Time Management

Time....something I never seem to have enough of and the majority of it is spent working. I always have so much to do it seems, from my kids, work, our house, our animals, racing, "us" time, to friends and "me" time.

So where does my time go? I'm always rushing it seems no matter how prepared I am. I'm constantly making lists: to do lists in my daily planner to grocery lists or what I need to pack lists etc. My goal is to have everything on my to do list during the work week done before daycare lunch (noon). So I pile on my to do list and all of my work resposibilities such as, caring for each child, diaper changes/potty breaks, snacks and meals, arts/crafts, circle time and play time. My mornings are non-stop. Once I get through lunch time and get the kids down for nap, I'm exhausted and just want to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet for a bit. I always have good intentions of relaxing for a bit then going to workout or to get another chore done, but to be honest once I sit down to relax, the last thing I want to do is get up! Is that wasting time? Or is it good for my brain to just shut down and rest?

My evening begins once the last daycare child leaves, then it seems to be a rush to tidy up and prepare dinner and await Kevin getting home. Dinner is  nice and relaxing catching up with my husband and kids on their days. Once dinner is done its a race to clean up, get homework done, bathe each kid, play for a bit and then its time for the kids bedtime routine. This is on a night when neither kid has an activity to be at such as soccer, dance or swimming. The kids are usually in bed by 8:30. Once the kids are in bed, I finish laundry (is anyone really ever done doing laundry?), sometimes I workout or I curl up and watch my favorite shows.

In the nicer months, I try to get out to the barn a few times a week, making time for that is a struggle as well, there is so much to do out there from cleaning the barn to cleaning and caring for the horses. Sometimes by the time I get all the barn chores done, its dark and there's no time to ride. Then there is racing, which takes up the majority of our weekends, which is fine as we love it and its something we all enjoy as a family, but 3 nights, every weekend makes it hard to do other activities on our days off.

I think one of my biggest challenges is myself. I'm constantly adding things to my to do list, and it just piles on. I work from home, and I'll look around my house and notice little things that need to be done. Things that could probably wait, but it will bug me if I don't get to it. I always think if I just hurry up and get things done, then I'll have more time with the kids to play or go do something fun. Another fault of mine is, I expect my house to be spotless and tidy, I expect to be on top of my kids needs and prepared for anything they may have going on. I expect this out of myself because I am home all day, yes I still may be working but I can't justify in mind not having these things done.

What about Kevin helping out? Kevin does the dishes every night after dinner, and we take turns giving the kids baths. He does all of the outside/yard chores. If he's home he will help me fold laundry or if I ask him to do something, he's always happy to help out. Many nights he will tell me to go relax and take a bath and he'll take care of whatever needs to be done. I never expect him to do the household chores, call me old fashion but I feel like that is my job. Kevin works hard and often times has to work 16-18 hour days and on the weekends, so when he gets home I want him to be able to relax and enjoy his time with us and not have to put in time here.

I'm curious how other women manage there time. How do some work outside the home and still manage to care for their children, keep a clean house and prepare dinner? How do other moms who work from home schedule their time to do all of the above? What could I be doing differently that would make my days go smoother without me being exhausted, yet still getting my chores done? Or do I put to much importance on having a clean, organized house and having everything "done"?

I'm off to sweep and vacuum! (I just can't Let It Go!)

Have a safe and Happy St. Patricks Day!

Catching Up

Blake turned 6 on January 16th! 6! Some days I just look at him in amazement, where has the time gone that I now have a boy, not a toddler but a boy. Its been a wonderful 6 years, I'm so thankful I was able to be home with him and not miss anything. We all are excited to see what Blake will do and learn next, his firsts are our firsts as well (as he's our oldest). His birthday was on a Friday so we had our immediate family over for dinner and ice cream cake. The next day Blake had his first friend birthday that was somewhere other than our house. Him and 15 of his friends went bowling. The bowling alley in Rice Lake offers a great birthday package (2 games, pizza, pop and cupcakes). The kids had a blast and Blake was happy!

Kevin raced in Florida again this year and a had a great speed weeks, the best one yet! He and Bob left early Saturday January 24th, Dave and Curt flew down on Monday. Kevin along with some other drivers rented East Bay for a private practice session on Monday, hence the reason they left early. He had excellent finishes at East Bay, Thursday: Heat 1st/Feature 3rd, Friday: Heat 1st/Feature 6th. Those results qualified him to be in the top 6 in points for Saturday, which rewarded him by not having to race a heat on Saturday. He started 6th in the 75 lap feature and ended up 5th. We were all happy with the results! Its a learning curve bringing a new car down there and trying to test and tune that along with having to decide on the right tire compound. After East Bay, Kevin headed north to Ocala to race at Bubba's Raceway Park and was rained out Thursday night and won Friday night! Kevin also won his heat race that night! Saturday and Sunday Kevin again headed north to Lake City to race at North Florida Speedway. Saturday results: Heat 2nd/Feature 3rd and Sunday: Heat 2nd/Feature 3rd!

