Fun December Weekend

Hi Friends and Family!!  Man can I finally have time to blog and it feels great! This weekend is our only weekend at home with no plans until after the new year.  We made sure to do it up big with all sorts of things.  Friday we have our weekly movie night which has now turned into game night as well.  Paige earned a free personal pan pizza for reading so many minutes at school so of course we had to do pizza. Paige is getting so good at Uno and other board games it's so much fun. Now if we could only work on her competitiveness, I wonder what side of the family she gets that from (*cough cough GAIL cough*).  Rob and I got new cell phones so we've been taking a ton of pictures!

Saturday we were full of activities!  Paige helped me make chili in the morning and then we did chocolate dipped pretzels after that.  Paige and Henry both had so much fun decorating them!

Saturday afternoon it was almost 50 degrees so of course we went outside to burn off some energy.  Nothing better then kids on bikes in full winter attire on December 5th.  They had a blast!  We stayed out until it was almost dark and getting a lot colder.  Paige is getting really good at her scooter and Henry is still a speed daemon on his plasmacar.  Later that night Rob and I had a date night!  Two girls from daycare who we love very much came over and played with our kids.  Rob and I went out to dinner and saw a movie.  It was much needed as we've both been slammed at work and just trying to stay above water.

Sunday morning brought more cooking, but not as much as planned.  I did some canning for the first time ever on my own.  Gail taught me about a year ago but I finally decided to attempt it on my own.  I made pepper jelly for teacher gifts, they turned out great!!  I was lucky all of my cans seals and they look like jelly HA!

Later that morning Rob did crafts with the kids.  He had found these kits to build a little wood race car.  They were so excited to get to hammer everything in by themselves.  I'm telling you have them both big enough to do things like this is so much fun!!  As much as I love babies, I don't miss the baby phase.

Then after nap time it was back outside to hang Christmas lights on the house.  The kids did an OK job at keeping themselves busy, but then they got cold, tired, and hungry that they were fighting non stop.  But at least I got this cute picture first!! 

It was a great weekend just being crazy with our kids and getting things done.  Now we start the busy Christmas season which should also be fun as Henry is older and more aware of what's going on. 

We hope everyone is doing well.  We love you all.

Thank you!

Thank you Thank you to those of you who donated to Paige.  She raised quite a bit of money!  She earned all of the puppy keychains you could, a pizza party, and a shirt.  She's super excited!!  Thanks again everyone!!

Jump Rope For Heart

Alright friends and family...a bit of a parenting fail I just realized.  Paige is raising money for jump rope for heart.  Rob and I both did this when I was younger and had a blast!!  We don't want anyone to feel obligated to donate but would greatly appreciate it!!  Here's where the fail comes in, donations close Dec 1st.  Sorry for the short notice.  If you go to her website here:

Donation Link

Thank you Thank you in advance!!!

Nikki

First Snow of 2015

Well we made it until November 20th before it even got cold enough to snow, I feel like that's a win.  I also know the first snow in Iowa brings a lot of mixed emotions for many people.  I think on Friday I heard "its about time", "yay the holidays are coming" and "crap I hate this".  I personally am one of the people who likes the snow.  I don't mind everything that comes with it, until March when it's just dirty slush then I hate it.  I love how happy Paige is when we tell her it's going to snow and when she goes outside to play in it.  This year has been different though, Henry put on all of his snow gear w/out any tears and is currently outside running around with Paige.  I think the days of me taking pictures of him watching from the window are over.  Today is the first day that the kids have been able to get out.  Friday we got called from daycare saying Henry has another fever (thankfully it's gone!) so we had movie night Friday.  Saturday we went to Rick and Gail's to hang out and watch our Cyclones lose, it was really cold to be outside.  So today the kids are out with Rob running around the back yard.  I can here them yelling and laughing while I type this.  We hope everyone is doing well.  I'm inside cleaning getting ready for Thanksgiving.  We're hosting again, but this year its a smaller group.  Tuesday brings pie baking, Wednesday cleaning and shopping, Thursday we'll do 2 Thanksgivings, and Friday we're starting a new tradition I hope, we're going to Disney on Ice!!  It's Henry's first show so I'm excited to see his face.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!  I know myself and my little family are very thankful for all of the support we receive from our family and friends!  We couldn't do this crazy thing called life without everyone's help!!

Where did October go?

Well I just realized today that I haven't blogged since Paige got her cast on.  Work is crazy this time of year, my Etsy shop has gotten very busy, Rob was sick, Henry was sick, and the list goes on and on.  This is how I'm surviving right now.

