Thursday, June 29, 2017

happy birthday from the islands


we had brette's birthday party the
weekend after her birthday so we could
share the celebration with madeline too.
they wanted a moana party, so i did a
luau theme straight from the islands.
i hung lanterns, put out tiki torches and
set out some pineapple.
is it weird that i love to decorate?
it's my favorite part of throwing a party.
ronnie said we should have roasted a pig,
but i settled for some pulled pork and
pineapple upside down cake.
(it was my first time making it.
its so easy and turned great. it's not MY favorite cake,
aka - no chocolate, but it was cute for our theme.)
the girls both love each other so much and
they really enjoy sharing a party.
i hope we can do this for a long time.
#cousinlove
i bought little flowers for their hair and grass skirts,
which they didn't wear.
i really thought that would be their favorite part,
obviously not.
we had most of our family over and spent
the evening together.
it was a great day for our girls.




happy birthday, loves!


Monday, June 19, 2017

full time

i'm going on three weeks at my new job and
it still feels... new.
i'm a little more comfortable with the actual work
and for the most part, it seems pretty straight forward.
there are a lot of summer events that i wasn't expecting,
(code for nights and weekends, blah)
but i see a lot of room for growth and i'm getting
to learn a lot of new things too.
i'm in charge of the website, social media, blog and signage.
i'm pretty sure i'll stay busy.

the kids are still adjusting to life as full-time students.
brette still asks if she has to go to school and reid
cries every morning when i drop her off.
it's not my favorite.
i think they're learning a lot and doing lots
of fun activities, so that makes me feel better.
it's got to be more fun than hanging around
the house all day while i clean and do laundry.
ps- i went to brette's classroom for her birthday
last week and they all went around and told me
how old they - - every single kid in her
class is five going on six. 
whhhhhaaaaaaat?
my kid started in this classroom at THREE.
i wonder if they think she's stupid because
i KNOW they have know things that she's still learning.
it makes me nervous for her.
but i'm hoping being around a bunch of big kids
helps her in the end.  it's like having a ton of mentors.
right? right.
ok, good.

a n y w a y,
the hardest part of my day is 4:30 to 6:00.
we have our mornings mastered.
i get up and get ready before either of them awake,
so all i have to do is get them dressed and out the door.
we normally leave the house around 7:30 and i
make it to work a little before 8:00.
it's super nice that everything is less than 10 minutes away. 
BUT, the afternoons are hard.
the first few days they were crying the whole way home.
they were tired, plus hungry and thirsty.
since then, i've been packing drinks and snacks that
i keep in the fridge at work and before i leave for the day
i grab them for the girls.
it's made the ride home a lot better.
but still, once we get home they're a mess.
they want to be held and they want dinner and
they want to play and they want drinks and they
want. want. want.
there have been several nights where someone is
clinging to my leg crying while i'm cooking something
on the stove.  good times.
i normally turn on the tv and try to distract them
for 30 minutes while i get dinner ready.
(ps- i've been doing really well about prepping the
majority of meals on sunday and all i have to do
is throw everything together at night.) 
after they've eaten, things are much better.
we go outside to play or go upstairs in the playroom.
ronnie's home by dinner, so i also have another set of hands.
tonight, ronnie did the dishes while i folded a load of clothes.
i know he's not a fan of getting home from work and
doing chores, but WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD.
and then every night i lay out their clothes school,
i fill up sippy cups for the next morning and i pack my lunch.
this makes my mornings super easy.
for the last two weeks i've been cleaning house on friday night.
its the one thing i haven't quite figured out.
when do normal people clean?
it can't be friday nights...
but i never feel like doing it during the week and i refuse to
waste my weekends doing it, so finally on friday night
i'm forced to get it done.
weird, right?
send suggestions on when to clean or what
you all do because its the one thing i haven't fit in my schedule very well.

overall, it's still a huge adjustment for all of us but
so far i think we're doing okay.
the first few days were rough for me and i
felt really sad that i wasn't with the girls, but
i'm actually really happy with this change and
i think we're all going to be a lot better off in the end.


ps- those of you that worked full-time
with little babies - i can't imagine.
literally, can't.

pss- i have another post coming soon.
brette's 4th birthday luau!


