Five Question Friday

1. What do you give teachers for gifts? Good question! This is the first year I've really had to think about this! We are just doing a small gift bag that has the Bath and Body Works holiday foam hand soap and then P and I are going to make puppy chow and give them a small bag of that too. Does that sound alright?!

2. Do you text? One finger texter or total pro? Of course I text! I'm not a total pro but I can hold my own when it comes to texting!

3. Do you give back during the holidays? I always want to, but I'm not very good at following thru. When I do it is minimal (taking a friend out to dinner, putting money in the red kettles at the stores). I do want to do more, especially as the kids get older to show them the true meaning of the holiday season!
 
4. If you would've been the sole winner of the 575+ million dollar Powerball jackpot, what would you have done with all that money? I've gone over this and I would so badly want to help many of my family and friends! And there are a couple charities that would see a pretty penny from me too! and I would want to travel as a family! Hire a nanny and we are gone! Really this list is never ending....so many options!

5. Will you please take just a moment to spread the word and pray about my friend's missing family members? There still is no news, and I can't imagine their pain and worry. Facebook prayer page: Prayers for Trista, Shy and Matt
.............I don't know these people but looked up the story, very sad! So I will help to spread the word!

Getting to know you

What is your dream job? Either a food, movie or television critic....those are all things I love so why wouldn't I want to get paid for this?!

Who is there in your life that you would take a bullet for? Well, the obvious answer is my children! I see stories on the new about missing or murdered kids and I can't even fathom what these parents go through!

Under what circumstances would you adopt a child?  If I had the money, time and patience. I have absolutely no objection to adoption. In fact, my dad and his twin brother were both adopted!

What charity are you willing to support? First and foremost, Cystic Fibrosis. There are so many other causes that I love but this is my main focus when it comes to charities!

What was the first thing you learned to cook? There isn't a whole lot of cooking going on with this girl, so I have no idea! I'm sure this question isn't supposed to include microwave cooking either!

What book can you read over and over again? It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita...LOVE this book! Great for mothers, who don't think motherhood is all fun and games! :)

What was the first concert you went to see? New Kids on the Block! DUH!

Who is someone from your past that you are sorry you lost track of? I lost track of my college roommate from my sophomore year. She was an exchange student from Japan..Junko was her name. I was pissed off when I learned she was my roommate and even tried to get reassigned to a different room! But as it turned out she was the best roommate I could've asked for! She was so sweet, nice and it was a really good experience!

If you could see 24 hours into the future what would you do with this ability? Honestly, I would love to see what kind of mood Presley would be in! It would help give me time to prepare for what is to come! LOL!

 

What was your first paying job? Besides babysitting? I worked at Target from when I was 16 to 21 years old!


Reading is more fun if there are pictures!

Still no luck with the whole picture downloading thing (though it will let me copy and paste from Facebook?)! FRUSTRATING!

I guess I will just move on minus the pictures! The nice, long weekend was pretty good to us (even though being on maternity leave it seems like I always have long weekends!). Wednesday was so nice out, I was so happy with the neighbor kids came over to ask P if she wanted to play! I had to go with her for most of it but she was so happy and played so good with them! The boy next door who is about 6 years old has 3 younger sisters so he is so good with her, he makes sure she is included and always gives her a turn with whatever they are playing!
I was able to meet some friends for drinks Wednesday night, it was so nice to get out and catch up with them! It had been too long and I wasn't out too late which was nice so I could get home and help with bedtime!

Thursday we went to my parents house for Thanksgiving! It was a lot of fun, lots of laughs, played some four square, ate way too much good, yummy food! (Thanks mom!) and all the kids were pretty good! Presley loved the cranberry! She called it jelly, even though she doesn't like jelly normally but for some reason this canned cranberry she couldn't get enough of!

