Is there a meeting for that?

Hailey can not get enough of these skirts!

She was instructed to jammie up.  I found her around the corner with her jammies on but then also trying to sneak her skirt on.

When she saw that I had caught her she stood up and showed me how good she can spin and pose with the skirt on.  

"See me can do mom!"

Me:  "Yes, honey.  I can see that you can spin good in that skirt but I don't really think that you need to wear them ALL the time.  You certainly don't need to wear your skirt to bed."

You can see in the picture below that she attempting to talk me into believing that the skirt is necessary and there were a few 'But mom...." statements in this explanation.

Walking on Razors

What in the?!

I promise I am NOT walking on razor blades.

I am not really sure how this shoe split in half but I noticed today that it started to feel funny when I walked and when I checked to see why it all made sense.

At first I was disappointed- I love these shoes and wear them everyday. 

The disappointment soon turned to anger- you mean to tell me that I spend close to $100 on a pair of shoes and within 6 months of wearing them this happens?!

Now, as luck would have it- this shoe in this pattern in my size is not available anywhere.

Can't go and buy new ones and can't order them online....great.

One of Daddy's Girls

Siting on the couch watching TV with Brian.

Hailey is in her room watching her iPad- one of her favorite things to do lately.

Hannah is sitting next to me, snuggled in, watching her iPad with her earphones on.

I look over and she this.

Melted my heart!

Never gets old

I never get sick of opening notebooks to find that one of the kids has been there before me.

I was informed that this is a drawing of our family and the reason we all have hearts on our shirts is because we all love each other.  I absolutely love the way that Hannah draws our feet.

To My Dear Friend

While at the cabin this past summer my mom came across a garbage bag full of stuff.  Most people probably would have peeked inside and when they realized that it was just a bunch of junk they hadn't seen in years- thrown it out.  Not my mom- she spend a good hour or two digging through the bag looking for treasures.  Don't judge- we all have our things.

Inside the garbage bag she found this

It doesn't have a date on it so I am not sure as to when this was filled out but it was something that I was working on for Vickey- my BFF.  (there is a copyright date inside dated 1996)

Printed on the inside of the book it reads:

Dear Friend, 

Among life's sweetest blessings lie enduring friendships such as ours.  We have been friends for a long time.  We get together, we reminisce and had we the time, we would happily uncover a lifetime-myriad of shared experiences.

Through this little book, I intend to take the time.  It will be for you, then, to enjoy.  But in the writing, I will first have the joy of taking a wonderful trip backward through the years.  And as I journey into the memories, I will be reminded again and again that knowing you has been one of God's great gifts to my life.

Forever Friends

Then the pages are dated- one for each day of the year.  Each day contains a statement or fill-in-the-blank type of question/memory.

A lot of the pages are filled out and when I started flipping through the dirty pages I couldn't help but laugh.  First of all, my writing looks like it was done by a child.  I have always hated my writing and realizing that this was written out when I was out of high school- how embarrassing!

Then as I sat outside in the yard reading some of these memories, I would find myself starting to crack up and when I looked around to find someone that could relate to me, someone else that would remember that time, no one was there.

I often get really down about how my relationships with my friends have turned out. 

Not just friends from the past but recent relationships too.

People change and friendships change.  I understand that it is inevitable as we grow up and grow apart.  It still bothers me though.  It still makes me sad.

I am not naive enough to expect that things wouldn't have changed but I think I had higher expectations.   I always imagined that the friends I grew up with would be the friends I would have forever.  I am sure that we have all felt this way at one time or another and have been disappointed when it didn't turn out.  

 I know a lot of people and I have a lot of friends.  I am truly blessed and have met so many great people in my lifetime but I miss having 'lifetime history' with people.  Years ago when we would hang out with Gretchen, Troy, Stacey, and Shane they would reminisce about the 'good 'ol days'  They have known each other since high school-ish and have spent many years together before I came along.  We have made tons of memories since then but their fondest always seem to be 'those days'.  As much as I didn't want it to, it made me feel left out.  As they would laugh and joke about those times I would think about the memories and stories that I have from those days and then feel even worse realizing that most of those people in my memories are still a major part of my life.

