The Wart

ICK!  This guy has been hanging around for way too long and it's probably time to schedule an appointment for his eviction.  It hurts me to think of bringing Hannah in to have this froze off.  I know she will be ok and I know that I can't protect her from everything.  But I feel sad about not being able to fix this for her.  She is starting to complain about this wart bothering her when she walks and she is now begging me to bring her in.  I guess that's my que!

Dino in a Box

 The instructions are to Draw your favorite toy in the empty box.
Apparently Hailey's favorite toy is a Dinosaur.
Huh?!  LOL!  I never knew she had a dinosaur toy.
(good thing there wasn't a note home from the teacher with this one)

The Wall

 I have looked at this blank wall in my house long enough.

It is time to start putting some serious effort into making this space feel more like home.

I have been slowly collecting items and ordered a few off of Etsy recently.

Starting to put things together to see if they all work together.

I think I am really liking it so far. 

Time to Spend the Money

Today Hailey and I went to the Mall of America so she could spend some of her Christmas money.  She has been talking about wanting some new American Girl doll stuff.
She picked out a little hat, which she then proceeded to model for me, a locker, a desk and backpack.

We got home and I went through the girls closets.  Can you tell it had been a while! LOL

Off to Goodwill I go!

My Street

"I live in Oxbow Creek Circle Drive.  I love my street.  My neighbors call my garage the PC, it stands for Parmley Center.  My neighbor has an ice skating rink in the back yard"  by Hannah

Sounds like a pretty amazing place to me!

Making a Murderer

It's all the rage right now.  You can hardly turn on the TV, look on Facebook or overhear a conversation without the Netflix Series of Making a Murderer being discussed.

Most people binge watched this 10 part series over a weekend and some even admit to dedicating a full day to get through it.

This series is about Steven Avery, a man from Manitowoc County, WI.

In 1985 he was arrested and convicted of sexually assaulting a woman even though he had a solid alibi and there was no evidence linking him to the case.  He served 18 years in prison until he was finally exonerated with help from the Innocence Project.

He was released in 2003 and two years later found himself arrested and convicted of the murder of Auto-Trader photographer, Theresa Halbec.

The documentary takes you through a 10 year look into these cases.  You get to see bits and pieces of the actual trials, interrogations, and interviews with the families and Steven Avery himself.

The show did a good job showing this side of the story.  It was easy (for me) to be talked into thinking that he was framed.  Lack of evidence, no motive, shady activity by the police department.

I'm not saying I am Team Avery or anything, I am just saying that it was pretty eye opening.

You also have to remember that this story was told from his side, since the episodes have aired there has been tons of additional information to support both sides.  A new lawyer has picked up his case and it appears that this won't be the last we hear about it.  It will be interesting to follow.

If this man didn't commit this crime, I could not imagine being in his shoes and spending over half of my life in prison for TWO crimes that I didn't commit. 

 It's scary to think that stuff like that even happens.

S.T.E.M. Fair

Hannah's class paired up to work on projects for the S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Fair.  We were not able to go during the official 'fair' but we were able to check it out when I picked her up from A+.  Her project, that she did with Sara Richards, was How to Engineer a Tower.

 


Hailey's class worked on a project as a whole class.  Their project was How Sanding Changes the Shape of Wood.

She hates me.

Today was freezing.  Way too cold to be outside so we stayed in and cleaned rooms instead (insert moaning and groaning from the children, especially Hailey).  She was mad at me for some reason, probably because I asked her to help clean her room or maybe it was because I wouldn't let her wear shorts outside- whatever it was, she was really mad.

When I pulled a pile of things out from under her bed I found this picture.  Crumpled up into a ball.  The part that was ripped out was a picture of Hailey and Brian, which was still intact laying on her dresser.  I couldn't decide if I should laugh or cry so I did a little of both.

I try not to take this stuff personal, I know that deep down she loves me, but sometimes I am worried because it might be only because she has to.

I have nothing to wear

Honestly.  So many days I find myself staring at my closet upset that I have nothing to wear.  This is still not all of it.  Mostly I think I am not a huge fan of the way I look in any of the clothes :-(
I probably only wear 20 of these things in here.  I either need to force myself to start mixing things up a bit or I need to make a VERY LARGE trip to the Goodwill.

Jason De-Rule-O

Ladies night at Treasure Island Casino to see Jason Derulo.

It was a fun night!

The venue was sort of cheesy and I am not sure I would need to see another show there, unless of course it was someone I had to see.  Our seats were off to the side and the stage is kind of a weird set up so we watched most of it on the big screens but that didn't stop us from having a great time!



Elle

Hailey has been giving a lot of attention to Elle this week.  Tonight when I went to check on her, I found them snuggling. Her two favorite things right now- the plaid shirt and her American Girl doll.

Words I Know

Hailey made a list of the words that she knows, notice the last word on her list.

Carl has been her buddy lately and she was pretty proud that she knew how to spell his name.

The day after

It must have been some kind of party :-)

Today we met over at Kim's for her gift opening.  She had a mini stroke when she was looking for a stack of cards that had been misplaced.  Half way through the evening last night a stack of cards was taken and moved to a secure location.  Apparently the location was super secure because it took us a while to find them.  They had been put into one of the presents- whew!

