2nd Grade Music Concert

It is that time of year for spring music concerts! Presley was so excited! She has been talking about it, practicing the songs and was ready for this day! (our shy quiet Presley!)

She found us in the audience right away!

A little nervous, biting her lip.

Each kid gets the chance to either speak a part or play an instrument. She played the xylophone (as she did last year). Seriously, so proud of her. She has come SO far!

The last song was the 1st and 2nd graders combined and they played the air guitar for parts of it...the boy next to her was amazing! He was really into it and fun to watch, and watching Presley smile about it was just as great!

She even agreed to let me take her picture when we got home! Our baby girl is growing up!

Weekend Update

Friday night we had Brittany come babysit so we could go out for Steve's birthday! We ate dinner at Firebirds in WDSM, which was really good. A little pricey, but the lobster spinach queso was well worth the price!! https://west-des-moines.firebirdsrestaurants.com/#vNB1mp

Then we headed to The Keg Stand to crash a 50th birthday party of a guy we kinda know! :) and then we headed closer to home and stopped by Steve's second home, The Boathouse!

 

We got home and to sleep about 1 am and at 2....Piper came into our room. She just didn't seem 'right'. I took her back to bed, asked her what was wrong and she said she had thrown up in the toilet. I, of course was shocked and not really sure what she was talking about.....but I went in the bathroom and sure enough, there was throw up in the toilet! I couldn't believe she had just woke up, gone in there and did it all by herself! A 'proud' moment? I kicked Steve out of bed and brought her into our bed with me. She threw up 2 more times between 2 and 4....finally we both fell asleep after 4! I slept like shit...waking up every time she moved or made a noise but we slept until about 8:30, Piper seemed fine and 'normal' so we got ready to head out............

 

A week ago our friend Todd drove our car to Creston to see why the service engine soon light has been on (for 4 months, oops). After getting the estimate and Steve putting on his best car salesman skills with me, we decided to just trade it in for something with less miles and a little more updated. (Even though we have only had that car for 3 years and it really was good enough in my opinion). So Saturday morning we drove down to Creston to pick up the new car....and 2014 GMC Acadia.

 

We cleaned out our old car (sorry to the guys at Stalker Chevrolet who had to really clean it!), took a test drive in the new car (considering we had never seen or drove this car before decided to buy it), signed our paper work and decided to hit up Mario's in Creston for lunch.

Steve also mentioned visiting the cemetery where his mom is buried. I have never been there and though it would be a super nice gesture to swing by and pay our respects since we had both girls with us too (b/c I'm not sure all 4 of us have ever been to Creston together!) We did that which was very touching and I'm so glad we made that stop and then we headed back home.

 

We got home about 2 and spent the afternoon/evening hanging out! The girls played outside quite a bit, I tried to nap but that didn't work and then we decided to head over to my parents to show off the new car....in hopes the girls would be good enough to get ice cream on the way home. We weren't there very long but as expected, Piper was a little snot, didn't listen and so we headed home with no ice cream.

Both Piper and I were very tired that night so we hung out and all went to bed early!!

 

We did give Steve one of his birthday presents Saturday night and he was pumped to get to 'drive' it Sunday morning. A remote control car! He had randomly mentioned something about one, so I counted on my best friend Amazon to help me find a good one! It goes about 25 mph, the kids love to try to chase it and it is hard to control but he is getting the hang of it.

 

Every Sunday morning should consist of the three of them outside in their mismatched pj's!

Steve did make a trip to the grocery store, I worked out and then we all headed to cousin Mary's softball game at noon! They won which was nice but it is amazing how much a difference a good pitcher makes in these games! (BTW.....I was a pitcher and first base man (after my years in right field), and that was only like 25 years ago. Toot my own horn real quick)
After the game we stopped and got ice cream at Van Dee's and then headed home for bit......

Johnston had their annual easter egg hunt (which I guess really isn't a hunt since the eggs are just laying there and there really is no 'hunting'.) It is AMAZING how quickly this happens....I bet from start to finish is maybe 30 seconds. It's unreal. I stayed with Presley in the 7-8 year old section.