The kids, myself and my dad flew down on Thursday January 29th, at 7am...ugh! Never again will Kevin make my flight arrangements! That early is rough with kids, even though we stayed about 5 minutes from the airport the night before. We've made it a tradition to stay at the Best Western Plus behind the MOA, it has a great pool area for kids. I told the kids no movies or iPads until they took a nap and sure enough they both cuddled up and fell asleep. Blake was sleeping before we took off and Brooke fell asleep just after take off, they slept until we were about 30 minutes out. I was so thankful.Once we landed we got our rental car and headed to Brandon, FL which is about 20 minutes away. We quickly unpacked, went and grabbed lunch and spent the afternoon enjoying the cold pool! The kids didn't mind a bit and I enjoyed catching some rays while my dad napped in a lounge chair. I do love Florida! Finally we got ready and headed to the track to see Kevin, I loved seeing the happiness on the kids faces as well as Kevin's! We sure miss him when he's gone and I think he misses us just as much. Blake was so happy to be at the races and was content to sit and watch in the stands with both grandpa's. Brooke on the other hand not so much, she was stuck to Kevin like glue, she just doesn't care to sit and watch.

Friday Kevin and the guys headed out to the track early, so the kids, my dad and I headed to Clearwater. Our first stop was to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium to see Winter and Hope from Dolphin Tale 1 & 2. Besides seeing Kev's this was the best part of the trip. It was amazing to see Winter, as she has such a special story behind her rescue. The whole experience was really interesting, there was quite a bit to see and learn and we all enjoyed it! Funny story: Blake and Brooke were standing by the petting pool for the Sting Rays, Blake was happily petting any that swam by him, where Brooke was a bit more standoffish. Eventually she came to stand by me and watch the dolphins through a window, apparently my dad wasn't paying attention when another little girl came up to stand by him to watch the Sting Rays. Dad grabbed the little girls arm and stuck in the water as a Sting Ray swam by...he looked down and sure enough it wasn't Brooke. Dad was so embarrassed! Luckily the little girls parents laughed it off and put dad at ease. Afterwards we went to the beach, all the times my kids have been to Florida they have never seen the ocean. It was windy and not the warmest day, but they had fun building sandcastles, running in the water and chasing seagulls! As we headed back to the track which is about 45-60 minutes in traffic, all was going well until I merged onto 275 South instead of 275 North like I needed. 275 S brings you to St. Petersburg and its a long bridge with NO off ramps. Once we got turned around and started heading north the traffic was bumper to bumper at 20 mph. Thank goodness for DVD players and snacks, it kept the kids busy. My dad on the other hand kept making fun of me "Well Megs, if your gonna f*ck up, ya my as well do it good! And well, ya did!" He thought it was hilarious! I did not as our hour drive back took 2 hours. All we missed at the track was hot laps and time trials, so we weren't too late.

Saturday we (the kids, me and my dad) headed to Busch Gardens for the afternoon. Blake and I have been there before and I liked it. This time however I wasn't too impressed. For the cost of admission (which is the same as Disney for a day.) it didn't seem like it was worth it. We did like seeing all of the animals and most of the rides there were minimal waits. I just felt like it was a little disorganized or maybe I was disorganized?! (I do not function well like that!) Or maybe it was the fact that my sweet little 3 year old got us kicked off the carousel? Yes, you heard that right. Here's why: Blake picked out two horses that were side by side, the one for Brooke was white with pink and sparkles and his horse had a black mask on, he thought they were perfect for the two of them. Brooke did not think so. Soon the ride filled up and we couldn't move, well the Brooklyn decided to cry, not a sad cry but a scream cry. Oy. We made it 1 1/2 laps and the ride stopped, the ride attendant came up to us and told me that she can't operate the ride if a child is crying. Brooke wouldn't stop, so we all got off the ride. Meanwhile other riders started getting off and the girl proceeds to yell "the ride isn't over, please stay on, some riders needed to get off!" As we exit, my dad is sitting on a bench laughing hysterically! I was so embarrassed. I scolded her, so she then started crying that she only wanted her grandpa. So grandpa scoops her up and all is well. No words. It was time for lunch and we didn't have much luck finding a place to eat, they were either too crowded, no one working or out of food. It was my kids lucky day, they had chicken on a stick, root beer floats and a funnel cake. We all got to go on the log ride (flume) twice and we enjoyed the train ride that went around the park and on a safari! We went on a few more kids rides and then headed for the track. Luckily it was only a 15 minute drive that was a straight shot...we made it with no wrong turns ;-) I was impressed the kids made it through the 75 lap feature without an issues. We got back to the hotel at 11:50 which was rough as we had to leave for the airport at 5:30am, we flew out at 8:00am Sunday morning. Blake and Brooke slept the whole flight home, thank God!

Our trip was quick but fun! The best part was spending time with Kevin.  Kevin came home on the 9th, so that week was spent catching up with him!

February flew by in haze! My birthday is on Valentines Day, which happened to be a Saturday, it allowed me to spend the day with my kiddos! Breakfast in bed and lunch from my favorite Bistro in town. Kevs and the kids had my favorite cake made...it was sooo good! Blake and Brooke stayed over at grandma Linda's house so Kevin and I could go have dinner and see 50 Shades of Grey! To be honest at first I didn't like the movie as I read the books and neither of the actors fit what I thought they "should" look like. By the end of the movie they both won me over! Can't wait for the next movies to come out! (Kevin didn't even mind seeing and thought it was good!)

