t e n y e a r s

holy shit. 

a whole decade. 

sometimes i hate him and sometimes i feel like we

are running in circles.

but i never stop loving our life together. 

we had always planned to be in hawaii for our 10 year, but 

instead we took our kids to brian's for a sleepover 

with madeline and eden.

we went to dinner, out for drinks, saw "a star is born" 

and then went back to the intercontinental on the plaza for the night.

it was fun.

i drank way too much, but we celebrated like we were 25 again. 

all hallow's eve

in warrensburg they do a big halloween downtown 

so that's what i thought we'd do for the night.

especially since we don't live in a neighborhood and 

my parent's neighborhood is full of older adults that no longer

do trick-or-treating. 

shannon and lindsay have the same problem i do (no neighborhood).

lindsay said downtown wasn't that fun - just a bunch of 

standing in lines at storefronts. 

shannon offered up her parent's house and neighborhood because

it's full of kids and they do halloween right. 

lindsay opted out to hang with her parent's. 

my parents and drew's parents all met us and the kids

at shannon's parents house for a chili dinner and group trick-or-treating.

it was the best idea ever. 

the kids had an amazing time.

brette and graham ran around the neighborhood like crazy people. 

reid, paige and haddie did their best to keep up and it was adorable. 

we've decided to make it an annual tradition. 

i can't wait until next year already.

(ps- brette was jojo siwa and brette was a cheerleader)

fall fun

we've been having a lot of fun over here.

we took a trip to the pumpkin patch,

except instead of traveling to the city, we went to the local 

one in warrensburg and it was wonderful.

a lot cheaper and a lot closer to home. 

the girls had fun and made us ride the hayride twice

just so we could stay on a bit longer. 

we bought pumpkins, kettle corn and found

our way through the corn maze. 

it was a good day.

we followed that up with a visit from margie

and her three kids.

we met her for dinner at shan's and kass came down too.

nights like these are my favorite. 

sometimes its nice to do nothing with your favorite people. 

the next day everyone came to my house and we let the kids run wild.

it was a short trip, but i love having marge in town, 

so even if it's just for 24 hours, i'll take it. 

and then last, our annual family fall day.

we didn't make applebutter this year, so it was a chill

day with a shit ton of food, some outdoor games and 

a sunset hayride.

the four girls got to spend the afternoon together so they

of course think its the best day ever. 

i personally like family fall day without the applebutter -

everyone's more relaxed and there's not a lot involved. 

i'm already looking forward to next year.

next up?

wearing gearing up for halloween, our 

TEN YEAR anniversary, a wedding and 

then thanksgiving. 

it's going fast. 

nothing exciting over here

so i think about blogging all the time but

right now i'm working a lot from home. 

my manager quit in june and for the last four

months, i've been a one person team.

since i only work in the office from 

9:00 to 3:00, i come home and 

do more during the evenings. 

add that on top of making dinner and 

taking care of two kids - - i don't have

much to blog about.

i definitely feel like work, dinner, bath and repeat. 

also, apparently its monsoon season so

we haven't even gotten to go to the 

apple orchard or pumpkin patch this year.

i'm crossing my fingers this weekend is nicer

so we can go do something fun as a family.

we have family photos scheduled in two weeks

and i'm super excited for that.

we're going back to the lady who did our newborn pics

and she always does an amazing job.

(now i just have to come up with what we will all wear, 

which stresses me out.)

i should also note, that ronnie completed the fireplace.

say whaaaa!

i'm very excited. 

it looks SO FREAKING GOOD and this

means we are only one project away 

(tile master shower) from being done with the house...

for this year.

keep in mind we still have to build a new deck and

get new siding.

so basically, we still have the exterior to do, 

but all in good time.

i'm just excited to have our living room done. 

feels like home.

i'll post before and after shots next.

we're all getting older

this is one of my favorite posts every year. 

i just love going back to look a little baby brette

and then seeing reid added.

i love seeing how much they've changed and grown - - 

and how long their hair has gotten. 

i can stare at the pictures forever.

take a look back with me.

so good, right?!

my big girls - 5 and 3.

i'm already looking forward to our 2019 edition.

school daze

monday will be our second full week of school.

so far, brette says she likes kindergarten better

than pre-school and she thinks her teacher, 

mrs. munterman, is nice. 

we don't get much else out of her. 

i try to ask her about her day but she's not

telling me a whole lot. 

i'm so excited for everything she'll learn this year.

i'm especially interested to see her begin to read. 

i hope she loves it as much as i do.

i look forward to the days when we can both sit down

with a good book before bed and read together. 

