Busy Month

This month is just going by SO fast! Payton and I headed out to LaCrosse, WI to meet my friend Dawn and her daughter Ava (Payton's best bud from MN) for the weekend this month. Payton has been missing Ava (we have not seen them since Memorial Day weekend) so this was a special treat for her. And it is the first time Payton and I have been off on an overnight without Brian and Addison. We were able to get adjoining rooms, so Payton and Ava could play in one room and Dawn and I could talk in the other. The good and bad thing about the trip was that we had rooms right off the pool. Great for running in and out, but bad for falling asleep for the girls. The hours of the pool were until 10:30pm... But the girls had such a nice time!

Last weekend we made the trip up to Duluth to visit our friends Amy and Mark and family. We were only 3 hours away when we lived in MN, but now are about 6 hours (with stops). Our girls get along SO well with their 2 kids. They just love visiting there. And we always have a good time. I always feel nervous about traveling that far with Addison in the car because she gets car sick. But we made it just fine without her getting sick, and we are really hoping that she has maybe outgrown that. She has been traveling well for almost a year without "throw ups"! This is huge news for me:)

This weekend we are home:) And Payton finally is going to have a couple of friends over to play on Saturday. She has been begging for weeks, but we have been too busy. After talking with the girls moms it seems that there has been begging on their end as well. So it should be fun! And Payton and I may head out to a couple of houses in the neighborhood to sell girl scout cookies. I am really not looking forward to it, but Payton came home from her meeting on Tuesday saying "MOM! I need to get out there and start selling cookies!" She didn't realize that I have already started that process with our friends and family:) So anyone in MN, WI, or MI that wants any let us know! I will get them to you!

5 Favorite Things

So apparently I am a creature of habit. Here are 5 things that have really been making me happy lately:) Other than my family, friends and kids that is!

1. My Kindle! It has been attached to me since Brian gave it to me for Christmas. And I don't see that changing any time soon.
2. Pandora internet radio. I listen to it every day, and it was especially great during the holidays. I set up a station for the girls and they now love it too.
3. Aqua fresh Isoactive foaming toothpaste. The bottle may get messy, but I love it:)
4. Soap.com - I have been using them for a couple of months. SO easy to order all my stuff online when I am thinking about it. I usually forget to write it down until we are totally out of some things. And how can you beat the online coupons and 2 day (free) delivery?
5. My UGG boots. Got them from my friends in MN when we moved and never got to wear them until this year. I wear them every day and LOVE them:)

Happy 2011!

New Year's Eve started at the mall. Payton received a gift card from Grandma Betty for Build a Bear Workshop. So we brought both girls (we had never been there) and they both loved it. I don't think we will be able to pass it in the mall again without stopping in to look at accessories!

We had a low key New Year's. I was scheduled to work 7am-7pm on New Year's Day so I ended up going to bed early. Then I got a call at 5am saying that they only had 5 patients (we usually have around 20), so I was on call. I went to work taking down all our Christmas decorations and did some cleaning. It was a free day to me:) I did get a call early afternoon asking if I was willing to float to the ER. So I did end up working for about 5 hours, and everyone that knows me knows that I am not an ER fan. Been there, tried that. But it ended up being okay.

Yesterday we were able to spend some time at our friends Jessica and Eric's house for some food and football. And ended the day with Payton going to a birthday party for a friend of hers, which equaled a couple of hours of shopping for me! We had a really nice weekend, but I am very happy that Payton is going back to school today! This Christmas vacation has showed me that Payton does much better with the structure of school! I will be looking to put her in "summer camp" at Addison's pre-school/child care center this summer!