Saturday February 21st we had the RLS banquet. Keytun, Crystal and I decorated, it was so easy, we have a great system from years past and had it decorated and organized in an hour. We all had a great time...good food, cold drinks and great friends!

The last weekend in February the kids and I loaded up and went to Duluth. It was so nice going home! My mom, my sister and I had a great day shopping and going out to lunch, while my dad took Blake and Brooke for a fun grandpa day. We also got to see my grandparents both days. They both amaze me, grandma Bev is 80 and grandpa Bill is 84 and they are still active and out and about quite a bit. We had a big Sunday breakfast at their house and it was all homemade and made with love!

Blake and Brooke both started swim lessons a few weeks ago, they go two times a week for 40 minutes. Blake has always been a bit timid about the water, but now that he's in level 2, he's got no fear and is doing great! Brooke is my little fish and is not scared of anything...which scares me! She thinks that she is Hazel from the Dolphin Tale movies!

Last weekend was pretty expensive for me...I have two vacuums, one for the basement and one for upstairs (I hate having to drag vacuums all over!), there both Dyson's and both quit working last week. Ugh. I did a little research and decided to go with the Shark vacuums. I LOVE them! It was actually embarrassing vacuuming, I vacuum daily (I have a dog, kids running all over, and we live in the country = DIRT!) and the amount of dirt and hair that was vacuumed was gross! I'm a neat freak and I hate anything dirty, dusty or not put away. Drives me nuts! A few weeks ago I had our air ducts cleaned as well, it took forever but it was well worth it to get all the dust and dirt out of them. I've been doing all my spring cleaning the last few weeks...I've gone through dressers, closets, cupboards and all I have left is my kitchen cabinets. We also put up drywall in our storage room, what a pain in the a** that was. We built our house in 2008 and I was in such a rush to move in and get settled, I was pregnant with Blake and I was starting my in home daycare in September, and just had a lot going on and I didn't really care at the time if the storage room was finished or not. We just threw up some shelves and shoved anything and everything in there. Its amazing how much junk a person collects, I gave a way a bunch of stuff, made a big garage sale pile. We put up a ton of shelving, now everything that we need or want to keep are in totes and labeled up on the shelves. I have a section for everything: holiday decor, home decor, office supplies, daycare toys and extras, tools/paint supplies, along with RLS banquet decor and kids club supplies. Now when I walk in there I sigh with relief that its organized and clean. Love it!

Well enough of my rambling! Laters for now!

Disney 2015

Sunday January 4th we headed to Disney World for our annual 7 day, 6 night family vacation and we had an awesome time! It gets better every year. Maybe because the kids are older and they can do more, or because they remember things from the year before and are eager to do them again or because we continue to try new things. Either way, we all love going there, we look forward to it every year and we are happy to have made it a yearly tradition for our family. To be honest I'm not sure how to explain why we love Disney World so much. The hotel (The Grand Floridian) is by far the nicest hotel I've ever stayed at and from the moment you arrive until the moment you depart, the experience there is breathtaking. The flowers throughout the resort are beautiful, the scent that is pumped throughout the buildings is delicious, the food and restaurants are amazing and truly a work of art for your taste buds. The staff is so knowledgeable, kind and welcoming, they really do take exceptional care of you while you are there. The rooms have all been remodeled and are beautiful! After a long day in the parks to arrive back "home" to this hotel and a beautiful and comfortable room, my whole body "sighs...ah". The convenience of where our hotel is located can't be beat, we can see Magic Kingdom from our hotel room and we are only 5 minutes away! Maybe that's why we love it so much? We have a blast at all 4 parks and Downtown Disney, we all get to do and see things that we each want and for the most part we can all enjoy it together (with Brooke being older and taller, we are able to ride most rides together and not be separated!). One of my favorite parts of Disney is, its 7 days of our family together all day, every day, no cell phones, no work, no school, no responsibilities, no face book, no nothing. Its just us enjoying time together, seeing and doing new things, there is nothing better! We are so thankful that we have been able to do this for our kids and ourselves and we hope that we can continue to do this family trip for many, many years to come! (Currently we already have ideas for next years Disney vacation!)

We arrived on Sunday at noon and it was beautiful out! Warm and sunny! Since we stay at Disney the entire time of our stay, we don't rent a car, but instead bored the Magical Express, which is a Disney fleet of coach buses that will pick you up and drop you off at the airport. Disney also picks up our luggage so we don't need to bother with that hassle! Its about a 30 min ride (give or take) to our hotel. Once we got checked in, we got settled into our room, right away we changed into swimsuits and went to rent 2, 2 person boats to cruise the lagoon around our hotel and Magic Kingdom. This is one of Kevin's favorite things to do! After that we went and enjoyed the pools. The kids had a blast at the kiddie area, but eventually both kids wanted to try the big water slide. They LOVED it! Brooklyn even went down all by herself, she's so brave! Kevin and I enjoyed some drinks by the pool and just enjoyed the day. It was wonderful. It was a long day as we left home at 5am, our flight was at 9am, (thankfully we were able to get first class seats, we were able to have breakfast on the plane and we were all able to rest and watch a movie or nap!) and after a fun day in and on the water, we ordered room service and hit the hay early!

