***OCTOBER 31st***

First things first....I'd like to wish my mom a very happy birthday today....on HALLOWEEN!!!

She's 54 years young today!

Not only is she my mom but she's also my best friend! 

She's always there for me when I need an ear and she gives THEE best advice!

Not to mention she's the best grandma to my two boys...who love her to death!! 

I wish her a happy day today and every day!!!

I took this picture Monday night after the football game (picking up Pierce's trucks) and the moon was awesome!  Looks like a spooky sky...perfect for HALLOWEEN!!!

I'm not a huge decorator for any other holiday but Christmas but I found some HALLOWEEN decor in my storage room so Pierce and I put it up!

 The kids LOVE the ghost lights!

This neat little Hawkeye ghost was a birthday gift from a friend a few years ago! 

 Table and window decor....

I hope you all have a great HALLOWEEN!

We plan to:)

Pictures to follow of BATMAN & SPIDERMAN!!

October Fun

Friday night we got together with our group that's going to Green Bay for the Packer game next Sunday.  We had a good night with great conversation and great food!!

I am so excited to get away for a few days (kid free!!) and have some fun!  Come on Friday:)

Saturday we went to my sisters for the Iowa game to to celebrate this princess' 2nd birthday!!

Happy Birthday to Miss Kadence!

It was a great day hanging out with family, eating good food and playing some cards!

The Hawkeyes could have made the day even better but they are struggling!

I am horrified and cannot get over the poor player from South Carolina who had his knee snapped Saturday.  I'm thankful to the halftime announcer who said "this image is very graphic..." so I didn't even watch.  Watching everyone elses reaction was bad enough for me.  My wonderful brother in law had to pause, rewind and watch it over and over....until my sister yelled at him!  My eyes and stomach cannot take that!

I pray he's okay and can make a comeback!

 Sunday we decided it was time to carve pumpkins!  The boys were really excited for the first 10 minutes then found better things to do! 

I think they were pleased with the final product...thanks to Travis!

We went simple this year:)

 We finally repaid the favor of getting Booed!

Pierce and I had a blast driving around being sneaky (or trying to be!).

Not sure all our victims know it was us but if they read this post they will:)

Busy, busy week ahead! 

Today I'm hosting a spray tan party here.  If any of you locals would like a $10 spray tan let me know!

Tuesday I'll be traveling for a spray tan party.

Wednesday is HALLOWEEN!!!!

Thursday I'll be packing for Green Bay (YAHOO)

Friday we'll be leaving for Green Bay (DOUBLE YAHOO!!) after work.

Hope you all have a great Monday!

Ah Shoooooot.....

I did it...

...I opened the Halloween candy:(

OOPS

Don't worry...it's not all gone {yet} but it's in a safe, safe place;)

You know..the place where your husband and kids will never look!

I thought I was doing good this year buying candy early.

I always wait until the very last minute and all the good stuff is gone.

Not this year...this year I stocked up on Target's $2.88/bag of GOOD candy!

The real hum-dinger of this lovely story...we're never home on Halloween to hand out candy!

We both go out with the kids up and down our street then to the 30 family members around town!

I could leave the candy sitting on the porch but that defeats my whole purpose!!

I guess I could go the day before Halloween and get the "not-so-good" candy for the porch;)

You'll have to stop to see!

Anywho....TGIF!

It's been a long (trying) week but I'm glad it's soon to be the weekend.

Cheers:)

Napping...No Longer:(

This sleeping beauty has decided napping is for the birds:(

I'm about to get selfish with this post...bear with me...

I have kids here all day...10 hours a day...5 days a week with daycare and then my own two....24/7 (obviously).  I really, really, really look forward to the quiet house for an hour or two in the afternoon.

I need that time to unplug and not speak (more importantly, to not repeat myself) for an hour!

Mind you..I also have an infant who cat naps and rarely ever naps with everyone else so I'm not 100% by myself....BUT this baby doesn't talk back!  I like our quiet snuggle time...every baby in my daycare has gotten this time!

So now my problem is Mr. Pierce!  I know he's four and should be getting out of his napping routine but I'm not ready to give it up!

We've never had fights at bedtime when he naps so I told myself we'll let him nap as long as he wants!

That time has come...he's just not tired at nap and when I make him lay down he's up 6-10 times saying it's taking too long, he has to pee and every other excuse in the book.

Now I'm constantly telling him to be quiet, sit still, stop talking...all because EVERY single room of my house is occupied with napping kids (including his room!).  I can't send him anywhere...

I was sending him outside but it's too muddy this week.

I need some ideas for him!  I've had him play Candy Land, Leapsters, color, finger paint, play-doh...but all seem to get too loud and he ends up getting in trouble...because he woke someone up!

It's making me a little cranky because I'm not getting my down time (insert selfish part here).  Not to mention this kid asks 500 million questions a day!

I've dealt with kids not needing naps in the past with other daycare kids but they all listen to me...Pierce does NOT!