As I look at how my life has turned out, I can't imagine doing anything differently.  If things wouldn't have gone the way they did, I may not have met Brian and I would have never been blessed with Hannah and Hailey (the perfect combination of Brian and I- truly).  If things didn't change- they wouldn't be where they are and have the things they have so, for that I have no regrets.

But, what I do regret is thinking that it's too late.  For allowing to let so much time get in between us and not making more of an effort to connect.  I miss my friends- new and old.  Things haven't been the same in the past few years and it is starting to feel all too familiar.

I want to get better at making an effort to reconnect and even though it won't change overnight- I need to do something.  Thanks to Facebook we are able to connect with people from our past but it's not the same.

One small step will be to reconnect with these memories and friends over the course of this year in this blog.  I at the very least want to honor these friendships by recording some of my favorite memories. 

Here's one to get me started..... (straight from the book)

Vickey Novak (Greene)

Vickey and I met in preschool when we were 3 or 4 (or so I am told).  My first memory of her is driving past her house (she lived at the end of the block behind our house) and seeing her jump roping in her blue and white dress with adorable pigtail braids.  I remember asking my mom about her and mom telling me her name.  We ended up at the bus stop together and I am pretty sure that we spent almost everyday together until we were teenagers.  I remember being the only girls invited to Tyler Peterson's Birthday party and playing Fox in the Hound in his backyard.

As we grew up together our favorite thing to to was play Barbies.

Inside, outside, my house, her house, didn't matter- as long as we were together.  It felt like we had a sleepover almost every Friday or Saturday night and even though I am sure that we didn't, I would argue to this day that it was every weekend during the summer.

I remember one time when we were a little older we wanted to toilet paper someone's house so in the middle of the night we went out to the yard and TP'd her house.  Her mom figured out it was us (I am sure that was NOT hard) and made us clean it up.  I don't remember her getting mad, I seem to remember that she made fun of us instead- I miss Mary!

 We had the best neighborhood ever!  Jenny K, Tory, Miles, Tim, Jason, Jessica, Dan, Andy, Bob, Carmen, Steve, Vickey, Kari, and I.  MAN- we had a good time back then.

I'd love to organize a neighborhood reunion sometime!

L is for Lucky

It's hard to know who was the luckiest today.

All of us had lunch at Olive Garden.

 

I got to see their reaction when I told the girls they got to go hang out with their aunties today.  I got to drive to St Paul with these two girls signing from the backseat.  I got to see Grandma, Kim, Jennie, and Kristin arrive at Olive Garden and run to hug the girls.  I got to sit at lunch and listen to Hannah talk Jennie's ear off about all of the things she had to show her and all the plans she had for their afternoon.  I got to go and get a color and haircut at Rocco's and then finally take time to go and buy a new purse.  I got to pick the girls up from Jennie and fight with them because they didn't want to leave their aunts.  I got to spend the rest of the night with them listening to them tell stories about their day and see the expressions on their face as they relived them.

Hannah and Hailey got to spend the afternoon hanging out with Kristin, Jennie and Jennie's closet FULL of shoes!  They also got to pose for pictures and get their hair and nails done.

Jennie and Kristin got to sit and be entertained by these two darling little things and got them ALL to themselves.

Kim and Mom went to the casino- not sure how they did so the jury is still out on them....

Pretty sure I win this one!

Chillin'

Me: "Hey Hannah- whatcha doin?"

Hannah: "Just chillin' "

Is that????

Is that what I think it is?!

Did my little BABY write her name?!

Oh that's right- she is three.

That is her H, A, and I for sure.  I have seen her make those letters many times.

The jury is still out on the L, E. and Y however when she showed me this she told me that she wrote it.  Usually she will tell me that Jackie helped her but when I asked about this one she insisted that she did it by herself.

Nash Mail

Hannah wrote this letter for Nash.

She asked if I would mail it to him so that he would know that she still thinks about him.

Heart melt- check!

More from the life of Mini-Me

Behind this door lives a Mini-Me.

She is suppose to be in there cleaning (not because I sent her there to clean but because she had the idea to and went in there).  All I know is that since that door has been closed there has been loud music pouring out from that little crack at the bottom.

