Winter Break

Presley is really the only one that gets 'winter break' and either way, she still has to get up early to go to my mom's while we work, but we are enjoying the days that we do have off! Last Thursday on my way home from work I got sideswiped by someone who was trying to get into my lane, so that was fun. She admitted it and was very nice but it's just annoying and inconvenient. Once I got home we headed to Papa's Pizzeria in Polk City to have dinner with Sarah, Kyle and their kids. Going to dinner with 5 extra people is a little more chaotic. Our kids are used to going out to dinner and usually do a pretty good job of listening and behaving in public, with all 5 of the kids it wasn't as easy. Sarah texted me after and apologized for the craziness at dinner! :)

 

Friday I had another test case for work, I'm 7 of 8 and have 4 more to go! UGH. I was able to finish by noon and then took a 1/2 day of PTO in hopes that Presley and I would go see Pitch Perfect 3. I picked her up at mom's but, she just wasn't that into it for some reason so we went home. I was able to do some cleaning, work out and get the insurance company called for my car and such, so it worked out! That night we did nothing. We had frozen pizza for dinner and tried to go to bed early knowing we would be up late Saturday night.

 

Saturday we hung out at home for most of the day. We cleaned, cooked, did laundry and headed to Earlham for the Goodrich Christmas. We were able to get all the grandkids together for a picture, ranging in ages from 25 to 5 yrs old! LOVE IT!!!! (The 5 oldest boys: Jake, Derek, Jordan, Austin, Zac. The 5 girls: Devin, Presley, Piper, Ava, Ella. And the 2 youngest boys: Gavin and Sam)

The 5 youngest kids still get gifts, so we watched them open theirs and then the adults do a white elephant exchange, which is always really fun!

Steve's sister, Roxanne gathered pictures from all of us and put together these two scrapbooks for Jerry and Kathy. 800 pictures in 2 books! She cut them all, put in cute scrapbooks stickers and labeled every person in every picture. She also included all the grandkids birth dates! So much work but we all loved looking at the books. I think Jerry and Kathy really liked them!

Ava and Presley, always having fun. We rarely see them b/c they go off and play!

They got matching outfits and thought they were pretty cool!

Piper showing off her backbend.

Cousin Gavin wresting with the girls.

Of course the adults had a pool tournament, like we always do. Steve and I were in the finals! Steve ended up winning b/c I hit the 8 ball in! Boooooo. We were there way too late and didn't get home until almost midnight but we had a good time and the girls were worn out!

Another week closer to Christmas

We had our typical week, Presley had gymnastics on Tuesday and then Piper went to gymnastics on Wednesday. We actually changed Piper's class to Thursdays starting in 2018 b/c she hated the teacher she had and she didn't want to go to class! :( Normally I would just tell her to suck it up, but if I'm paying for this class and she continually isn't getting what she needs out of it b/c she doesn't want to go and acts sick, then something needed to be done!

Thankfully they had a substitute when we went last week and Piper rocked that class! She has no fear and can do everything they ask her to do, too bad she can't move up to a more challenging class until she is 6 yrs old, unless we want to put her into competitive classes (no thanks).

 

Friday I had a couple drinks with my friend/coworker Amy after work and then I headed to The Ridgemont for a cystic fibrosis fundraiser! It was an ugly sweater theme and a lot of fun! I think they raised some good money and I saw quite a few people that I knew, including my mommy and daddy! :)

 

Saturday we just hung out! I worked out and cleaned. The girls played outside for a bit. I did a lot of laundry! I actually cleaned and organized the girls closets! This is one of the many things on my organizational list of things I need to go thru. This took me hours. And I have come to the conclusion that we have WAY too many girls clothes (size 0-4T) I really need to think about selling them and making some moo-lah b/c I bet we have 10 totes of clothes I could sell (not to mention all the stuff that is currently in their closets that they can still wear!)

 

We made cookies and then we got ready for swim lessons! After that we headed to Legends for dinner which was a good experience since Presley got the mac and cheese she wanted and Piper got the bacon she wanted! :)

Once we got home, they got in their pj's and headed to the basement for a movie and I did some more laundry and finished up some of the stuff I had started earlier in the day and then I joined them too!

 

Sunday Piper the Elf finally came to our house! Presley was SOOOOO excited! Piper the Elf hid 12 candy canes around for them to find, they thought it was so fun! Presley even left an ornament and her Christmas list for Piper the Elf to take back to Santa! Seriously, it is SO cute! I'm so happy that she still believes b/c I know we only have a couple more years left. :(

 

We went to my parents for the Packer game and to celebrate Holly's birthday! The Packers still suck, Holly liked the koozies we gave her..... :)

The kids played fairly good (well Piper was a whiny butt) and we had a good birthday dinner and then we headed off to the last swim lessons of the year!

