Reier's Bix Party Pre-Party

Because of a little mix-up, we had to miss Tim and Angela's Bix Party on Saturday night.  I was bummed so the kids and I drove to their house on Friday night after work for dinner and a pre-party playdate with Amelia and Ang.  Ang is one of my best friends from law school and she and Tim only live 1 hour and 20 minutes away (one of the good things about moving back to the Midwest!) so it was an easy trip to make Friday night.

I told Ang that I would come and help her get ready for the party and the kids could entertain Amelia.  Did I help her get ready?  Not really.  We did figure out the best place for the inflatable waterslide and got that up and going.  The waterslide was a huge hit with our kids.  Other than when they ate dinner, the kids spent the entire time playing on it.  And instead of getting ready for the party, Ang and I sat in lawn chairs and talked while we watched the kids.  One of us is a bad influence on the other...I was ready to work!  :-)

I am sure the party was a huge hit because she is the best hostess I have ever seen.  I'm sad we had to miss it, but we had fun at our little pre-party!  When we were packing things up on Saturday morning for our trip to Chicago, Kayley asked if we were going back to Amelia and Angela's house to play.  I told her no and that we were going to Chicago.  She burst into tears and screamed, "I don't want to go to Chicago!  I want to go to Amelia and Angela's house!"  On the bright side, she had a good time the night before with Amelia!

"I dunno know"

Today was favorite sports team day at daycare.  We had several options for the kids.  Iowa Hawkeyes, Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Cubs...ha!  Just kidding, Andy!  Chicago WHITE SOX!  We went with the Hawkeyes.  I showed Kayley a football jersey and a cheerleading outfit.  She picked the football jersey.  Good girl!!  She put on the jersey and I asked her if she knew what team it was.  She looked down at her jersey, looked back up at me with a confused look and said, "I dunno know."  Hmmm.   We have failed thus far in making her a Hawkeye fan.  We practiced saying "Iowa Hawkeyes" several times before we left for school so she was ready when she got there!

I tried to take a picture of the kids when we got home today (yes, matching jerseys...from Wal-Mart in Le Mars of all places!).  Kayley was in no mood for photos.  Drew, on the other hand, was more than cooperative!  I should have taken him for his 4 year pictures today.  Well, I guess it would be 4 1/2 year pictures at this point.  Considering he is stuck in time at 9 months old for professional pictures, a few more days won't matter anyway.  :-)

Winnie the Pooh

The kids and I went to our first movie in the theater today.  Winnie the Pooh.  This was a practice run for the kids because their preschool is going to see Winnie the Pooh tomorrow.  Why would I take them to the exact movie they are going to tomorrow?  Because both of our kids get scared of movies.  Seems crazy, I know!  Last weekend, for example, Kayley was watching Finding Nemo on the portable DVD player while we were driving to Omaha.  All of a sudden the burst into tears and asked to shut it off.  I took the DVD player and it was the dentist scene.  I told her it was just pretend and that everyone is ok.  She took it back only to have the same reaction about 5 minutes later. 

So, in an effort to ease any trouble for their teachers tomorrow, I spent $33 on movie tickets, soda and popcorn to take them to the same movie they will see tomorrow.  And they did great!  Of course, Winnie the Pooh doesn't exactly have any scary parts!

We spent the rest of today around the house because it rained off and on all day.  This afternoon Kayley was naughty and got a timeout.  When her timeout was over I explained to her again why she had a timeout and told her that if she said she was sorry she could get down and go play.  She just stared at me.  I asked her if she wanted to say sorry and go play or if she wanted to sit in the chair longer.  She pointed to the chair!  I asked her again if she wanted to say sorry and get down and go play and she shook her head no.  This child likes to test us every step of the way!  I told her fine and put her back in the chair.  She sat there quietly for 5 minutes or so and then looked over at me and smiled.  I asked if she wanted to get down and she shook her head yes.  I asked her what she needed to say and she said sorry and happily jumped down and ran off to play. 

I didn't take many pictures this week, but here are a few of Kayley vacuuming and Drew running the dust buster this morning.  They still love to help me clean!  I am not complaining.  Hope this lasts for another 15 years or so.  Ha!  Maybe I better just enjoy it while it lasts.

