Cold week

I do not like the cold. I  do not like winter. It makes me want to stay inside all the time and go to bed early all the time! ANYWHO...…

Last Monday I was able to meet Lyndsi for a drink while the girls were in gymnastics and get her caught up on some family drama. Oh the drama! And I got to see baby Kade, oh my, that kid has the best smile! Makes me miss the baby stage.....a little.

Tuesday Sarah, Holly and I got together for dinner at Iowa Taproom before we bottled our wine that we had made in August. We did that, headed to Carl's Place down the street for a beer where we ran into our cousin Steph. We chatted for a bit and then headed closer to home. Sarah and I stopped at Lynn's for a drink and then ended up staying for 3 hours. We ran into some guys that I knew and Sarah was SO funny and we just had a really good time!

Then Thursday we had conferences! We had Piper's first....Mrs. D had nothing but good things to say about Piper. It was SO nice to hear. She said she is the ideal student, she has a good heart and is kind to those who need a little extra help and is SO smart. She is reading at level F which is a first grade level. She is not trying to push her too hard too fast b/c she really wants her to 'get it' and fully understand and be able to spell words, along with reading them. She said she rarely gives out M's (meeting grade level expectations) at this point in the year and Piper's was almost all M's :) She does a great job in all aspects so we are very happy!

Next we had Presley's. Hers was good also! I was a little worried about her progress report with her math but the teacher didn't seem to worried. So we are just going to work a little more at home with basic math so she can be more confident. Other than that, she is doing exactly what she is supposed to be able to do at this point. Mrs. Kannappl said that Presley and Addie are 'two peas in a pod', which is totally true. However, Addie is a little more outgoing and willing to participate, not surprising at all! Both girls spend a lot of time after school in her classroom helping out with different things which I love!

Friday night we did a lot nothing. I'm telling you, these dark, cold nights, I just want to get into bed, read my book and fall asleep!

Saturday we didn't do much either! I did hit an awesome weight loss of 12.4 lbs (of course the rest of the weekend always makes me gain a little weight, oops!), so that felt awesome! Grocery store, laundry, worked out, the girls fought and whined so I tried to keep them apart as much as possible. Piper and I made a trip to Barnes and Noble, we watched the Iowa game, ate a nice dinner and later that evening Jerry, Holly and Mary stopped by for a couple hours. It was nice to catch up with them and have the girls go play.

Sunday we did a lot of the same! The girls spent some time in their rooms, away from each other and then we Presley and I headed to Wisco (a Wisconsin bar!) to watch the Packer game, we had to get there early to save a table for all of us. Eventually everyone else showed up also. The kids had colors, food and snacks to keep them occupied for the game and they did pretty well. The game was actually good! and Wisco gives out free jello shots with every Packer touchdown! It was fun and I will definitely be going back!

Weekend Update

This past weekend we really didn't do much. I haven't been feeling 100% so I was ready to just take it easy and go to bed early! We hung out and I'm pretty sure the 3 of us girls fell asleep on the couch watching a movie.
Saturday we really didn't do anything. I did hit my 10 lbs weight loss, so that was exciting! I worked out, Steve ran to the store, we watched the Iowa game and cleaned the house. The girls played and fought and played and fought. Lexis showed up at 5 to babysit for the night. We went to watch Bohemian Rhapsody at Flix. This was the first movie that Steve and I have seen together in the theaters for over 5 year. He just doesn't like to sit still for that long, so at least with Flix we had dinner and drinks to break out the movie. We both REALLY liked the movie! It was a feel good movie, eye opening and just good!

We left there and headed downtown to the High Life to meet our friends Todd and Cari who were out then we headed to the Boat House for one before heading home. Lexis and the girls had cleaned! It looked so good! The girls had so many toys out when we left and had made and 'ice cream and cupcake shop' on the dining room table and a pet store with so many stuffed animals everywhere and it was all picked up and organized when we got home! SO nice!

Sunday we were lazy, lazy! Steve headed down to Creston for a couple hours and the girls and I just hung out and did nothing. I tried to nap but they were fighting too much for me to really get any sleep. I made keto-friendly pumpkin bars. They are pretty good but I'm the only one in the house that will eat them and that is just not really necessary! Once Steve got home the girls and I headed to Barnes and Noble. The 3 of us girls LOVE that store. I could spend hours in there!
Then we met Steve at El Mariachi for dinner! We hadn't been there in a month and it was good! Worth the weight I gained overnight! :) 

Trick or Treat

Sarah and Kyle had their annual Halloween party for beggars night. We eat, drink, do kid pictures and then take over the neighborhood!

 Mal from Descendants and a police officer

 Heehee!

