Meet me at McDonalds

We got together Saturday afternoon with Misty and Brooke Helling, Pru, Miranda, and Sammy Tetzloff, and Becky and Andrea Wellnitz. My sister had to take training all day for daycare, so I also took Anthony, Yahaira, little Rosie, and big Rose. We were going to go bowling but Joe's Lanes doesn't have bumpers and we thought they might get a little frustrated, and the weather was so cold we didn't want to travel, so we met at McDonalds for play time and ice cream. The kids had a great time playing together, and I had fun catching up with the big girls. I miss having my friends near by. I miss being able to call people up and just go do something. But at least I had a day to try and see as many people as I could.

Back in Minnesota!

We came back to MN last weekend! Kevin had to meet with the medical review board for the guards. Luckily they did it as a teleconference so he didn't have to drive up to Ripley, he was able to do it right from the armory in St. James. It turned out good, they did a medical separation, which means in a few months Kevin will be done with the guards. He is still able to retire from the military, which is a very good thing, beings he has 19 years in. The kids were excited to come back and there was a lot happening, Debbie signed up Grace for the extravaganza, so she got to go and practice and she'll get a t-shirt, she just won't be back next weekend to perform. She was still excited. Brandon was able to go to the make up night for the wild crazy night out at the high school and perform with his friends in the air jam concert. We had to leave early Sunday morning because the weather was not good down here. A little after Sioux City we hit blowing snow, not fun driving, but we made it home alright. The pictures are of Grace at the dance practice, courtesy of Shirley Coleman. Thanks Shirley for e-mailing the pictures, they are great. Thank you Debbie for signing Grace up and letting her go and hang out with her friends, you are the best.

Lordy, Lordy, Guess Who's 40???

Yes it's true, I am 40! Doesn't feel any different, I guess I don't mind getting older. I'm just glad to be alive and healthy. The kids didn't have school today so we checked out the bowling alley in town. It was a lot of fun, and it was a really nice bowling alley. Brandon got beat by a 40 year old!!! Thanks for all the calls and text messages for my Birthday, I wish I was home to celebrate with everyone, but at least I won't be tired tomorrow!!

New Car!

I was hoping to wait until I started daycare to get a different vehicle, but when you have almost 140,000 miles on your van.....things were going left and right. The window wouldn't work, it was loosing power, needed new brakes.....so with all the great year end deals and getting 6x what the van was worth for trade-in....it was time. I spent weeks test driving and researching and it finally came down to the fact I wasn't ready to go to a car or a crossover and lose the third row seat, I wanted something different than a van (been driving one for 15 years), but better gas mileage than an SUV, and I ended up choosing the Pacifica. I love it. It's a Chrysler, so it's similar to the van, at least where some of the controls are located. Has a few blind spots, but that's what mirrors are for, it still has a dvd player for the trips to MN, but has tons of things the van didn't, moon roof, memory seats, "heated" leather seats (love those), payments (don't love those) :) It's been great in the snow and better gas mileage than the van, so that's a plus too. Overall we are really loving this vehicle and hope it lives up to the reviews from customers!!!

Grace riding her new bike!

Saturday afternoon it was really nice out, in the 40's, so after Pauley's party, I took Grace to the park to try out her new bike.
She got right on and rode it. I thought because it was bigger, she might have to practice a little, but no practice was necessary! What a great park we have here. I think Kevin said it's 4 miles around the lake. The trail doesn't just go around a lake, there are playgrounds too, and also some pretty big hills. Grace had to walk her bike up a few of the hills which gives her something to work towards. We met a lady who is originally from Mankato, but has been here now for over 30 years. Grace is hoping for more nice days so she can ride her bike.

Pauley's 3rd Birthday!

Pauley was here to celebrate his 3rd Birthday on Saturday the 5th! It was always fun in daycare because Pauley is on the 5th, my birthday is the 10th, and Lucas Doll's is the 15th....We had a "Cars" theme. Pauley really really loves the cars right now. We ate lunch, opened some presents, and ate cake. We had a lot of fun. Pauley got a new race track with 50 million pieces, but once put together, they played all afternoon with. What a great Birthday for Pauley, and we were so excited we got to spend it with him!!

