Busy Busy

Steve worked some more evening last week, which was fine. Tuesday I picked up Piper and then picked up Presley from Girls on the Run....they were having their Laps for Kyla fundraiser, selling lemonade and raising money for a 5th grader in their school....and Presley actually made the paper! https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/community/2018/05/18/johnston-iowa-wallace-elementary-kyla-tome-girls-run-childhood-cancer/622949002/

I took them to McD's before Presley's gymnastics class and Steve was able to meet us there to take Piper home so she didn't have to sit thru 1.5 hrs of P's class. And then I got a trip to Target by myself while she was in class! Woohoo!

Wednesday I picked Piper up from school and was able to a picture of Piper and her BFF Paige, it's a little sad that they will be going to different schools next year!

Miss Piper had some time to climb the rope in class, she did pretty good for never having tried before!

Thursday night we went to El Mariachi, because I wanted to. I did promise them ice cream if they were good and ate. We sat on the patio and enjoyed dinner and then headed to Van Dee's!

Friday was so slow at work and so nice outside....it is so hard for me to work. I snuck out an hour early and met Jerry and Holly at High Life for beer to celebrate Jerry's birthday, then I picked up the girls and then we headed to Latitude 41 to watch our friend Baird's band, Oreo Meatwagon play. It was perfect weather, we got a table, we met some new friends and we headed home before 8 b/c we knew we had a busy weekend.

We got up Saturday morning to head to the CF walk at the Altoona outlet mall! We had a smaller group this year b/c Andrea is actually in New Zealand! It was still a good overall turn out and a nice change of venues!

Since we were in Altoona we decided to hit up Adventureland for a couple hours. It was so nice b/c there were no lines! We did a quick 2 hours and then headed home!

 Piper and Steve are sitting on the chair behind us!

 On the ferris wheel

We did happen to swing by Van Dee's for ice cream, again! We ordered and then they asked if the girls would take a picture for the ice cream flavor of the week to put on their FB page. Of course, they said yes to free orange ice cream cones (which were really good!). So they had double ice cream treats and were pumped!

We went home for a couple hours, Steve and I both laid down to nap, both girls went and played and the we got ready to head to Creston for Cari's 40th birthday party! It was really fun to see everyone and their house is awesome. The kids all played SO good. Presley, Sadie and Grace all played and ran from all the boys (there were SO many boys, which we aren't used to!) and Piper and Claire hung out and played beanbags and spun in circles and were just goofy together.

 I can't imagine what this conversation was about!

We got home late and everyone went straight to bed. And Sunday morning...Piper was up at 7:45 b/c she had wet her bed (we are trying really hard to get her dry at night time, but when we sleep in late, I just can't blame her! HA! She went to the couch and got on her ipad....I went back to bed until 10! I rarely sleep that late and I just couldn't get up! The girls finally came in about 10:30 and we slowly got out of bed, mainly b/c the girls had a birthday party to go to at noon!
Steve took the girls to Sadie's 9th birthday party at Climb Iowa and I did my run. It was a struggle but the weather was cool and perfect. I think I'm almost ready for the 5k that Presley and I will be doing on Thursday, I'm not sure she is that ready for it!

They both loved Climb Iowa. Presley is not scared and is a little monkey.

This was Piper's first time, she was excited but a little nervous, she ended up doing great and really wants to go back again!

While they were gone I was able to get a lot done around the house, which was needed! They got home about 2:30 and then had to leave about 3:30 for Presley to go to a birthday party at the Animal Rescue League. Steve took her to that and Piper and I went to my cousin's daughters high school graduation party in Valley Junction. We hung out for a bit and then left to go pick up Presley from her birthday party!
They each got their face painted and got to 'adopt' an animal. Presley adopted a dog named Scott!

An overall busy, busy weekend but it was good! We've had some pretty laid back weekends recently and Steve should be done working evenings :) Presley and I have our 5k this week and Piper has her preschool graduation.

Weekend Update

Saturday we didn't do much, it was chilly and cloudy and I just don't like moving off the couch when it is gloomy! I need sun! Finally the weather got slightly better and I was able to go for a run before getting ready for the day.We did have Brittany come over at 5 to watch the girls, Steve and I headed out to The Hall for dinner and drinks before the Jason Aldean concert. We really like The Hall a lot!
We saw Lauren Alaina open for the concert, a previous American Idol contestant, so I was thrilled! 

Then Luke Combs played...he was really good, we were impressed with him!

Then Jason Aldean! He was good, I'm not sure we need to see him again though. I think we were thrown off b/c we didn't have REALLY good tickets like we are used to! We are kinda concert snobs now, which is an expensive hobby to have. And now our girls want to go to concerts too! YIKES!

