The OCW Progressive

This year for New Year's we decided to do a neighborhood Progressive Dinner.

A bunch of us paired up and then hosted food and drinks for 90 minutes until it was time to move along to the next house.

Parmley/Holtz:  Appetizers: chicken wings and lettuce wraps

Anderson/Carlson: Taco Bar, cheese dips, guac and margaritas

Kisch/Wolvert:  MEAT, saran wrap game and finger shocking

Janssen/McKigney/Vilendrer:  Desserts and Champagne toast

This finger shocking game.  Doesn't ever seem like a good idea but these guys give it a shot frequently.  Everyone holds onto a shocker device, a light goes around the top and once it stops it gives a second wait before it shocks that person.  If you are quick you will drop the device before it shocks you, if you are not quick you will apparently scream like a girl!  (sorry guys- lol)

I definitely did NOT take enough pictures of this night.  Katie snuck this one of Vivian, herself and me.  I wonder if we thought that was in focus that night- lol.

Couldn't think of a better group of people to ring in the New Year with!

2015 handed us a lot, looking forward to a new year.

CHEERS!

Floors, floors, floors

Really it's just one floor. 
It was finally time for them to start on the garage floor!  It feels so weird to have this coating on the floor.  It's going to be so nice but the initial shock is pretty intense, and that's not just from the smell.

Girls, Girls, Girls

Hannah sporting her new robe and head wrap and Hailey sporting her high heels for the wedding.

Seems about right.  Hannah is into comfy clothes these days and Hailey can not get enough of jewelry, shoes, and dresses.

She is allowed to wear them in the house only because they are brand new.  She is only allowed upstairs and since our bathroom has a tile floor she spent most of her time in there today walking in and out, checking in with her 'class'.

Hannah got a mini straightener for Christmas and decided to try it out.  It's hard to teach someone how to hold your hair, the hot tool AND look in the mirror all at the same time.  She was a little nervous about burning herself so decided that she will need some more practice.  I wish I would have thought to have her practice on her hair while the tool was cold and not plugged in.  Oh well, she will get the hang of it.

Dinner Theatre

 

Another wedding prep day!

My poor kids get to spend their whole entire winter break running errands and sitting at their aunts house while their mom hot glues anything and everything she can find.

We have a plan for the centerpieces!

Kari and her family met us at Acapulco for dinner and at one point Andres' had the kids in an uproar over a snowball fight video he had recently taken of the boys.

The countdown is ON

Today is one of the last days we have to run errands and help Kim get things ready for the wedding.

We have less than a week people!  This is crunch time!

First stop was Kim's, quick snuggles with the fur cousin and then we were off to Sam's Club, Michaels and wherever else we decide we need to go.

Supplies for party favors.

We wrapped ribbon around each of these mints then tied the ribbon and glued the flower.  Last but not least we added a tag that read "Kim & Joe, Mint to be"

All of the ladies were put to work.  By the end of the day our sinuses were cleared out and most of use would be very happy to never smell a mint again.

We also started thinking about the centerpieces, we wrapped these jars in ribbon, plan to add the table number to the wood pieces and then will glue the wood to the ribbon.  We will use these as vases on each of the tables. Kim also has an assortment of lanterns and pine cones to add with them.

We didn't leave until it was late and Hailey apparently was wiped out.  I didn't hear a peep from her and when we got home and I turned around to check on her I found her like this.

The last Sunday before the wedding is over, Kim is in good shape and is pretty calm about having everything under control.  I envy her attitude when it comes to stuff like this.   

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

This year Kari and her family are home to join us for the holiday, it's always so much fun when they are home during this time.  It makes for a full house but I wouldn't have it any other way.

We bought the boys Kindle Fires for Christmas and being that these will be their first official electronic devices, I am super duper excited to see their reactions.

They were shocked!  Very, very excited and very, very shocked.  It was a great surprise, that I cleared with their parents, and I was so thrilled to be able to give them a gift that they would LOVE.

We typically have the kids open their gifts first, they then run off to play while the grown ups take turns opening gifts.  This can sometimes take a few hours, depending on how distracted everyone gets.  It's fun to go slow and to see what everyone gets.

