Smoke a little smoke

Saturday Steve got up bright and early and headed to Panora for his brothers Smoke a little smoke, drink a little drink party. All day party, mostly to have a BBQ competition! Tons of kids, bean bags game, eating, drinking, camping (which we were planning on doing!)

My mom had agreed back in March to watch Piper overnight for us and we took Presley knowing she could play with cousin Ava. I dropped Piper off about 10:45 and we made our way to Lake Panorama. It was the perfect day, we were outside all day!

Presley decided that being my little shadow sounded more fun that playing for the first 4 hours we were there but eventually she went off and played. Jerry won the smoking competition! We were SO happy for him! And Christie and I won the first bean bag competition (I will say, she did more scoring than I did!)
About 10:30 the drinking started to get a little more obvious, cousin Ava was sleeping and I didn't want Presley to be a witness to the nonsense going on. We had planned on tent camping but then someone gave up their room for the night, so we pounced on it and claimed it as our own! P was sad that we didn't camp out but with everyone still up and drinking outside I think this was for the best.

Yesterday P and I headed home about 9 to get Piper and Steve stayed a while to pack up his smoker and help clean up. We were all just tired. The house is gross, the laundry is mostly done but just in baskets all over our bedroom. I'm secretly hoping someone will sneak into my house and clean it one of these days. (but then they might be really disgusted with how gross it is!) Piper napped, Steve fell asleep on the couch, I fell asleep off and on in the chair and poor Presley just played (waking me up every now and then to ask a question or to tell me something). Finally we decided to pull

Weekend behind

Man, how did I get a week behind on posting? UGH! I know you are all on the edge of your seats wondering what we have been up to the last week. I mean really, why isn't there a reality show of our lives? The entertainment value would be unreal! HA!

Anywho. The Saturday we got back from vacation we all slept in! It was exactly what we all needed! We had told P that we would get the slip-n-slide back out, but then the our yard got sprayed for our monthly treatment and she was heartbroken! So we decided to hit up the pool for a short while!  The girls loved it, however Piper just runs. And running around a pool, and chasing her over and over again is just exhausting. Presley did good, she would put her face in, blow bubbles and once she got comfortable would let me help her 'swim'.
We were only there for an hour and then we decided to get ice cream on the way home. Piper took a late nap and we just hung out the rest of the night.
Sunday we all slept late again!  Presley and I had planned on going shopping for a little girl time, but she was so snotty and has been such a terrible listener lately that I had to cancel our plans b/c I couldn't handle it. I think maybe over the last 10 days we had too much time together! HA! Another sign I am NOT meant to be a stay at home mom!

The week was a blur, dealing with exhausting Piper and trying to NOT fight with Presley 100% of the time is just emotionally and physically draining. By Thursday Presley was screaming and crying for me when I left for work and Piper was crying for Daddy on our way out. Then P threw a HUGE fit at daycare. Steve said it was the worse drop off he has ever had, screaming, crying and kicking. I called preschool about 9 to see if she had called down and Miss Colleen said P just kept saying that she missed her mommy and wanted her mommy! HEARTBREAKING! In tears at work I decided to take a long lunch so that I could take my baby girl out to lunch in hopes to help calm her down for the rest of the day.
I had our monthly work outing after work which was very much needed! It was me and Amy and then my friend Lyndsi, good girl talk on the patio with the perfect weather and some beers! Ahhh....

Thursday/Friday

We decided to hit up the splash pad again Thursday, it keeps them busy for a while and wears them out. We all had fun! Presley really wanted me to get in, so I went thru the sprinkler and fountains with her. When I participate it helps her come out of her shell a little and have some fun! This was our last day so we hung out and tried to relax and took pictures and enjoyed it!

Cousins!

P and Ava in 2012...how funny that this was recreated completely by accident!

Piper wanted her chance to cheese for the camera!

Messy baby. Bad hair, little pizza face, little ice cream face. This is the typical dirty kid up there. All day in the sand and sunscreen...all evening in bug spray and camp fire smoke!

Thursday night Ava and Presley wanted to have a sleep over. So Ava came into our cabin and they girls watched a movie until they fell asleep...success! :) I woke up about 9 and slowly woke everyone else up so that we could get packed up and headed home. Finally by 11 we were on the rode, the girls did pretty good, but you could tell we all just wanted to be home in our own house. We got home and unpacked about 2:30. It was so nice to shower in our own shower (and then not put bug spray on 10 minutes later!) Steve and Brock went to the Motley Crue concert that night and the girls and I hung out, they went to bed pretty good and I was able to get some stuff put away, laundry started and just enjoy being back home!

 

Tuesday/Wednesday

So we planned on going to Arnold's Park Tuesday, which worked out perfectly b/c it was windy and chilly by the lake! We did some shopping, Presley got $20 to spend however she wanted, she bought a ring, the purple headband (that she just HAD to have which you will see in the following pictures), candy and a tshirt! We walked around the park, we didn't ride anything (too expensive there!) and the girls were not interested in playing on the free playground stuff!

If you look really close, near Presley shoulder there is a hint of pink in the purple flowers....this is an egg we hid for the Andrea's Angels Easter in July event! (Let me know if you want more info, its awesome!)

That afternoon Steve and Presley and the rest of the gang headed to Barefoot Bar to hang out while Piper and I stayed at the cabins so she could nap. It was actually chilly with the wind blowing so hard, but the wind kept the bugs away!