Monday: We were up bright and early for a big day at Magic Kingdom! The kids had their first Mickey waffles for breakfast (which they ate everyday!) which is so exciting for them, its really the start of a Disney day! We got to the park before it opened, something we have never done before and got to watch the morning welcome show.  Blake had an appointment at 9am for the Pirates League, its a salon type place that transforms your kid into a pirate! Kids can pick out anything and everything from their costumes and face make up to their pirate name. Blake picked the Jack Sparrow pirate costume, it was really cool! He even let them paint a beard on him.  Blake loved it and was so excited to be a pirate! Brooklyn also had an appointment at 9am at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Cinderella's castle (Kevin went with Blake and I went with Brooklyn.). Anyone who knows me, knows that I have been waiting for this appointment since I found out we were having a girl! They take appts. for children 3 and older...its been a long wait! I booked this appointment last July to ensure that it would be at the castle and not another location. I'm so glad I did because it was an amazing experience and Brooke was in complete awe of everything that was happening. The fairy godmothers (the ladies who work there) got a kick out of me...when they asked what package I wanted to buy, I didn't even look, I told them I wanted Brooke to have everything, the dress, the hair, nails, purse, crown etc.! Brooke wanted to be Princess Anna, of course! We had to wait a bit for the "mice" to make her dress, when we went back to her dressing room, her dress was there with her crown, wand, purse, gloves and jewelry. She was so excited, she jumped up and down! Once we got her changed we went out the salon area to have hair and make up done. Brooke got really shy and quiet, which is very unlike her. She was happy to pick out the hairstyle she wanted as well as her nail polish. While she's having all of this done her back is to the mirror, once she was all done up, her fairy godmother turned her around to show her and her face was absolutely priceless! Her jaw dropped and then she had the biggest smile! While Kevin brought Brooklyn on Prince Charming's Carousel, Blake and I headed to Space Mountain, my personal favorite ride! We spent the rest of the day enjoying MK, we even managed to get reservations at the Be Our Guest Restaurant in Belle's Castle. It was beautiful and the food was amazing.! We had an early dinner and then we booked it to Big Thunder Mtn, which we all enjoyed it! After that the kids were exhausted so we went back to the hotel to relax and catch the boat show.

Tuesday: We headed to Hollywood Studios for a fun day in the sun! This park is pretty relaxing, its not as busy as MK and just a slower pace. We got there early and were able to do a few things that were must do's that we didn't have Fast Passes for...we saw Frozen, the sing along, the kids got to play in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area and the Tower of Terror. Yes, we were "those parents" who brought our 3 year old onto Tower of Terror! She liked it until Blake got mad/scared about the ghosts! Its all in fun right? For lunch we had reservations at the Sci-Fi Dine in Theater restaurant. It was very cool, when you walk in it feels like you are outside at a drive in theater, the booths were made to look like convertibles, and they play clips of old, very corny sci-fi movies. The food was delicious and we all liked the whole experience. After lunch we went on the Buzz Lightyear ride, the Great Movie Ride and the Star Wars ride. We did end up splitting up so the kids could see the shows that they each wanted to see. Blake and Kevin went to the stunt show and Indiana Jones show, while Brooke and I went to the Little Mermaid, Disney Jr and Beauty and the Beast shows. We were hoping to stay and watch Fantasmic, the night show, but the kids were just too tired. We headed back to the hotel were Grandma Linda and Great Aunt Lucy were waiting for the kids (We had adjoining rooms, plenty of space!). The kids got to enjoy room service, the boat show and some free time, while Kevin and I headed to Downtown Disney to eat at Fulton's. It was such a nice date night, our favorite restaurant, drinks and time alone = perfect!

Wednesday: We started off our day at Chef Mickey's inside The Contemporary Resort. We go here every year and the kids love it! Its a nice buffet of breakfast food and you get to meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald Duck. I don't think the kids eat that much as they are so excited to see who is coming to our table next. We love doing the character meals, you get to meet the characters without the hassle of having to stand in line or waste a Fast Pass meeting them in the parks. After that we hoped on a bus and headed to Animal Kingdom. We enjoyed the Lion King show, the Kilimanjaro Safari, the Dinosaur ride....which Kevin and I loved but Brooke hated and Blake was not too fond of,even though he loved it last year! Apparently they don't like 30 foot T-Rex's roaring in their faces! To each their own! ;-) While in line we did happen to run into our best friends! Ryan, Keytun, Brylee and Jema Viltz were also at Disney World! Small world that we would actually run into them, it was great to see some of our favorite faces! After that the kids played in the dinosaur play area and rode on the kid friendly dinosaur ride. We had lunch and enjoyed looking at the animals they have there. We headed back to the hotel mid afternoon, the kids stayed with grandma as Kevin and I had a date night at Epcot. We enjoyed drinking our way through the countries and we had a great dinner at Marrakesh, a Moroccan restaurant. I have always wanted to eat there, as the pavilion within Epcot is beautiful, I was curious for the whole experience. We had traditional meals that were recommended by our waitress, they were excellent as was the belly dancer that performed during dinner. After dinner we grabbed another drink and found a spot to watch Illuminations (the night show at Epcot). It was a great way to end another great day!

