Kellie's Week w/o Work & Clint Traveling All Over

Monday -

• Clint had left for training in Phoenix on Sunday afternoon so I was solo for my lazy week off
• Connor did a trial run at his new daycare (still a New Horizon but closer to our house which is more convenient now that I will commute to downtown) - he loved the big location and Costume Kim came as well :)  He will permanently start there as of Jan 3rd
• Maci and I headed to her every 18 month hip check up - we are so blessed that these are minor appointments for us as you see so many kids unable to walk at this orthopedic Dr - she received a clean bill of health and will go back in another 18 months and then one final time around age 12

Tuesday - 

• Painted my nails, wandered around Target/got some good deals on kids clothes and received the sweetest flowers from my former co-worker Jess
• Had a Christmas dance party with the kids after dinner - so much energy thanks to my cycling on the Peloton!

Sweet Sister Reading Books While Brother Takes Some Meds for His Cough

Wednesday - 

• Arby's Dinner & Gymnastic Fun!

Calling Me Poppy Butt at Gymnastics

 Practicing Their Winning Poses

Thursday -

• Surprised Maci and joined her for lunch at school
• Rode Peloton virtually in the afternoon with my buddy Nikki from Cargill 
• Started to feel like I had a head cold come night time BOO!

My Lazy Nap Buddy 

Friday - 

• Oh No I have a Head Cold!!!  I woke up a lot that night attempting to breathe
• I had to skip the neighborhood cookie exchange and cocktails with my neighbor because I felt like poo!!!  I slept on and off all day
• Maci came home on the bus - a treat she requested 
• We ate Dinner at McDonald's and had movie night
• Clint landed at 10p and I took some NyQuil to kick the yucky!

Dang Cold - Go Away and Stay Away!

Saturday - 

• Woke up feeling WAY BETTER!!!!  Clint was home and the NyQuil helped - thank goodness to both!!
• Headed to dance which included the holiday party and parent 1/2 way point preview - so cute!
• Followed by soccer which was the last class for this session - Miss M scored 4 goals in the scrimmage :)
• Headed to Ham's for lunch and then the grocery as a family
• Enjoyed football, take out and cocktails/pool/hot tub with the hubby at night

 4 Goals!!!

Stinker Butt!!

Sunday - 

• We missed church as M woke up complaining about her tummy - NO GO AWAY!!  Thankfully she never got sick but had an upset tummy most of the morning
• Clint rode the Peloton for the first time and loved it!
• Bengals won / Dolphins Lost / Vikings Won!
• I met up with Lauren (former co-worker) for coffee and a sweet gift from her wishing me luck at Rally Health!
• I took a nice long walk with my neighbor Tena while Clint watched afternoon games
• Now we are getting prepared for our last week of work in 2018 and my 1st week with Rally Health!!!  I am so excited - feels like the first night before a new school - a little nervous but mainly anxious/excited/eager!!

Silly Siblings & Wrestling Fun

We hope you have a wonderful end to 2018 and a blessed remainder to the holiday season!

Lots of Love,

C, K, M & C

Last Week of Cargill

Monday -

• 1st Peloton Ride - So Fun!
• Cincy 6 Monthly Video Chat - So great catching up with Rachelle & Erin

What an Awesome Monday for this Fella

Tuesday -

• Daycare Santa & Mrs Clause visit after dinner at McD's

They Switched Show & Tell Day on Me

Have No Fear - Connor Finds Underwear in his Locker & Puts it on His Head!

 Santa & Mrs Clause Fun!

Connor pointed right at Mrs Clause like "that one"

Wednesday - 

• Gymnastics fun with Miss M in the evening
• Last Minute St Nick Preparations 

Thursday - 

• The Big Going Away Happy Hour 
• Started at 345p with Sara Idle & Ended at 11p with a handful of kickass colleagues/friends!
• So much fun to see so many people that mean so much to me in one place - I sure felt the love!
• Too much talking and no picture taking ;)

Friday - 

• Last Day but oh so hard to wake up after a late night with a few too many cocktails!
• Rolled in just in time for my 830a donut farewell - ROUGH!
• I chatted up a lot of my favs, relived fun memories from the night before and ate my last buffalo chicken wrap with Jess and Jill before hitting the road/enjoying a nap!!

This is what a boy looks like when his mom is too tired to fight him on 

wanting to wear his Spiderman costume to school - you win!

 School Fun!

 Paint Races

 Costume Kim Fun

Saturday - 

• Busy Morning!  Connor Conference at 930a, Maci Dance at 1015a and Maci Soccer at 1130a
• We grabbed some lunch and came home for some household to dos and naps!!!
• Clint and I headed out around 530p for dinner at Gianni's steakhouse with our dear friends/former neighbors the Verplank's 
• It was awesome food and great conversation with some pretty wonderful people!