 The Deans transformed into the Incredibles! :)

 The group of kiddos! Oh my!

 Jordan and Boston joined us this year. Ewok and Spiderman

Presley ran ahead with some of the neighbor girls so Steve followed them around and Boston wanted to stay with Jordan so he hung back with me and Piper. Thankfully it wasn't as cold as last year! Piper did pretty good, her and Jordan lasted about an hour and then were ready to head back to Sarah's and eat some candy!

Piper and Boston bobbed for apples while Presley hit up the entire neighborhood and was still done by 7:30!

Thank you Deans for another great party! You are too nice!

Halloween

Last Saturday (before Halloween) we got invited to a Halloween party at one of Piper's friends parents house. They had come to our Back To School party and some of our neighbors knew them thru other things so we all decided to go! Steve and I went as Slash and Axl which we had done years ago, so we brought out our rock and roll! HA!

I love Piper in the background!

 The weather ended up perfect! All the kids (Presley as the oldest, which is pretty normal)

 I was creative and actually made eyeball cookies! Thank you FB recipes!

 Piper and her buddy Connor, he is just SO sweet to her!

 Sunset Ridge Neighborhood peeps!

We got home about 9:30 and Steve headed up to The Boat House for their costume contest! He came in 3rd place ($75), of course Hugh and the playboy bunnies won 1st place.

Sunday we got up and carved pumpkins. The girls LOVE this....digging their hands inside and scooping out everything. And they also love baked, salted pumpkin seeds!

Sunday afternoon Presley's friend Leah came over for a bit before they had volleyball, then Steve took Piper to a birthday party and I took the girls to volleyball. After he dropped Piper off, Steve came out to watch Presley in her last volleyball game.

Once the game was over Steve went to pick up Piper from her party and Presley and I headed to my parents to watch some of the Packer game with the family! We stayed a couple hours and then picked up Dominos pizza on the way home. This was the one cheat meal, I had over those past 3 weeks! And it was so good and so worth it!

Thundergirls!

I feel like we have actually had some fall weather this past week! It works out when the weather is nice on Monday's b/c Steve will take the girls to gymnastics and then I meet them there. He jets home to start dinner and I bring my workout stuff so that I can walk while they are in class! Though with the sun going down earlier and earlier, this might be the last week for that :(

Tuesday I was WAY over due for a hair cut and highlight. I hadn't been since March which is about 2 months overdue and my roots showed it! It is always nice to sit and drink some wine, read my book and just relax for 2 hours!

Wednesday I had my annual dermatologist appointment. Always relieved when there is nothing she finds concerning and nothing she needs to remove from me! 

Thursday was Wallace Elementary Halloween skating party. Reminds me of when I was in school! All 4 of us went this year, though Steve didn't skate and Piper didn't dress up?! WTH?! Presley was excited that some of her friends were there. She just goes off with them but she does come back to me when she needs someone to skate with her. I will join her for as long as she wants me to!

Piper had never been skating....we got her the skate mate after trying to help her by ourselves. She did so much better with this thing and could go out by herself and skate with friends. It was too cute!

Friday we didn't do much. Piper had a birthday party next door and Presley just wanted to hang out at home. So we did! We watched Student Exchange, which was a Disney Sunday night movie from back when I was a kid! She didn't seem to mind it and I loved watching it again!.

Saturday we had Presley's last soccer game! They had named their team the Thundergirls at the beginning of the season, so cheesy but they loved it! The weather was amazing! Presley had quite the cheering squad with my parents and Holly, Jerry and Mary there. I'm sure she really the yelling from the sidelines! Usually she just rolls her eyes at us. #winning

They actually did win this game. They only one 2 games this season but all of them seemed to get so much better these last couple weeks!

Since I have taken so many pictures and sent the team a link of pictures for the first 3 games, I think I became the designated photographer for the team. One of the mom's thanked me and is anxious to get the last 4 games worth of pictures. So I guess that gives me motivation to actually do something with them. We also initiated the team picture at the end of the game! Go us! :)

After the game we made a quick trip to Target and then another quick trip to Hy-vee for some things and then headed home to get ready for the Iowa game. Jordan, Allie and Derek came over to watch the game with us. Allie is SO good with the girls, it is nice b/c she does a really good job of keeping them occupied! No wonder she is a teacher! The game was not the outcome we had wanted but we had a good time watching it together anyway. 

