1. It is summer time! Which means Nick and the girls (or one of the girls depending on the mood of a certain 3-year old) ride home on the bike while I (and sometimes a 3-year old) get our grocery shopping done for the week. Love that we start our weekend with one of our 'tasks' already complete.
2. Nick went on the Bacoon Ride on Saturday. The girls and I hit up the gym for a nice long workout (me) and gymnastics class (the girls). I went to pick them up and there were six kids from their day-care playing together at the Kids Academy- so cute!
3. Nick picked his Father's Day activities. He smoked up a beef brisket (which turned out pretty awesome) and baked beans (also very yummy), played with the girls, went to the mall (yup, on Father's Day we went to the mall), played with the neighbors and enjoyed a nice family dinner. Happy Father's Day to an amazing Daddy!
4. The neighbors got out their big (seriously, very big) water slide this weekend. The girls had a blast both days--- and Ellie is a little too adventurous for my taste.
5. Ellie tried out tennis on Tuesday night. The gym is offering a tennis class as part of their season classes this summer. So after dinner Tuesday night Ellie and I headed to the gym so she could try the class and I could get a workout in without having to get up at 4:30AM. Worked out perfectly! Ellie places tennis above soccer, but below t-ball and dance. I love that she gets to try out so many different types of classes so we can figure out what she likes (arts & crafts) and doesn't like (soccer).
Friday, June 26, 2015
Friday, June 19, 2015
5 on Friday
1. We started the weekend off with our annual trip to the zoo with friends. Unfortunately one of the families couldn't make it, but we still had a fun time.
2. We decided to have mini-dates with the girls Sunday night. Nick and Ellie choose to go out to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack, while Neve and I hit up Pizza Ranch (we are not fans of seafood). I think both girls had a great time, and it is nice to have one-on-one time with the girls.
3. Tuesday we made our first bike trip to the ice cream shop of the year. So much fun!
4. Ellie decided to use her princess point to 'buy' lunch out with me on Wednesday. She picked Chick Fil A. Neve decided she wanted lunch out as well. On Thursday she picked Jimmy Johns, as we were leaving she saw the elevator and changed her mind- she wanted to eat at the cafeteria.
5. Ellie had her first t-ball game of the year last night! The team did awesome and we were really proud of her!
2. We decided to have mini-dates with the girls Sunday night. Nick and Ellie choose to go out to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack, while Neve and I hit up Pizza Ranch (we are not fans of seafood). I think both girls had a great time, and it is nice to have one-on-one time with the girls.
3. Tuesday we made our first bike trip to the ice cream shop of the year. So much fun!
4. Ellie decided to use her princess point to 'buy' lunch out with me on Wednesday. She picked Chick Fil A. Neve decided she wanted lunch out as well. On Thursday she picked Jimmy Johns, as we were leaving she saw the elevator and changed her mind- she wanted to eat at the cafeteria.
5. Ellie had her first t-ball game of the year last night! The team did awesome and we were really proud of her!
Friday, June 12, 2015
5 on Friday
1. We love the swimming pool! We went Sunday as a family after nap. Then again Tuesday after work.
2. On Wednesday the girls started swimming lessons. They each received a free month of lessons when they joined the club. Who am I to pass up free swimming lessons! They both did great and I was really impressed with the instructors.
3. I took a quick trip to Montana/North Dakota on Thursday and Friday. I don't think I have ever seen oil rigs in person before... but I saw a lot of them!
4. Ellie's first tee-ball game was rained out.
5. Ellie, Neve and Daddy had a picnic in work's multipurpose room on Friday. (It was too wet to be outside.) It sounds like they had a great time!
2. On Wednesday the girls started swimming lessons. They each received a free month of lessons when they joined the club. Who am I to pass up free swimming lessons! They both did great and I was really impressed with the instructors.
3. I took a quick trip to Montana/North Dakota on Thursday and Friday. I don't think I have ever seen oil rigs in person before... but I saw a lot of them!
4. Ellie's first tee-ball game was rained out.
5. Ellie, Neve and Daddy had a picnic in work's multipurpose room on Friday. (It was too wet to be outside.) It sounds like they had a great time!
