Ice Rink Fill Up + Chiefs vs 'Phins

Weekdays : 

• Clint had to take a work trip for the first time since before March - he left Monday morning early so it was a week for me and the kids
• Kids had their 6 month dental check up on Tuesday morning - thankfully no cavities for the entire crew!
• Wednesday was a good night as I got a ton of Christmas wrapping done while the kids were in bed 
• Clint got home Thursday night and we were excited to have him do bedtime while I wrapped up some late work 

Outdoor Fun 

FaceTime Chats with Dad

Thank goodness the kiddos were good for me!!

Classroom Table Buddies

Friday : 

• After work wrapped for the day, Clint ran to Lunds & Byerly's to get me some cookies and wine for the exchange the next day
• Afterwards, Clint and I watched some Crown - I am obsessed with the show!

Saturday : 

• After getting up, I headed over to Tena's for our neighborhood cookie and wine exchange with our best neighborhood momma pals 
• I then left from the party to get a monthly massage which was awesome other than my tailbone injury started acting up while laying on my back.
• When I got home, I checked in on the boys filling up the ice skating rink - it sure is coming along!
• Around 330p, Clint and I headed our on a day date to run some final Christmas errands - we were able to find some great deals at Disney for Connor's birthday and at various places for stocking stuffers.
• Once we were home, we got kids ready for bed and joined our weekly bonfire.

Sunday : 

• I slept like a log and we woke up around 9a with our groceries getting delivered.
• We did a ton of stuff around the house like finishing laundry, preparing for the week, getting ready for the day - around 12p our neighbors the Harty's came over for the big Chiefs and Dolphins game
• Unfortunately Clint's team lost (only by 6) but we all had a good time
• We are going to order some BW3 early dinner with them before doing our work/school prep for the week 

We are so excited that this is our last full work/school week before holiday breaks!!!  We are so ready for some good downtime with our family 💖and to say goodbye to 2020!

We hope you are having some festive holiday fun even in this strange year.  We hope to see you all in the new year!

Lots of Love, 

C, K, M & C

Tree Climbing, Falling Down Stairs and Ice Rink Set Up

New Advent Wreath and Tom the Tree in his new home

Monday : 

• Day 1 of Maci full distance learning and quickly realized since it is all zoom, she can stay home on Mon/Wed and get her work done and not need too much help 
• Did our Elfster gift exchange secret Santa drafting with the Gilroy family so now I need to start shopping!!
• I had a dentist appointment at 6p and thankfully got a clean bill of health

Tuesday : 

• What a crazy long day!
• To end the crazy day I got some great news from my boss and a much appreciate total rewards message 😊makes the crazy moments and long hours worth it, at times HA

Wednesday :

• Maci had monthly religion class and Clint took her since he is heading on a work trip next week, I appreciate him attempting to carry his load since he knows what it can be like with the kids solo for the week 
• Later that night, we made the difficult decision to stay in MN for Christmas and New Years this year and avoid all the hustle bustle and COVID concerns
• Afterward, I spoke with my mom while Clint started boys golden tee night

Sight Words with a Friend

Thursday : 

• Hair Appointment at 5p which made me feel so pretty and got some good work done while waiting
• Came home and got ready for hot tub fun with the Harty's - no football so we talked Christmas plans, ice rink ideas and played good music

Friday : 

• We dropped our gift exchange gifts at the Cassem house in the evening and then drove around to see some lights
• Clint and I then watched the Family Stone which made me cry and Clint say "what is this movie"

Playground fun at School - Connor has the stripped hat

Clint Grabbed Connor a little early and so he played outside with Maci and the Harty's

Tena sends me this pic of Connor up in a tree - OMG

Thankfully he was already down by the time she sent the picture - Oh Connor!