Friday we put up our Christmas tree and decorations, Presley was a big help (pictures to come). I love the holiday season and it seems that P is excited about it this year too! Basically we didn't do much else but hang out. Steve and P did take a trip to Walmart (on Black Friday? Are you serious?) and it wasn't busy at all! By noon on Black Friday, the stores and malls are all back to normal...thank you, Black Thursday?!

Saturday we did some hanging out and got ready to head to Earlham for another Thanksgiving! They do appetizers and we always have a family pool tournament! I was happy that I beat nephew Jordan and almost beat Matt! My pool skills have declined since we don't hang out at bars anymore! :)
We got there and I went with P to find cousin Ava, after 10 minutes they were off and playing. No adults needed and basically we didn't see them most of the night b/c they did so much playing together! It was awesome and just what we always hope for with Presley.

Aren't they cute!

 

Since we were up too late on Saturday night in Earlham, Steve and Presley slept in Sunday morning (9:30 for them, lucky)! Then we got up and ready to take P to Disney on Ice. Piper went to Grandmas and we hit up Buzzard Billys for lunch before the show. Even during lunch we could tell that P was still tired, she was moody! So we enjoyed the first half of the show. During the intermissions she took her shoes off, then she ate cotton candy and she wanted to go wash her hands....but didn't want to put her shoes back on. BREAKDOWN! She cried off and on for about 15 during the 2nd half of the show, good thing it was loud and there were plenty of other kids getting restless around us too! The show was really good, I wish they would've made the princess part longer and did less with Mulan and Pinocchio (b/c what kids have seen those movies?) So after another melt down b/c she didn't want to put her coat on (umm...it is 30 degrees out, this is not negotiable at this point) we picked up Piper and headed home....oh yeah, after we had wrestle her back into the car when we left grandmas. People in the neighborhood probably thought a child was getting abused in that car with the amount of screaming, crying and yelling going on! Heck even her shoes were kicked off during the situation!

 

She was much better once we got home and got settled down. She went to bed early and on a side note.....she is 100% potty trained now! #1 and #2 are mastered and she has been dry in the mornings! Woohoo!

 

Today has been relaxing. I dropped P off at Aprils house about 9 (I was up at 6:45 but didn't wake P up until about 7:45, that way she can eat breakfast here and we aren't in any real hurry...boy that will change once I go back to work...NOT looking forward to that!) and then my mom and godmother Cindy came over! Normally, I run to Target, clean, do laundry and honestly I haven't done any of that today! Maybe I should...........

Thankful for 2012

So I haven't blogged about this wonderful long weekend, b/c now my blog says that I'm out of memory to load more pictures on here?! WTH? We've tried to fix it but aren't having any luck....very frustrating! Any who........

I'm not big on doing the 30 days of being thankful thing that everyone is doing on FB, most of it is the same ole stuff we always say every year. Which is great, it is wonderful that everyone takes this time to reflect on how lucky they for the things in their life. I do think this is something that more people need to try to do more often.

So that being said.....we DO have a lot to be thankful for! We have had a busy, crazy, stressful year but we are very blessed by being able to sell our house quickly, having a great family that allowed us to store all of our stuff in their garages, being able to build a house, go on three vacations, watch Presley grow into a wonderful KID, having a healthy baby girl and family and friends who will spoil them both rotten!

P1 vs P2

Presley, a little over 2 months

Piper, almost 2 months

Presley, a little over 2 months old



Piper, a little over a month old

 

Basically, Presley had some cheeks and on her way to having some fat rolls at 2 months, Piper has 2 weeks to pack on some pounds. I do think they look very similar in some ways! Piper's hair is a little more reddish. We'll see how she changes over the next couple months!



Weekend fun!

Thursday Presley and I took a 'big' girls night out to my friend Lisa's house. They just built a house in Polk City so they are pretty close to us, hopefully we'll be hanging out more! Our friends Mistee and Erin were there too, it was nice to catch up. It has been so long since I've seen them! Presley was very good and just played! Thanks Lisa for having us over!

