Singing Girl!

We had a great week! The beginning of the week I was doing little jobs around the house and playing with the kids. Wednesday after dinner I went to the church to practice a song I will be singing. I had a great time. The ladies that are singing with me are great and we sat after practicing and talked for awhile. It was nice to get to know them better and to have a little girl talk! I also took advantage of having the car and no kids, so I went to a couple stores.

Friday was the big night! We were having a party at our house. Johnny wanted to get together with his resident friends, so we made Elizabeth's birthday the excuse to get everyone together. We had a nice time. People brought over great food and my cake turned out great! The residents in Johnny's year are so nice and it was great to have company. You all know how much I love to host!

Yesterday was a busy day. I woke up early to get my shopping done. When I got home Johnny and I decided to go get Family pictures done. So after getting ready we headed out. We were happy with the pictures. We went to Costco and Lowe's while we waited for the pictures to be printed. 

We had to head straight to the church to help set up for our ward Christmas party. We got there late, but everything got done and it was a great night. We had dinner and then there were a couple of musical number and then a good ole carol sing! We did another short little practice for the song I'm singing which went great! Johnny dragged us to two more stores after the party so the kids and I were pretty pooped today. We all took a long nap after church. Daphne got to come in to primary today to start getting used to Sharing time. She did okay, but it was hard for her to stay in her chair. I can't believe she is going to be in Primary already. Where is the time going? 

Here are some cute videos of Daphne singing Christmas songs!

Thanksgiving!!!

Well all week led up to the big Turkey Day! I hadn't been excited about it this year for some reason. I think it was our trip to Minneapolis started our Christmas season early. But over the weekend we invited our friends the Harts for dinner so I was a little more excited then. I love hosting things for people! So I woke up and made monkey bread, shoveled snow, and put the parade on for the kids. Friends came over at noon and the kids were having crazy fun. The turkey took longer than anticipated, but it was so worth it! BEST TURKEY I EVER MADE! 

We had a great time with them and Daphne was sad to see her friends go. We talked to family on skype and then it was off to the races. I "love" our tradition of Black Friday shopping. We got to Wal-mart right at six and the WHOLE parking lot was full we had to park across the street. Let me just say it was crazy in there. We also headed to Target which was much less crazy.

Dressing up the house happened over the whole week. I did the outside of the house all by myself! both trees turned out good too. 

I am so excited for the Christmas season! So many things to look forward too! Lots of parties and visitors and a trip to AZ!!!!

Helpful Friends

This week was a normal one. We spent a lot of time hanging out, doing school, trying to keep warm. We had a visit from my visiting teachers on Tuesday. I love that one of them is my good friend Mindy. She has three little girls and Daphne adores them. She loves when they come to play. I told them about needing to get some things done around the house, but not having the required tools. The most pressing being our bathroom door. So Mindy, the kids and her husband, Steve, came over yesterday to help us. It was great fun and we got the door back up so win win!

M.O.A.

Sunday night it was looking like we weren't going to go on our little mini vacation. There was going to be a big snow storms in the area so it looked like a no go. We woke up in the morning and Johnny checked the weather and the traffic. It had snowed in Minneapolis, but not much and the roads looked good. So we decided we would chance it. We got in and we went out to eat Indian food. We don't have it very often, but I always enjoy it. Then it was off to the hotel to swim. This is what Daphne was asking to do ALL DAY. We had a great time. Daphne loves to swim and Quentin had a good time too. That first night was rough. We are all used to our own space and sleeping in the same room was not fun. 

We ate, got ready and then headed out to the Mall Of America. We walked around for a minute, but then we came to the rotunda and it looked like something for toddlers was about to start, so we decided to check it out. They were doing Dancercise and I thought Daphne would love it so Daddy and Quen headed to Barnes and Noble and Daphne and I stayed for Dancercise. She had a great time! So I'm glad we happened to find it right on time. 

We walked and walked and walked. It was an awesome Mall. It was four stories and each story was about a mile walk. In the middle there is a small amusement park. I wish we had the extra money to get to do some rides, but we had to pass on them. We didn't have any problem filling the time until Santa came though. There were so many stores!