Henry got sick right before Halloween.  Ear infection, fever, and croup.  He finally got him on the mend and now it seems a cold has snuck up on him again.  This was him one day while we were home.

With my Etsy business keeping me very busy, the kids have taken up a lot of craft time as well lately.  Henry has found a love for painting just like his big sister.  I think the two of the could sit here forever.  It's funny when we bought this desk and I bought those chairs I thought how great they could craft together.  It's nice to see them actually doing that.

Paigey and I had a Mommy & Paigey date.  We went to a movie just us girls.  It was a lot of fun for us to get out of the house.

The way the cast came off was an event.  We went to the doctor after 3 weeks they did x-rays and decided we better be safe then sorry with her arm so we kept it on one more week.  When we went back the 4th week it came right now.  She was so excited.  It was stiff for a day but she's back at it, including monkey bars (lord help me).

Rob got invited to go to the opening ISU basketball game, so the kids and I had movie and pizza night.  I should say they did I was falling asleep on the couch.  Burning the candle at both ends will do that to you.  Our cyclones won by a lot and Rob had a blast.

Then this last weekend we celebrated my birthday!  Friday night we went with friends to a wine & beer expo here in Des Moines.  We went last year and it's a lot of fun to walk around try new wines and eat food.

Saturday our kids went to Grammie and Papa's.  Rob and I spent the day being lazy and it was amazing!!  We rented a movie, took a nap, and watching ISU football.  We also installed our new headboard that Rob built.  I couldn't be more excited for how it turned out!  Moving onto nightstands next.  Rob did an amazing job!!

He also surprised me by building me a necklace holder for the wall.  I was excited as I had no idea!  He thought I saw the board in the garage, I explained to him there were so many boards in the garage I didn't pay attention.

My best friends Graham and Pat came up before my birthday dinner.  Graham built me these amazing pie boxes I had my eye on!!  It was the year of heart felt handmade gifts and I love every minute of it!

We're running 100 mph and the holidays are starting to ramp up.  We're doing great.  The kids are growing like crazy.  Paige is reading and spelling.  She's getting so good at it.  She absolutely loves school which is all we can ask for.  Henry is talking more and more and turning into an aggressive but sweet boy.  He will throw or kick any ball that is near him and he has an arm on him.  He's stringing sentences together and having full conversations with us, still a little shocking with us.

I'll get better at posting photos now that work is getting move level.  I hope everyone had a great October!  Here's to Thanksgiving and all of the amazing holidays to come!

Paige and the Broken Arm

Yep you read the title of this blog right, Paige broke her arm.  I told you this month has been busy.  I received a phone call Monday afternoon that said Paige needed medical attention while at after school care.  I had to basically pull from them what part of her needed medical attention.  They told me they thought she did something to her arm or wrist.  Once I got to the school I found her sitting in a chair with a splint on and ice on it.  She didn't have a single tear on her face, just looked like she was in trouble.  I took her to urgent care which the amazing nurse saw her and rushed us through as radiology was leaving for the evening in 15 mins.  We did some xrays, they poked around on it and figured out it was fractured.  Tuesday we went to get her cast put on.  She has what is called a buckle fracture in her left arm.  Basically she fell off the monkey bars and while trying to catch herself fractured her arm.  Did I mention she was on monkey bars for 2nd grade and above?  Yeah we've had some conversations about why there are rules in the world.  Getting her cast put on was a cool experience.  The nurse turned it into crafting and science with Paige which are two of her favorite things.  Paige was really into it.  I took some pictures while they were putting it on.  So it's a cast for 3 weeks and then we'll find out what the plan is from there.

Just us girls in the waiting room.  Sent this to Daddy to let him know she was being brave.

The start of the process.  Paige was leary at this point as she had been poked a lot that day and couldn't take much more.

Nothing like using your nice new shirt as a kleenex

All in all we ended up with a nice red cast.  It's pretty low on her hand so she can almost use all of her fingers normally.  It's now full of signatures from Kindergarten.

Of course last but not least, GO CARDS!!  Nice to win game 1 last night and we'll see what happens from here.  I've sworn to not put anything on social media as our friends are split between Cubs and Cards.  But my blog is fair game!!  Here are my little Cardinal fans watching the game last night, or Toy Story, but who's counting.  That's what's going on with us.  September was nuts, and October doesn't look like it's slowing down much.  Soon enough the holidays will be here.  Today we're off to buy our new car!  My Honda I bought in college will be leaving our family and joining a new family for a 17 year old who is getting his license.  We're super excited!!