2013 - Week 35

This week was hot, hot, hot! Summer has arrived very late for us this year, but it's definitely leaving it's mark. This week brought us a much more relaxed week than usual - which was definitely welcomed. And, this week brought the start of a new month. Crazy!

Monday was the hottest day we've had yet. It ended up being record setting temps...with a "feels like" temp of 113! The last week of August, that's pretty crazy. Even crazier, Amelia's birthday/party was one month ago, and we were battling record low temps. Mother Nature has been on one heck of a kick this year, that's for sure. The heat gets pretty hard to take, but considering it feels like we just got out of the winter that wouldn't end, I won't complain too much. Except, when I'm stuck in my car, with no working AC, after it's been sitting in the hot sun all day at work. OUCH, that's painful. Soccer ended up getting canceled tonight. I left work a tad early and got some stuff done. I did our Target shopping...and, I FINALLY opened myself a Target Debit Card...with all of the perks that come with it, and considering that I do all of our shopping there, it makes sense to finally have one. I got home, put everything away and did some picking up. I did a little laundry, got a workout in (getting back into it...slowly, but surely) and made dinner. Christian picked the girls up on his way home...we ate and spent some time outside before settling in for the night. It ended up being a pretty productive night!

Tuesday was a little more of the same. More heat. Work and school - the usual. We grilled dinner tonight to avoid heating up the house. The girls aren't allowed to go outside at work this week with the heat advisory in place, so I sure feel for those teachers! The kids are going to be bouncing off the walls all week, that's for sure. But, once home, they just hop right in their swimsuits and head out to the pool. At least we can get some of their energy burned off!

Our coach decided to cancel soccer again on Wednesday. It was still hot out, but not quite as bad as it bad been, so I was slightly annoyed by it. But, she contacted us again later in the day because she didn't realize we had a scrimmage tonight, and we couldn't really just NOT show up, unless it was officially canceled by the association. So, we were back on! I picked the girls up after work, went through the usual routine and we were off. Olivia did SO great this week. She not only played with everybody, she was doing awesome! I was so proud of her, and excited to see her actually participating and having a good time. Hopefully that sticks!

Thursday was a pretty typical day. The girls were off to school and we were off to work. Mid-morning I got an e-mail from the center director. She said Amelia had built a tower and was so proud of herself, she asked them to take a picture of it. So, they did...and, they wanted to share it with me. It just made me smile, it was a perfect way to start the day. I was also pretty impressed with some customer service I received today. We bought our Minnesota Renaissance Festival tickets a few weeks ago through a StarTribune Steal (they were basically buy one get one free). They tickets expire this weekend, and we're just really NOT in the mood to go this year. It's hot, it's expensive, it's busy, it's dirty and, quite frankly, it's just not really fun enough to keep us coming back year after year. The excitement of it has definitely worn off, and it's a tradition I'm just ready to say goodbye to. So, I contacted the Steal site to see if there was any way I could get a refund. Without hesitation or question, they agreed and provided the refund. So awesome, wonderful customer service - and, that's how you keep my business! The rest of the day was pretty standard. I mentioned last week our cucumbers appear to be coming in..and, sure enough, it's growing away. So, I finally pulled our monster week tonight. No world record for us...

Here's the infamous tower!

And, the monster week...goodbye friend!

Friday was a looooooong, quiet day at work. I pulled into the lot at work, and it was E-M-P-T-Y! Apparently, I didn't get the memo that nobody was coming in today. BUT, those days are pretty welcomed sometimes. It makes it a lot easier to focus and really plow through the inbox when there aren't so many interruptions, that's for sure. I took a nice long lunch break and did some Target clearance shopping. I found some good scores at our Target on Monday - stocking up on some summer clothes for Olivia while everything is on sale. I found some more shorts for her, and some thick tights for both of the, so it was another successful trip. I picked up the girls after work and we made our way home. Christian was off to the fair with Lorenzo tonight, so the girls played in the water for a bit, I watered the gardens, we had some dinner, watched a few videos and they girls were off to bed. We discovered some more excitement when watering tonight...somehow, the tomatillos appear to be coming to live now too! Wowza, gardening sure keeps you on your toes! Once the girls were in bed, I cuddled up with Dexter for the night. Awesome way to wind down for the night. Christian came home at a pretty decent time..AND, he brought me the one thing I just didn't have room for when we went to the fair last week...some Australian Potatoes. SO good, and, it's official, he's a keeper!

