SCHOOL!!!

I had Thursday off with the girls to get some last minute stuff done and to have a nice girls day together before school starts. We usually do this when school gets out for the year and before it starts, I am hoping I can continue this tradition with them.

We started out with dentist appts, bright and early at 8 am. Neither girls had any cavities and no issues. There are some things we'll have to watch in the future but for now, we are in the clear. Piper was excited b/c they said her bottom 2 teeth were loose. Presley didn't lose any until the summer before 2nd grade, so I think we have a long time before Piper's teeth come out. 

 Then we decided to get some donuts b/c we had a little time to waste and.....why not?

Then Presley had her eye appt.....so far so good. She will need glasses eventually but she said that as of right now, it's so minimal that there is no reason to do glasses yet.

When we left there we headed to Target to pick up a couple things and then we headed over to Lyndsi's to see baby Kade!!! Oh my! So cute and so little! I just love him. That little baby cry, so much cuter than big kid cries!

Then we left and went to get our toes done! Who goes to school with cruddy, gross nails? HA! This was Piper's first pedicure and she thought she was pretty cool!

Once we left there we headed out to Jordan Creek, which just seems SO far away! I had to take my wedding ring in to be fixed so we did lunch at The Cheesecake Factory! I can't remember the last time I was there but man, there menu has SO many items and it was pretty good!
We dropped off my ring and then headed home!

Of course we did baths and early bedtimes for the girls but I think they were both excited for school on Friday morning!
They were up and ready and so freaking cute!

Piper - Kindergarten

 Presley - 4th grade

 Presley was excited to see Miss Lexis at KTC!

Piper was a little hesitant and didn't want us leave but there were no tears and she was fine with her sister and Miss Lexis once we left.
My baby is in kindergarten! How is that possible???????????? I explained to her that they are going to learn their ABC's and 123's and start at the very beginning. I am just hoping she doesn't get bored and start acting out or being sassy. Fingers crossed for a great year for both of them! 

Goodbye GN!

Last week was an off week since we didn't have daycare for Presley. Both girls went to my parents on Monday, Tuesday Presley went to my mom's and Piper went to Generation for half day and for some reason she was very tired and ended up falling asleep on Steve before dinner that night!

Wednesday Presley went to mom's and Piper went to Generation again. I took the afternoon off and pick up Presley, then we ran by Hy-Vee to pick up the 'Thank you' cookie cake I ordered to take to Generation to thank them for everything they have done for us over the years! We are going to miss them so much!

Piper and her favorite Miss Dixie, she was about in tears when we said good-bye.

 Miss Coleen and Miss Lauren said good-bye too. Miss Coleen was Presley's teacher so she has been there for both kids!

Mary-Beth and Carrie....oh these ladies are amazing! Thank you, to each and every one of you at GN that has been there for my kids! We love you and will miss you all!

 The girls outside of GN.....for the last time. :(

We stopped and got ice cream at Van Dee's and then headed to play at Terra Park for a while before we headed to Meet the Teacher!

 Meet the Teacher at the NEW Wallace school!

 They had a photo booth, a book fair, temporary tattoos and Clifford!

Since this was a new school, they did a ribbon cutting for each wing of the school. Kindergarten and 1st grade went first. We met Piper's teacher, Ms. Dewhurst (Ms. D) who everyone loves!!

Then 2nd and 3rd grade....Presley wanted to go say hi to her 2nd grade teacher Ms. Lynch. She loves her and she is the reason Presley originally wanted to do Girls on the Run.

As you can kind of see from this picture, this school is very modern. There are no individual desks, there are no normal lockers. They have community tables and open cubbies for their things. From the community area in each wing you can see into each classroom thru the glass walls. They are able to open these walls to have one large learning space for more community learning. It's a very different concept for most of us to understand but I'm guessing there were plenty of studies done to promote this kind of learning environment!
https://www.edutopia.org/article/flexible-classrooms-research-scarce-promising?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

Finally they did the ribbon cutting for the 4th and 5th grade wing! Presley, Quinnlyn and Leah were right up front for it!

We met her teacher, Mrs. Kannapel. She has a slight reputation of giving a lot of homework and being strict, so we'll see how this goes! She was really nice and I told Presley that it doesn't matter if she is strict b/c it's not like Presley is ever getting in trouble for things! :)
Overall a nice afternoon with the girls, we then headed to Gilroy's for dinner to watch our friend Baird play! 

Family pictures

While we were in Wisconsin we did family pictures, thanks to my uncle Danny!  I think they turned out great!

The Moeller family....man, we are awesome.

 The grandkids and great-grandkids....ages 47 to 18 months!

The whole gang. Grandma and Grandpa would be so happy that we are still making this reunion happen with all of us! Though Grandma would be feeling totally left out and Grandpa would probably want to make sure he could watch his stocks or the Packers playing.

School is almost here.....

Last Monday Piper had kindergarten round-up. They did not have this when Presley was in kindergarten but that might have made her transition easier! They spend 2 hours on Monday and Tuesday morning at school, getting to know the teachers and the surroundings and seeing the classrooms and lunch room and playground. This year is a little different for everyone b/c we are moving from the old Wallace school into the old middle school that they have renovated over the last year to be the new Wallace Elementary! So all the kids are almost 'new' this year! 

I took the morning off to take her, she was so excited and so easy to drop off!