Thursday: We snagged reservations for breakfast with Cinderella and her friends at Citrico's (a restaurant at our hotel), much to Blake's dismay! LOL Usually the princess's host breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table which is at the castle, but its getting renovated so they moved the breakfast to our hotel, which was super handy for us. Once again the kids, especially Brooklyn didn't eat much, but they both enjoyed meeting the princesses. Brooklyn was so happy and excited, her smile said it all! Even Blake liked meeting them....shhh don't tell anyone tho! We had to hurry through breakfast and book it to Epcot as we had a Fast Pass for Soarin' and we did not want to miss it, as wait times can be up to 90 minutes. We made it, right on the head, thank goodness! After that ride, we went on the Finding Nemo ride and to the aquarium. We then headed to the Mexico pavilion to go on the Donald Duck boat ride. Kevin and Blake then took off for the Mission Space ride, as Brooke is too short, so we rode the boat ride again! We met up again for lunch and then proceeded to wait for over an hour for the Test Track ride...Blake's favorite ride! We all loved it! While in line we made reservations for Cirque du Soliel and the T-Rex restaurant in Downtown Disney. I wasn't too sure about the T-Rex restaurant, but once we got in there it was really neat, the kids really liked it! The food was great, but wow was it loud in there...I could have done without that. After dinner we headed to the Cirque du Soleil show, Kevin and I saw it years ago, pre-kid era, so we were looking forward to seeing it again. The kids were amazed, they have talked about it quite a bit since then and have even reenacted it. After the show we headed to the World of Disney store and did all of our shopping (Disney shirts, photo album and some toys).

Friday: We were back to Magic Kingdom to finish up our week. It was cold and overcast and rain was on its way, but that also means less people! We had Fast Passes for the Seven Dwarfs Mine ride and to see Anna and Elsa. The ride was cute but not very long and it was raining when we went on it, kind of a bummer. Anna and Elsa of course were a huge it...it was so nice having a Fast Pass to see them instead of waiting for 90 minutes to see them, like Brooke and I did last year! We also managed to see the stage show in front of the castle as well as the afternoon parade. We went on the Pirates of the Caribbean, Aladdin's Magic Carpet and the Jungle Cruise. Once we had hit all of the things that we wanted to do, we asked the kids what they would like to do, one more ride (it was getting dark, they were tired and it was cold!) or head for the hotel. The kids wanted to go on Big Thunder Mountain one more time...off we went and it was a blast at night! Sadly we headed back to our hotel...leaving any park but especially MK on your last night of vacation, really is depressing! Once back in our room we gave the kids quick baths and started packing and preparing to depart. We did get to watch the boat show one last time, that was a nice way to end the night and our vacation.

Saturday: We went home.

We had a wonderful time, the kids are already asking about when we are going back. We hope next year and if I can talk my hubby into it, maybe we will add a couple of more days!

Christmas 2014

Christmas seemed to fly by this year, the whole month of December did really. We had a great Christmas with our families, lots of food, lots of laughs, and lots of smiles! I'm glad I took Friday off to recover from it all!

Christmas Eve Day was spent at our house, I made lasagna, a blue cheese ball and radish spread, which is our traditional meal/snacks. (I baked Sunday-Tuesday so we had lots of cookies and homemade fudge as well!) Once the house was picked up and the food was prepared, we all headed outside to enjoy the beautiful day! Kevin and Brooke towed Blake around on a tube with the 4 wheeler for about 2 hours, they all had a blast! Brooke and I spent some time with Ernie as well, Brooke brushed and hugged him! My mom, dad, sister and their dog Ziggy showed up and so began the endless questions of "can we open presents now?" We wait until after dinner to open gifts, the kids then "organized the gifts into piles for everyone, it kept them occupied for a good while. We enjoyed our meal, and we were rushed to clean up, Blake and Brooke couldn't wait any longer! Blake tore into all of his gifts, and was super excited about everything, even the clothes! He would yell "Look what I got!" after everything. His excitement was so cute to watch! Brooklyn steadily opened her gifts, she was pretty quiet, she would open a gift, study it and then move on to the next one. She did get excited over a few things: the walking panda bear, the Minnie Mouse set, a barrel horse, a barbie house and her leap pad. Blake's favorite gifts were the pirate ship, road race and Nintendo DS. The kids loved all the gifts and both were sweet and thanked everyone. After they were done opening gifts, my living room was a disaster! Once my mom and I got all the garbage picked up and Kevin got some of the toys opened, the adults opened their gifts. We all got a a lot of very nice gifts, some funny, some thoughtful, some useful and some fun! I do have to say, the funniest part was my mom and I exchanging gifts and we literally bought each other most of the same stuff! We are so much a like its crazy! (Which is fine with me because my mom is awesome!) We then drank wine/beer and watched the kids play. We did have some intense games of Battle ship....sorry I totally cheated mom! ha ha ha! Around 10 the kids left cookies and milk out for Santa, and off to bed they went!