Where did these tomatillos come from?!? So exciting!

The pumpkins, getting big, big, big! And, I discovered a 4th one coming in pretty good now. There are a few new vines growing, looking pretty great, so who knows, we may get a few more!

We get a couple strawberries pretty much ever day. They usually look like this, so not too big or impressive. Even these aren't quite ready, but they seem to die off pretty fast if I don't pick them a little early. The girls just eat them right away, and seem to love them. I'm hoping the plant will produce more impressive berries next summer.

Look, the cucumber plant is growing away, and flowering!

LOTS of tomatoes getting red.

Tonights harvest. LOL

Saturday was the start of our "no-plans" weekend, and I was so looking forward to it. We started the morning off pretty slow, lounging around the house and playing with the girls. After some breakfast, we finally started getting ready for the day. First up, we decided to stop into Cost Cutters so Christian and Amelia could get haircuts. I was finally ready to REALLY chop off Amelia's hair, and I'm so glad we did because she looks SUPER cute. Short hair is definitely better on her. Next up, we made our way to the beach for a few hours. We packed a picnic, grabbed the girls' beach baskets and life jackets and got to it. They had a blast being able to swim around and go crazy - I'm SO glad we finally got those jackets! We spent a little time in the backyard once we got home, then finally settled in for some dinner and relaxing in the house. Amelia was practically falling asleep at the table she was so exhausted. Once the girls were in bed, Christian and I settled in with some popcorn for a movie night. Tonight was "The Call" and "The Departed". Both were great! It was WAY past my bedtime by the time I got to bed, that's for sure!

Sunday was the perfect, relaxing ending to the weekend. I woke up with a bit of a headache, so Christian kept the girls occupied, and picked up some breakfast from McDonald's for us. We spent most of the morning playing outside...playground, sandbox, bike riding and Jeep driving for the girls. Watering the gardens, picking up and supervising for the adults. We ate some lunch and the girls went down for their naps. Christian rested on the couch while I caught up on some Hulu and rested for a while. I have to say, at this point, I FINALLY passed a level on Candy Crush that I've been stuck on for quite some time...I can't even tell you how many times I played this level, but, Level 350, I owned you today! That was seriously my excitement for the day. After naps, we played outside for a bit longer. Things cooled WAY down today, almost chilly this evening, but it felt good to finally have the windows open again. I got some laundry done, cleaned up the kitchen and we had some dinner. Tomorrow is Labor Day, so it's not REALLY Sunday, which is fantastic. Once the girls were in bed, Christian left to grab a couple beers with his friend Lorenzo. I caught up on some more Dexter and just kicked back for the night. This was the wonderful, laid back weekend we've been needing. Even better, we're off work tomorrow, and this upcoming Friday is my Friday off, so I'm looking at a 3-day workweek coming up. I can handle that!

The girls needed to wear their Hello Kitty shirts today. They thought it was quite hilarious. Love these goofy girls!

With that, another week came to an end. A very non-exciting, low-key, perfect week! The weather is supposed to stay pretty mild, and it's officially September now. I CANNOT believe it's September already. This year is just flying by!

Until next week!!

2013 - Week 34

This week brought us STATE FAIR day! OMG, Minnesota State Fair, you are simply amazing!