Andy Grammar and Maroon 5- this girls got great taste!

I love music and I love it loud.

Ever since I can remember I have preferred my tunes this way.

Especially when I was younger and my mom would make me clean my room.  Vickey and I would sit in my room 'cleaning' playing song after song.  She'd get to be the DJ and would sit in the middle of a pile of cassette tapes.  It wasn't as easy back then as it is now.  Tapes needed to be rewound and god forbid you wanted to hear track 3 on the cassette- fast forward, rewind, fast forward, rewind, until you would finally hit the right spot and get to listen to the song.

 But not Mini-Me- she is in her room with her Bluetooth speaker selecting songs from her iPod.

*sigh*

Didn't want to say it but I think it's required....kids these days have it so easy.

Whoop Whoop

You two.

I can't get enough of you.

You were SO excited for your new jammies and hats that I picked up on my way home from Iowa.

You both put them on right away, giggling the whole time.

It's getting easier and easier to get you guys to pose for pictures but you are still particular about when you are willing to.

I was lucky tonight that you were both in the mood- these pictures are adorable and they will forever remind me of your fun personalities.

This video will bring a smile to anyone's face!

I haven't been feeling well lately (nobody has been) and she was asking me if I was still sick.  When I said no, she got excited "Whoop whoop!"

Can't get me here

We finally got together tonight to celebrate Courtney's 9th Birthday.

Adam is not a fan of dogs.

Not really sure when this all started since they used to have two dogs in their house that never seemed to bother him.  I understood why he would be nervous (ok, really petrified) around Nash.  He was large and if you didn't know big dogs I get how they could be scary.  Angel and Simon are Jack Russells.  These are small dogs.  They used to belong to the Schreiber's until they ended up finding new homes (Simon went to Jill's and Angel is now with Grandma and Grandpa).

  Adam was sitting next to Jennifer on the couch and when she got up and moved he was all alone.  Angel was on the floor looking up at the couch.  He wasn't having it.

Holding back the tears

Kim, Kristin, Mom and I went with Jennie to the Wedding Shoppe today to start the search for the perfect dress.  It took all of 10 minutes there before the tears started to come.

I am not her mother.  I know that.  But I am so proud of my sisters and the young women that they have become that I can't help but get emotional.

The age gap between us doesn't feel so large these days but I think back to the times when my sisters were little.  They were in elementary school when I was in high school!

I am so excited for Jennie and hope that she is able to sit back and have a little fun planning her wedding.  It can be a stressful time and when your personality isn't really too fond of people telling you what to do- it can be a little much having to listen to everyone's opinions.  Not to mention the tight timeframe- that in itself stresses everyone out. 

In the end everything will work out and she will be thrilled with her day.

One thing I know for sure...she is going to be a GORGEOUS bride!

 

I'm Bored

The drive between Minneapolis and West Des Monies is pretty boring except for the few miles when you get to look at these windmills.

They are HUGE and you can see them out on the horizon as far as your eyes can see.  It's a pretty cool site but unfortunately we travel there when the rest of the ground is brown and drab.  Might need to make a summer trip someday to see how cool these things look with some green grass, bright blue sky and puffy white clouds.

Sure gets lonely without my copilot.

My January trip is always just me but the March trips down always include friends- Loriann, Lori, Jessica, and/or Molly.   The last few true road trips I have taken have been with Loriann and Molly so today was a little boring.

I guess this guy will have to keep me company

Another cool feature of this Navigation system- it shows you what side of the freeway to be on in the event that the freeway or road splits.

Annual CRUG Board Meeting

This afternoon I left for the Annual CRUG Board Meeting in West Des Moines, Iowa.

The drive there wasn't too bad- the new truck helped to pass the time ;-)

We started in the hotel board room planning the menu for the Spring Forum.

After everyone had arrived we decided to hold the rest of the meeting while out to dinner.

We went to P.F. Changs- it was delicious!

After dinner we made our way to the Blue Moon Dueling Piano Bar.

We came here last year too and this year have planned one of the evening events for the Forum to take place here.