Yeah, she is using the attachment for the carpet...

Cleaning up around Kayley's chair.  Lots to clean up!

And a few pictures from Easter just because.

Kommes Family Golf Outing

This weekend was the annual Kommes Golf Outing in Le Mars.  This is Andy's Mom's side of the family.  We left Thursday night for Mitch's house in Omaha.  We like to drive at night so the kids can sleep most of the way.  They were very excited for the weekend and didn't fall asleep until after 10pm so it didn't work quite as good as it has in the past! 

On Friday morning we went shopping for new golf clubs for me.  After 16 years with my clubs, we decided now is the time.  Unfortunately, Kayley was not so cooperative and Andy had to take her out of the store kicking and screaming.  Because we had to leave before we could buy anything, she ended up saving us a lot of money! 

We drove up to Le Mars on Friday afternoon and went to see Andy's uncle.  His assisted living facility has a soft serve ice cream machine so the kids are always excited to go visit.  The kids ate their ice cream and then started getting a little wound up (perhaps from the sugar).  Kayley had to be taken out to the car again.  She was having a rough day!  We'll just blame it on too much time in the car. 

Friday night, we met Mitch, Matt and JD in Merrill for mexican food.  Luckily, Kayley's mood had improved!

I watched Drew, Kayley and JD on Saturday while the boys golfed with the rest of their family.  It was HOT so we decided to play in the sprinkler and with the garden hose. 

Video of JD showing Kayley he is bigger and stronger: 

Drew's turn:

Who hasn't taken a drink from the garden hose at some point in their life?  Drew and Kayley quickly took their turn after this.

Then we headed to the golf course so the kids could practice at a real course. 

Naps taken and on our way to the course!

Good form!

Our lefty

Yep, that is her backswing!

Mitch tending to Drew's blister

She looks the part!

They are supposed to be retrieving the balls the kids hit

Saturday night we went to Andy's aunt and uncle's farm for dinner.  Here is a video of JD and Matt in the water balloon toss.  They had a very strong water balloon!

Overall, it was a great weekend!  For some reason, the drive home on Sunday seemed a little longer than it usually does, but I guess we were just tired from the weekend.  :-)

4th of July

Busy 4th of July weekend!  Mom and Dad arrived Thursday evening.  The kids were happy to see Grandma and Grandpa and excited for all the spoiling that results from their visits.  I was happy to see them and excited for the break from baths and bedtime routines for me that results when Grandma is in town.  :-)  Andy came home Friday night and Matt arrived on Sunday.

On Saturday, we headed over to Lake Camelot to meet up with Nate, Jennie, Brenna, Cooper, Ruben and Isaac for fireworks.  The homeowner's association puts on a fireworks display at the lake every year.  The kids had a lot of fun playing on the beach and in the water when we got there around 7pm.  I wish I would have brought their swim stuff, but didn't even think about it at that time of day.  Kayley took no time at all to get her pretty dress soaking wet and full of sand.  (Yeah, a dress may not have been the best idea, but she really wanted to wear it!)  Then they played on they playground equipment with about 50 other kids.  Drew is very cautious whenever he is put into a new situation, but Kayley jumps in head first.  She was all over that playground and barely looked back to see where we were.  The fireworks at Lake Camelot were really good.  We were really impressed considering it was an HOA putting them on.  I think Nate and Jennie's dues will be going up to cover the cost! 

Eating ice to cool down before the
fireworks at Lake Camelot

The kids spent most of Sunday in their new pool.  They love their new little pool.  At least they will until they get older and realize they had a real pool in Phoenix!

Here are a few videos of the kids in the pool.  It might be one of those things where you had to be there to fully appreciate it, but I can't watch the video of Kayley without laughing out loud.  She tries so hard!

We ended up staying around our house Sunday evening.  We grilled and then let off some fireworks and sparklers.  Remember what I said last post about spilled milk in our future?  I know my kid too well.  He was more than happy to offer to help clean up his mess.