Monday, June 12, 2017

my moneymaker turns four

i couldn't let this day go by without saying
a little something about my BMoney.
i think four is going to be one of my favorite ages.
things are starting to seem a little bit easier. finally.
my friends texted happy birthday wishes for her, and
one said, "you are sweet, gorgeous, feisty and hilarious."
then my other friend chimed in and said,
"you forgot bossy!"
which is totally the perfect description of my little one.
my little mouthy, totally hilarious child.





since i had to work on her actual birthday,
my parents came up and spent the day with all four girls.
i can't imagine brette would be happier doing anything else
than spending the day with mimi, papa and her cousins.
they had a picnic, went to the splash pad and filled up our backyard pool.
i'm positive she had a great day without me.
i tried to make the weekend special to help celebrate.
i decorated the house and hung streamers from her door.
we went to the donut shop. (she told me she like the
donuts better at the gas station where daddy takes her. eye roll.)


we went swimming with kassie, chris and elle and both her
and reid went down the water slide, which they loved.




but better than anything, ronnie and cale spent
THE ENTIRE WEEKEND
building her a huge new playset.
i actually feel really bad because they literally worked
on this monster from 9am-5pm both saturday and sunday.
not a great weekend for them.



but we ended up with this and
the girls love it.
ps- do not expect your four-year-old to understand
that this is her gift. you should definitely also have
something for her to open or she will say,
"its not her birthday without presents."
i know this from personal experience.
(all the stuff i ordered online didn't go through so all her other gifts
aren't going to be her until tomorrow and brette kept
wondering where her presents were.
i MIGHT have sent ronnie to the store for something super fast just
so she could actually OPEN one thing today.)
ridiculous.


we didn't get rid of our wood (yet) or do
much of anything else to clean up the backyard, so
unfortunately its not going to be pristine for her bday
party on saturday, but ronnie likes to
remind me i'm crazy about stupid stuff.
we're having a luau theme.
brette and madeline wanted moana, so instead of
doing a character, i thought it would be more fun
(and cuter) to do an island theme.
i bought leis, grass skirts, tiki torches and flowers.
i think the girls will love it.
it feels so crazy to have a FOUR YEAR OLD,
and at the same time, it feels oddly perfect.
Happy Birthday, Brette Annaleigh!

Thursday, June 8, 2017

all the fun things

i have a post coming about my new job
and how we've been surviving, but
i'm still knee deep in missing my kids and
just trying to get a handle on our new lives.
but there will be an update soon. promise.

lately, we've been heading out of town.
in the last two weekends we left lees summit 
to do something fun.
over memorial day weekend we took the camper
down to truman lake with a bunch of friends.
it's the same group as last year so brette
and reid are pretty much spoken for.
i literally ask at least 5 times a day where my kids are.
its weird to let them go off without me, but
they both absolutely love it and love all the kids
they get to hang out with.
the older girls always ask if they can watch brette and reid,
so its like having free babysitting built in.
ah-mazing. 
reid DID NOT sleep with brette though.
thank god we packed the pack-n-play just in case.
she is not ready to be on her own. 
she plays and gets up and talks.
brette finally said - mom, you got to get her outta here.
so we separated them and they slept great the rest of the weekend.
we did have one minor setback - HAIL.
a huge storm came through with the biggest hail i've ever seen.
maybe i feel this way because listening to hail in a camper
is extra loud, but i still think it was crazy.
we had friends with windows busted out, lots of damage to all 
our vehicles and holes in campers.
luckily, ronnie and i escaped with the least amount of damage.
my yukon is in the shop right now getting it all fixed and
we're still waiting to hear back on the camper, but
nothing actually broke so i'm grateful. 






 

 


 





last weekend we drove down to leeton, 
a small town outside of warrensburg. 
we have a group of friends that live down there and 
they put on a fair.
we met my mom and dad, who were watching madeline and eden.
the girls had the best time.
they're little dare devils. 
no one was scared of anything.
it freaked me out.
reid was hilarious to watch.
i'm pretty sure i could put her on a roller coaster and 
she would laugh her head off.
my parents took all the kids home for bed and 
ronnie and i stayed out for the band and beer gardens.
(bad decision. we should have gone home too.)
i felt like crap the next day, but
we had fun.







this weekend we're staying home.
we have a friend who might come pick up a load
of all our wood and
ronnie and cale are going to try to get brette's 
swing set put together for her birthday.
i'm excited to get our backyard in order.

have a great weekend!