Presley was really nervous she was going to have to dive off the diving board....they are JUST learning how to dive and most of them still do belly flops. So she was more than willing to just JUMP off the diving board (and not have to dive) we were SO proud of her and how far she has come with swimming over the last 18 months!!!!

(and here are some shitty cell phone pictures!)

Raiders!

For our 10 year anniversary in September I bought Steve two tickets to the Raiders/Chiefs game for this weekend. He has been a Raiders fan since Bo Jackson was playing. I told him he didn't have to take me with him, but he did anyway! :)

 

We stayed home Friday night and Saturday with the girls (and I was still fighting my cold and feeling like crap). We dropped them off at my parents house about 3:30 Saturday afternoon and headed down to KC. We stopped in Liberty and ate at Longhorn Steakhouse, the wait was a little long but it was Saturday evening and the food was awesome! http://www.longhornsteakhouse.com/menu-listing/dinner#beyond-steak

 

We checking into the hotel and headed to the lobby. There were a lot of Raiders fan which made it fun until the ONE Chiefs wouldn't shut his mouth. He was either drunk or high on drugs but he just kept yelling and talking and pushing these fans and finally one of them lost it. Fight broke out in the bar and they shut the bar down at like 10:45. Bummer. After that we stood in the lobby with some of the guys for a bit talking and drinking and then headed back to our room.

This was some of the Raiders crowd from the hotel. They were a good crowd!

Sunday morning we woke up and headed out by 9, our hotel was within walking distance so we didn't have to worry about driving and parking! We did hear that there was a Raiders 'Super Fans' tailgate so we headed off to check that out.

It was more than we could've imagined. If you think of your stereotypical Raiders fan, that is exactly how they are PLUS some! Their tailgate happened to be right where everyone was driving into the lot, so they stood there and taunted every car that came thru. Waving flags, yelling Raiders.... it was insane. If a Raiders car came by, they would open up the gate and let them park in the lot right by them, then close the gate for Chiefs fans. It was funny and fun to check out but definitely not our scene!

We did however get to meet up with Eric and Kylie who live in KC. It worked out perfectly that they were able to get tickets and set up a tailgate for us to meet at! We always have fun with them so we are so happy that this worked out!

The weather wasn't actually too bad. It was supposed to be in the mid 50's and the only time I was actually cold, was at the game. My feet were cold but I think that was b/c the concrete was cold since we were in the shade.  Either way it was perfect and our tickets were 16 row, so they were pretty close! Even though the Raiders didn't really show up to play, we still had fun!

 This guy was turned around for a majority of the game talking to the guy in green in front of us. It was a little distracting to have him facing us!

The game was over about 3 and we headed back to the hotel, got cleaned up and changed and then decided to head to the Power and Lights district for dinner and drinks. I was exhausted and told Steve that I might not make it past 7 pm. :)

but I did make it past 7, I think it was almost 10! Go me!
I slept SO good Sunday night, it was totally what I needed! We slept until 9 and headed to Waffle House in Liberty for breakfast. Neither one of us have ever been there and it was a good, quick, experience! We actually saw some of the Raiders guys from the hotel there too!

We got back about 1:30, picked up the girls stuff from my parents house. Ran a couple errands and picked up Piper early from daycare. She is always so excited when she is the first one picked up! On the way home she said 'Can we go home and clean the whole house?'....of course, we told her yes! and she did a lot (mostly by herself b/c we didn't really want to! ha!) She wants to do more cleaning tonight too! Love it!

We picked Presley up from school about 4:30 and went straight to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, we were home by 6 and we just hung out the rest of the night! The girls played school and restaurant, we cuddled and just hung out! The rest of our week and next weekend aren't THAT busy so I'm excited!

Random

- So I know we go to a lot of concerts, but for the record there are some major concerts that we didn't go to this year. :) Some things we just couldn't make happen, others we needed to just cross of the list and we are kind of concerts snobs and if we can't get 'good seats' then we don't really want to go and sit in the super high up, far away seats. We missed Eric Church, Phillip Phillips, Chris Stapleton, Katy Perry and the Tree Town festival :)

- Steve took Piper shopping the other night to have her pick out a gift for Presley and he bought me a present also. Piper is SO excited for us to open them. She said yesterday 'I wish today was Christmas so you  guys could open your presents!'
I told her that I thought that a was so nice and thoughtful of her to think about us and the gifts she was giving to us and not just HER getting to open presents! My sweet girl!

- I tried to have a conversation with Presley the other day about Christmas. I asked that if she could give someone a really special Christmas who would it be? Could she think of anyone who means a lot to her or someone who might not have a good Christmas or someone who doesn't have a lot of money? She said no.
I asked again 'So you can't think of anyone that you would want to have a really special Christmas?'
Her response 'Well ME!'
----we may need to work on the real meaning of Christmas with her!

December fun

Mondays are our night at home and I think we all enjoy it! Since my work status is a little different now, I basically have nothing to do every other day and I've been able to leave at 4 since there isn't really anything to do and I don't technically take a lunch break. I did think the difference between 4 and 4:30 was that big of a deal, but it is nice to have that little extra time at home!

