weekend Update

So I had been invited to go with some girlfriends boating on Saturday! I knew with Steve out of town it was going to be hard to find someone to watch them all day for me. My parents had plans so Holly volunteered! Mary and P play so good together and Holly was willing to take on the challenge of Piper, so Saturday morning I got us all up and ready, packed the car and headed to Ankeny to drop them off. It's amazing what I had to pack for 10 hours of being gone. The pack-n-play so Piper could nap, the carseat, stroller, plus all the other crap like diapers and such! Piper is at th stage where she cries no matter who I leave her with so I warned Jerry when I handed her over to him......she didn't cry!

So I headed to Lake Panorama! The weather actually turned out pretty good despite the rain prediction. They had rented a pontoon boat and the driver just took us around the lake while we talked and drank and had a good time! Then we met up with another guy they had met who owned this awesome house on the lake and he took us all out on his nice boat! It was a lot of fun! It was nice to get away with a bunch of girls doing something other than a girls dinner. I left about 4 and picked up the girls about 5 and we headed home! They said the girls were great! Piper napped good and didn't cry at all until I showed up to pick them up.....figures!

Presley and I cuddled up in our bed about 8:30 to watch a movie and both crashed! Piper was up over and over again, so I thought for sure she would sleep late (please sleep late!) NOPE. 7:30...ugh. P slept until a little after 9 and then we headed out about 10:30 to have fathers day brunch at Mullets. We got a table on the patio, the weather was perfect. Piper was entertaining for everyone. We went home, Piper napped, Presley and I hung out and painted her toe nails, rode bikes up and down the block and did some cleaning before Steve got home! Steve got home a little after 5:30 and Piper was SOOOO excited to see him! At that age you wouldn't think she would really react to him being gone...but man, she was laughing, smiling, would stop hugging him....it was SO cute!

Today Presley started swim lessons. Our neighbor gave me the # of a lady who does private lessons and is very good with kids. This is what we needed for Presley! The main problem, the lessons are in the morning (hello! working parents here!). So this Monday and next Monday I'm working my late nights so I can take her, then my mom agreed to take her T/W/Th for me! Thank you mom! She woke up this morning and started crying b/c she didn't want to go to swim lessons. We didn't even have her swimsuit on yet! She said she was scared of all the people that would be there. I told her there are only 3 other kids in the class so there wouldn't hardly be anyone there. I told her we would just go check it out and see if she felt comfortable. We got there early and I sat on the edge of the pool with her talking, the water was warm, the teacher has a bunch of toys that we played with....she was very hesitant, but she got in the pool and did it! She only had one break down when they were supposed to blow bubbles and she said she couldn't.....well she can, I just don't think she liked the water splashing in her face. So hopefully tomorrow will be good for mom and we can get thru these two weeks with a 5 yr old who is more comfortable in the water!

I was going to add pictures but I'm working (shhhhhh) so I don't have that capability right now! HA!

Daddy is away!

So Steve went with his brothers, dad, uncles and a couple nephews on an all boys fishing trip for 4 days this weekend. He left Thursday morning and we started our girls weekend! This is the first time he has been away for this long (which is lucky for us) so I'm just crossing my fingers that they are good for me and I can handle them! HA!

 

Thursday The Nadas were playing at Camp Dodge, about 2 miles from our house. I wanted to go, we went last year, it's super casual, bring chairs, blankets, snacks, drinks....so I packed us some stuff and headed up there about 6:30. Occupying Piper for more than 5 minutes is hard to do, so we did very little sitting. P and I basically followed her around. She ran everywhere, wanted to play catch with the big kids and tried to get on stage a couple times. Even the man sitting behind us commented that 'she likes to RUN everywhere!' Yeah, there is NO walking. They were overall good, I really couldn't have expected or asked for anything more from them. We left about 8 and I still got both girls asleep by 9.

 

Today was donuts with dad at preschool....since Steve is gone Grandpa was going to go in his place. He took her to preschool and then I got the phone call.....she was crying. He thinks she was overwhelmed with all the people there and wanted her 'mommy and daddy'. I think she really just wanted to go to Grandmas for the day! Soooo being the awesome Grandpa he is, they stopped at Casey's and got donuts! And Grandma being awesome, watched both girls today! Thank you guys!

I took a half day of PTO today, I got a pedicure and then ran some errands by myself. Tonight we just hung out, played outside, P played with the neighbors while I put Piper to bed....so I would say it was overall another successful night!

 

My little ladies!

Weekend Fun

 

Friday night we got on the road and headed to Lake Panorama to hang out at my bro-in-laws house for the weekend. They have a great lake house there and weren't using it, so offered it up to us to use!

We hung out, drank, sat on the patio and enjoyed the weather. However, Piper did not sleep worth a crap. She ended up sleeping with me in bed and Steve and Presley took a different room so that at least half of us would sleep good. She was up for almost 2 hours, which helped her (and all of us) to sleep until 9:30!