Friday, June 5, 2015
5 on Friday
1. The girls and I are driving home in the car and out of no where Ellie tells me that if I want to make some money I should go to "Diko dot com." (We have been stressing to her that when we go and buy things we have to pay money, and in order to have money we have to work hard for it and it is not just given to us.) I ask a few more questions to figure out what she is talking about. Questions such as "Where should I go?" and "Where did you hear this?" She heard it on the radio. A few minutes later a commercial comes on the radio. One about finding money under a rock and how you can save money by going to... Geiko.com. Ellie pipes up, "See mom, this is what I was telling you about!" Oh my. The kid hears things even when we don't.
2. Ellie started her second year of t-ball last night. She was pretty excited and seems to like it. One of our neighbors is the coach this year and she knows a lot of the other kids on the team. That helps- I just hope they pay attention during the game instead of play with each other.
3. "Our" park is complete! The kids are super excited and Neve loves swinging. I wish they had added more to the park, or at least left the original equipment and added to it. The park is now geared towards kids ages 5+, which makes it a little nerve-racking for Mommy when Neve climbs across the rock bridge to get to the tall slide.
4. Wednesday night is girls night in our house. I gave the girls the option to: play at the park with the neighbors, go to a class at LT or go swimming at LT. Can you guess what they opted to do??? Swimming it is! I am going to have little fishies by the end of the summer (which is perfectly find for this big fish.) I remember riding my bike to the pool all the time during the summer as a child. I feel bad that my girls won't have a similar experience with two working parents, but this works for us.
5. Ellie is participating in Waukee's Safety City program offered for kids entering kindergarten. She is in the session with a couple of the neighbor kids and loving it. Lucky for us our neighbor offered to watch her for an hour + before the program and transport her two and from the program each day. Thank goodness for wonderful neighbors!
2. Ellie started her second year of t-ball last night. She was pretty excited and seems to like it. One of our neighbors is the coach this year and she knows a lot of the other kids on the team. That helps- I just hope they pay attention during the game instead of play with each other.
3. "Our" park is complete! The kids are super excited and Neve loves swinging. I wish they had added more to the park, or at least left the original equipment and added to it. The park is now geared towards kids ages 5+, which makes it a little nerve-racking for Mommy when Neve climbs across the rock bridge to get to the tall slide.
4. Wednesday night is girls night in our house. I gave the girls the option to: play at the park with the neighbors, go to a class at LT or go swimming at LT. Can you guess what they opted to do??? Swimming it is! I am going to have little fishies by the end of the summer (which is perfectly find for this big fish.) I remember riding my bike to the pool all the time during the summer as a child. I feel bad that my girls won't have a similar experience with two working parents, but this works for us.
5. Ellie is participating in Waukee's Safety City program offered for kids entering kindergarten. She is in the session with a couple of the neighbor kids and loving it. Lucky for us our neighbor offered to watch her for an hour + before the program and transport her two and from the program each day. Thank goodness for wonderful neighbors!
Monday, June 1, 2015
A little behind: 5 on Friday (sort of)
Where does the time go? Or should I say- where did May go? I am not sure, but we kept very busy during the month. Here is an update on our happenings:
1. Ellie did great during her dance recital. She was a Lollipop Kid from the Wizard of Oz. Each class danced, and then they did a medley with all of the various characters from the movie. It was very cute and she loved celebrating with frozen yogurt after the recital! I cannot wait for the video to arrive in the mail, since I was behind the scenes and didn't get to watch the entire dance.
2. I was the "Dance Mom" for Ellie's class. Thirteen little girls in the basement of Stephens Auditorium... I didn't lose a single one and kept them pretty busy while we waited to go on! I did have help getting the girls up to the stage, off the stage, in a new order for dancing and back on stage for the medley. Not sure I could have done that myself!
3. Our oldest nephew graduated from high school a couple weeks ago! I cannot believe it... he cannot be that old! Nick and Ellie went to the graduation, Neve and I joined them later for the party. Our nephew is bright young man, we are very proud of him, and wish him the best in the next stage of his life.