Jeremy and Andy are awesome!  We saw them last year and ended up hanging out with them after the show and learning about how they 'got into the business'.  Andy was in the military and they talked him into playing the trumpet.  From there he taught himself how to play the piano and drums. He is so talented and it is crazy to think that he plays any song that you request and does it all by ear.

These guys are from all over and travel to bars across the US to 'book gigs'.  They don't always work together but do end up crossing paths often.  Andy lives in Ohio and Jeremy lives in Florida.  

Diana and Rochelle- gonna miss these ladies!  (and the rest of you)

It was a little sad this year.  Knowing that this will be my last solo trip in January for the annual meeting.  Within the next few weeks my time with Allscripts will be over as I get on a bus and head to Verona, WI to start the next chapter of my life- getting certified on Epic.

The (old) Boss is Out

Hannah made me this door hanger.

I was instructed to hang it on my office door so that everyone would know when I was gone and 'then they have something to look at" if I am not there.

The snowmen were made by the girls at daycare.  I love having a place to hang their artwork!

Still puzzled

On our way to dance tonight and I can see something glowing from the backseat.

She has solved 60 of the 140 puzzles and many of them have been solved in less than 4 minutes.  Most of them are finished in 3-6 minutes with  a few taking over 6 minutes.  There are even a couple that were completed in less than a minute!

She has never really been into real puzzles which always kind of bothered me- I always felt maybe her mind was going to miss out on something not having to think in that way but it's pretty obvious that it hasn't affected her.  Whew! :-)

Puzzled

Hannah was having a moment tonight and needed a distraction to calm her down.

I told her she should try this puzzle game- Let's Tans.  After I said it I realized that this could actually blow up in my face....you get the same 7 colored shapes with each puzzle but each time you get a new large shape that they all need to fit into.

They start out fairly easy and get more difficult the higher the 'level'.

You can move the shapes in different directions and can face them and rotate them in different ways.

She was real interested and actually walked away from me with her phone to go and sit on the couch to play.

A while later it was bedtime- she was still playing her game.

Hannah:  "Mom, can I please finish this puzzle in bed?"

Me:  "Sure but then you need to go to bed.  This ONE puzzle then it's off.  Got it?!"

Hannah:  "Yes."

10:15 pm and Brian and I are making our way to bed.  He went upstairs first and went to shut Hannah's door.  Then I heard them arguing.  

Yup- she was still up playing on her phone.

Guess both of us will learn a lesson tonight.

I can get used to this

All while I was getting ready to checkout at Target.

Yep! There's an App for that!

A Family Affair

Kim came over around 11:00 today.  She played with the girls a bit, we had lunch and then put Hailey down for a nap.  Hannah wanted to come to the dealer with us so we packed up her iPad and we were off.

She was pretty nervous being in the same situation I was- this is not a need, it's a want.

She decided to wait and see what she would get for her car she was trading in and then talk to financing.  When she got the amount they were willing to pay her for her trade-in she texted Joe and a few minutes later had made a deal with Joe to buy her car for that price.

Joe was there was within 30/40 minutes and picked up his new car.

About 4.5 hours later Kim was driving away in her new car!

I love my new truck but I gotta admit- I am going to miss my car.  Not sure if it will help to have Kim driving/owning it or if it will just be like adding salt to the wound.

Getting Along

My new truck and I are getting along just fine.

It is so easy to get in and out of and I love sitting higher. 

Here are a few of my favorite features:

The orange glowing light is the kid locker (as Hannah calls it).

Most cars have a switch on the inside of the door that you can set so the doors aren't able to open from the inside.  This button lets me control that from the dash so in the event that there are no cars nearby or adults in the back- the passenger can get out.  It's the little things :-)

The navigation system has a lot of features that I really appreciate.

Up in the top right hand corner it will display the Speed Limit for the road you are on.

It will show you the traffic conditions on the road you are on and warn you if the traffic is getting heavy ahead.  Need a Wells Fargo or Target, gas or food?  Just watch on the screen and if there is one nearby it will show up.

I also love the Bluetooth capability.

When this is on I can play music from my phone or stream Pandora.  It's awesome!

