Mall of America Trip

January just keeps rolling. These past two weeks have been crazy busy, and crazy cold. Today, it is -10 degrees outside right now, with a wind chill of -33. Tomorrow is going to be even worse, with a wind chill of around -50. It's just plain ridiculous. Jim just came to pick up both of the kids and take them to their house for the next couple days as school is cancelled for tomorrow. It is just cold and windy and miserable outside. I am enjoying my fuzzy blanket, and catching up on some TV as I listen to the wind howl.

Two weekends ago, we made our way to my parent's house in a snowstorm. School was cancelled on Friday, so we left town a little bit early, and made our way slowly to Minnesota. It was blowing, and drifting, and whiteout conditions at times. So, it wasn't the greatest trip to Minnesota. But, we made it in one piece, and then left the next morning with mom and dad to the cities to go to Mall of America.

The kids were super excited for Nickelodeon Universe. We got to the park right at 10am, and the kids had fun going on rides and staying busy. The Paw Patrol Lookout Tower play area was new for us, and both kids really enjoyed playing in that area. Rachel, Carlos, and Elena met us there later in the morning, and we enjoyed some more rides. Emma loved the roller coaster, swings, bumper cars, and the Paw Patrol play area. We also took Elliott on his first roller coaster, and he didn't really know what to think about that. He was kind of scared, but did have fun. He really liked the bumper cars and Paw Patrol.

We also spent some time in Legoland, and walking around the mall. It was a fun day, but there were so many people at the mall on a Saturday. We ate supper at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, and then we headed to our hotel, which was connected to the mall. We took the kids to the pool and swam for a while, then had some snacks and visited in the rooms, and then the kids asked to go to bed because they were so tired. It was a successful, tiring day.

On Sunday, we pretty much woke up and headed for home. We stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home, and then hung out at my mom and dad's for a little while to break up all the driving. We watched some football, and visited with Ryan a little, and then headed for home. What a weekend!

This past weekend, I had a girls' weekend in Wisconsin Dells. Samantha organized a trip to Wisconsin Dells for a bunch of us girls from High school. It was a really fun weekend. The drive was kind of long and boring, but the hotel suite was beautiful and the waterparks were really fun.

It was about 5.5 hours to get to Wisconsin Dells. Ashley and I drove together from Sioux Falls. We met Holly, Samantha, Andrea, and Brittany at the hotel. Our room had 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a full kitchen, a beautiful living room, and a washer and dryer even. It was really nice. We brought our own groceries and made our own meals for the weekend, which was really nice and a good way to save money. The hotel was also connected to 3 waterparks, so we spent some time being big kids and enjoying some pools and waterslides. There was also a lot of alcohol drinking and games involved. It was a really fun way to decompress and enjoy just hanging out with the girls.

This week has been back to reality. And cold. Luckily, we have nothing going on the next couple of weekends, and I am so happy to be able to stay home, catch up on some things, and just enjoy relaxing not driving anywhere.

Here's to warmer weather!!

Enjoying the Amusement Park 

Bumper cars!!

Elliott showing off his talent at balancing a crayon 

Girl's Weekend!!

Emma got to go Ice Fishing!!

January Keeps on Rolling.

January is over half over, and we have been keeping busy. The weeks just tend to fly by with work, school, homework, playing, bedtimes, and then we start it all over again. We've been really spoiled this year, and the temps have been in the 30s and 40s with no snow for the past several weeks. All that is going to change today. We are in a winter storm watch, school is cancelled, Emma has a nasty cold, and we are supposed to get 5-7 inches of snow. Yay!

I had to call into work today since Emma was not feeling the best and there is no school. John has a bunch of meetings today at work, so I took one for the team. So far, it's not doing much outside, but the snow is on its way. Right now, the kids are snuggled up watching cartoons, and I am enjoying a coffee with my feet up. Life is good.

We are trying to make it to my parent's house tonight, and I'm not sure how that is going to go. We are planning a trip to Mall of America with the whole family, and we have non-refundable rooms booked at a hotel attached to MOA. So, we are going to try pretty hard to make it, hopefully the weather cooperates. The kids are super excited for MOA and they can't wait to go on rides and go swimming at the hotel. It should be a fun weekend.

Last weekend, we had our annual college get-together in Brookings. We met up with some college friends and went to SDSU Basketball games on Saturday and then we watched some wrestling on Sunday. We also ate supper at Cubby's and just enjoyed visiting with everyone. It was fun to see everyone and catch up, but it was a super busy weekend, and we were all really tired by the end of it.

Last Friday night was John's 9 Clouds work party. We spent it at the ICON Lounge. We had a nice supper, another round of Cloudie awards, and then some socializing and open bar. It was a fun night, but by 10:00pm, I was tired and ready to go home. I'm turning into an old lady I think.

Those are the highlights of what has been happening around here. The kids continue to keep us busy, but they are at such fun ages. Our nightly ritual usually consists of building legos, or marble runs, or possibly Mouse Trap. They are very activity driven at this age. Elliott is still an ultimate bedtime delayer, he usually gets up a few times or asks half a dozen questions at bedtime. Other than that, the kids listen pretty well, and generally try to be good for us.

Last week, we also spent one evening going to SkyZone, and the kids absolutely loved it. With my great life discount, I can take both kids and myself, and we can all jump for $10. It's a pretty good deal. We might have to start going a little more regularly.