Monday started off pretty exciting, because I purchased our pre-sale, discount fair tickets. YES, it just made it that much more real that it's REALLY State Fair time. God, I can't wait. I mean, it's kind of sad because it marks the "end of summer", which was so incredibly, ridiculously short this  year. BUT, it's worth it for Fair food, and I am pretty excited about Fall. It's definitely my favorite, and I can't wait for all of the fun fall activities coming in the next couple of months. Christian was off to North Dakota bright and early this morning. Poor guy. He's hoping to finish setting up their warehouse Wednesday so he can come home. After work, I picked up the girls, and we rushed home for Monday soccer chaos...let the dog out, have a snack, get Olivia changed and rush off to the field. The girls were at each other's throats all night long, which didn't help with the chaos. Olivia had her first practice with her actual team...her coach is a guy, about our age...he seems fairly uncomfortable with the kids, but he warmed up by the end of practice. Bella is on the same team as Olivia, so that worked out well. They were a little distracted tonight, but they did pretty good. After soccer, we rushed home for some dinner, a quick bath, and bed. Hoping a good nights rest gets those unruly girls in check!

Tuesday was a very, very, very bad day. Work was pretty standard. I got the girls up and off to school with little issue. I get to drive Christian's truck while he's gone (he didn't want to leave it at work), and that's quite a luxury. It's so nice being able to see everything around me, nobody messes with me, people get out of my way. It's super awesome. AND, bonus, working A/C during this gruesome stretch is a very nice bonus. Ahhh, living the life right now. Work went well, and then, everything fell apart. I got to school to pick the girls up, and they were both out of control. First, I got bad reports on both of them...Amelia had been SCREAMING at the teachers all day long, and refusing to do anything she was told. Olivia was picking fights with her all day long. Olivia picked some berries off a bush and was furious that I made her throw them away, and threw the biggest fit. Meanwhile, Amelia threw some building magnets and threw a fit when I made her pick them up...which she refused to do, so I took away her drawings. Needless to say, I had to drag both of them out of school, to the car, kicking and screaming...literally. The screamed, bloody murder, all the way home, all the way into the house, and continuing on once we were settled in. They wouldn't listen to a word I said, and just got progressively worse. I finally followed through with a threat, put them both in their pajamas, and put them to bed. At 5:45PM. They SCREAMED at me, telling me they hate me, they don't love me anymore, they weren't going to bed, they weren't going to listen to me and a barrage of other horrible things. I ignored it, and kept ignoring it, and cried a little, while my blood was boiling in anger. Finally, bu 6:30, they had both passed out from exhaustion. And, there they stayed for the rest of the night. I was emotionally and mentally drained. I felt like the worlds worst mom. I didn't know if what I had done was right. Do people really send their 3/4 year olds to bed without dinner. Do people really do such horrible things to their kids? Am I the only one? In the end, I retained a small amount of sanity, and the girls slept peacefully through the night. I think they were overly exhausted and it caught up to them. But, the horrible things they were saying and doing, just were NOT OK, and they needed to know that. When I went in to tuck them in and give them hugs and kisses before I went to bed, I was overcome with feelings of guilt and sadness. Just hoping I had done the right thing.

Wednesday was a much better day. I was still feeling pretty overwhelmed and guilty this morning, but turned to my mom groups for some support. Thank God for them! The girls did much better at school today, and were in better spirits all around. Work went well, it's still pretty busy so the days go quickly. Christian has been putting in some long hours in North Dakota, and was able to come home tonight (again, Thank God). He got home just in time for Olivia's soccer practice. Turns out, he went there alone. I had no idea, and I felt so bad for him. Driving all that way, staying there all by himself, and driving all the way home. That's so sad, I would hate it. He seemed pretty exhausted too. Olivia's soccer wasn't as successful as the last few practices. They decided to do a little mini scrimmage against another team at the end of practice, and Olivia REFUSED to play. She just kept saying "Well, I don't want to do that". I kept explaining to her that THAT is soccer, that's what we're here to do...run around, kick the ball and try to kick it in the goal. But, she refused. On or way home, she confessed to me that she didn't want to play with "THAT" ball. LOL - I explained that when they play games, they use the game ball, not her ball and told her there better not be a repeat of that next week. So, we'll see. We had a quick dinner once home, gave the girls a bath and settled in for the night. So exhausting!

Before soccer, we were all friends again...