They do

"Buzz, buzz, buzz" the alarm went off and within minutes we were awake and in the shower.  The preparation has begun.   There is something reassuring about knowing that someone else will be responsible for your hair and make up and all you need to do is show up clean.
We got everyone washed, packed, fed and out of the door with time to spare.


We made it to the salon and the beautifying started.

Hailey was being a little stinker and everytime I came over to get a picture of her she would stick her tongue out at me.  I finally convinced her to take a picture with me and then she showed me that beautiful smile :-)

 Kim looked absolutely breathtaking!  I sure do have some gorgeous sisters!

The colors she choose for her wedding, the venue, the centerpieces, every detail were perfect.

The day went buy so fast as they always do.  We got the finishing touches set up in the venue and then it was time for pictures.  The Big Wood Brewery is downstairs from Kellerman's so we spent enough time there to have a drink and take some pictures by the huge kegs.

The kids all looked so grown up.  All four of the kids were in the wedding.  Hannah and Agustin walked down the aisle together and Hailey and Nico, Ring Security, walked together.

  

Kim wanted a bunch of pictures outside.  It was cold but not unbearable.

Lucky for us we were out there for less than 20 minutes, Kim and Joe stayed out longer but they were both pretty warm so it felt good to get some air.

She really wanted a picture of all of us blowing snow into the air.  We have all seen shots like this and they always turn out so cute!  Jennie did gold glitter at her wedding and they turned out awesome- Kim's turn!

We all got a handful of white snow (BRRRRRR), then 1, 2, 3....blow!

Right at the time we all blew into the snow, a huge gust of wind came and blew all of the snow back into our faces.  It was so cold and so funny!  There we were, before the wedding ceremony, drenched.

The Wedding Party

Such a wonderful day!  Kim and Joe both seemed so relaxed and so happy. Congrats you two!

It's like I'm in High School!

I feel like I am in High School again.  I haven't seen gas prices this low in so long.  It really couldn't have come at a better time.  The price per gallon has been dropping ever since I bought the Enclave.

Today I had some gas rewards from Cub to help lower the price per gallon but I was pretty pumped to fill up for less than $25!

Tomorrow is the big day.  Kim and Joe's wedding.  The last of the Miller girls.

The girls and I spent the day packing our things and getting ready to spend the evening with Kim, Kristin and Jennie at the hotel. I had the car all packed up and decided to carry in the old winter coat that was sitting in my backseat for the past few weeks.  It was a good thing I did because as I hung it up in the front closet I found our dresses for the wedding!  I can't believe I almost left without them.  Good thing we would have just been a 20-30 min drive away.

We got to the hotel around 5:00 and after getting unloaded, decided it was time to go out to eat.  We hit up a place called The Station down the road from Kellerman's and shortly after we got there Kari, Andy and the boys met us for dinner.

After dinner we all went back to the hotel to talk a little more about the plan for Saturday.

Kari and family left shortly after and the rest of us started in on our evening plans.

We had dresses to iron and last minute details to discuss.

It's hard to remember what the night before the wedding felt like when I was the bride.  

I slept over at Stacey's.  I am sure I was excited and nervous.  I slightly remember not wanting to go to sleep so that I could feel that excitement forever but also wanting to go to sleep right away so I could wake up and start the day.  Stacey and Sara were up at the crack of dawn putting together my flowers and I remember waking up to see them and instantly falling in love.

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur.  I remember seeing Brian for the first time and the look he had on his face.  I remember walking down the aisle then riding in a limo around downtown after the ceremony.  I remember eating, a few speeches and then lots and lots of dancing.

I remember everything going as we had planned and I remember being happy with how everything turned out but all of the details, the tiny things that have kept us busy for the past few months, I don't remember much of them.  

I hope Kim has the same experience.  She won't regret all of the hours she spent getting things ready, she won't regret paying those bills.  She won't have second thoughts about the colors she chose or the location where they will say their I do's.  Her pictures will remind her of her hardwork but I hope she forgets about the stress.  I hope she forgets that leading up to the wedding she probably felt like a prisoner.  Excited, sure- but at the same time consumed.  Worried about every detail, worried that she forgot to include someone or something, worried about who will come and if they'll find their place to sit.  I hope she enjoys her day- she deserves it!

Hailey, Jennie and I slept on the pull out couch while Hannah and the twins shared the king size bed.

Hailey gave Jennie and I quite the show as she suckled herself to sleep (suckled = sucking her mouth as if there is a nuk in it- some crazy habit she picked up) and woke us around 4 to tell us that there are 18 kids in her class.  Ha, ha- What the?!  I didn't get much sleep.  I was anxious.  Anxious that I forgot something, anxious that I would oversleep and my role as the big sister would set the tone for the day, making everyone late and feeling rushed.  I never sleep too good in hotels anyways but then add the pressure on that I would wake first, shower, and then pack up the room (my stuff and three girls worth), get us all down to eat breakfast, get Kim's room cleaned up a little bit in case the housekeepers didn't show and get us all on time to our appointment and then off to the event center.  I didn't have my phone nearby so I couldn't even tell what time it was (that was like torture).

Kim seemed to sleep pretty good.  Her and Hannah fell asleep playing their Hit it Rich Slots game.

So happy we were able to be with Kim on her last night as a single lady.