Christmas morning started at 7:30 for us. Blake was wide awake, running down the hallway, yelling "Santa came! Santa was here!" He was so excited! Brooklyn was woke up by all the excitement! (She probably would have slept a lot longer!) Santa brought Blake a castle with superheros, a game, slippers and race cars! Santa brought Brooklyn a doll house, and accessories, slippers and an Olaf! Brooklyn was so excited when she opened her doll house she said "I dreamed about it!" Both kiddos loved their gifts! We enjoyed the morning with my family and then they were on the road, my parents headed back to Duluth to spend the day with my grandparents and my sister, Morgan headed to Scared Heart to spend the day with her boyfriend Levi. (Hopefully next year he can join us on Christmas Eve, unfortunately this year he was working.)

Christmas afternoon was spent at Kevin's parents house. My mother in law made a delicious meal and we all enjoyed the atmosphere that she creates. From the decorations, the music, the food, the gifts, everything is so festive! She puts so much effort into making Christmas special for all of us, we all appreciate it! The kids once again enjoyed organizing the gifts into piles while they waited for the meal and clean up to be done. Blake tore into his gifts right away, he was excited, but you could see the excitement of the last 24 hours started taking its toll on him, he was so tired. Brooklyn was much the same, opening gifts and studying what she got and then moving on to the next. Blake's favorite toys that he got were the Grave Digger remote control truck, the soccer game and another pirate ship! Brooke's favorite toys were the Anna and Elsa dolls and the princess jewelry! Dave, Linda and Lisa all went above and beyond with all the nice gifts for all of us, thank you all so much! The best part of the day was after all the chaos of gift opening was over and we just sat around and talked and watched the kids play with there toys.

December 26th was spent taking all of our Christmas decorations down! Both Kevin and I like to get it done right away, we put it all up early, maybe that's why. We then spent the rest of the weekend relaxing! Kevin was in the garage working on race cars and building the bodies for both my dads and his mods. My dad also came down Saturday and worked on his car. The kids love having him here! We ordered in pizza and hung out! Saturday I did some shopping for our upcoming vacation and bought some supplies for my new desk and some stuff to organize the kids toys better. Sunday was spent catching up on laundry and working on my new office area downstairs. It was a great weekend, sad its over tho!

Next up we will be headed back to Disney for our annual family vacation, we can't wait!! Blake will be turning 6 in a couple weeks (crazy to think that he's already 6...), Kevin will be headed to Florida to race towards the end of January. The kids, myself and my dad are hoping to book our flights this week so we can sneak down for a long weekend as well.

Happy New Year! Can't believe its 2015 already!!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

2015 is right around the corner, here's a recap of what happened in 2014 in the Adams Household:

(Sorry for there won't be any pix in this post!)

Blake (5)
 It was a year of firsts for Blake, he started kindergarten, played spring and fall soccer, a sleepover,  his first 4-wheeler and lost a tooth! Blake has adjusted well to kindergarten, at first we struggled with going to bed early and having to wake up and getting going in the morning. Normally the kiddos have later bedtimes, especially in the summer when we are racing 3 nights a week! Nor have the kids ever had to get up in the morning to go anywhere. Now we have a good routine in place and most mornings Blake is good about getting ready...I say most because some mornings are just rough! Oy! His favorite things at school are lunch with his friends, gym, recess, library and the computer lab. A lot of times he says school is boring, when I ask him why he says because he hates the paper work, which I don't blame him, that is boring! Recently Blake was sent home with homework (in kindergarten!!??) I was a bit annoyed that a 5 year old should have homework, its bad enough that he is in school all day, when he gets home he should be able to just play, spend time with his family and relax! Granted the homework was easy and only took a few minutes...  Blake played soccer this year and LOVED it, he is a natural athlete and very competitive, it was so much fun watching him and how excited and proud he would be when he would score or assist in a goal. Recently we hosted a sleepover for Blake and Brooklyn's best friends Brylee and Jema, we all had fun! They kiddos camped out in the living room and watched Home Alone, they had pizza and cookies with lots of giggles! Surprisingly they were all asleep by 11, which means I was too! Blake has lost 1 tooth and has 2 more loose at the moment. This so far has not been a great experience, Blake hates it! He freaked out about the blood and having a hole in his mouth and hates the feeling of a loose tooth. Luckily the tooth fairy cheered him up. Blake also got his first 4-wheeler and he loves it! He took to it right away and is a bit of a dare devil, which scares me. Blake is still my sensitive, sweet, kind, rough and tough and a bit of an emotional roller coaster boy! Lack of sleep is a real enemy at times, Blake just needs sleep or he is CRABBY! ha! Blake LOVES to play!  He mostly plays with racecars, TMNT (teenage mutant ninja turtles), power rangers, animals (he's a huge animal lover), superheros (batman is a favorite), swords and weapons, he loves to "battle". He also loves watching movies, we recently got Netflix and he loves being able to pick out his favorite shows and movies. Currently his favorite movie is Grease! Grease is my favorite movie and we watched it together one night and ever since he's been hooked! I do have to say I'm so very proud of the boy he's growing up to be. He is polite and well behaved (most of the time!!) and has such a big heart! I love him soooo much!