And Steve was with Piper in the 4-6 year old section. Afterwards we found each other and went thru the eggs to see what they got. (They do give away some bigger prizes in some of the eggs too!)

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out outside. Steve and I sat in the front yard, the kids played with the neighbors for hours, we did laundry, made dinner and just ended the weekend enjoying the nice weather!

Random

- Steve went to the Green Day concert last night. His brother called him at 6 with an extra ticket so he went, very last minute. I didn't realize I knew so many Green Day songs!

- The ACM awards were on Sunday night and while I was watching I could predict how Facebook  would look...my friend Andrea would give play by plays on who was performing, she is super into music and usually does this during these shows. And my sister Samantha probably complained about Florida Georgia Line performing, she thinks they are terrible and d-bags. I will admit they are a little douchy but they do have good songs!

- The highlight of the ACM's for me, was when FGL performed with The Backstreet Boys! That places was dancing and singing along....no one else got that reaction when they performed! Rock on boy bands!

- Piper is now reading the first 50 pages of this Dick and Jane book...she gets so proud of herself. I just love it. They do a good job of repeating words over and over to help them learn. Presley started out by reading book too!



- I just love seeing them with their school friends! Thank you Generation for having the Tadpoles app for us parents!

Rainy Days

My dad finally got home from Singapore on Tuesday morning! I think he was exhausted and really glad to be home! We did a 'welcome home' dinner on Thursday at my parents house. We were able to look at his pictures and hear his stories! It sounds like they had an amazing time! The weather was hot, people mostly speak English and they did a lot of fun touristy things too.

They visited this hotel/pool ---- yes, that is an infinity pool on the top!

Pretty amazing huh?

 

Friday I took a half day off of work! I went to Target and then Steve and I had lunch with Presley at school. I went home and power cleaned for about 1.5 hours, then I worked out and got ready for my girls out night. I did meet Steve at The Boat House for one before I headed to pick up my friend Sarah. We haven't seen each other in probably 9 months and finally found a time that worked for us to do dinner at Eatery A. If you haven't been, I highly recommend it. They have a great happy hour (half price from 3-6 every day!), they are casual enough for kids (though no kids menu) and the pizza are so good! http://www.eateryadsm.com/

 

Then we walked across the street to some little dive bar and had a couple, did a lot more talking and catching up. It was good to see her again but man, I was out too late!

 

Saturday we didn't do much. Steve smoked some meat for dinner,  I worked out and finished my puzzle, the girls went to the neighbors for a couple hours to play and Steve's brother Matt came over for dinner and to hang out a while. They ended up going to The Boat House that night and the girls and I cuddled on the couch and watched part of Hairspray!

Sunday morning was more of the same, the girls played dogs and house and colored (Presley decided to write a book about Bluejays....this is totally something I would've done when I was younger!). They do such a good job of keeping busy and playing together. I did decide that we needed to get out of the house though! Steve was tired and slightly hung over (hahahaha) so just the 3 of us girls went to the mall. Piper had talked about riding the train and seeing the Easter bunny, so we ventured out to do that.

I really wanted to shop for shoes, but Piper was not listening as well as she should've been so I knew that would be a lost cause! However, she did try some on! :)

Then we went to see the Easter bunny....they rode the train once and Presley only did it to make me happy. Piper wanted to go but not by herself, I think Presley realizes that she is getting older and doesn't really want to do this anymore! :(

Piper wore her pajamas that have a bunny on the front to show the bunny, but this was as close as she would get. She pretended like she was all confident, walked up in line and then backed out when it was their turn. HOWEVER......This girl did! She has never sat with Santa or the Easter bunny in all her 8 years and finally!!! This is a big deal!

After our Easter bunny fun, we found some clearance shirts at Von Maur for Presley and headed home. Overall, they were pretty good. We got home and hung out some more and got ready for our week!

