A Day In The Life: 12/01/2014

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

November 2014

The cold really came last night. It is raining leaves outside this morning & that makes me a little sad. Goodbye beautiful Fall colors. In a couple hours whatever is left here will be on the ground. (I do secretly love the sound of raining leaves)

Well, the cold really came last night! It is raining leaves outside this morning & that makes me sad. Goodbye beautiful Fall colors. :(. In a couple hours whatever is left here will be on the ground. (I do secretly love the sound of raining leaves)

In case you have never stopped to hear it raining leaves...

After dinner, we each spend about 10 minutes doing our own things. "WHAT WAS THAT??!!"...Looks like Dejan has lost his 10 minutes, because Ava picked up the Lego Beach House we spent TWO HOURS building & dropped it on the floor! I will just sit here & let her Dad have his turn with that before I freak out!!

The leaves have all come down.

All the leaves coming down is "amazing" for kids!

Serious about getting that screw out. I love her determination & ability to use tools!

I have no idea what is happening today, but this is what we currently look like as Ava bosses me into a Nirvana rock n roll show... {help me} ;-)

Cynthia Hanks You require no help if u r currently rocking out to Nirvana, you are doing everything right and should enjoy the ride!

Francesca Harris Djordjevich Doing things right & enjoying the ride were not my thoughts when I found an entire roll of torn up toilet paper used for the "fog" effects of the show. (I secretly did laugh after gasping)

She's good! She engineered her way through designing her own swing.

I try to catch Ava off guard with random conversations about school & friends because it's the easiest way to get the most information. Today she was helping me paint & I threw in one of those conversations; this conversation turned into tears for her & I just made one of the biggest changes to a parenting style. "You no longer need to follow the rule of walking away, girlie. The time has come for you to stand your ground & stick up for yourself. If you don't, people will bully you your whole life. There will always be bullies, but as long as you are in a safe surrounding, you stick up for yourself! Use your words first, but punch them if you have to!"
I don't care! I stand behind that firmly from now on!

At least the kids love it...

Sara Johnson--We have 4 extra kids at our house tonight! Husband and I figured we mine as well get it all over with at once!! (Finley's birthday sleep over)
This is fear and crazy mixed together!

Common Core...I hate it, but Ava says she gets it & it's easy. Top row is her way of getting the answer (a number line) & my way is below (clearly for simpletons like me). You decide what you think.

"Wow it's warm out here!" It's 30 degrees and snowy :-(

Ava made this by herself at home, & I'm so happy to know she does learn stuff at school (because they always say they learned nothing), & guess what, it's about Thanksgiving, not Christmas!

Sara Johnson... I can totally see us (along with our husbands) embarrassing the crap out of our girls when they need it! I can't wait! http://www.lifetreefamily.com/best-discipline-teenagers/

Rosanna Seabold...Accomplished the 7 mile run through muck and ice and creeks knee deep. I am 44 and ready for more thank you Francesca Harris Djordjevich for encouraging words!!!

Accomplished the 7 mile run through muck and ice and creeks knee deep. I am 44 and ready for more ;-) thank you Francesca Harris Djordjevich for encouraging words!!!

Yesterday was a girl day....I was invited to a store offering "free items but 1cent", a make over room where I pretty much ended up looking like Mrs. Peacock, judged a dance competition, made LOTS of food (crazy for such little people), played scare chase with screams worthy of a horror film, had a picnic lunch inside the truck in the Target parking lot (again, they were really hungry), had lots of laughs, and heard snoring, coughing, tooth grinding, & got kicked a lot while I tried sleeping last night, & for some reason they kept asking me why I am so tired today. Thanks Finley, for being such a sweet friend to Ava & being like the sister she doesn't have.
— with Sara Johnson.

THANKSGIVING...

From Adonica Cosgrove....And so it begins! Don't worry, Francesca, I'm just "helping".

(Getting Ready for Thanksgiving Dinner)...

To Adonica Cosgrove Pohren..., my white trash dessert is in the making. Yum-O!

From Adonica...We're having too much fun! With Francesca Harris Djordjevich and Jennifer

Photo Booth...

Good friends that I don't see often enough...and Francesca Harris Djordjevich being funny!

It "Boggles" the mind... Nonno & grandkids.

Best selfie all day!

The aftermath of thanksgiving this year...

Piss off sickness that has taken all three of us down. One with pink eye, one almost over a sinus infection, & me, well, I have no voice so everyone's happy.

Saturday, December 6, 2014

October 2014

After a three hour Auction for my in-laws move, the three of us made a run to the store...strange the things you throw in when you're stressed, tired, & 40 something with a young child.

I'm getting drunken vacuum lessons from my brother in law while my ears are being taken advantage of by Too Short. My interesting evening continues into the next day.

Amazing show by the moon & sun this morning.
http://whotv.com/2014/10/08/this-video-of-the-blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-over-des-moines-is-amazing/

Ava is so lucky to have the best first grade friends. She was a little nervous about going back to school today, but when we got there & every kid in her class yelled her name & squeezed her tight, I saw the worry melt away. I feel so happy for her that she has each of them to make her feel so loved. Thanks to their Mom's for raising such sweet kids for her to have with her along the way.

Child tries to pull prank on Mom, Mom has a bunch of crap going on in her life AND has PMS, child quickly learns she chose the wrong time to pull prank, & Mom sucks!

Message from Adonica Cosgrove...
Conversation that took place about 10 min ago:
Mom: Liar
JJ: Liar, liar, pants on fire.
Me: I see someone's underwear. Might be red, might be blue, might be full of dynamite. Kaboom!...
JJ: Where did you learn that?
Me: I don't know...from when I was like 5.
Mom: From the Harris girls, probably.

As I sit here with my feverish kid (because we haven't had enough going on), I started reminiscing about the year I helped run a bed & breakfast when I was 24. The stories I could tell!!! BUT, my three favorite guests.... The Doctor, who cursed out the window every morning at 4:30am when the birds started their loud summer singing, then he would promptly slam the window down as hard as possible. Hefner, the naked guy under the robe every morning for breakfast. And, The S...creamers. They came for our Valentine Special evening, complete with champagne, chocolate strawberries, & a fire log burning in their private fireplace. The sex those two shared with us had everyone in the hall looking around making sure someone wasn't being murdered...then the wired smoke alarms started going off because a bird nest caught on fire inside the chimney in the screamers room. They came out in sheets, everyone had to leave, then they tried to sue us for smoke damage on their leather jackets.

The memories I have are tainted with these people, but dang, I am laughing really hard to myself right now.

I promptly had to take my IPhone away from Ava when she figured out Siri would find images of a brain to show her & she proceeded to giggle & ask Siri to, "show me a picture of your buttocks."

Sad, I walked outside & thought 49 felt pretty warm.

Sun & blue skies breaking free...goodbye dirty cloudy skies!

Sun & blue skies breaking free...goodbye dirty cloudy skies!

20 Year Class Reunion

I had such a great weekend with friends that go back to kindergarten, & I'm still giggling about our Saturday night. I also got a few hours with my parents hiking some beautiful spots in IL. It was much needed fun for me, & the beauty (& silliness) in those days will always be remembered.

old friends still run together

Nauvoo, IL provided a beautiful fall show

This is how fast one drives in Iowa (on the HWY) during harvest season. ‪#‎slowdownandenjoylife

Let's just say I had a good time today. Last time I was on a horse for a real ride like this, we had a small accident. Today I was a bit nervous, but Blue & I got along just fine...except when he wanted to eat all the leaves off this tree!