Thursday
It's was my Friday! YES! The week was chaotic, but went by fast. I spent the day getting through as much work as I could before heading home. I was excited for my very first Friday at home, all by myself. I still had Christian's truck for the day because he had a work vehicle from his trip, so I got to spent the whole week in luxury...lucky me! Christian had a long day getting back into the swing of things at work. The girls appear to be back to normal, at school and at home, so hopefully they just needed a nice LOOOONG night of sleep to catch up. Tonight I made one of our weekly staples for dinner...tacos, rice and beans. I used a tomato from our garden for the tacos, I made some homemade taco seasoning again, and we used some jalapenos from the garden to make some salsa. YUM! I'm seriously loving this gardening thing! After dinner, we hung out for a bit, and called it a night.

The pumpkins are looking great! We have 3 right now...the two on the left are getting BIG, especially the bottom one. So exciting!

Friday was awesome! Christian took Olivia to school. Amelia and I spent the morning together...getting ready, eating a little breakfast, and then we were off to her 3-year check up. I didn't want to drive her all the way up to St. Paul for her check up, so we say a new pediatrician by our house (she didn't need any shots or anything, so I wasn't worried about it). She weighed in at 29lbs (29%, and up 4lbs from last year) and she was 36.75" tall (34% and up 3" from last year). She's still a little peanut, that's for sure, but she's growing away. Everything else went well, and she checked out perfectly developmentally wise. And, she got herself the flu mist...luckily, she took it well. After her check up, she was off to school, and I had the rest of the day to myself. I caught up on some shows, did a little cleaning. Nothing too heaving, I was looking forward to a day of relaxation! I picked the girls up from school and we hung out at home for the night. They spent some time in the pool and on the slip & slide. I watered the plants, as usual, and discovered that we appear to have cucumbers coming in. WHAT?!? I totally thought they were a lost cause. They are flowering and everything, so hopefully something comes of them. AWESOME! We had a pretty low key night once Christian was home....dinner, a little play time. Nothing too exciting. Amelia officially will not let me rock her before bed anymore, which completely breaks my heart. For a long time now, I've just rocked her for a minute or two, for some extra snuggles, so nothing extensive...but, she won't even give me that anymore. She tells me "No mom, I'll just go to bed. You're still my best friend though". LOL, what a suck up!

She was excited to have control over the iPad this morning, and got to watch was SHE wanted to watch for a change. Super cool!

Saturday was the big day, STATE FAIR DAY! Yes! We were a little slow going this morning...I finished up some laundry and did some picking up while we all got ready for the day. We packed up a bag and made our way to the fair. The lots were full, full, full. It took forever to find a spot, but we finally found a spot and made our way into the fairgrounds. We spent the day eating, eating, and eating some more. The girls went on some rides, we went in the butterfly house, we checked out some of the barns and we walked for miles and miles. It was an awesome day, and we all had such a blast. It was pretty warm, but not horrible, and starting tomorrow it's going to be REALLY hot and humid, so we picked the perfect day to go. It's hard to believe the fair has come and gone (for us) already though, summer is officially coming to an end, that's for sure. The girls passed out on the way home, and pretty much just went to bed for the night. Christian mowed the grass and did some work in the yard, while I showered and relaxed on the couch for the night. My feet were EXHAUSTED!

Our Fair Food. YUM!

On Sunday, the heat definitely started setting in. It was hot, and HUMID, and it's not going away any time soon. There's going to be a lot of air conditioning, and a lot of swimming going on at our house, that's for sure. We were all pretty tired and run down after the fair yesterday, and Olivia didn't seem to be feeling too well. So, we just took it easy at home for the day. I did a few chores this morning, we set up the pools and slip & slides and the girls spent most of the day playing in the water. My in-laws stopped over to hang out for a while...my mother in law is leaving for Canada tomorrow, to visit Christian's brother, for almost 2 weeks, so she wanted to spend some time with the girls. Mariano and Bella stopped over to play with us for a while. We played, had some dinner and hung out for a bit. Sara stopped over after work to chat and hang out for a bit, Then, the girls were off to bed, and the weekend was over. They always go WAY too fast.

With that, another week came to an end. Some high stress, and some fun. There were definitely some highs and lows this week.

Until next week!