Junk mail isn't always junk :-)

This past weekend we received a postcard from GM.

There were a few customer specials that were running together that made the thought of looking at a new vehicle cross Brian's mind.

Since he had just gotten a new truck a year ago he had mentioned to me that we should take a look- I am not really sure that he was really that serious about it at the time he mentioned it.  My car was less than two years old and we really had no reason to need to look for a new vehicle.

Of course my ears perked up when he mentioned it- I mean, come on, who doesn't love the new car smell?  The postcard listed the different models that were available with this promotion.  I looked at the list of cars and none of them caught my eye- I love my car and really don't need a new car.

Then Bri mentioned that Chevy and GMC had some smaller SUVs that maybe we should look at.

NOW you have my attention!

We started doing some research and after hours of searching and comparing vehicles I thought I had picked out the one I wanted to see.  2013 GMC Terrain.

'Baby Morgan's mom- Maissa' works for Luther so she game me the name of a guy that could talk to.

I emailed him the truck I wanted to come and test drive and it was set- we would at least go and take a look.  So, last night, Kimmy came over after work to watch the girls for us so we could go and test drive the Terrain.

We got there and my love for the body style of the Terrain was confirmed.  I couldn't find the exact color that I wanted online but most of the available colors looked good so I was starting to realize that I really was excited at the possibility of a new vehicle and this was probably going to happen.

I had made a little list of the options that were a MUST- after all if I am giving up something I love, I need to get something in return that I LOVE.

Must haves: leather seats, heated seats, sun roof, rear back-up camera, hands free phone, voice command options, navigation system, remote start, power lift gate- you know, the usual.

When we got to the dealer Lance was waiting for us.  He had a Terrain all set waiting for us to go for a ride.  I really liked the interior.  It was very comfortable and the truck overall is a really good size.  It was easy to get in and out of and the ride was really nice.

However, the dash/interior lights were glowing a bright red.

At first it didn't bother me since I was real excited but after driving for a few minutes it started to get annoying.  Something about them felt harsh and aggressive.

This week Brian had been forwarding me bios of local Chevy Equinoxs that were in lots nearby.  We decided to ask Lance if he could get one off the lot for us to compare the two side by side.

The inside of the Equinox was EXACTLY the same.  The seats, the dash, the stitching, the mirrors, etc.  The only difference was the the interior/dash lights were light blue instead of red.

Much more calming and pleasing to the eye.

The body style of the Equinox is very nice.  I have been noticing them EVERYWHERE on the roads this past week.  One of the reasons why at first I was a little turned off by them- everyone has one. 

Brian reminded me of one that he had found at Main Motors.  It was the color I wanted and had all of the options that were important to me.  (Not necessary but important- this vehicle is not a need, it's a want so if it's gonna happen, it's going to have it all)

We talked to Lance and after working the numbers we had made a decision- I was getting a new truck!  

A 2013 White Diamond Chevy Equinox

We got home and told Kimmy and the girls the news.

Kim was talking about the Altima that I was trading in and mentioned how much she had liked it.

"Hmmmm....you know, I can mention it to Lance if you really want to look into it."

She was definitely interested so we made plans for her to go and talk about it on Saturday.

"Hi Hannah"

I can NOT talk enough about how Hailey's personality has been coming through over the past year.

She is such a fun kid and has so much spunk in her!

She has always been my little monster and she continues to prove that this nickname was put to good use.  She is never really naughty, she just gets into stuff.  She is also very aware about what she is doing and knows when she is being mischievous.

For example...Hannah was playing with that Barbie phone that Hailey is holding.  Hannah walked away from it for a minute and Hailey grabbed it.  Then she walked over by where Hannah was and said "Hi Hannah!"  When Hannah didn't say anything about her having the phone she ran off with it with a huge grin on her face.  She has been doing this more and more with things lately.

Did you notice her boots and that skirt (again!)?

I'm lovin' it

Here is a little sampling of the types of text messages that Hannah likes to send...

As you can see she has learned how to spell a new word.

 It is fun being able to text pictures to her and by sending her little words and phrases, she is actually starting to pick up a few of them and learning to spell/read (memorize) a few of them.