I'm glad it worked out that the day we were going to be there was the day Santa was arriving at the mall. I think it is pretty ridiculous he comes so early, but it was cool for us. They had a live band playing Christmas songs and dancers. They passed out cookies and milk as well and jingle bracelets and decorative sun glasses. Then the Big Man arrived. He came over to say hi to Daphne and she ran away from him. She has always been wary of dressed up characters. We went and got pictures on his lap and then our day was over.

We got a much better nights sleep that night since we were all exhausted. We got up and took our time getting home. We stopped at a couple stores. After the Santa arrival we were all in a Christmasy mood. So we got a couple gifts and listened to Christmas music on the way home.

Friday we had one of Johnny's co-workers, Elizabeth, over for dinner. She was very sweet and indulged us in a game of Clue. Johnny's back to work with no breaks for awhile. So me and the kids are going to get back to our normal routine.   

Oh...maha!

This week seemed long because all week I was just waiting for the weekend. Not a ususal pastime of mine, but I knew once Johnny got home on Friday he would be all mine for almost a week. So I couldn't wait!

I have started doing preschool with Daphne. She isn't to happy about it and I have to say its not my favorite part of the day, but she is so smart and I want her to succeed. Monday we had a repairman at our house. Our heater was not working which is not a good thing here in Iowa. He could not figure out what was wrong with it, which was making me nervous because my thought was that we were going to have to replace the whole heater. Thankfully it ended up just being some rocks in the exhaust pipe. We also took a walk and ended up going to our typical hang out, McDonalds. I miss being able to go to a park, but its really to to cold to be outside for any amount of time. 

Friday finally came and I was so excited. After putting the kids to bed we watched a movie. Saturday was the big day. We had decided to visit our good friends the Jevene's. They were on the Island with us and its been three years since we've seen than ans it was great to see them. They also watched the kids for us so we could go to the Temple. The Temple was tiny, but beautiful. It was so nice to get to go with Johnny which also hasn't happened in a long time. We got headed home a lot later than we were planning so the ride home was hard. Church was even harder. The kids were quite tired, so they were cranky, but we got through it. 

Tomorrow we are heading north for a couple of days. We wanted to go to Nauvoo, but the temple is going to be closed so we searched for another location for our mini vacation. We settled on Minneapolis. Santa is making an appearance at the Mall of America which we thought would be fun. 

A long time missing

Okay I need to get back into doing my blog. I know if I tried to cover everything we did in the last two months I would never get caught up. Life has been so crazy I don't even know where September and October went. We had anther visit from Uncle Joey, celebrated my birthday, made three pirate costumes, Johnny did another two weeks of night shifts, we went to the pumpkin patch a couple times, I had a bout with pneumonia, and Halloween came and went and that is just a few of the highlights. I promise we will do better in the next little while. I have lots of exciting fun things coming up!

One year down, a life time to go!

Monday had some ups and downs. Quentin was a little fussy all day and I had had a feeling all weekend that he was getting an ear ache so Johnny got off work a little early and took him to the doctors. He did have an ear ache so we went back out to get his medicine, do a little shopping and Johnny took us to dinner. 

Tuesday Johnny had a delivery and so he didn't come home all day. I HATE the days he doesn't come home and so the rest of the week wasn't looking good in that respect because he was heading out on a work trip Thursday and Friday. The one upside of that is that we got the car for two days. So Thursday we took Johnny to the hospital at 5am. I didn't want to start our day that early so when we got home we I put us all back to bed and we all ended up sleeping in and it was great! When we got up we got ready and went to the mall. One of our friends just happened to be there too so Daphne had a little friend to play with and I got to talk with a new friend. After some errands we headed home for naps. Our timing for our day was pretty off because of sleeping in so Quen got up pretty late. I started dinner and then realized I had a get together to go to in 10 min. So I scrambled and got shoes on and kids loaded in the car in a flash. Turned out the host had pushed the party back by a half hour so we were early. It was a Mary Kay Party and we had a great time. 

Friday we had Mindy and the kids over. We had a fun time with them. Daphne always love friends to come over. She loves being a little hostess. After naps we went and did our grocery shopping so we could spend every minute over the weekend with Daddy. 