We asked our friends Lisa and Jared if they wanted to join us Saturday night, the kids could play and we could hang out. We met them for lunch and then headed back to the lake......it was still raining but we made the most of it and soon enough the skies cleared and we were able to enjoy the afternoon in the sun while the babies slept! :)

 

Jett, great eyes and smile and such a happy baby!

The highlight of the weekend, the golf cart!

Presley and Colton did great playing together! We got the glow sticks out and they raced up and down the sidewalk over and over again (really they didn't want to go to bed, so they kept busy knowing we would let them stay up if they were good!)

The humidity took control over P's hair!

The funny faces! HA!

 

Piper again, slept like crap so we were up early. Boo. But this help in a good early nap from her too. The weather was cool but nice so we slept most of the morning hanging out by the lake. We slowly picked up our crap, cleaned up and ended up getting home avout 3. It was good weekend away despite Piper's crappy sleep, she showed Lisa and Jared her attitude and why we rarely take her anywhere! LOL! Both girls were good, so that was nice and it was a good weekend hanging out with friends that we don't get to see often enough (considering they live < 10 miles from us!) Thanks guys for joining us!

Funnies

- Yes, Presley called me an English bum...she said she heard it from a book at school. ok.
- P and I were talking about Memorial Day and I told her that we remember those people who have died. I asked her if she knew anyone who has died (just to see what she would say)....she said "Jesus!". Well, yes you are right. Which is funny b/c the only place she has really learned anything religious is from her preschool last year, so I was impressed that she remembered that!
- At the horse races Friday night, the tractors were out raking the track. Piper immediateley started saying 'choo choo'! Close baby, I'm sure it looks like a train to a 20 month old. It was too cute!
- I have a problem. I went thru some of P's old clothes this past weekend....the 2T-3T stuff....most of the 2T stuff fits Piper no problem......my baby. Some of the clothes have shrunk so much that she is able to wear some of the 3T stuff! MY BABY!
- P does a lot of playing by herself and it is SO funny to listen to her especially when she thinks we aren't listening! She tries so hard to act like a grown up! She is bossy, she was singing the Lego Movie song tonight (EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!), I just wish I had a video camera on her at all times so I don't forget all this! It goes too fast.

Catch up

I love the pigtails!

P and Layla from the neighborhood playing with water guns!

 

Sunday I got up early and went to work for a couple hours, by the time I got home Steve already had the slip-n-slide built, the water table and baby swim pool filled up with the girls enjoying every second of it!

 It might be the most white trash slip-n-slide but we didn't pay anything for it and it was a huge success!

She was so excited to pick the red strawberries from our 'garden'!

We enjoyed the afternoon, Presley's friend Allie came over to play for a while and then we headed up to Big Creek, just to waste some time outside. Both girls were NOT into it, P was tired, Piper just wondered around...didn't want to play or anything. So we quickly walked around, got dinner and then came home.

Sunday nights in this house are always hard. They usually get to stay up late on Friday and Saturdays nights so trying to get them to bed at a normal time on Sunday is difficult. But kids are resilient and adaptable to change right? :)

Both last night and tonight we have spent inside! Weird when the weather is nice, but it was needed  for us to get stuff done around the house since we won't really be around this weekend!

 

Weekend fun

 

We actually got a night to enjoy with just the 4 of us! We went to Prairie Meadows to watch the horse races. We love doing this, it is SO kid friendly, they love the horses, there is room for them to run around and we can enjoy the weather!

Piper was old enough this year that she really enjoyed it! She loved seeing the horses (but got scared when people yelled and cheered on their horse during the actual race!). She walked around like she wanted to be friends with everyone. People love this child! She would get on a bench and go sit RIGHT next to the other person on the bench, even if she had two feet of room to herself. If there were kids standing near the fence watching, she would stand RIGHT next to them.....most kids don't enjoy this and find it a little weird and move away. There were two kids doing somersaults and cartwheels in the grassy area, she just followed them around. They kept moving away from her and she just kept following them! Hopefully the 'stranger danger' idea will come into her head and thought process eventually!

 

They were up late, so they didn't get up Saturday morning until after 8:30 (I love kids that will sleep in!) We did some playing, cleaning (Presley's room like looks like a teenagers room with clothes and crap everywhere!) Piper took an nap and Presley enjoyed some time in the sprinkler with her friend Layla. Steve did some cooking, I did some cleaning and then we headed over to our friend Brent and Shannons house to hang out for a couple hours!

Such a small world b/c I used to work with Brent at Dillards when I was in college and then both Steve and I worked with him at Von Maur! Presley and their boy Aiden got along SO good! Again, it is just nice to see her open up and PLAY with other kids! They wrestled and talked and just had a good time. Overall the night was a success. Piper was a little whiny, which is not normal for her but the food was good and it was nice to be able to catch up with them!

 

I try so hard to NOT be in bed by 10 on the weekends, but my goodness, it just sounds so good right now!