4. I cleaned the windows on the outside of the house for the first time! Sad, I know. But they cleaned them before we moved back in after the fire and I never got around to cleaning them last summer. They were looking pretty dirty. Six hours of hard work later they were sparkling clean inside and out. Let me tell you--- as pretty as the super tall windows look, they are not fun to clean. Hoping I can wait to do it again until next spring/summer. Although the clean windows are really nice to look through.
5. Two + years later, we are almost done with our bags set (corn hole set). I had made the actual bags a while ago, but we hadn't finished the wood portion (dang the legs that are not that fun to cut). I only have one more coat of polyurethane to put on, then Nick has to add the handles and lights under the holes and we are good to go! I have to say- they are pretty fancy and I love how they turned out. The upgrade is a longer board set than our original ones (regulation size). And the lights under the holes. The slight downgrade is we opted to do a decal instead of hand painting the Tiger Hawk head. They still look pretty nice- although I do miss the original ones we lost in the fire. Nick and the neighbors tried them out yesterday and they seem to work great. Just need to break the bags in a little.
6. Our spare bedroom is officially cleaned out! It had sort of become a catch all room for the past three years. My brother and sister-in-law came to stay with us this past weekend, so it forced me to do a little organizing and cleaning. I made two trips to Goodwill and had a bag or two of trash. The closest still needs a little organizing- but it is a great start and I love looking peaking in at it when I am downstairs.
7. Nick, my brother, my sister-in-law, and my sister all ran the Dam to Dam race on Saturday. Megan and Nick trained together each week, while Eric and Jess kept active in Iowa City. I am very proud of all of them--- not something I think I will ever do.
8. We had everyone over for a pre-race dinner on Friday night, although the timing worked out that the Ankeny crew had to leave before the IC crew arrived due to work delays and kid bedtimes. We ate in shifts and it worked out just fine. We had a great time and loved seeing everyone over the course of the night.
9. Ellie loved having her IC cousins spend the night. We would not let her sleep downstairs with all the girls (because she wouldn't sleep), but did let the second oldest cousin sleep in her room... the cousin may have wished she was downstairs when Ellie turned on the light at 3AM because she was awake and wanted to play! They were up and ready to go at 6AM (most likely because Ellie was awake).
10. All six girls and I ventured down to cheer the runners on at the race (signs and all). My parents, brother-in-law, nephew and niece joined us there. Pretty fun having all 12 of us there to cheer everyone on (even if it was a little cold).
11. Ellie graduated from preschool on Friday! It is hard to believe that she will be moving on from the place that she has gone to since she was 7 weeks old! I did get a picture of her with her best friend, another little girl that started a week after her and has been there the entire time. Super cute!
12. On Wednesday I joined Neve and her class on a field trip to the zoo. Neve loves the zoo and was very excited to see the lions (since she is known as the Baby Lion).
13. We have been making the most of my Christmas gift--- memberships for Nick and the girls to LifeTime for the summer. Seriously--- Nick did a great job with that gift! The girls LOVE doing the classes (they did yoga last Monday and we have already highlighted other classes like tennis, cheer, and karate that they want to try) and we have been to the pool (indoor and outdoor) multiple times since they joined over Memorial Day weekend. I had the day off on Wednesday (for the field trip), so I picked the girls up from day-care after nap (and after I had my errands completed) and we hit the pool. It was a beautiful day and none of us wanted to leave when it was dinner time. On Sunday Ellie was asking if she could go to a class at LT. She enjoys going to a class and I get a workout in--- how can I say no to that? So Nick biked to the gym and joined the girls and I for a swim after I worked out and the girls did an Arts & Crafts class. It was perfect. I can already tell it is going to be an amazing summer!
1. Ellie did great during her dance recital. She was a Lollipop Kid from the Wizard of Oz. Each class danced, and then they did a medley with all of the various characters from the movie. It was very cute and she loved celebrating with frozen yogurt after the recital! I cannot wait for the video to arrive in the mail, since I was behind the scenes and didn't get to watch the entire dance.