Saturday we spent playing games and just relaxing. Sunday was Quentin's big day. One year old. I can't believe it. He is the sweets thing ever and we love everything about him. He is cruising now. He loves following his sister everywhere she goes.  

We didn't do anything to big for his birthday just gave him his gifts and I made him a special popcorn treat. He loved his cars and his ball. 

Back to Life

This week I tried to get life back to normal after our week with our guests. That basically means cleaning up. I also spent a lot of time outside planting grass in our not so grassy patches. It was a good work out doing all the yard work. We spent time playing and reading books. We also worked really hard on potty training and I'm happy to say she is doing really well. she will even stop and go potty when she is playing with friends, which is a really big step.

On Thursday we went out to the mall. Daphne had been asking if we could go for awhile so I decided to take her. We had a great time getting out of the house we did it again on Friday. We went to the library to meet so friends. We also got a library card and Daphne was so excited to get to bring home some books. 

Johnny had a 16 hour shift on Saturday so we were home all day. Sunday was my first time teaching my new primary class. There ended up being 10 kids so it was a little crazy, but it went well. I was pretty nervous about it, but I have a little more confidence now so I hope It will continue to go well.

Expected Guest

Joey came to visit us an his way to Myrtle Beach. He just got a teaching job there and we are so excited for him and his new adventure. We were even more excited that he decided to stop by and spend part of the week with us. He arrived Monday afternoon and helped me clean up the house. We had the missionaries for dinner. They were a little surprised to see Joey here again. When they left and put the kids down we settled down for a night of, what else, games! 

Tuesday we went to Adventure Land and we had an awesome time! It was so nice to get to play and go on rides. Daphne did have accidents and I forgot my swim suit, but other than that it was a perfect day. Joey took the kids for an hour so Johnny and I got to go and do what we wanted and it was nice to get to go on rides together. 

Johnny didn't have Wednesday off so we just hung around the house. I was planning on a walk to the park, but it was raining. Joey went out and got a hair cut while we did our normal thing. When he got back we did lunch and then put the kids to bed. Joey and I played games and had a really great talk about life. I think we both needed it. 

Thursday we took Joey to try Zombie Burger. I think he liked it, but he couldn't finish his burger. None of us could actually. This time we all got some intense ones and we couldn't handle it. They were all tasty, just to heavy. Afterward we headed to the State Fair to walk it off. We had a fun time walking around and looking at everything. We all eventually got hungry again and had to get some fair food. We were all pretty pooped by the time we got home, but made some time for a couple of game because we joey would leave in the morning. We always have a great time with him. 

Friday Johnny saw him off while the rest of us slept in. Quen ended up sleeping most of the day. Saturday was pretty much the same. We all relaxed and hung out. Johnny's friend Brian did stop by. He was headed home to Chicago from a Residency Program Conference. It was good to see him and Johnny got to help him out a little bit.

Today I got set apart in my new calling. I am a primary teacher for the CTR 6. I got to go sit in with them today and I think it will be a good class. Johnny got a calling as well, but won't be set apart until next week. 

Growing Crops

Monday we headed out on a walk and came across a little park. Daphne was so happy. It has a playground, tennis and basketball courts, an open field and a wading pool. After playing for a little we headed back home with a promise to return the next day. 

We did just that but this time we wore our suits! The kids loved playing and splashing and I even sat in it and cooled off.

Wednesday we took Johnny to work so we could take the car to get looked at. On the way to the mechanic the car stalled and would not start again even after some very nice guys stopped to jump it. Our alternator we JUST replaced was shot as well as the battery. Getting it fixed took all day. The kids were so good and very patient which I really appreciated since I was so stressed.

Thursday morning the kids played in the pool so I could work in the yard a little. We love having a backyard to play in. 

I forgot to mention Quentin turned 11 months last week. He is not very big. He is still wearing 6 month clothes. But he is developing. He has started to pull himself up on stuff and he will walk if you hold him up. He is still the happiest baby. He smiles at any and everybody. He is a bottomless pit when he eats, but is a little picky about food. He LOVES that he can get around himself now. I love to hear his little hands and knees charge down the hall in search of a toy or after his sister. We love everything about him!