Kayley showing Uncle Matt exactly
what she thinks of him!  LOL!  Actually, she
is showing him her injury from the car door
incident earlier in the week.

Testing out the new pool

Look at that form!  :-)

Andy testing out Drew's left handed clubs

More spilled milk...

Kayley loves bubbles!

Kayley and her "fireworks"

All week I kept hearing about how we were going to have the largest fireworks in Illinios this year (Chicago cancelled its show I think).  I would smile and think, big deal.  This is Peoria.  They can't be that good.  Oh my gosh, they were the best we have ever seen!!  Seriously.  And we saw some pretty good ones in Phoenix!  We drove down to the riverfront around 7:15pm on Monday night.  About 5 minutes from downtown I realized we forgot the chairs and the blankets.  Oops.  So, Andy and Dad dropped Matt, Mom, Drew, Kayley and I off and they headed back to the house. 
We found a good spot and had to just stand their until Andy and Dad got back.  That wasn't so fun.  Kayley didn't last too long.  Before they even got back she said, "I want ice cream and then I want to go home."  She didn't get ice cream and she didn't get to go home, but Grandpa brought her back a snack from the house so she was content for awhile!  Kayley and Drew eventually resorted to dancing to kill time before the fireworks:

Grandma and Kayley

He's got moves!

View of the crowd watching the airshow at the
Peoria riverfront before the fireworks

Just the Three of Us

Andy was in Chicago all week for work so it was just me and the kids at home.  And it was just my luck that I had two early morning meetings this week.  That made for two very early mornings for us!  It is a lot of work to get two kids up, dressed, fed, and to daycare in time to get to work for a 7:30am meeting.  At least it is for me.  Two parents in the morning makes that task much easier!  Drew and Kayley were great about it though and enjoyed getting to eat their cereal out of a baggie on the way to school.  I felt like a terrible mom, but they thought it was fun.

We ate dinner outside on the deck on Wednesday night.  Drew was standing on the chair trying to open the umbrella when I was bringing out the rest of the food.  I asked him to sit down before he knocked over his milk.  Three seconds later, he spilled his full glass of milk.  Drew, being the neat freak he is, wanted me to clean it up ASAP, but I told him I was just going to hose it down when we were done eating.  What was I thinking saying that?!  Drew LOVES to water anything with the garden hose so he quickly volunteered to clean up his own mess.  I think we will see a lot more glasses of spilled milk in our future. 

Drew cleaning up his spilled milk

Kayley trying to save her cookies from getting wet

We played some baseball while Dad was gone.  The first two are of Drew hitting and the last one is Kayley hitting and Drew coaching her! 

We had one minor accident this week.  Drew opened the door to go into the garage one morning and Sox ran after him.  I took Sox back into the house and realized I forgot her collar for the invisible fence so I put that on her.  I was in the house for less than a minute.  When I walked back into the garage, Drew was in the back of my vehicle standing by his seat with his door shut.  Kayley's door was open.  I couldn't see her, but she was crying.  It took a few seconds to realize that she was around the vehicle with her finger shut in Drew's door.  Drew opened the door to get her finger out and I picked her up.  I scolded Drew for shutting her finger in the car.  (I assumed that she came around to his side and wanted to climb in on his side, but he didn't want her to so he quickly pulled the door shut.)  He immediately got upset and said he didn't do it.  I took Kayley upstairs to clean her finger and get a bandaid.  While we were up there, through the tears, she said, "I did it myself."  What?  "I wanted to shut Drew's door."  Oh.  Crap.  We walked back down to the kitchen and out to the garage.  Drew was sitting on the steps.  He looked up at me with very sad looking eyes and told me again that he didn't do it.  I felt terrible!  I told him I knew he didn't do it and that Kayley said she did it.  Stellar morning.  Kayley slammed her own finger in the car door, which was awful and to make it even worse, I blamed Drew without actually knowing what happened.  What is the saying about making assumptions? Yeah, lesson learned.

Here are a few more pictures from the week so far:

Drew showing off the hat he got
on his school fieldtrip

Kayley modeling an outfit she put together all on her own

Kayley showing how quickly her mood changes:

Drew grilling us some dinner