Sunday - 

• Church/Sunday School

• Grocery Run
• Football - Woah Dolphins!  Ugh Bengals but no surprise!
• Clint headed to the airport around 4p - training in Phoenix

The most glorious week is ahead!  I have the whole week off and no email obligations nor work to do lists.  I am so excited to start but will happily take this week of down time in the meant time :)

We hope you are all getting in the holiday spirit like we are at the Mondell house!

Lots of Love,

C, K, M & C

Tummy Bug Hits Us HARD

Monday

Tuesday -

• Clint left to St Louis for a work trip
• While I was on my first call for the day, I got a call from Maci's school - she puked in a trash can on the bus and then did some more in the nurses office - poor thing
• I left work, picked her up and gave her a bath/comfy jammies
• By lunch she was feeling better but would be home together on Wednesday too since she has to be 24 hour puke free to go back to school

Wednesday - 

• At 2am Connor started crying in his bed, when I checked on him he said "I puked in my bed!" Ugh yes he did
• Connor proceeded to puke every hour on the hour until 7a
• Now I was home to work with both kids and I had to figure out how to manage a call at 330p with our Controller and CFO 
• Fortunately Maci felt great so I let her go outside to play in some snow and Connor took a good long nap so the call went off without a hitch
• Clint got home around 830p that night and I crashed HARD

Thankfully not a video call with the CFO

Feeling Rough After No Sleep 

Thursday - 

• Everyone back to normal routines!
• Quick day at the office and then off to my 1st Happy Hour Dinner with Pat (my business partner) and our Leadership Team - Yummy COV!
• As I leave happy hour, I have a message from Clint asking me to get Pedialite because Maci puked again at after school care - is this shit for real?!
• Guess we are home again tomorrow!!

Connor Happy to be Back at School

Friday - 

• Clint and I both decided to work from home with M who was once again FINE ugh!
• I got so much wrapping done on a few calls during the day
• By night time Clint started feeling rough and was having tummy troubles so ate little to no food for dinner
• I felt just fine so I ran Connor to the barber for a needed haircut

Saturday -

• Oh No I woke up feeling like Poop!
• Our new Peloton exercise bike was delivered - what a sick joke that I feel so bad I cant even use it!!
• I proceeded to puke around lunch - UGH I HATE GETTING SICK!!!!
• I then spent the rest of the day on the couch - the entire day on the couch!  Thankfully there was good football - silver lining!
• We skipped dance and soccer because obviously Maci acts fine but needs more rest time.
• By 2p I had to make the call that I couldn't go to my friend Stacy's wedding - Ugh I was missing out on a much needed ladies night out - Congrats Stacy and Luke!!

My Girls Sent Me this Pic :(

Laura, Stacy and Nikki

Sunday - 

• We all finally feel better stomach wise but we are all dragging and a bit more lethargic than normal
• I am attempting to cram all my usual weekend to dos in 1 day since yesterday was a wash
• The Bengals suck!  The Packers kinda suck and they fire their coach - Marvin will work for us for eternity - if we were smart we would fire Marvin and hire Mike McCarthy but no I am sure we will get Hugh Jackson LE SIGH

Silly Sunday Fun 

Is she 17?!

Maci and I are heading out shortly after dinner to get groceries for the week - so behind!  I am mentally preparing for my last week at Cargill which feels strange and exciting all at the same time.  We are hoping our sickness for this winter season has ran its course and maybe we have smooth sailing from here on out - or at least through the holiday season!! 

Lots of Love,

C, K, M & C

Moving to a New Role & Thanksgiving Week Fun!!

Monday -

• Turned in my notice to Cargill after 9.5 years - ran around sharing with key colleagues before the news would start to flow more fluidly - lots of disappointment from colleagues mixed with excitement for me personally - definitely a bittersweet day but oh so excited for 2019 potential!
• I will be with Cargill through Dec 7th, taking a week off for myself, heading to Rally Health's orientation Week of Dec 17th and then on PTO with the family Dec 24-Jan 2nd
• I won't spend the whole blog update explaining Rally Health 😁 but if you are interested, check out their website.  Company has been around 8 years and is now owned by UHG (United Healthgroup - HQ in Minneapolis).  They have a refreshing culture and energy which excites me but they have also rapidly grown so are in desperate need of some processes/tools etc so lots of ways I can help them out!  I will be the Senior HR Business Partner with the Chief Product Officer and his team as well as the HR Leader accountable for growing the team/culture in the Minneapolis location.  I loved my time with Cargill but something in my core feels like this is the right chapter in my life to try a new company, culture and develop myself further!
• After a crazy day at work, I hit up COV for dinner/drinks with some of the best ladies around - Megan (former co-worker who is now with Optum (another business within UHG) and Jess (current co-worker who is sweet as can be)

Clint can simply be the best

He sent these to me at work and told me "time for me to put on my white hat for somewhere new. . ."