Happy Birthday Doodles

Monday I spent my day cleaning house and prepping for Daphne's party. We really didn't decide to have a party until last week so I didn't have a lot of time to plan stuff. We decided on easy. I made a simple lunch and to just let the kids play in the pool and sprinkler and have some water balloons for them to pop. 

The big day arrived and I'm grateful to say everything went very smoothly that morning while I made all the food and got everything ready. I was a little nervous because when I woke up it was overcast, but the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day. Daphne woke up asking when her party was and when her friends would be here. She was so excited. The kids had a great time and I'm so glad. 

Daphne requested a chocolate cake with berries and I was happy to oblige. I trained her well! I was happy with how it turned out and everyone loved it.

Wednesday we took advantage of having the car and went to a playgroup the stake has. It was at an awesome park in West Des Moines. It is on a lake with a beach. It has a great playground and a little splash pad. The kids had a great time and I got to meet some new girls. We are actually going to go to another play group with a couple of them tomorrow. We also went to the mall and Costco since we were on that side of town.

Playgroup on Thursday was very nice. It was at a great play ground. It was so nice to get to know some more ladies a little better. Daphne had a great time with the kids and I think my have found a best friend. Eliza is 3 as  well and they just loved each other. 

Friday we went out again cause I had some things I needed to get for the house. It was a horrible outing. Daphne pooped in her underwear THREE times. The last time I just bawled while I cleaned her up AGAIN. I am getting so frustrated with this potty training thing. She knows how to do it, but she chooses not to use the potty and it is wearing on me. We have been working on this for almost a year off and on and she does really well for a month and then decides not to go anymore. Its just so frustrating. 

Saturday was fun filled. We headed out as Johnny came in from his last night shift. It was sad to go have fun while he was home sleeping, but he needed it. We went to our ward's Pioneer Day Party. We had stick pulls and games and a cute little covered wagon for the kids to ride as well as a potluck lunch. Daphne had a blast playing with friends and getting to run around.

That night we went to the Indianola hot Air Balloon Launch! Johnny volunteered to be the doctor on hand at the first aid trailer so we got free tickets. Let me say it was so cool. Daphne couldn't believe how big the balloons were and Quen got pretty into it to. I would say there were at least 50 balloons! It was a perfect night to be out to. They had a live band playing, so Daphne and I had to have a dance party. We especially liked the parrot, monkey and puppy balloons. We had a great time! 

I'm happy to say that after a hard week in potty training Daphne has had no accidents the past two days. I think our decision to withhold movies has helped a lot. Hopefully it lasts. that would top off this awesome week! 

Lunch and Dinner and Zombies, OH MY!!!

This week was a fun one. Th

e first of the week was pretty routine, but we had a fun weekend. 

Thursday I spent the afternoon talking to my high school friend, Lisa. We had a good time catching up and we decided to be weight loss buddies. I really need this cause I'm way out of shape and can't fit in any of my clothes. 

 Friday morning I took the kids on our weekly walk to McDonald's. We always have a lot of fun going and playing at the play place. I was so proud of Daphne because she walked the mile there and the mile back. She was a "little" cranky on the way home, but it was understandable. When Johnny got home he took us on one of our family dates. We tried out a local favorite called Zombie Burger. It was a long wait cause it was BUSY, but the food was good and the atmosphere was great. We may have to go back! We had a great time walking the shops around as it was a beautiful night.

Saturday we headed down to the Farmers Market. We need to make sure to go as early as possible cause if you show up at 10 it is packed. We headed straight over to the Hart's house for Kyle's birthday party. They had some fun games and good food. My kids were pooped by the time we got home so Johnny and I played games until dinner. 

Johnny has a week of night shifts and I'm not looking forward to it. Last time he did it it was miserable, but we will have the car so we will have to take advantage.

Brother and Sister

Monday started out with a walk to McDonald's for a lunch date with my two awesome babies. When we got there I put Quen in the stroller with Daphne. She started being so cute with him and telling him how he was the best brother and how much she loved him and they were just giggling. It made my mommy heart melt. had to ake a picture and of course the camera came out and I got these serious faces. We had a great time playing in the play place and walking and talking. Quen fell asleep in the Moby wrap and it was so sweet to have my baby fall asleep on me again, its been awhile and I loved it.