I realize this complaint of a blog will not win me mother of the year but lets be honest, I lost that a long time ago;)

I love my kids to death and I'm just trying to be a better person (and not so cranky) for them!!

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated...and please no judging.  I already know I'm extremely lucky to be with my kids 24/7 and I'm even luckier that I get to answer his 500 million questions.....in one day;)

Weekend Recap...

Friday we celebrated a birthday here in the daycare...Ella turned 3:)

Her mom loaded the kids up on cupcakes and juice boxes!

The kids loved it and were jacked up on sugar!

The last few weeks we've started a Saturday ritual with cinnamon rolls!

The boys could not wait for them to get done!

I have to admit...they were pretty fantastic:)

I'm trying new things with my hair.  I just want a little curl so I bought a new curling iron.  Not sure this was the exact look I was going for...but there was no changing it once I was done!

I'm really thinking about cutting my hair like this again!  I really love short hair...it's easy to take care of and you are forced to actually "do" your hair everyday!  I'm still debating....

Saturday night we had GNO at Gus' in Coralville.  The Hawks looked terrible but that didn't ruin our night!  It was a great time and we need to do it more often!

We had lots of family time this weekend....celebrating Taylor's 7th birthday and then my in-laws 35 years of marriage!

Here are Makenna and Pierce in their Hawkeye gear:)

Saturday I celebrated 4 years of my daycare opening!

Seems like yesterday when Pierce was 9 weeks old and I was starting this new journey!

I've been completely blessed to be home everyday with my kids and providing care to others!

Happy Monday to all of you!

**UPDATE**

I've had a few people ask me how I make my cinnamon rolles (I also posted this on Facebook).  I have no secrets and I'll be the first to tell you I buy Rhodes frozen cinnamon rolls.  You let them rise overnight and bake them for 15 minutes the next morning!  Super easy!

Cheers....

.....To the frick'n weekend:)

And Happy Friday to me:)

I made these bad boys yesterday!

While pregnant with Pierce I used to finish off a pan of scotcharoos in a week!  I got really burned out on them and haven't had them for a while!

I decided it was time to reunite:)

AND NO...I'M NOT PREGNANT!

I actually haven't made them because Cash has the darn peanut allergy.  I figured how rude of me to make a pan of these delicious things and try to explain to a 23 month old why he can't have any!  That's way too mean!

BUT....one of my sister-in-laws told me to try all natural peanut butter but I've been hesitant..for obvious reasons...you know the whole breaking out in hives and throat closing thing just really scares me!!

Cash had an appointment Tuesday afternoon (diagnosed with bronchitis) so I decided we were going to have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch.  Something this daycare hasn't seen for a while!

I decided it was okay to try because he was already heading to the doctor anyway!  Don't judge my logic;)

To my surprise he was completely fine!  No signs of hives or throat closing!  YAY!!  I'm so glad but I was also kind of like WTH?!

Anyway...I figure he's good to go with all natural peanut butter so I whipped up a batch of scotcharoos!

WE.ALL.LOVE.THEM.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

I know I plan to...GNO Saturday night for the Iowa/Penn State game...HOLLA!

TGIF



New Phone....

As I mentioned in an earlier post I got a new phone (long time coming!!).

I'm having fun learning all about it....although I feel like learning everything will take a decade!

I'm sure it will come with time....but since I've had it this is what's going on over here.....

I made this collage with PicsArt app:

Travis was at a continuing education class for the fire department and entered a drawing.

Turns out he won and scored the W'Burg Fire Department $500!

[Wish he was that lucky when it comes to winning money for us.]

Anyway..he had to have his picture taken so we got to go to the fire station!

The boys love it when we go there!

I turned it into play-time with my phone!

 I'm having tons of fun playing with my wallpaper!

My sister told me about an app called Zedge (I'm sure you're all thinking geez Kim...get with the times!) but I'm just learning about it and loving it!

They have free wallpapers, live wallpapers, ringtones, notifications and games....we're talking like 604,000 different types!!

That's where I found this beauty!

And during the Iowa game Saturday I may or may not have turned my text notification to "wet fart" just to laugh hysterically every time it went off.  Don't worry..I wasn't the only one with tears in my eyes...my sister loved it too!  The kids also had a blast!

I made sure to change that back before we went shopping and out to eat Sunday;)

 Another wonderful thing is the kid apps!  I made sure to download some of those first!

I now find myself fighting Pierce for my phone...

Although it came in handy while eating out at Buffalo Wild Wings Sunday;)

Cash is till trying to learn the ropes of the phone!  He's got a heavy finger and somehow gets it back to the homepage and away from his game!  That turns into him crying because his game ended!

We're working with him!

If any of you have apps you cannot live without I'd love to hear about them...for the kids or me!

Ladies volleyball tonight!!  YAHOO:)

Happy Hump Day!!

Happy Birthday to my BIL Chad!

Hope you have a great day:)