Week in review

I can't say that I'm enjoying this 'fall' weather we are having. I just want normal fall weather. Not cold, not rainy, not snowing, not windy. I don't think that should be too much to ask! :)

Monday Steve took the girls to gymnastics and said the Jeep wasn't running right, check engine sign has been off and on for months and it was burning oil badly. So Tuesday Steve decided we needed an updated Jeep. Our other one was coming up needing some expensive car repairs and once Steve gets something in his head, it is hard to talk him out of it. So he traded in our 2007 for a 2012 (we have never owned a brand new car!) and really this new one makes our old one look like a little bitch.  The new one is jacked up on the big tires and such. Steve is pretty much in love.

Presley had a make-up gymnastics class Tuesday so after his 2 hours at the car dealership he came and picked up Piper so she didn't have to sit there for the whole time. I walked outside for a bit while she was in class until the it was getting too dark for me to really feel safe walking by myself.

Wednesday Aunt Holly picked up the girls from school and took them out for ice cream for Piper's birthday present. I love this! It is time she gets to spend with them and this was she isn't spending money on a present that she doesn't really need. She did this for Presley's birthday too and now Orange Leaf is their favorite place for ice cream!

Thursday I had my annual girls pumpkin beer night....however we couldn't find any place that had pumpkin beer since Rock Bottom closed last year. So we just had a girls night! We went to Iowa Taproom and the 6 of us had so many laughs! Steve and I have been trying this Keto diet thing the last 2 weeks so I was good during dinner and ordered a bacon, blue cheese burger with no bun and cottage cheese! It was really good. I should've skipped the beer, but I did okay.

Friday we decided to get together with the neighbors and hang out. We stayed for a couple hours while the kids played and we just talked and such. It was a nice, laid back night.
The 5 kids and Presley was the one I couldn't get to look at the camera!

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Pleasant Hill for our first soccer game of the weekend. It was cold but the wind was blocked so that helped! The first half none of the girls looked like they were really into playing....walking, not aggressive, super annoying. But then they must have woken up and they played a little better.

At one point the mom next to me told her daughter (who played for the other team) to keep an eye on Presley! :)

Presley has found her elbows and aggressiveness in soccer and I am loving it! The girl in the pink headband was good and fast, Presley took her down.

We drove from Pleasant Hill back to Urbandale and had a quick lunch at The Chicken Coop (so Steve could see part of the Iowa game!), I was good again and had a burger with no bun and cottage cheese and then we headed to our next game. This is the first and only game we have won this season!

We got home and were cold and wind-burned but so proud of Presley in these games! We hung out for a couple hours, I might have snoozed on the couch, the girls played, Steve watched a little football and then we met my parents and uncle Dave and Steph at Smokey D's for dinner! It was busy but it was good! We headed back to my parents house for a while to chat and hang out.

Sunday morning Steve headed out to golf and the girls and I got ready for Presley's 3rd and final soccer game of the weekend.

Again she did really good but they lost. This is just a rec league so all girls play and get to play any position they want. So there are games you have a brand new goalie in or some of your not so aggressive players are playing on offense...maybe I will see if I can convince her to play the competitive league next year.

Then we headed to the grocery store to pick up a couple things, came home, had lunch, the girls played while I boiled eggs, made fat free jello and a broccoli casserole (I was actually in the kitchen cooking!!). I did dishes, laundry, picked up some things and all in 1.5 hours before we had to leave for volleyball! I felt very accomplished! 

Presley did an awesome job at serving  in volleyball and next week is our last week. Piper was happy b/c her friend Olivia was there so they kept each other company!

We got home about 4:30 and the girls had a snack and played while I worked out. Steve got home about 6 and started dinner while I continued the picking up and laundry and just getting stuff ready for the week ahead!

Overall a busy weekend, we aren't used to this many sports in a weekend! :) 

Presley

Sometimes I think this girl doesn't get enough face time around here or anywhere and she is getting to the age where she is normally too cool for us but man, I love this girl. This weekend she was SO good and SO nice that it was a little odd! She might have just been sucking up to Piper so that she would share her new birthday presents with her?! Either way, I'll take it! :)

This natural, perfect smile was just what I wanted to see! She can be so funny when she stops worrying and steps out of her shell and I was so happy to get a couple pictures of her!

Sunday morning we slept in until about 9, I worked out, Steve did some food prep. I went to the grocery store, the girls played really, really nicely most of this day also! Steve headed to Adel for a charity event with his family. We were going to go but a lot of it was outside and the weather was crap we didn't want to listen to the girls complain the whole time, so we opted out.

Then us girls headed to volleyball. They are playing 'games' now, which isn't really scored and there is very little volleying. The one thing this girl can do, serve! She can get about 90% of her serves in AND over the net which is so awesome b/c a lot of the girls can't. I really hope she sticks with volleyball....I will let her give up cheer, volleyball I might have to push for though!