Wednesday morning the water in the lake was SO muddy, no one was willing to even think about getting in. We knew we had to keep the girls busy and just chasing Piper around didn't sound like fun. We found a splash pad in Spirit Lake so we checked it out. It was perfect! Two large playgrounds, swings and a nice big splash pad with fountains and buckets of water.

Christie brought Ella and friend, Sam and Ava out to meet us there for some fun too!

Steve had bought water balloons and a slingshot for them....it was actually really cool! This thing shot these water balloons SO far, the kids (and adults) loved it! Too bad water balloons never last long enough!

Okoboji 2014 (Saturday, Sunday, Monday)

So Saturday we got up and ready to leave, we got to Spirit Lake about 2:30. The drive went good, the kids were fairly good and we were able to get unpacked and get Piper down for a short nap after we got there!  We stayed up late this night, too late for this momma, but my friend Lyndsi was there and some of Steve's family was there for the night so we did a lot of talking and drinking!

Sunday we got up about 9, hung out and then while Piper napped Presley and I headed to the beach to hang out! She played good, we talked and I got some reading done!

Once Miss Piper got up, she joined us at the beach and she actually did pretty good. She wasn't interested in the water (which is a plus!), she didn't throw sand around, she just watched Presley and played!

Even cousin Derek helped out and took them to the swings!

Steve took Presley fishing for a while....she liked it, but the fish weren't interested!

Me and P in 2014

Flashback.....me and P in 2011

This little thing can be SO sweet sometimes!

 

Monday the girls slept in again! Cousin Derek has decided that white trash is the new style, he doesn't care what anyone thinks.....mullet, cut-off jean shorts, the flag brotank.....good entertainment for us!

Presley was not feeling that great this day! I don't know if it was too much sun, or just a quick bug...but she got up at 9, took a 2-3 hour nap (which she NEVER does unless she is sick) and then she was ready and in bed by 9!

Piper however was typical Piper, full of energy, looking for trouble and social!

Sam with the turtle they caught, who they named Jennifer! HA!

3rd and 4th of July!

So Thursday the 3rd started our vacation! We did Applebees for dinner (3 times in 2 weeks! So bad!), Piper was less than cooperative, but we had expected it. The surrounding patrons were relatively understanding, even giving me direction as Piper took off running around the corner and then into the kitchen! Seriously, the kid lease is sounded better and better every day!

We then headed over to the Urbandale carnival to do some rides since we knew we weren't going to be doing much on the morning of the 4th. I refused to do the Tilt-a-Whirl this time and did the kiddy roller coaster instead!

and my first time on the big slide! HA!

Daddy took her on the bumper cars! This girl loves rides and $20 in tickets does not go far in these carnivals!

 

On the 4th we hung out most of the day, we had the neighborhood party at 4 and we had to pack for vacation! We decided to skip the parade. After the nice, relaxing, not busy Johnston Green Days parade the thought of parking a mile away and fighting 2000 other kids for candy just didn't seem that fun for any of us, especially when the kids never really eat the candy anyway. The weather was perfect, so we tried to spend time outdoors to enjoy the day!

 

She now poses like a cheerleader ALL of the time! And she keeps mentioning going back to cheer class, so we'll see. We aren't doing anything until fall no matter what!

At 4, we headed over to the neighborhood block party. They have such a nice house and incredible pool/patio/yard set up! It's always nice to get together to talk and hang out with the people who live around us.

Stinker!

Steve conveniently had to get 5 stitches in his hand earlier in the week so opted to stay out of the pool...leaving pool duty open for me! Lucky me *insert sarcasm*!

The monster did not get in the pool, it was chilly in her defense...she ran around the pool, looked like she was going to jump in the pool, chased the dogs and just wore us out!

We wanted to stay longer than we did, but really needed to get the kids home and packed to leave!  So we didn't do any fireworks either. I kinda feel bad, but with the way things worked out this year, it just didn't make sense to try to fight crowds and parking to keep them happy and up late! Is this just us being lazy? HA! 

Piper (1 and 3/4)

Oh my little lady. You are Miss Personality....maybe my memory is fading but I do not remember Presley ever having this much personality at this age. You are a spitfire, you know exactly what you want, you love to copy everything your sister does, you talk with so many facial expressions and hand gestures!

Piper:
- is about 24/25 lbs, wearing 2T stuff, just went to size 5 diapers and size 6 shoes
- is actually starting to talk! Usually two words together and probably only things that we can understand......Presley, Piper, mama, daddy, please, more, Pa, Bossy, doggy, ti-ta (big truck) ta-tu (thank you), water, cup, I poop, I potty, cookie, blueberry, shoe, paci, watch, minnie/mickey, wi-mini(windmill). She still does a good job using her sign language too, which I love!
- she says 'eewwwww' when she sees a bug....even the ladybug earring in P's ear! LOL!
- cries when I leave her at grandmas or Generation, but it's always short lived at both places
- loves naps, loves long naps (most of the time). We are about 50/50 getting her to sleep the first time during bedtime though.
- loves her pacifer more than she loves her naps!
- does a pretty good job eating, she definitely eats more foods than Presley does!
- currently loves running and jumping everywhere she goes!
- she is SO much more outgoing than Presley ever was (and is). Rarely is she afraid of people, but she does get afraid of things like the merry go round, putting her feet in the lake and mascots.

Although we complain that you are pain in the butt and everything is difficult to do with you around, you bring so many smiles and happiness and laughs into this family! Oh Pipes, you bring a whole new set of challenges to this parenting thing and we love you for it! We love you Miss Piper!