First week of November 2016

Pajama day at school (and Maxwell participated!)

Playing at the park

Look who is wearing big girl panties!

With Grandma Donna (I think during the day with Britt)

My friend Beth at work

My friend Andrea came to my work and helped about 50 of us make these signs.  I made one with a "G" so I could give it to Maxwell's kinder teacher - Garza.

Crazy hair day at school

It certainly looked crazy :)

Emmalyn joined in the fun too

Playing at the mall during the day with Britt

"cheese face"

Yup, cheese face again.  Those ringlets!  No curling iron needed for this one.

Cuddled up with the kiddos

Maxwell practicing his Kindermusic rhythm cards.  He's doing a great job.

We took the kids to the "Festival at the Switchyard" in downtown Carrolton.  The kids had fun playing games.  (They took turns though because we were standing in a silly line waiting for face painting.  While I'm glad to see my kids now enjoy it, face painting is the WORST line wherever you go.  You spend at least an hour just waiting and then trying to entertain the kids while you wait.  This new trend of total face painting instead of the old way with a ghost on a cheek or a rainbow takes so much time!!!!

Maxwell waited in the stroller more than Emmalyn did

Emmalyn got some flowers (mom's choice) and Maxwell is the Pokemon Pikachu

We took the kids home and left them with a new babysitter - girl down the street and then we headed back to the concert for a free Barenaked Ladies Concert!

First we went out to dinner and while we were eating fireworks went off behind us - it was great show!

The concert was so fun!  The last time we saw these guys was at an Medal Ceremony Concert during the 2002 SLC Olympic games.

Being silly with dad outside of Costco

Loving the smiles and giggles

We had Souper Salad for dinner.  Peter and I used to go all the time when we lived in SLC so it was a little nostalgic.

So, we have been sort of potty training all week.  Emmalyn does great with pooping on the potty but then she will sometimes sit on the potty, do nothing, and then pee on the floor a minute later.  If she's in pull-ups she treats it like a diaper so that choice is out.  It's either panties, nude, or diaper.  She's having multiple accidents a day.  :(  When we went to the festival I just put her in a pull-up because I didn't want to deal with it.  That night with the babysitter she was in diapers but then asked to go potty before going to bed.  The next morning she said she needed to go pee and she actually did so that's a win!

Mornings are good.  Maxwell gets up around 6 am.  Peter will give him cereal or will leave a bowl with cereal in it and put a cup of milk in the fridge so he can do it himself.  Emmalyn wakes around the same time but I try to get her to cuddle with me in bed for an extra half hour.  She immediately asks for milk when she wakes up by saying, "your milk" and I'm still telling her it's empty.  After about a half hour she'll go to the kitchen and Peter will get her cereal.  Both kids watch their iPad while eating and can be independent which means we can get a few more minutes of sleep!mo

4th week of October, 2017

It was a FULL week!

I did a craft with the kids - like for real...  I did a craft with the kids!  (I feel like I don't do enough of that.)  they each made their own beaded pumpkin.  Even Emmalyn was able to participate.

All done!

Maxwell had his turn at the pumpkin patch after Kindermusik.

Lots of pumpkins to choose from

The special one

Go Cubs!  So excited to wear the shirt I got at Wrigley field.  They are going to take it all the way!

Emmalyn doing a great job riding her trike.  She's got the pedaling down.

Look at that mess of hair!

The only time it goes straight is on a slide with tons of static.   :)

Costa Vida finally opened!  We were excited to go try it out for free on their practice night.  I was in heaven with the pork salad.  :)

We went to the annual Halloween party at our next door neighbor's.  This year we went as hippies.

Tyne and me

The decorations were fantastic!  (Katherine and me)

Group picture

She was so sweetly sleeping when I got home that I tried to get a pic, but whoops, the flash bothered her.

I painted the kids' fingernails.  Maxwell was really excited about his orange/black fingernails

Maxwell's wall still has his poster and maps from preschool.  He worked hard on finishing up the maps when he was there this summer.

I had a work trip to California and stayed at Julianne's house.  This was my first time going to her new house.  It was a gorgeous home up in the hills with an amazing view.  I went out on Sunday so I could spent a little more time with her.  We spent the whole day just talking.  At one point, Derek joined in for a few hours.  It was so relaxing and enjoyable.

We cooked dinner!

Lemon, basil, asparagus chicken pasta

The next day after work, I hung out with Jules on set at her show, where she's a judge.  

All dressed up for the show.  I was feeling going about my weightloss so far and felt really pretty in this dress (with some serious heels, you can't tell how high they are in this pic)

I got to sit pretty close to her so we were able to talk a little during breaks.  I was coughing at one point and she kindly got up and gave me her water.  We were also naughty and texted a few times.

After the show

Jules, Kristy, and me enjoying some amazing Greek food after the show

It was nice spending a little time with Derek during this trip

The next morning we had time to go to breakfast before I had to go to work.  It was a really great visit with Julianne.  We had tons of deep, meaningful conversations.  I love her tremendously and I always leave her feeling uplifted and inspired.

I got home pretty late from LA.  While I was waiting for my luggage, I looked through my purse to find my car key... except it weren't there.  I started to panic a little bit but figured it must just be in my luggage.  I got my luggage and tore through it multiple times and couldn't find the key.  I had driven Peter's car and we only have 1 car key (we think Maxwell may have thrown the other one away when he was little).  

So, long story short... Peter had to drive all the way to the airport to get me.  I tried to get a locksmith out there but no one was able to come out that late and make me a new key.  They could let me into the car but every I called didn't have the specific type of key on hand to be able to make me a key.  Poor Peter was a trooper because at one point he had left the house and I called him and told him to turn around because I had found a lock smith who would be able to help me.  Well, then 10 minutes later I get a call from the lock smith saying they couldn't do it until the next day so now Peter had to leave AGAIN to come get me.  I really appreciated that he had a good attitude about it because I felt so awful.

The stinking key!!!  Julianne ended up finding it in her bag that I had borrowed and the next morning she overnighted it to me.  Peter and I decided to still have the lock smith come to the airport because it would be tough being down a car for two days plus it would be good to have two keys again.

So the next morning, I drove Peter to work and then continued to the airport to meet the locksmith.  That was an ordeal!!  He worked for like an hour on my car and then told me he needed to go back to his shop to get a certain machine.  So, I ate lunch at the airport while I waited.  Finally he finished and so I drove back to Peter's work that afternoon in my car and then we went back to the airport so that he could drive his car.  It was such a hassle.

The locksmith

Unfortunately the locksmith ended up taking basically my whole day and that night I was hosting a craft party, which I had planned on spending my afternoon prepping for.  So instead I scrambled to get everything together.

The spread turned out okay than to everyone bringing stuff too

We all did Thanksgiving/Holiday themes on either canvas or chalkboard

My friend Andrea does this as her business and was a great teacher!  It was fun to have both neighborhood and work friends there.

The finished products

Maxwell came home with his first reported card from school.  They don't get letter grades at this point.  He was meeting all expectations on the report card.  For math, he had achieved all parts of the kinder curriculum (which I thought was great but a little ridiculous since it's October and he already knows everything he's supposed to learn this year and they aren't going to challenge him to go beyond that).