I'm pretty excited for this weekend, and I hope we can all make it there safely. I haven't taken like any pictures in the last week and a half, so I guess I don't have much to share this time around.

Here's to the weekend!!

Stampede Game.

This past weekend was pretty busy, and confirmed that I am happy with my two children, and don't have any plans to add any more anytime soon.

We babysat Reese Friday evening into Saturday because Lizz was busy having her second daughter, Charlotte Grace. I picked Reese up from daycare after work and then picked up the other kids and brought everyone home. Reese was a little unsure about things at first, but it didn't take her long to warm up and have fun with Emma and Elliott. The kids did really well with Reese and got along really well with her. The only real problem was that Reese is not very good at sharing since she is an only child, and she sometimes would rip things away from the kids, and that would lead to some fighting.

We had a good evening, and then Reese fell asleep watching Mickey Mouse in the basement. We put her on a pillow bed on the floor in our bedroom, and she slept all night. On Saturday, we enjoyed a nice morning of just playing with toys and being at home. In the late morning, we went to the library for story time and crafts. It was really fun, but it was way different having to keep track of 3 kids instead of 2.

After the library, we had lunch at Hy Vee, which resulted in a Reese tantrum. It was bad enough that we got 3 balloons out of the staff, just to try and quiet things down a little. After lunch, we took Reese on a drive, and she passed out for a much-needed nap.

Dyllan came to pick up Reese in the afternoon, and we were all ready for a little quieter household again. It was fun to have her over and to help out, but I'm definitely not used to dealing with a 2 year old anymore.

We ended our day with a Stampede Game. John won tickets from KTWB, and we enjoyed really good seats at the game. We actually stayed for the whole game and the Stampede actually won as well. The kids did pretty well, but they were pretty restless by the end of the game. We were home and in bed at around 10pm, with two tired little kiddos.

Today was a catch up day. We did some laundry, cleaned, and just enjoyed a nice crockpot supper. It was great weekend, and I am so not ready for Monday morning to come.

This was the least busy weekend we have in January, if that tells you how busy our January is!!

The pajama squad 

Checking out the hockey game 

Stomp

Happy New Year!

Just like that, it's 2019. It's so crazy how fast a year can really fly by. This past week was another whirlwind of activity, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the week of Christmas was.

On Friday night, Jim and Barb brought Emma back home after a couple nights at their house. We enjoyed a quiet evening at home and then we all enjoyed sleeping in the next day.

We spent Saturday morning playing with new Christmas toys and just enjoying being all back together again. In the late morning we all headed to the gym, and the kids played while John and I got a good workout in, it was nice to be back at it after all the holiday treats.

After the gym, we ate some lunch and then did a little shopping. After all that, the kids begged us to go swimming. So, we headed to the Midco, and enjoyed some time in the pool. We had some very tired kids after all the activities, so when we got home, we pretty much called it a night, and put the kids to bed.

Sunday was a pretty typical Sunday. We went to church, and then Elliott was begging to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house to have his own sleepovers at their house just like Emma. So, Jim and Barb came and picked him up and kept him at their house for a couple nights. Meanwhile, I took Emma sledding at Spellerberg Park. We met up with Heather, Carter, and Gavin Hinners. Emma had a really fun time sledding, until she accidentally hit one of the jumps and flew out of her sled, after that she was a little gun shy. But overall she had a good time, and it was a beautiful day to sled.

In the afternoon we had the Hinners over to watch the Vikings game, which was a huge disappointment. They had to win to get into the playoffs, and they lost terribly to the Bears. It was a typical Vikings-style loss.  We drowned our sorrows in Chili and cornbread, and then called it a day.

Monday was New Year's Eve. John and I both had the day off from work, so we enjoyed a nice day with Emma. We made a trip to Sam's Club, and then had a nice lunch at Chevy's. We also shopped at Michael's, and then Emma and I scrapbooked at the kitchen table together for a couple hours. Emma got her own scrapbook stuff for Christmas, so she enjoyed tinkering with her stuff, while I tried to catch up with my scrapbooking, which is about 2 years behind.

After our scrapbooking, we went to Andrea's house for a New Year's Eve party with some of my coworkers. It was a fun little gathering, and Emma really had fun playing with the other kids and photo bombing photos on Snapchat. We visited, played some games, and made it until the 11pm Ball drop, and then we called it a night and got Emma home and to bed.

Today was New Year's Day. Happy New Year's!! We all slept in since we were up so late, and then we met Jim, Barb, and Elliott at Hobby Lobby for a little shopping, followed by lunch at Fizoli's. It was nice to have everyone home for the rest of the day. I made a trip to the gym, and now John is there. We are definitely going to try to make working out and eating healthy a top priority in 2019. We both feel better, have more energy, and sleep better when we are consistently working out and being healthier.

I also hope to be a little less hussle and bussle this next year. I love going out and doing things with the kids, but sometimes we seem to be running too much, or doing too many activities, and I want to try to slow down and just enjoy being home and doing things at home sometimes. Those are my main goals for 2019, as well as a little bit of traveling. I would love to make the trip to Kansas City, another one to Omaha, or even Chicago sometime this year. I think any of those would be fun, affordable little weekend trips.

Cheers to 2019!! So not ready for work in the morning...

Sledding!

My 9 most popular picture of 2018. 

Emma photobombing 

Emma lost one of her front teeth!!

Happy New Year's Eve