Kimmy bought Hannah a kid size sewing machine and they spent a good part of the afternoon learning how to use it.  Hannah loves sewing at grandma Judy's.  It definitely doesn't sew as good as a real one and the stitches are pretty loose but she sure had fun with it!

Our Family

There she goes!

Tonight Santa will take Lula home.

We will head to the Parmley side to celebrate Christmas and tomorrow when we wake up she will be back in the North Pole.  It was another fun year and the girls will certainly miss her.

And again, while skimming through Instagram I found this.  It actually made me tear up.  It warms my heart to know that these girls have enjoyed their relationship with Lula so much.

Fun with Bob

The last few holidays I have made Uncle Bob sweatshirts with my new iron-on skills.

This year I tried something new and actually found an image of his car, put his name on the license plate and viola!  I can not wait until Christmas day when he opens this!  He is going to LOVE IT!

Since Bob always gets sweatshirts with his name on them I thought I would make grandma a shirt to match :-)  More than likely she will never wear it however for the few dollars I spent on it, it will give us a good giggle.

Mad for Mad Libs

Lula brought the girls mini Mad Libs today. 

Although they laughed when they read what she came up with, they weren't too excited about doing their own.  I remember loving these things when we were younger.  When I see them in the stores I always want to buy them for the kids but kids these days just don't seem as though they are interested in them at all.  Maybe it's because life was simpler back then or maybe it was because we would purposely choose 'naughty' words (like underwear) and the stories would make us giggle and maybe we did them when we were older so there may still be hope for these girls after all!

Just Hanging Around

 Only a few more days with this fun little girl.
Soon she will be heading back to the North Pole.  We sure will miss her around here.

What is happening?!

This kid!  What is happening?!  How is she getting so grown up?!

I love scrolling through Instagram and seeing Hannah's posts. 

We curled her hair and that picture of her blowing a kiss just melts my heart.  She looks so gorgeous!

And her post from the Half Time Rec- lol- taking a selfie of herself!

Times like this I am reminded that these little girls are little people.  With their own personalities, finding their own way in the world.  I love these sneak peeks into their lives.

WHOA!  This was definitely a family favorite!

Sconce Hanger

Lula hung out in the stairwell today

Countdown to Christmas and Clear Skin

Hailey woke up this morning looking ok.  A few spots left on her arms but very little on her torso.

Seems like a good idea to bring her into the clinic, just to check things out.

I scheduled an appointment and will work at home until we need to leave to bring her in.

She laid upstairs in the loft until I came up and told her we should think about getting ready to leave.

When I walked upstairs I noticed she is starting to break out on her face.

By the time we got down the stairs it had spread even more!

By the time we got to the clinic this poor girl was miserable.  I didn't give her Benadryl until we got there so that Dr Prall could see the hives for himself.

They just kept getting worse and worse.  He sent us home with some steroids and instructions to keep an eye on it and call back if it's not better within a few days or if she gets a fever.

(the rash was cleared up in a few days and never did return)

101 Haileys

Shhh- do not disturb

Hailey came home from school today covered in this......hives.  That poor girl.  It looks so painful!

No idea what has caused this.  It itches really bad.  I gave her some Benadryl and she was able to fall asleep.  Hopefully she wakes up with clear skin tomorrow am.  Weird!

Small elf in a little jar

I always love when Lula stuffs herself into small places :-)

Tic Tac Lula

Awwwwe- how adorable! 

Blind-Folded

I sure wish someone would have trapped her up there with a dust cloth. 

I am sure those blinds could use a good wipe down. 

Going on a Candy Cane Hunt

This morning the girls were sent on a hunt for candy canes.  There were 12 hid around the house.
They found them all within about 10-15 minutes.
Some hung on door handles, some sticking out from the blinds, in closets, all throughout the house.

OCW Christmas

Yep, that's about right.  It's neighborhood party night!

Walk in and within a few steps you will start tripping over all of the shoes.  Shoes of all sizes and shoes of all colors. Tonight was the annual Christmas party at Janice and Tom's.

Taking a break from the adults to snuggle with my buddy Jax!

Noah and Hannah were playing Minecraft on Noah's tablet while some of the kids sat by watching.  Acie Jr didn't make it too long.  He had all of the kids fooled, most of them didn't even notice that he was out :-)

And don't forget about Lula, hanging out on the scooter this am waiting for the girls to wake up.