Brooklyn (3)
Where do I even start when talking about our spunky full of life little girl? I often say that Brooke is in Brooklyn world, she's happy, sweet, silly, full of giggles and sass! She's girly yet loves to play everything that Blake plays. Everyday with Brooke is a surprise and its so much fun listening to her, she has a huge imagination and she makes us smile and laugh everyday! This year was exciting for Brooklyn, she got her first pony Ernie! Brooke and I went to look at him in September and bought him on the spot, we fell in love with him. He is a miniature pony, and the perfect size for Brooke. He is kind and gentle and lets Brooke hug and cuddle him, pull his hair, jump around him and of course learn to ride on him! Brooke absolutely adores and loves him so much, I think he feels the same way, when he's in the barn, he follows her all over, its priceless! Brooke says that he's the bestest pony ever! Brooklyn also started dance lessons this fall, she goes 1 day a week and loves it! Her dance teacher is my friend Keytun and Brooke's best friends Jema and Gracie are in the class with her, they have so much fun. Her first few classes she was a bit of a handful but has since started being a better listener and did a great job learning her dance for her Christmas Dance Recital. The recital was absolutely adorable! Brooke danced a little bit and then mid dance stopped, put her arm up across her forehead to block the lights, to look for us and started waving to us! Everyone laughed! Then she went back to dancing, only my Brooklyn! Brooklyn's days are spent at home with mommy, she loves when Gracie and Jema get here to play all day. She loves to color and do projects, her favorite toys are her dollhouses and the people that go with them, toy horses, barbies and baby dolls (her favorite doll is named Baby Kylie, but she calls it Baby Tylie because she can't say her k's or c's.) Brooklyn loves to help me with anything, she will help me fold clothes, set the table, cook and clean, she just loves being a special helper, I love it! She loves putting on lip gloss and having her fingernails and toenails painted...always pink!  Brooke also loves movies: Cinderella, Frozen (shocker!), Dora, Horseland, Grease, etc.  She is also a HUGE daddy's girl, she has him wrapped around her little finger! I'm so proud of the little girl Brooklyn has grown to be, she makes us step back and really enjoy the little things in life. I lover her soooo much too!

Quote from Brooklyn (summer 2014): Mommy, I wish the world was the color of a rainbow!

Kevin
 2014 was an amazing year for Kevin, personally, professionally and racing wise! After he decided to be done building and selling chassis, a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders, he is much less stressed and back to our easy going, chill and happy Kevin! Buzz Signs had another fantastic year, between lettering racecars and all of the commercial work, Kevin stayed happily busy, which is awesome! Racing was a crazy roller coaster this year, but thankfully ended on the highest of notes, he won the Wissota Modified National Championship! I'm so proud of all his hard work and determination, it really paid off! Kevin started off the year racing in Florida, he had some bad luck and some good luck! From the trip there to the trip home it was crazy, no one would believe everything that went wrong...our new trailer getting delievered in a snow storm and being in a massive pile up in Chicago, borrowing Cory Crapser's trailer and the awning getting blown off going down the highway, terrible track conditions at East Bay, getting rained out, winning at Lake City and finishing very well there to conclude the racing action there, and last but not least the motor on the hauler breaking on the way home! Sadly that would not be the worst of it, in April we lost our good friend and long time pit man, Lefty (Kyle Hansen). Nothing could prepare any of us for that phone call. He is missed and thought of everyday, the racing season was not the same without him, but it gave the boys something to race for, this year was very much for Lefty, he would have been so proud and excited! The normal race season had a lot of lows but the highs outweighed them! Kevin ended up winning the Silver 1000 again this year, and I along with the kids were there to see it! It was pretty exciting to go to my home track and see Kevin win there! (Generally if Kev's races at Proctor or Superior I for whatever reason never get to go!!! ugh!) Kevin also rounded out the year winning his 8th Wissota 100 title! In other news Kevin finished fixing up our new to us pontoon and we were able to enjoy being out on that a few times and we hope to do so more next summer. This fall he was busy re-fencing our pastures for Ernie, four-wheeling and enjoying being home. That is a luxury when he can be home and just hanging out with us in the evenings. Other than that not much else is new, he is now preparing for another trip to Florida come January.

Megan 
This past year was a great year for me as well, it was a happy year for the most part! Work has been great, I'm blessed to work with great kids and great families. We were able to go to Florida 2x once in January and again in February, anyone who knows me knows that Florida with my family is my happy place! Nothing else really comes to mind that really "stands out" that was big and exciting! LOL 

Fun things that we've done as a family in 2014:
Disney World
Speedweeks in Florida
Sea World
MOA
Wisconsin Dells
Science Museum
Como Zoo
Pontoon cruises
Children's Museum

Hopefully in the coming weeks I will be able to update and post pix! I haven't had a usable camera in over a year! I've been just using my iPhone, for Christmas Kevin got me the camera that I wanted along with a new laptop...that I'm using right now! I still need to learn more about my camera and all the options as well as the software...it seems like a daunting task. My new computer is awesome, we were in much need to update our old ones, I love how fast this one is!