#bookwormdreams

ronnie or i have been making her lunch everyday and

i get to take her and pick her up from school.

there was a small mishap on the second day when they 

put her on a bus to go to an after-school program and then

there i am waiting forever in the car rider line, just

to have them tell me she wasn't there.

it freaked me out a little and it freaked brette out a lot.

she told me she cried on the bus because she 

thought i would never find her again.

poor thing. 

don't worry. 

i made sure both the school and the after-school program

knew that she was a car rider ONLY kid.

meanwhile, reid started at her new preschool in warrensburg too.

i was more nervous for this than for brette.

i obviously trust the school district and know 

brette is in a good safe place.

there's little unease about a new preschool because until you've 

been going there for awhile, you're can't be certain what goes on.

the best thing?

reid has not cried once.

when brette started school at three there were lots of tears. 

i was shocked when reid was like - peace out, mom and 

went off with complete strangers. 

and she seems to like it. 

she never complains about going or cries during drop off.

it makes leaving her somewhere new a little easier. 

i think both the girls have good starts to the year. 

i'll keep you posted. 

can you spot reid in her new class?

a little break

the girls had their last day of school at our lady of the presentation. 

i was super sad to say goodbye to such a wonderful school and

their amazing teachers, ms. kay and ms. susie.
look at them at the beginning of this year:

and now:

literally, i'm still not over it.

presentation closes down for a week before they start their fall semester and

since the girls weren't starting in warrensburg until the middle of august,

we scheduled a little family vacation down in gulf shores, alabama. 

i had never been but i know the destin/pensicola area enough to

know that the sand would be white and the ocean would be pretty.

good enough for me. 

(plus its wildly cheaper than the 30A area)

at first, ronnie and i thought we would fly down there... 

14 hours in a car with a 5 yr old and a 3 yr old is a special kind of torture.

BUT after realizing that we would have to buy 4 plane tickets because

both girls are now old enough for their own seat, we rethought driving.

hello $1700! 

plus, we would have needed to rent a car anyway, so why not take our

own and forget the hassel of packing car seats. 

blah. driving.

i'm happy to report that although the drive was loooooong, 

(so long that i think my hip is broken. yes, i'm that old.)

the girls did a wonderful job.

yes, there was fighting and screaming, but for the most part,

they would eat snacks, color, watch movies or sleep. 

ronnie and i made sure to stop at a chick-fila on the way there 

and back to give the girls the opportunity to run and play during our break.

in fact, we didn't even have them eat. 

we ordered their food to-go and let them run wild the whole time we were there.

i figured they could eat in the car and i would rather have them

burn some energy while they could. 

once we got to golf shores i was pleasantly surprised by our condo.

i booked this back in the spring and kind of forgot what i rented. 

we were basically in the penthouse of a condominium. 

both sides overlooked water and there was a pool and tennis court.

we had a full kitchen, living room, two bedrooms and two-n-half baths. 

it was perfect.

we went grocery shopping the first day there so we could

eat some meals at home. 

we only ate out once a day, which made it easy to swim or play at the beach

as long as possible because you didn't have to worry about 

changing clothes or getting ready for lunch. 

i loved it. 

the girls loved swimming. 

we went to both the pool and the beach everyday. 

gulf shores is also a nice little town with lots of 

restaurants, ice cream shops, a cute little park on the beach and shops.

i tried to read reviews before we went out so we

could just do the best things, since we weren't in town that much.

we loved a place called The Hangout and i would suggest 

going if you're down that way.

live music, beer, foam machine, good food, and a play place for kids.

it backs to the beach so we spent a whole afternoon here and then 

walked out to the beach that evening. 

it's nice to get away and it makes ronnie and i both want to go 

and do more and more. 

i hope since the kids are out of that baby stage, we will.

(i can't imagine vacation life when you don't have to worry about naps either)

we made it back yesterday and tomorrow the girls both start school in warrensburg. 

i cannot believe i have a kindergartner. 

she told me yesterday that she's scared and happy.

i'm excited for her. 

we went to meet her teacher yesterday and she seems sweet.

she's a great combo of 15 years experience but still young.

i think brette is going to like her.

i hope they both have great experiences this year. 

i've been skeptical that pulling them out of Presentation is the best 

decision, so i have my fingers crossed that this will prove

to be the best place for my kids.

first day of school pics to follow.

i'm just praying Brette lets me pick out her outfit.