Yea! The Schmidts are here!!

The Schmidt family got here late Thursday afternoon, we were so excited to see them. Grace was so thrilled to have someone to play with, as you can see in the picture she had him all dressed up as her kid and they were off to go shopping. I've missed my little buddy Pauley, he started as an infant in my daycare, and it's so strange not to see him everyday. So I was very happy to have him come and visit.

Weeeeee the "Wii" is fun!!

If anyone is debating getting a "Wii", go for it! It is a blast. Maybe now after Christmas they will be easier to get ahold of. I tried in December for a week, and then said "forget it", this is not worth it. You had to just keep checking stores, Walmart's UPS came at 11am everyday, gamestop right after that. Maybe they'd get some maybe not, you couldn't be on a list, just had to show up to check. After I had given up that I'd ever get my hands on one (I refused to pay more on e-bay), I was coming down the hill from our house and I see a UPS truck at gamestop, and I said, "No way", and Grace said, "what?" I whip in to the parking lot and see a couple coming out with a Wii, and I thought urggggg. I went in anyways, and the guy working was just smiling, and he said, "I just put it in the case". I said get it back out!!! I couldn't believe it. There was another customer in there, not familiar with the whole Wii phenom, and he was like what is the big deal. The guy working said that this was the first time there hadn't been people waiting for the UPS truck to come. I figure it's like anything else, when you're not trying soo hard, it just works out. Some of the games can be a real workout, but the best is when your husband wakes up sore from boxing! Worth the price of the system.

Cinderella is missing her mice!

This is what is "should" look like after every meal, unfortunately in our family we usually only see this Christmas Eve. That's when....if the kitchen isn't clean, the presents don't get opened!

More pictures from Christmas Morning

I know my sister told me how to do this but I just remembered to use it. So here are the rest of the pictures of the kids opening their stockings, except Brandon, not sure where he was. That's Beckie on the couch, not sure why she's barely in the picture......must have been Grace or my sister who took that one :) I would never cut someone out of a picture!!

Christmas Morning!

Santa made it and even knew that the Haycraft kids were here too! What a smart guy. We didn't get woken up too early, the kids must have been worn out from the night before, but up the steps they came, rubbing their eyes but huge smiles on their faces. They ran to their stockings to see what Santa had brought. Grace got a new bike, Anthony got a skateboard, Yahaira got art supplies (does Santa stop by to clean up??), and this shows you how bad my memory is, I can't remember what everyone else got because it's not in the pictures to the right :).......Santa even brought Grandpa scratch tickets, you gotta love Santa!

Christmas Eve

We open our presents on Christmas Eve....after we eat....and after all the dishes are
s-l-o-w-l-y washed and dried! Kevin Piercy hands out the presents, this year he had help from Grace and Yahaira. I don't remember how he got selected to do this but he's been doing it for the past 7 years. Youngest person gets to open a present first then whomever they received the present from gets to open the next present. We do this so you get to see what everyone gets, you get to see the person open the gift you gave them, and so it's not total chaos. Works out pretty well. It was so great to have the "family" room full of family and watching the excitement grow all day knowing they get to open presents that night. I love being the one now that slowly cleans up after the meal when there are kids whom you usually have to nag and threaten to do dishes are right there scrubbing and drying as fast as they can!!!! You gotta love the circle of life. In our family Brandon got clothes and the leather jacket he wanted, Grace got 2 huge floor pillows, for under her new bed, that she can read on, clothes and 2 very cool jackets, a velvety one, lined in pink from Grandma and Grandpa, and a jean jacket from the Haycrafts, with Hannah Montana painted on the back!! Kevin got pots and pans and Linette got a GPS. So Shirley if you're reading this, I can meet you anywhere in Iowa now....and be on time!!! What a fun night.