Until next time....

A quick hello!

Hello! Wow it's been a while! I haven't forgotten about the blog! I just took a break. Life gets busy and hectic, sometimes there isn't enough hours in the day. I'm hoping to get back to blogging soon! Stay tuned...

April snow storms bring May flowers?

Is this winter ever gonna end? I love winter in December but not so much the end of April! The Adams household has spring fever something fierce!

Honestly I don't remember everything we've been doing for the last month, but its been busy! We all haven't been home for a whole weekend in over a month.

Here's an idea of what we've been up to:
-Easter in Duluth and Cameron- great family time!
-MOA to shop and go on rides with my sister Morgan- we had so much fun!
-Bon Jovi concert- they were awesome!
-Girls day at MOA to get makeup done, lunch and drinks and shopping- fun kid free day!
-Day in cities with Morgan, then drove to Duluth to see my family, then drove home that night = exhausted!
-Took the kids to the roller skating rink- busy and fun time!

Happy Easter!

Blake is going a bit stir crazy, he's ready to be outside all day and RUN! He loves being outside, but I think he's even bored with the snow.  He's kept busy playing TMNT, power rangers, cars, animals, play doe and he loves games and making things.  Blake also loves watching Scooby Doo, Spider man and Batman. Lately Blake has been taking his Nerf guns outside and tries to shoot the birds, this could seriously entertain him for hours. We have him in swim lessons 2 nights a week again, for something to do, he loves going there to play and see his friends, not sure how much he's actually "learning"! Blake is very much missing Kevin right now (Kevin is putting in super long hours) and is ready to have some "guy" time.   And he absolutely will NOT go shopping with me unless its for a new toy or a special treat!

Batman!

Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Brooklyn....where do I even begin!?! She has definitely hit her terrible twos! She will be 2 in just over two months, and is struggling with wanting to be independent and having to do as mommy says. It's becoming quite the battle! She can be cute, funny and as sweet as can be one minute, then all of a sudden she's yelling gibberish or yelling "NO" and throwing a fit for a toy, not wanting to get in her high chair, not wanting to get cleaned up or get her diaper changed. It just depends on the moment how she's going to act. Brooke still loves her baby dolls, doll house, Barbies,  playing outside, our horses and whatever Blake has! Her speech is getting much better, and she's saying a lot more words. Lately she's turned into quite the little snuggle bug, and we love every minute of it! Brooke's favorite cartoon is Bubble Guppies, I love the way she says bubble- it's too cute!

She's saying "NO!" in this picture...

Playing together!

Like I said earlier Kevin is putting in long, long hours, as we are in the heart of his busy season right now. Kevin is leaving early in the morning, comes home for dinner for an hour or so, then back to work until 11 or later.  He's lettering 2-3 cars a day plus his normal everyday work. It's great that he's so busy business wise, however family wise, we miss him!!! The kids are really missing their daddy time, they're used to him being home at 6 for the night, and having him play with them and tuck them into bed. I miss my hubby too! I'm ready for date nights and to curl up and watch a movie with him. Soon we hope :-) Kevin has been managing some time out in the garage to get the race cars ready, however the never ending winter has helped take off some of the pressure and he can take his time a bit!

Racing.... are we really ready to give up our weekends yet?  I know Blake is more than ready, Kevin is on the fence, he wants to race yet wouldn't mind having some time off from work before the season gets under way and Brooke probably doesn't even remember it! And I'm still dreaming of whole weekend of just lounging! ;-)

Me....well work wise I'm staying very busy, as I just filled my last full time daycare opening, so far so good! The kids have all been great, but wow they have been wearing me out, by 9pm I can barely keep my eyes open. Speaking of eyes, about a month ago I got my first pair of glasses. I started noticing things were a bit fuzzy far away ex. road signs and the TV menu. I also recently got my first pair of contacts. I'm not sure how I feel about all of this yet, I love being able to see clearly again, however I feel like this was an aging thing for me. I've always felt young or have been young at heart and this for me for some reason makes me feel old. Silly of me I know. I'm currently looking for new decor for my living and dining rooms. I have a lot of ideas, I just need to find or make the pieces, it's a work in progress! Pinterest has me wanting to change everything!  Kevin and I also decided we ll be getting new furniture next year (yay- its picked out!) Not this year as I AM getting a outdoor riding arena and quite a few updates to my barn!! FINALLY!! I'm just about done summer clothes shopping for the kids, summer is bound to get here sooner or later, right? That's about all that's been going on for me other then cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, grocery shopping and running errands.....oh how exciting this must sound! I cant wait for the warmer weather, I'm ready to go on some nice long walks and ride my horses.

Last fall and early winter, we were going to church regularly, now as things have gotten a little busier we haven't gone as much and to be honest I'm a little disappointed in that, as I truly enjoy going and being there. We belong to such a wonderful church, the people are welcoming and genuine and Pastor Ned is one of the most kindest of people. Recently videos of Sunday service have been put on the church's website, which I enjoy watching, but its just not the same as being there. So this Sunday I WILL round up the family and be there. It's such a great way to start the week!

Blessings to you all, until next time!