Closets

I mentioned Presley's closet being super sad.....here is Piper's closet. This does include clothes from sized 4-6 (basically I take them out of Presley's closet and put in hers) however, I think there might be a tote or two in the basement that I need to go thru also. Seriously it's out of control (many of these things were hand me downs from cousin Mary, so that is nice!)

And poor Presley. The sad closet, the empty closet just begging to be filled! This is all short sleeve, long sleeve, tanks and dresses....we don't pack up our off-season clothes like many people do.

We were able to get her some more things when we went shopping, that surely won't fill the closet like Piper's but now she can at least wear pants that don't have holes in the knees!

Weekend Update

Friday night we stayed in, it was rainy and gloomy and the perfect night to not to anything! We had another slumberparty in the basement, which I am completely over now b/c our kids are usually grouchy the next day.

Saturday morning we did sleep in until 8:45, I got up and worked out and then took Piper to the neighbors house for a playdate. Xander is in her class at Generation Next and lives a couple blocks over, they always get along so well and I love his mother April! Piper has been begging for a play date at their house, so I sent her a message and basically invited us over. It worked out that she was having a Cabi party that morning so I looked at clothes and they played.....for a very short while. Piper was scared of their big dog and was kind of grouchy, so we stayed for a little bit and then headed home.

After that Presley and I had a date to go shopping! The girls' closet is just sad these days and all her pants had holes in the knees, We headed to the mall and hit up Children's Place, Justice and Target and surprisingly Target was the only place that didn't have clothes on sale! :) She was hungry and grouchy when we left, so that made me unhappy and pissy but we got home and started getting ready for Sam, Scott and Boston to come over to hang out.

We had a great dinner, ate and drank and I got to hold baby Jordan some! Then Sam and I decided to head up to The Boathouse for a drink. A neighbor was having her 40th surprise birthday party there, so we joined for a couple hours then headed home and Steve and Scott headed up for an hour or so to say Happy Birthday too. When you don't have a babysitter, you compromise! :) It worked. They left way later than expected and the kids didn't get to sleep until after 11.

Sunday we did all sleep in until almost 9:30! And then I took Piper to a birthday party at Pump It Up!
There were only tears 3 times, once when she feel down in one of the bouncy things, I just don't think she knew what to expect but she had quick recovery and kept on playing.

 A lot of them did the 'tornado', which is basically just really high winds in this tiny little booth. I was hesitant to let her do it, but didn't want to discourage her. She did it with a smile......

 and then started crying....and b/c I'm a good mother, I took a picture of her misery.

But she recovered and went back to playing again. Even posed for pictures with her bff Paige, another Paige in her class and Ayla!

 The whole gang!

 It was a Troll party and the birthday girl's mom made this adorable Poppy headbands! (so full of glitter that I want to scream!)

After the party we went home and just did our normal weekend stuff, laundry, cleaning, grocery store. I worked out, the kids played, we painted nails and did baths and we all tried to get to bed early, which didn't work since they slept in so late that morning! :)

Okay.

'Okay' is rarely an answer I get from Presley when I tell Presley I'm signing her up for a sport (which a majority of the time I don't end up doing). Sunday afternoon we were out kicking the soccer ball around and she was doing really well! They play in school and I know she likes it but will never admit that she 'wants' to play. So I told her I was going to sign her up and she said 'Okay'. Not an excited okay but not a pissed off okay either! So I ran with it!
Monday morning I looked at the registration online but didn't pull the trigger, it's a lot of money to spend if she was going to back out later. So Monday after work I told her I HAD signed her up and she just shrugged her shoulders! I know this doesn't sound like much, but this is NOT refusal from her! This is a gigantic step!!!

Yesterday I registered her, paid the late fee, ordered her jerseys, everything. I was excited!
A couple hours later I get an email that says 'Sorry, spring soccer is full I'm not sure why the website allowed you to register' ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????????? I was SO bummed.

We have one last chance by trying the Grimes soccer league, the season is only 6 weeks and it's a little cheaper but she probably won't know any of the other girls. They only have a couple openings left, so right now we are just waiting to hear back.
If not, I told her I would sign her up for fall soccer in hopes she doesn't change her mind before then!