Saturday : 

• Ugh so we get up and start to walk down the stairs at about 830a and I slip my heel on a step and fall down 5 stairs with my tailbone taking a huge hit
• I proceeded to ice and lay around all day UGH!  I started the show the Crown and attempted to do some laundry and stuff like that here and there 
• We ordered some Grizzly's for dinner and I ordered for delivery from CVS an inner tube to sit on UGH
• After dinner, we joined our New Momma and Friend Zoom Christmas - all the kiddos loved their gifts and it was fun to see our friends, even if hard to hear over all the kid noise 
• Then it was bedtime and Clint and I went to neighborhood outdoor fire - I drank water, popped pain meds and headed home around 1030p to lay down and enjoy The Crown but Clint drank bourbon and hung till midnight

Sunday : 

• A true miracle, I woke up feeling far less stiff than I had feared!  I still couldn't Peloton b/c well you sit on a bike seat - OUCH!
• The kids headed outside with Clint and the other neighborhood dads to start on the Ice Rink - the men bought all the wood for the boards on Saturday 
• While they were out, I was able to put away laundry, order groceries, wrap gifts, order remaining Christmas gifts etc.  Such a productive day after laying on the couch like an invalid all day yesterday HA
• A few moments ago, I went out to see the rink, wait for future pictures!  Boards are almost all up and then they will start the liner/water process to make ice.  Needless to say all Mondells are getting skates as an early Christmas present!  It should be a great option for us to survive this COVID winter and enjoy the outdoors!
• Now we are about to eat some pasta dinner, finish watching football and do work prep for the week.

We hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season and hopefully finding ways to be festive even if it is completely different this year! 🎄🎄

Lots of Love,

C, K, M & C

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Going to do a quick post today so I can get back to Holiday decorating with my crew and enjoying the end of a wonderful holiday weekend!!

Connor school fun

Monday : Maci experienced her 1st reconciliation at church, we are so proud of her!

Tuesday : Last day of work for the week and my brother and family arrived for the holiday!  Aunt Sue and Mike also got in town but are staying at a hotel.

Wednesday : In the morning we picked up our catering and pies.  Molly/Tommy also arrived and Sue/Mike brought them from the airport.  We took a neighborhood walk, started drinking with snacks and then ate some smoked pulled pork for dinner.  Everyone had fun catching up and drinking some cocktails.  A late night for all!

Thursday : Happy Thanksgiving!!  We watched some parade and then football along with lots of touch screen games in the basement.  Guys smoked a turkey and deep fried another turkey while the ladies helped to cook all the sides from the catering.  We ate dinner around 5p and then enjoyed more games, cocktails and a bonfire outside.

Friday : After lunch, Aunt Sue and Mike headed for the airport.  We took another family walk, played more games and had a reheat turkey/Thanksgiving dinner before taking Molly and Tommy to the airport.  We then ended the night watching a movie on Hulu about the holidays.

Holiday Photos

Saturday : Dustin and family hit the road around 7a and our crew said bye before heading back to bed.  Clint and I finally arose around 10a, we all needed some rest after late nights and busy days.  Connor then slept until about 1045a (he also needed sleep!)  Once up, we cleaned the house, started some laundry and headed out for our Christmas tree - it was a gorgeous sunny and 50 degree day!  We got a good tree that Connor named Tom before heading home.  We then put up the tree but were too tired to do any more.  We skipped neighborhood fire outside b/c we were so tired and instead watched a movie and hit the hay around 10p.  Ahhhh what a great holiday but nice to be super lazy!

Sunday : Finishing up house stuff and weekday prep.  About to ride the bike after the Bengals game.  We got the house all decorated including the tree.  We had such a nice long weekend and now ready to wrap up 2020 before some more downtime with family come Christmas 🎄💖

Maci is into selfies - check these out HAHA I have 100s of them

We will now spend the rest of the day preparing for the week ahead with full distance learning kicking in.  We hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving and are finding ways to find the bright spots in this crazy 2020.