 

Tuesday I picked up Presley, ran home and we had about 45 minutes for her to get changed, do homework and eat something before we had to leave for gymnastics. While she was in class, I ran to Target to do some shopping. Power shopping for about an hour so that I get back and watch her. I love watching her but Sapphire is SO busy that it is SO hard to watch your kids and Target is SO close that it is the perfect time for me to swing in there by myself!

Wednesday we had Edge Commercial's holiday party at 1908 in Johnston. They have had it here the last couple years and it works out so nicely. Free drinks and food for everyone!



They always take a company picture too! Small company but they are growing and succeeding! Their 10 year anniversary is the summer of 2019 which is a great accomplishment for this size of a company and being in a competitive construction market!

 

Last night my sisters, my friend Amy and I met at Quintons in the East Village after work for dinner and drinks. We were there for a couple hours before we headed over to Wooly's for the Blackhawk concert. We just saw them last March and it was so good and we love them so much that we HAD to see them again! 

It was a good, fun night out with my sisters. Now if I can just kick this cold in the butt so I can feel better for my weekend plans!

Weekend fun

Friday night we had Lexis come babysit....she babysat for us a couple yrs ago and works at KTC. Presley loves her! We did a quick dinner at Sonny's in Polk City before headed to Adventureland for the Fitz and the Tantrums concert. It was our first time for a concert there and overall it was pretty good, we wish they would've gotten rid of all the folding chairs and just had mostly standing room but no one asked our opinion! :)

 Saturday we hung out a lot, doing some cleaning, some playing. We headed to a xmas open house for a realtor friend of ours. It was pretty nice! There were cookies and drinks and a ton of crafts and a balloon artist. A really nice get together that she puts on her for clients, friends and family!

She had a really good Santa there, though neither of the girls were remotely interested in sitting on his lap or taking their picture with him.

Steve headed to the store and the girls and I went home and made puppy chow. They love helping but constantly argue about who is going to do what.  Why does she get to do that? Why can't I stir? It's not fair....blah blah blah!!!!!!!!!!

We hung out a couple hours, the girls played and I mostly laid on the couch reading my book. The library has their Christmas fun so we headed up there before swim lessons.....it was from 2:30-4:30 and we got there about 4:10 and almost everything had been picked up! I was really irritated!
We looked at the gingerbread houses entered into the contest! It's so neat to see what people come up with and I keep telling Steve that he should do one with the girls some year!

 The ONE thing we were able to do....decorate a cookie!

We looked at Santa from afar at the library also and walked around a little wasting time before we had to leave for swim lessons. They are both doing good! After lessons we met Steve at El Mariachi for dinner and then we headed home. We got in our jammies and headed to the basement to watch Jumanji. They seemed to like it and I mostly slept thru it! :) I was tired!

Sunday morning we got up and started cleaning and doing laundry and Steve started cooking. We had my family over for the Packer game. It was a win for the Packers and everyone seem to eat a lot. The kids were able to play outside and enjoy the nice weather also.
After that we headed to swim lessons, got home and did dinner and baths and then just hung out some more!

It's finally Friday!

So Presley has been complaining about headaches off and on for months now. I hate it. Sunday night she was complaining about it so Steve and I decided that she should go to the doctor to see what we can do instead of doping her up on meds 3 times a week for them.
Monday morning I made her an appointment for Thursday afternoon. I sent her teacher an email letting her know that she would be leaving school a little early and asked if Presley ever complains about headaches at school. She responded no.
Not more than an hour later the school nurse called, Presley had a fever of 103 and was complaining about a headache!!!!!

Steve picked her up from school that afternoon but she couldn't go to school on Tuesday b/c of the fever. I stayed home with her in the morning. Of course she was fine with no fever. We slept in and I worked out and then we went to Target to do some Christmas shopping. Steve got home about 11 and then I headed to work for the afternoon. Supposedly about 4 pm she seemed to NOT feel good again, however I think this was just a ploy to get out of gymnastics. So we let her stay home.

Wednesday Steve took Piper to gymnastic and she threw a fit about going, saying her stomach hurt, blah, blah, blah....she eventually ended up in class but basically stood there complaining the whole time. So she left class early and they came home. Of course when she got home she was magically able to be a normal person with no stomach issues! Funny how that happens huh?

Yesterday Presley had her doctors appointment for her headaches. Steve took her and said that the doc asked a million questions, like we figured she would. Presley did have a temp of 100.1 and it appeared that she had a possible lingering sinus infection due to a cold or allergies (which she did have a bad snotty cold about 2 weeks ago so that wasn't surprising to me). She put her on some meds to clear that up and hopefully that will help! Fingers crossed. (we did find out that she is in the 10% for height and 38% for weight so eventually she'll hit a growth spurt b/c this girl eats like crazy!)