Sunday was Mother's Day! We slept in, Steve smoked some ribs and brisket, I laid on the couch and did very little! :) The girls played and fought, I tried to nap. It rained like crazy and then Steve washed the windows inside and out! IT IS AMAZING! Best gift ever! :)
Well, this was a pretty good present too...Presley worked so hard on these drawings and coloring them and hiding the paper from me before Mother's Day. She is so creative and I love that she can draw.

Once the weather cleared up Steve ran to the store and took Piper went with him b/c we have to keep them apart or they just fight, fight, fight. Presley went outside and was looking for worms...this girl loves worms!?

When Steve and Piper got home she wanted to go for a bike ride...so I actually made myself presentable about 3 pm and we went around the neighborhood....leaving Presley with Steve b/c it's better that way!

We had an awesome dinner, the girls had baths and we had a good mothers day evening!

Monday my sisters and I got together and took my mom out for dinner for Mother's Day. She wanted time with just us girls which I think is awesome b/c it doesn't happen enough! It was so fun and there were so many laughs! My mom does deserve the best b/c she does so much for us and the grandkids. There is no way we can ever pay her back for everything she has done for us. She gives so much and probably needs to learn to say 'no' more often :)
After dinner we decided to stop by the Carney Tap to have a drink and see neighbor Kyle who works there on Mondays!

Busy week

So with Steve working evenings last week (and some of this week) it was fun *insert sarcasm*. The girls were actually okay, it just took more planning and organizing on my part. Tuesday, at the last minute I decided that I was going to take Piper on a bike ride while I ran, while Presley was in gymnastics. So when I left work at 4, I had to swing by my parents house to pick up some stuff, then I picked up Piper, we ran home and got her bike and helmet and all my running stuff and then we got to Presley's school with 5 minutes to spare before GOTR (Girls on the Run) was over at 5 pm.

The school had their 'art show' this night also. We quickly ran thru (because we had very little time) What a waste of time! We saw these two items and that was it. 

We left there and ran to McD's for dinner, which took FOREVER! Thankfully Presley did her homework while we waited and they had a quick 10 minutes to eat before I had them packed up and finish eating in the car to get to Presley to gymnastics by 6. Then I got changed and Piper and I were on our way for our bike ride/run. She was such a trooper! We did a total of 2 miles, I ran about 1.5 of it and she never complained! Once we were done we still had about 45 minutes before Presley's class was over (6-7:30!). She was content with a snack and her Ipad, so it worked out. 

Wednesday we did almost the same thing....I picked them both up and we headed to Piper's gymnastics class.

Thursday Steve was able to get off fairly early and was home about 7:15, I was able to meet Sarah out for a couple drinks. We were out for almost 4 hours just talking and such, obviously we were due to catch up and gossip! It was really nice, I think we both needed it!

Friday Generation Next had Muffins with Mom for mothers day. Bitter sweet since I know this will be the last year I get to do this since it will be off to kindergarten for this girl. 

We have preschool graduation next week so they are working on their graduation songs, proper etiquette for when they are on stage and have the classroom decorated with their pics. Melts my heart and breaks it at the same time. I don't want her to grow up!

Can you believe this is my baby?

I have a hard time talking about preschool graduation b/c unless it is a severe thunderstorm that night, I will miss it. I will be running a 5K with Presley's final GOTR run. I am heartbroken that I have to miss the graduation. *tear* I keep telling Piper that I'm going to do a rain dance next Thursday so they have to reschedule the run :)

Random

- If you are looking for a good book to read....read The One by John Marrs...it was so good and interesting! I loved it!

- Presley has been learning about Google Docs at school. She has her own little account and everything and she loves putting together new slide show type things. It is really cute, right now she is working on one about me and one about Steve. She imports pictures and changes the background and fonts. It's fun to see her learning about this stuff! 

- Piper has been reading books for preschool....and recently brought home level J and K.....these are hard for her but she does really well for 5 yrs old. These levels are usually 1st grade levels, so I'm thrilled that she loves learning and reading! Hopefully we can keep this up when she is actually IN school!

- I got my two weeks of PTO off in July! I was really doubting that I would even though there was NO reason that I shouldn't but you never know with this department. So we'll have a week in Okoboji for Steve's family vacation and then a week in Wisconsin for my family reunion! Now we need to work on Steve getting those 2 weeks off also!

- One of Presley's friends lives in our neighborhood, we love that Madison will bike over and get Presley and then they will bike 3 blocks back to her house to play and such. I feel like she isn't a little kid anymore cruising the neighborhood on her bike!

Another week in review

We had another 'normal' week for us outside of work. We were going to stop by my parents house on Thursday night to start setting up for the garage sale but we had so much stuff that we had to have stuff in the driveway to really organize and the weather was not going to cooperate so we just headed home and decided to have a garage sale organizing party on Friday night! :) Good thing we did head home, since as Steve was finishing grilling our dinner the tornado sirens went off....over and over again. The down pour of rain, the wind.....we had dinner in the basement which worked out since we had to finish our packing of garage sale stuff to take to my parents.