2. I was the "Dance Mom" for Ellie's class. Thirteen little girls in the basement of Stephens Auditorium... I didn't lose a single one and kept them pretty busy while we waited to go on! I did have help getting the girls up to the stage, off the stage, in a new order for dancing and back on stage for the medley. Not sure I could have done that myself!
3. Our oldest nephew graduated from high school a couple weeks ago! I cannot believe it... he cannot be that old! Nick and Ellie went to the graduation, Neve and I joined them later for the party. Our nephew is bright young man, we are very proud of him, and wish him the best in the next stage of his life.
4. I cleaned the windows on the outside of the house for the first time! Sad, I know. But they cleaned them before we moved back in after the fire and I never got around to cleaning them last summer. They were looking pretty dirty. Six hours of hard work later they were sparkling clean inside and out. Let me tell you--- as pretty as the super tall windows look, they are not fun to clean. Hoping I can wait to do it again until next spring/summer. Although the clean windows are really nice to look through.
5. Two + years later, we are almost done with our bags set (corn hole set). I had made the actual bags a while ago, but we hadn't finished the wood portion (dang the legs that are not that fun to cut). I only have one more coat of polyurethane to put on, then Nick has to add the handles and lights under the holes and we are good to go! I have to say- they are pretty fancy and I love how they turned out. The upgrade is a longer board set than our original ones (regulation size). And the lights under the holes. The slight downgrade is we opted to do a decal instead of hand painting the Tiger Hawk head. They still look pretty nice- although I do miss the original ones we lost in the fire. Nick and the neighbors tried them out yesterday and they seem to work great. Just need to break the bags in a little.
6. Our spare bedroom is officially cleaned out! It had sort of become a catch all room for the past three years. My brother and sister-in-law came to stay with us this past weekend, so it forced me to do a little organizing and cleaning. I made two trips to Goodwill and had a bag or two of trash. The closest still needs a little organizing- but it is a great start and I love looking peaking in at it when I am downstairs.
7. Nick, my brother, my sister-in-law, and my sister all ran the Dam to Dam race on Saturday. Megan and Nick trained together each week, while Eric and Jess kept active in Iowa City. I am very proud of all of them--- not something I think I will ever do.
8. We had everyone over for a pre-race dinner on Friday night, although the timing worked out that the Ankeny crew had to leave before the IC crew arrived due to work delays and kid bedtimes. We ate in shifts and it worked out just fine. We had a great time and loved seeing everyone over the course of the night.
9. Ellie loved having her IC cousins spend the night. We would not let her sleep downstairs with all the girls (because she wouldn't sleep), but did let the second oldest cousin sleep in her room... the cousin may have wished she was downstairs when Ellie turned on the light at 3AM because she was awake and wanted to play! They were up and ready to go at 6AM (most likely because Ellie was awake).
10. All six girls and I ventured down to cheer the runners on at the race (signs and all). My parents, brother-in-law, nephew and niece joined us there. Pretty fun having all 12 of us there to cheer everyone on (even if it was a little cold).
11. Ellie graduated from preschool on Friday! It is hard to believe that she will be moving on from the place that she has gone to since she was 7 weeks old! I did get a picture of her with her best friend, another little girl that started a week after her and has been there the entire time. Super cute!
12. On Wednesday I joined Neve and her class on a field trip to the zoo. Neve loves the zoo and was very excited to see the lions (since she is known as the Baby Lion).
13. We have been making the most of my Christmas gift--- memberships for Nick and the girls to LifeTime for the summer. Seriously--- Nick did a great job with that gift! The girls LOVE doing the classes (they did yoga last Monday and we have already highlighted other classes like tennis, cheer, and karate that they want to try) and we have been to the pool (indoor and outdoor) multiple times since they joined over Memorial Day weekend. I had the day off on Wednesday (for the field trip), so I picked the girls up from day-care after nap (and after I had my errands completed) and we hit the pool. It was a beautiful day and none of us wanted to leave when it was dinner time. On Sunday Ellie was asking if she could go to a class at LT. She enjoys going to a class and I get a workout in--- how can I say no to that? So Nick biked to the gym and joined the girls and I for a swim after I worked out and the girls did an Arts & Crafts class. It was perfect. I can already tell it is going to be an amazing summer!
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