Lots of Love,

C, K, M & C

Veterans Day & Return of Snow

Weekdays

• Monday : Kids had school, Clint and I both had full days with work at home - after work I hopped on a Peloton ride with many of my fellow Rally co-workers - it was such a fun ride!!!  Alex and Tunde road together as the instructors and they played only Beyonce music - good time!  Post ride I got a few late night calls in quick for work and cleaned up my email but with a pep in my step from a good sweat.
• Tuesday - Connor at School and Maci at Mini Hops with her neighborhood pals doing remote learning, I had a surprisingly nice day with meeting gaps which allowed for me to work ahead on a few things.  We then found out Maci's school will move to full distance learning (no more hybrid) as of Nov 23 👀 Thankfully I got ahold of Mini Hops and we took the last spot on Mondays and they had some room on Wednesdays so she will switch to going there for her schooling for the foreseeable future on M-Th - Offdah 2020 you blow!  Connor's pre-K is a licensed daycare so they will remain open even though they are at the same school because Governor is asking them to please remain open if possible.  
• Wednesday - Veterans Day!  Thanks for all those who have served our great country.  Rally observes this as a holiday so I had the day off while everyone else had school and/or work.  I enjoyed some morning TV, did all our Christmas cards/addressing etc, started a new jigsaw puzzle and got some reading complete.  Love a nice day like that!
• Thursday - Connor at School and Maci at Mini Hops, usually she is solo on Thursdays but our other neighbors (Molly and Emily) don't have their nanny for a few weeks so they are attending this program so she had some buddies at the session.  After work wrapped and we had a quick dinner, Clint headed out to play indoor tennis with our neighbor Ben.  We then wrapped our night with Hot Tub and Football fun - love that heading into the weekend tradition.

Connor School Fun

Maci is playing with Clint's old phone on WiFi

Yes, she thinks she is all sorts of cool now - 8 going on 18

These are the sorts of selfies she takes non stop HAHA

Weekend

• Friday - BUSY Friday!  Maci and Connor headed to North Woods as it was a no school day and I wisely signed them both up to head to this offering for the day.  I had a jam packed Friday with meetings but we also refinanced the house, yes 2nd time this year!  The rates are that crazy good and we even shifted to a 20 year vs 30 year loan this time and our payment is only back to the original rate pre any refinancing - YES!  Once work finally wrapped, we headed to gymnastics for the kids and then ordered pizza delivery.  Post kiddo bedtime, Clint and I watched some football while I cleaned email.
• Saturday - Maci had her indoor soccer at 8a and Clint dropped her, no adults allowed in the dome.  When Clint was back, I worked on some chores around the house while he drained the gas in the tractor for the year and got the snow mobile running.  He had a blast (you could tell) flooring that thing up and down our hill, he is lucky he did it yesterday b/c as the day went on the sun was out and the snow melt a LOT.  We then each had a fairly chill afternoon, I finished my jigsaw puzzle and he took a nap.  We then went to River Inn for an early family dinner since our date night was cancelled with the sitter not feeling well.  The kids behaved really well and we all enjoyed some good food.  Once how around 530, yep said we ate early HA, we all climbed in Clint and my bed for family movie night - so cozy as it sleet rained outside.  We watched Home Alone 2 together then the kids went to bed and Clint and I watched the new Borat movie, so crazy but kind of funny too.  We were both out before SNL even started HA

• Sunday - I ran some errands and brought home donuts.  Then hopped on the Peloton for my weekly Ally Love ride, today was on confidence!  Post ride, I finished some to dos around the house.  Clint is enjoying Masters/Football combo on TV and I am looking forward to an afternoon Bengals game.  In the meantime, we are getting everything prepped for what is likely another busy week in our house.  Also, Maci is nearing the end of her reconciliation prep with her actual 1st reconciliation on Mon Nov 23.  

We hope you all enjoyed your likely quick but needed/appreciated weekend none the less!

Lots of Love,

C, K, M & C