Friday we took a family trip to Costco, Kirklands and then out to dinner. Of course, both kids fell asleep on the way there....we sat in the parking lot of Costco wondering if we should just drive around a little longer or actually go in and hope we didn't have crabby kid. They were great, both of them! And we got some shopping done, we've been looking for things for the house and I think we are on our way to actually getting it decorated but we still have a ways to go.

Saturday Steve and Presley hung out alot, played outside and ran some errands while Piper and I hung out at home. Since it was so nice outside he actually got the xmas lights on the house! and Sunday we had the family over for the Packer game, it was a close one but they pulled off another win!  My mom bought Piper a Packer onesie so she was able to dress in her green and gold (even though the 0-3 month onesie is still too big for my 0-3 month old baby!). I really wanted a picture of us in our Packer gear but didn't think about it, maybe this weekend!

We were all exhausted by Sunday night, we tried to put Presley to bed early... She stalled over and over again, pooped twice in the potty, read 250 books, and then I asked her if she wanted to turn off the light and have me lay with her for a couple minutes or leave the light on and read for a little while...she said she wanted me to lay in bed with her. So I did, a couple minutes later she sits up and sighs....
P - "Mommy, I picked it but I don't know why I picked it"
Me - "Picked what?"
P - "For you to lay with me'
Me - " So you want me to leave?" She nods, geez...thanks kid!

2 hours later she was still awake (in bed, but awake), she called for me again (I was asleep in bed at this point) I went in her room and said it was time to close her eyes and go to sleep. She said "No, I don't want to close my eyes" I told her that was fine she just needed to lay in bed and be quiet. She again told me that was she was going to keep her eyes open. Fine, just fine...go ahead and keep trying that P. Good luck!

This and That

- So about the time we decided on Pipers name (about a week before we had her)...we learned there is another Piper in the neighborhood......with the same LAST name! NO JOKE!!!! She is 8 years old so it didn't really bother us.  As you know Presley went as Dorothy for Halloween...so did the other Piper! IRONIC!!!

- Also our neighbor was due to have a baby the end of October also, when she heard we named our baby Piper she told Steve that was one of the names they were going to use! Two of the names on their list....Presley and Piper...NO JOKE!!! Turns out they did not use either name! :)

- Technically my paid short term disability ends this coming Tuesday. I have 5 days of PTO to take after that and then however long I decide to stay at home after that is all unpaid. Right now my tentative return date to work is the 17th. I would love to take another week off but we'll have to see how our savings account looks after Christmas and no pay check for 2.5 weeks.

- Pooping.....so there is a little light at the end of this tunnel for us. After P going in her underwear the only way we could see getting around that was to sleep with her....to stop her before she started. We gave her Miralax for two days, finally on day 3 we had success (after multiple attempts to get a diaper and crying). Then two more days went by and on day 6....more success! She is still reluctant and hesitant but hopefully she can keep this up. Tonight is day 9 and since she seems to be on a 3 day cycle (LOL) maybe tonight will be easier than the first two and she'll be more willing! She is getting 'rewards' and she has been SO proud of herself! I just hope it continues!

- Preschool...we had P's conferences on Thursday.  We were looking forward to seeing what the teachers had to say about her. We knew the 'social' aspect would be what she needed to work on but the teachers were happy with her progress over the last couple months and she is SO much better when I drop her off now. Rarely any tears! And recently they have heard her voice! She actually talked...out loud! There are a couple girls she talks about playing with and the teachers are very good at encouraging her in all aspects to help her feel more comfortable.  She is right on track with the things she is supposed to know at this point (letters, numbers, colors, shapes) so that is good...the one thing she had problems with scissors. We've never had scissors in the house so she had no idea how to even hold them! HA! They said she follows direction and has a kind attitude?! What? Really?

Fell asleep reading her Bible :)

 Loving this neighborhood, the kids flock together to play and the yards are so open they can roam from swing set to swing set! HA! This is part of the view from our future deck...this is 2 of the 4 swing sets you can see from our backyard!