We had taken many loads of stuff to their house over the last week....including 18 totes of kids clothes, mainly sizes newborn to 5T! And I have given many clothes away in the past too! We decided to join my parents sale b/c they have a lot more traffic on their street than we would in our neighborhood.

Friday we planned on going to my parents house and all just getting after organizing, tagging everything. We ordered pizza, did some talking, the kids did some playing...it really didn't take TOO long. Then we headed to our friend Paul and Kristin's house for an hour. They were having a Cuatro de Mayo party :) and their house was on our way home so it worked out! We would've stayed longer but knowing we had to be at my parents house about 7 Saturday morning to start hauling stuff out of the garage (which is in the back of their house) to the front driveway, we knew we needed to get to bed at a good time since NONE of us are morning people!

We got up nice and early Saturday and headed to my parents for a perfect day to sit outside at a garage sale! The morning was slow, but I think we did pretty good for 7 hrs at a garage sale. We still have a shit ton of girls clothes left so we'll have to figure out what to do with all that.
I left about 2:30 to take Presley to a birthday party at Get Air then headed back to help clean up. We had about an hour before we could pick her up so we stopped by Taco Hangover (which we don't like but decided to give it a 2nd chance). They have a new location out on 86th St and a great patio, especially for Cinco de Mayo....however I wasn't feeling the best and this time, Taco Hangover is still not a place we like and we will probably never go there again.
We picked Presley up and headed home. I did NOT feel good so I went straight to bed. I woke up about 7 and still wasn't 'right'. Steve and Presley went on a bike ride and Piper was tired so she hung out in bed with me until bedtime.

Sunday I woke up and felt better, not 100% but so much better. We had no plans and the weather was perfect so it was nice! Steve mowed the yard, we did a family bike ride (I walked with Piper b/c she is slow on a bike), the girls played by the shed and I read my book, we went to my parents and got a load of stuff to bring home. The girls WOULD NOT STOP fighting with each other so we separated them in the cars on the drive. Steve went to the grocery store and took Piper with him b/c I didn't want them near each other! While they were gone, Presley and I took a bike ride around the neighborhood and worked on her google docs presentation of me :) (more on that later!).

We did a very early dinner on the patio at El Mariachi....we were going to get ice cream on the way home but they started fighting again and didn't eat much so we passed on that fun. We got home and went on another bike ride (me walking behind Piper on her bike again)! Some neighbors came over for a bit, the girls showered and we got ready for our week!

Steve is working evenings/nights this week so that is fun for me to do the dinner/gymnastics/bedtime thing, but I'm sure it will be fine.

I feel like I was very wordy with this post! But I've been slacking on posting lately and I've been slacking on picture taking....I need to get my act together!

Week in Review

Monday we decided to go to Jethro's for their wing eating contest. Our friend Kyle was in it for a fundraising event for The Native Fund. It was fun and crazy how many wings these people ate in a total of 15 minutes. (The winners ate 102 wings!)

Piper saw her friend Louis from school....who just happens to be the nephew of a friend of mine! Small world! They played and enjoyed their own wings!

The rest of the week was our typical, gymnastics and such......I took a half day of PTO on Friday since Presley had an early out. We did lunch at Applebee's and then met my mom to get pedicures!

After pedicures we headed home for bit and hung out. Once Steve got home, we picked up Piper from preschool and headed to Adventureland to get our pictures taken for our season passes. Then we did dinner at Spectators and headed to Boston's baseball game in Bondurant! It was SO windy but the girls ran around and it was fun to watch Boston in his game.

 Saturday we hung out in the morning, the girls went outside to play until we left about 2 pm. We decided to head down to Captain Roy's to watch The Sheet play. They are such a cool, different band that we have discovered over the last 9 months. And Captain Roy's is a great outdoor place, right on the river, perfect to enjoy the sun and music.

There was a group there who was celebrating some 50th birthday parties and had 210 cupcakes there....Piper was not afraid to go up to the table and take one for her...and then one for Presley!

We stopped by El Mariachi for dinner on our way home and then headed home to enjoy more of the night! Steve opened the shed and we watched a little Descendants. Presley always gets up and dances to this movie (and any movies that have singing and dancing!). Then we cuddled up with the fire until about 9, when it was time for all of us to go to bed!

We slept until 9 am.....Not sure what time the girls got up but they were on their Ipads when I got out of bed at 9:20. We spent most of the day, doing garage sale stuff, laundry and hanging out. The girls played by the shed and running in and out of the house for HOURS! Steve did a Walmart run and made an awesome dinner! Another great weekend with the family and nice weather! We love it!