I went home and worked out then picked her up, took her to daycare and headed to work! Steve was able to take her on Tuesday and she really only seemed impressed with the playground! :)

Holly wanted the girls to spend the night before school started, so she decided to take them Wednesday night! She picked them up and kept them all day Thursday! This was kind of a last minute decision, so Steve and I were able to get some Thomas Rhett tickets at the fair! We walked around and ate and socialized...it is just crazy the amount of people we see that we know there! We almost feel like we are still in the DSM social scene!

Our tickets were the standing only tickets which we okay, kind of far away but we someone managed to make our way past a fence and up front!

Yeah this was way better than our standing room only area! No one checked our tickets until we had to pee and get beers and by that time we were almost ready to leave. We are old and get tired! :)

I picked up the girls from Hollys on Thursday after work and Steve and I were so tired! Needless to say we laid low that night!

Friday we decided to head to the marina to watch The Sheet play. My parents have been wanting to see them and check out the marina so they joined us up there! They are just really fun and upbeat, love them!

Saturday I walked/ran, Steve cleaned out shed and did some power washing and mowing and then set up the badminton/volleyball net that Presley got from my parents for Christmas! We had a good free weekend and the weather was steamy but we had a good time trying to play. We played some soccer too so we were way more active than a normal Saturday for us! HA!

Since the shed was opened we watched the Little League World Series game that afternoon (which the kids played inside for a long time without us! We enjoyed the quiet) and that night the Cubs played, so we watched the game outside too. Some of the neighbors came down and the girls had an awesome time catching little frogs. They are everywhere. EVERYWHERE! I do not like it. They climb on our patio and front door and garage door every night....they are just looking for a way in! :)

Sunday we got new furniture! The chair and couch we had was great but it was at least 13 yrs old and the leather was cracking, the stuffing was coming out of the arm and it was just time. We got new stuff and got rid of the old stuff in the same day! We had to rearrange some stuff but overall our room now looks bigger even though we bought bigger furniture?!

We then spent the rest of the day hanging out. Piper rode her bike while I walked, I played badminton with Presley again, Steve smoked a pork butt, we did laundry and we cleaned.
We have decided that twice a year (fall and spring) we will splurge to have people come deep clean the house. They are coming tomorrow, so we have been cleaning. Seems silly to clean for cleaning people....I have always thought it was ridiculous but when you look around and think about all the stuff you have laying around and need to put away so someone can actually clean. It actually makes YOU clean too! I guess it is a win/win all-around! or we shall see tomorrow when we come home!

ISF

Wednesday the 8th, we had a last minute sitter so that Steve and I could run up to The Boathouse for a couple hours since the new owner was taking over on Thursday. Some of the bartenders are no longer working there and so far it is pretty much the same but there are some things they are hoping to change....we'll see if it is for the better! 

Thursday Presley went to the State Fair with KTC. I'm not normally nervous about the field trips they take but this one worried me. I had a talk with her about staying with her group, finding police officers if she got lost and if anyone tried to take her, scream at the top of her lungs and punch them in the balls! She just looked at me, so embarrassed! HA! All in all it ended up fine and she wasn't taken by a stranger. Whew.

Friday - East Side Night.....we had Brittany come babysit one last time before she heads to college :( and we headed to the fair. We knew so many people going and it was so nice to see everyone with no kids around.

 So typical of my household. I am the only one not infatuated with my boobs.

 My sister and I have a recent issue with taking pictures together, but it is funny!

 Our friend Kruse was in town and he finally cut his hair!!!!

We had a really good night, we were out that late and of course, our kids slept in late also! We actually went to the mall.....all 4 of us. I don't know the last time that has happened! We went to find backpacks, the girls were so excited! Piper really wanted a backpack that was loud and bright and obnoxious, we talked her down to a 'normal' emoji backpack. Presley really didn't need a new one but we don't really have to buy them any clothes and since Steve likes to spoil his girls, he thought Presley should have one too. Her thought process....the more pockets the better. And she got one...I'm just not sure what she is going to do with a laptop section and a cell phone section, because she has neither!
They did actually get a couple new shirts and both got tennis shoes, other than that they really don't need any clothes. They did want their picture taken with the Old Navy dog thought!

That evening I met Holly at my parents house and my dad took us down to the fair. It was nice to walk around and look at things that Steve has NO interest in (paintings, art, photography).

Piper thought it was totally 'unfair' that I got to hold pigs!

I remember these wooden pigs from last year and I thought they were so cute and was thinking about buying one for Piper for her bday. I showed her...she was NOT impressed. So guess I'll cross that off the birthday present idea list!

We had PIT tickets to Daughtry. I love me some Daughtry. I think this is the 3rd time that I've seen him! Since he was a former American Idol contestant I've been following him since day 1 and he is just so pretty.

 He is looking at me! We had a moment....I'm pretty sure of it.

 He looks almost like an angel! :)

We had a really good time and really enjoyed ourselves, making new friends in the crowd, getting some free beers. An overall successful night with my sis!

Sunday we headed over to my parents house for lunch to celebrate Samantha's birthday. They got Smokey D's and we hung out and talked, the kids played and played.

We wanted to go listen to Damon Dotson in Earlham that night but we felt we just needed to stay closer to home. So we went to Sundae's in the Park near the library. They had free ice cream and different activities and free music. Our kids just wanted to sit in the police car! :)