Most of the time we communicate through the emoticons.  It's fun and she sure likes to text.  She can text with Jennie, Jennifer, Courtney, Loriann, Kiley, Lindsay, Mom and Dad.

All for only $11.98

The girls and I ran to Target today.  While we were there they wanted to look at the toys since they both had a gift card from Christmas to use.  As we were walking through the toy aisles my attention was turned to the sleds.  I bought the girls each a sled and since it was pretty nice outside we decided to try sledding when we got home.  Hannah was SURE that the 'big' hill in our backyard would be great for sledding.

She was right!

The girls had so much fun sledding.  They started out going down the hill themselves and after I had gotten a few pictures I joined them at the top of the hill and started to give them pushes.

The backyard was FULL of laughter.   And I mean FULL!

 

 

I can't wait until we have some more snow and nice weather so we can spend more time out at the Parmley Hills.

 

MY FAVORITE PICTURE!

I can't stop looking at this picture.

It was taken with my new camera from Christmas.  The colors are awesome...and the kids aren't too bad either :-)

 

Accessories are a Girls Best Friend

I am so excited!  There is now a Charming Charlie in Maple Grove!

This store is amazing!

It is FULL of accessories and everything is color coordinated. 

Hats, purses, necklaces, rings, bracelets, shoes, clothes and more- OH MY!

Borrow by Hailey

There was something about these forks and knives at Buffalo Wild Wings tonight.

Hailey was pretty attached to them and as we were getting ready to leave she informed us that she was taking these home.  We explained that she couldn't do that.  They belonged to the restaurant and we just borrow them while we are here.

Here she is (below) trying to convince us that it's ok because she will just bring them back the next time we come back.    She was cracking us up!

As the rest of us were standing up to put our coats on she was scooting her way out of the booth while still holding tight unto her treasures.  At that time the manager walked by and jokingly said to her "Hey, now don't you take those home!"

Ha ha- it couldn't have been more perfect.

She accepted defeat and finally let go of the silverware.

Get out of our house!

It never fails.

You are off work for multiple days due to a holiday and you are finally back to work and then one of the kids gets sick and you need to be off to stay home. *sigh*

Hannah came home yesterday with a red eye so we spent our evening at the Minute Clinic last night and came home with eye drops to treat pinkeye.

1-2 drops every 4 hours for the next 7 days.

This could be interesting...

(I had a picture of Hannah's eye but it was deleted from my camera before it got posted- oh well)

It's all the rage

It seems as though there is always a song that brings the world together.

The first time you hear it, it sounds like a joke.

The words don't make sense- although it has a good beat.

The singer(s) are usually quite the character and immediately you can see that this will be the new rage.  Everyone knows the song, everyone knows the dance.  When you are in a crowd and the song plays it's almost as the world pauses and everyone takes a time out.

Gangnam Style by Psy is that current song.

Hailey can NOT contain herself when that song comes on.  It's adorable and even though I would rather never hear that song again, I can not get enough of watching her reaction.

I LOVE the passion inside of this little girl!

New Year = New Beginnings

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I have never been one to make New Years Resolutions.  I have never really gotten into the 'spirit' of thinking that a new year could mean a clean slate.   I mean, sure, I think about it.  I get inspired by the energy around the ideas that others come up and I have a list of my own although like most things I tend to do it's all about quantity and not quality.  So, my 'list' of things I'd like to accomplish is a mile long.   Add a weeks worth of illness to this picture and all I have is a big pile of  'it's just another day'.

It is kind of bringing me down.  As others are excited and motivated, I just want to sleep and feel better.  I am not feeling motivated.  I am feeling overwhelmed and defeated. The house is still a mess from Christmas, the tree is still up, I have had most of the last two weeks off of work and haven't even been able to enjoy them since we haven't been feeling good around here.

I know that this feeling is temporary.  I know that I am bringing on way too much unnecessary feelings and stressing myself out.  So, decision today is to stop having so many expectations of myself.  Get better.  Clean the house another day.  Accept that even though others are energized about a 'new beginning' I don't have any obligation to anyone to feel the same. 

It's going to be a good year, I can feel it and I don't need a checklist to prove it.