We also started doing homework sheets with Daphne. Its just hand writing, but she is doing so well. I am a very proud mama. The rest of the week was pretty normal: doing chores, playing games, reading books. Johnny worked every day this week so we were stuck at home. We went out Friday on a walk to go to yard sales, but it didn't last long because it started to rain pretty badly.

Johnny did get to come to Church with us and it made it a vast improvement from last week even if she had accidents in both dresses she wore. We had a great day taking naps and watching a movie together. 

Doctor Daddy

 We had another great day with Uncle Joey on Monday. We went out shopping and it took all day. I did a little shopping for myself, which doesn't happen often so, exciting! We covered a lot of ground, two malls and several stores. When we got home we were all pretty pooped. 

Tuesday was Johnny's first day of residency, like actually being a Doctor! We went to visit him and give him a little card.  We didn't get to stay very long cause he was really busy, but he did buy us a little lunch. We cannot even say how proud we are of him. I know he is going to do awesome. This year is going to be hard on us I know with his long hours, but we can do it.

Joey stayed longer than we were expecting, but we loved it. One day he even watched the kids for me so I could take a nap and its always so fun to have some one to Thursday really early. The kids were really sad. They love Uncle Joey.

We didn't do much to Celebrate the 4th. in Iowa you are not allowed to have fireworks without a permit, but it seems everyone, but us knows that you just go down to Missouri and buy a whole bunch to set off. I have NEVER heard so many fireworks. They literally were going off from about 8pm until midnight. It was crazy. We went and watched some big ones at around ten. We got some ice cream as well. 

Johnny had a day off yesterday so we went out and did some errands. We were planning on going to a local football game, but when we got to the stadium no one was there. We had a dinner packed so we just went to a park and had a picnic dinner and played. it was such a nice night. 

Johnny had to work today so I was all by myself at church and it was not a fun experience. Daphne ended up peeing on Quentin and me (don't know how she managed that) so we went home early. The rest of the day was a little better. I got to take a nap since both the kids slept for a long time which was really nice. 

Unexpected Guest

We had such a nice week this week. Johnny continued doing orientation and got to come home early a couple of days which was so nice. On Wednesday Mindy brought her girls over fo a little play date and the girls had a great time and continue to play well with each other. it was also really great to get to know Mindy a little better. I have never been good at getting to know someone one on one. I prefer to be in a big group and listen to everyone talk and just observe, but I guess its always good to learn new skills.

On Thursday we got ready for Joey to come visit. He called us on Tuesday with a little plan to come visit and we are so glad to have him whenever he comes. It was great too because Johnny got to come home early that day. 

Friday was Joeys birthday! After I got some chores done around the house the kids and I took him out for a great birthday lunch. We love the salad bar at the local grocery store chain so that what we did. I think he liked it to. We may have depleted the store of all it's raspberries. 

Quentin also turned 10 months this week and every month I'm so amazed at how fast the previous month went. I can't think of anything out of the ordinary this month. He has two bottom teeth now and he is starting to crawl. He really is just the best little boy and we love him to pieces!

Friday night Joey so graciously babysat for us so we could go to the Family Medicine Recognition Dinner. It was so nice to get all dressed up and go out without the kids. I think we have left the kid(s) with a babysitter so we could go out 3 times since Daphne was born so its just a little bit rare. There was dinner and then a presentation of the graduating residents. We had a great time. The dinner was delish and the company was great. We sat with Johnny's year of residents and had a lot of laughs.   

Johnnys fellow residents minus one.

Saturday we were up bright and early to go to the Farmers Market. The people around here rave about the market and let me tell you it didn't disappoint. There was live music and tons of free samples. All the food was delicious and we left with all the produce for the week and some extra treats. After lunch and a little shopping it was back home to relax and play games.   

Daphne came home with this little princess bike from our neighbor. Bob is the neighbor that gave us the lawn mower and he is just so sweet. We are definitely going to be taking him some cookies this week.