It is a line from that show I love "Scandal" and I just adore the confidence/courage of the main female character!

Tuesday - 

• Clint went to Wichita early in the morning but on the company plane so he was back the same night but that meant an early morning for our house
• I started my early morning by presenting at the Global Accounting & Finance town hall 
• Afterward we announced my departure from Cargill to the Global Accounting & Finance leadership team which was met with some shock - lots of hugs and some tears this day!  Such an awesome team to have gone through "battle" with over the last 4 years!  We made some damn good impact on this company - time to simply take my impact on the road.
• Maci had the cutest day at Kindergarten before her holiday break - they do a thing called the Turkey Trot which means they go classroom to classroom singing Thanksgiving carols haha - such cute videos!

Wednesday - 

• Clint and I took the day off and Maci had no school but we did send Connor to daycare
• We ran lots of errands, got our Thanksgiving food and hit up the Grinch movie with M
• Clint and I said we were going to have drinks at night as a way to "act" like we were out for the big bar night - well that ended as we dozed on the couch watching movies HA - maybe next year!

His Day Didnt Look Too Bad!

Thursday - 

• Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
• We watched a little bit of the parade and had lots of lazy cuddle/nap fun!  All of us stayed in comfy clothes all day long except for when the kids kept dressing up :)
• I got all the Christmas Cards Addressed and Maci did all the address stamps / postage stamps - good little helper!  
• Clint somehow accidentally turned off the oven so the turkey took until almost 6p and we were starving so we ate pretty much everything else and by the time it was ready no one wanted turkey so we have lots of leftovers :)  Maci said she cant wait to tell this story at school HAHA
• We are so thankful for our crew and lazy days together!!

Friday -

• I enjoyed a massage/facial at a nearby spa in the late morning - thanks to my North America team for the sweet gift card!
• I got some Christmas shopping underway, online of course!
• We set up all our Christmas decor with the exception of the tree - went to get that Saturday
• The kids had a blast playing with the nativity scene that I also played with as a kid
• At night, we headed out for dinner/drinks with the Harty's (how did we get so lucky with amazing neighbors again?!)  Such a Fun Adult Night!

 The Guys Were Too Busy Playing Pool at Our Local Dive Bar!

Saturday - 

• No Dance or Soccer this weekend so we swapped that out for Christmas Tree Fun!
• We decided to go real tree this year and it was so stinking cute and fun!  Plus it is a NICE tree!
• We hurried home to get it set up along with some garland on the mantle before our Mommy/Me friends came over.
• All the Mommy/Me families are so busy this coming December that we had to do our annual Christmas fun on a Saturday in November but it was the perfect way to kick off the holiday season!
• We hosted and enjoyed Pizza / drinks.  The kids loved their gifts - Maci got a Barbie and Connor got a tool box!  Fike's and Cassem's headed out around 9p and the Zehr's stayed the night since they live in basically WI :)

Girlfriend PASSES OUT sometimes in the car!

 We Found It!!

 So Minnesotan!

 These Two!

 Wagon Hay Ride

 Free Hot Dogs and Hot Chocolate!!

 We Suck at the Family Selfie HAHA

 Good Buddies Rowan and Connor - 6 months apart

 Silly Girls Playing Makeup in the Unfinished Basement

I was NOT allowing it anywhere else in the house HAHA

 The Big Boys!

 Our Crew!

 Natalie's Makeup - Nice Work Maci HAHAHA

Thankfully the Pictures were before the Boys Found the Pink Eyeshadow!!

 Sunday -

• LAZY DAY!!
• No Sunday School today either - seems to cancel on holiday weekends
• Watched a Horrible Bengals Game, Got Some Wrapping Done and Ordered a few more gifts including a new Peloton Cycle bike for Clint and I - Yay Exercise in 2019 (the year of healthy mind, body and soul!)
• Attempting to get all those last minute long weekend tasks completed 

This week Clint heads to St Louis for a bit.  I have a going away party with my favorite finance LT Thursday since many of them are in Europe my final week (I was supposed to be on that trip too but doesn't make sense given my transition).  Looking forward to putting things in order and helping to close things out.  

We hope you all had a wonderful long holiday weekend with Family/Friends while reflecting on what really matters in life!!  We sure feel thankful on a regular basis but this time of year can stop me in my tracks feeling overwhelmed with gratitude.  

Lots of Love,

C, K, M & C