Cedar Manor Gangsters

We had a pretty good week at our house.  Miss M want tinkle on the potty for the first time, may have been a fluke but she was pretty excited about it and continues to want to sit on it even if she has all her clothes on :)  Maci got in trouble some more this week at daycare for not listening, throwing toys at friends, shoving friends, putting a friend in a head lock and eating dirt - ummm this must be the Mondell side of the family because she does not get this from her mother!  Thursday was supposed to be a mommy night out with my mommy and me friends but I left work late with a horrible headache and decided to sleep and post throw back Thursday pictures on Facebook instead :( I miss seeing all the ladies though.  At this point 6 of the 9 of us are pregnant with their 2nd baby - No that is not a lead in that I am about to announce something on my end :)

WHAT?!  How do you know I was eating dirt outside?!

Friday - I finally kicked the headache from Thursday at work going into my Friday morning.  I had a productive and fun Friday with many of my co-workers.  After work we had the regular Friday swim lessons.  Since we can no longer handle the bad food and constant stares at Applebee's and Fridays - we did our first "order pizza and play" at our house Friday night.  Lil Harper wasn't at swim because his mom's brother's wedding was this weekend but Natalie and Maci played in Maci's playroom while the adults enjoyed pizza and conversation.  Lil Miss M and N are the best of buds and Maci cried when she said goodbye at bed time :)

Awwww Yah it's Friday!

 I play with all the boy toys!

 Art Time - Purple Friday (Vikings Purple that is)

Saturday - We started our morning with some budget planning since we are going to be getting a new car in a few months, some house projects and need to think of baby #2 in the longer future.  After that productive discussion, we were off to gym class.  Maci continues to amaze us with her strength and lack of fear!  She was in an obstacle course that she would jump at the end from about 3 feet off the ground and land on a pad.  Maci had Clint help her jump once and then she started doing it on her own over and over and over.  The teacher says that Maci lands better than most 4 years old - our crazy super hero!  We followed gym with our usual nap, errands etc.  Everyone was exhausted from an early morning so Maci went to bed a little early, I showered and watched Pretty Woman in bed while Clint went next door and drank with the guys during the Nebraska game.

Sunday - What a fun day!  We have really gotten to know many of our neighbors over the past few months and we have some kick ass neighbors!  We have always had amazing Karoline & her son Stephen to the right and we have known our recent neighbor (1.5 years) Eric and his girlfriend Becca to the left but we now have some new neighbors and newly introduced neighbors as well.  Directly behind us turned over about a month ago when the Buechler's moved to Minnetonka.  We now have Jake and Margaret who are right around our ages and no kids (yet).  To the left of them (kitty corner behind us) we have Megan/Jared and Nora who we really got to know once they had Nora 14 months ago.  Through Megan/Jared, we met another neighbor about 4 houses up on the side street next to ours (John/Sarah and their twin daughters Lily and Evelyn who are 6 weeks younger than Maci).  Then about a month ago on a walk in our neighborhood behind us we met Richard/Jamie and their daughter Eliza who is 2 weeks younger than Maci - IS THIS SERIOUS?!  So in about the last 2 months we have found a total pose of girls for Maci to grow up with all within about 1 block of each other.  All that to be said - we have formed a Facebook group to keep in touch and invite each other over to get to know our neighbors even more, that is where the Cedar Manor Gangsters comes in.  John is quite the comedian and we laugh that the first night we all hung out we spent a good portion of the night comparing birth stories, talking teething and bedtimes :)  LAME so we laugh that in our neighborhood "Cedar Manor" we are some real GANSTERS. . . aka totally lame first time parents =)

Fast forward through the back story and today was our day to host everyone.  We decided to invite everyone over for our amazing white chicken chili recipe and football!  We picked this Sunday since the Bengals were on a bye and well I would like to keep these neighbors as friends and avoid them seeing the "real Kellie" during football for at least a few more months HA!  Everyone was able to make it at 3p for the afternoon games when the Vikings played, except for poor Jared and Nora since she was at home battling hand, foot mouth :(  The chili was a big hit and the non kid friend couples (Eric/Becca and Jake/Margaret) hung out until about 8p when Miss M was in desperate need of bed. . . even if she didn't realize it :)  The girls all had a blast playing together (Eliza/Maci are the total bossy ones and Lily/Evelyn are the quiet take it all in girls).  Clint and I were talking a few minutes ago about how fortunate we are to have such amazing fun, thoughtful neighbors and for Maci to have these wonderful built in friendships to grow with over the years.  We already know that we will trick or treat together with the girls on Halloween night and then we are heading in our backyard to Jake/Margaret's for their annual Halloween party - fun times and so convenient!

This is a pick of Maci after last week's Bengals Game - So Sweet!

Enough about our amazing Neighbors and Sunday Funday!  I am now exhausted and battling a bit of a cold.  We are ready to sign off and hit the hay before we start the week all over again.  We have family photos on Wednesday evening so please pray for rain to hold off since we are planning an outdoor fall session :)

Lots of Love,
C, K & M