School pictures

The girls had their school pictures taken a couple of weeks ago. Sidney refused to cooperate for the duration of the session so I'm shocked we got some good ones of both of them individually plus a cute one of them together. I can't believe Regan's next fall school picture will be for Kindergarten!

Logie!

With Logan just up the road attending college, we've been fortunate to see a lot more of her. The girls are really warming up to her; maybe we can take advantage of that and go on a date one night! Tonight she joined us for dinner and had Sidney giggling so hard we were all laughing :) Regan can't get enough of Logan and would be content to sit on the couch all night watching a movie with Logie by her side (she's upset in the picture because Ryan stood in front of the TV forcing her to look at the camera)!

Mr. Wylde

Normally I am very happy when my mother and father-in-law show up with packages of clothes, toys and fun knick-knacks for any member of the house. Today wasn't one of those days. Meet Zakk. That's a life sized Zakk Wylde for all you die-hard heavy metal junkies.

This is now the first thing I see when I drive into the garage.

Which is better than him hanging on my bedroom wall, right?

Thanks Sheri! I'm sure you're happy to get him out of Ryan's childhood bedroom, but I can't say I'm real happy to have inherited him!

"Card Club"

Today we hosted my college girlfriends plus their families and we had a wonderful time! Thanks for a great afternoon/evening! And as Nate put it, our "card club" has multiplied to a casino! If we counted correctly, there are 7 boys and 6 girls out of this group of gals! Of course not all of them wanted to be in the picture, nor were all of them here today. But here are a few...

And their lovely moms!

Looking back, 5 years ago, I would've never guessed our gatherings would have changed so very much!

We had to take 2 photos to capture a couple gals who came later.

Happy 60th Birthday Papa!!

This afternoon we got to celebrate Papa's 60th birthday!! Before we met up with them for dinner, we made a pit-stop at Jim's Apple Farm and hung out with some pumpkins.

And then hung out with some grandparents to celebrate!!

Happy 60th birthday Papa/dad!

Sidney's 2 year stats

This little girl takes our breath away. She is such a beauty and we love her to pieces.

Today we took her for her 2 year well-baby visit (from now on, these are considered "well-child" visits, but I'm going to hang on to the word baby for as long as possible). The doctor checked her from head to toe and said she's perfect. We have to agree :)

I've been calling her "skinny minnie" and Ryan will call her "scrawny" and here's proof: she weighs 24.8 lbs which puts her in the 23%-tile and is 34.5 in tall which puts her in the 66%-tile. No wonder none of her pants stay up!

As for other highlights at 2, here you go...

• She has 2 extremes: loving, sweet, adorable or whiny, crabby and screaming.
• She's usually the latter in the car and today Regan told her "Sidney, you're giving me a headache. No more whining and crying." I ditto that.
• She has cold hands like her mommy (must mean a warm heart too)
• She refuses to sleep past 6:30am and many mornings is awake before 6am.
• She sleeps terribly overnight and generally makes her way into our bed. Naps are even worse.
• Potty training is finished in my mind; but she refuses to go at school and has a bladder of steel.
• Her absolute favorite past time is to play with is babies. She will feed them, talk to them like a mommy, put them to bed and just downright love them.
• Books are another favorite and she can unload an entire bookshelf in 3 minutes.
• She loves to eat, most anything and everything, but she will devour fish as fast as I can cut it. It's quite comical to watch!
• She enjoys being right next to me every step of the day, from cooking to playtime. She remains a mama's baby and that's just fine with me!

Elmo Birthday Party!!

This party, and cake, was months in the making! I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have THE BEST friend in the entire world!! Kari has just started making cakes and took on this project she officially termed "Operation Project Elmo" last night because it looked like a bomb went off in her kitchen :) Well, mission more than accomplished today! Sidney might be the happiest 2 year old around. She was so thrilled when the cake was delivered this afternoon (hard to tell from this picture, but she was overcome with excitement and upset we had to pause for a photo).

Isn't this cake adorable?! Kari, you are Sidney's (and my!) hero!!

Family photo mid-gift opening (we obviously didn't pick the greatest moments for photos today)

I asked Sidney to give Hudson and hug and their embrace was adorable; just look at Sidney's cheek to see how tight they hugged.

Happy 2nd Birthday Sidney! We know you just loved your Elmo party...

and now please, can we stop asking when we're going to get the "Elmo cake"?

A new shared passion....

for this man here....

Those of you who have know my mom for a while, know that she has loved that man above for a very long time! Some might even remember her doing her own karaoke version like you see in the video below :)

This little girl has a new love of Jon Bovi (she switches the first letters of each!). Enjoy!

Flashback Friday

With the first Vikings home game just around the corner, this family is more than excited for football season! And the forecast looks perfect for tailgating!!

Just like mom

It's no secret that my guilty pleasure is fountain pop, so is my mom's. I love it. I can't help it. From a can, a diet coke is just average, but from a fountain, I can't get enough of it. I have been known to walk out of a restaurant drinking 3 glasses of it. So today when Ryan and I went to a movie, I just had to get the biggest size so that I could get a free refill on the way out. Unfortunately, this little peanut shares her mommy's (and grandma's) love for fountain pop. Despite my efforts to hide the cup at the back of the counter top, she spotted it and begged for some. I had to oblige, but the picture shows just how big that cup was! And yes, I finished nearly 3/4's of it by myself today. I could've downed it all but I was trying to be a good wife and share with Ryan!

4 going on 14...

We're not quite ready for this picture: Regan with her own hand held phone/iPod/etc. However, she holds it like a pro and knows just how to navigate to the "drawing" app. Not to mention it keeps her content for quite some time! Too bad it's frowned upon at church or we might actually make it through without an antsy 4 year old!

Happy 2nd Birthday to Sidney!

It's official, we have a 2 year old! What an action packed day this was in celebration, and the big party is yet to come! I typically take the day off from work for my kids' birthdays; just doesn't seem right to send them to daycare/school on their birthdays. I realize I won't always be able to pull them from school for this, nor will they probably want me to! Thankfully I don't work on Fridays anyway so we were all ready to go in celebration!

The birthday girl, and her big sister, were greeted with a toy room full of balloons this morning! Thank you to the Ahlness' for helping blow up all those balloons last night! They were a hit!!!

After a quick breakfast, with Elmo balloons tied to her chair, Sidney spotted presents and before I could get down the stairs, she had opened her gift from Regan! Let's just say she was in love, kissing "laughing baby Elmo" like crazy!

Daddy joined us later for lunch and we then sang Happy Birthday and presented Sidney with her very own mini birthday cake! She did great blowing out the candles, one at a time, and made a complete mess of the dining room devouring most of this cake! I'm shocked she was able to settle down for a nap!

After nap we opted for some celebratory window drawings, complete with "baby crack", because her undies just don't seem to stay up in the back!

Then it was on to full blown chaos at Chuck E Cheese! Ryan was in his glory that Logan joined us so he could sit at the table, outside of the chaos, while she helped me play games with the girls. Apparently no one gave us the memo that there was going to be 8 billion naughty kids without manners there!

Both girls love this clock. Unfortunately the lack of other well-mannered kids prevented them from going on it more than once.

And to finish the night, Sidney climbed into her new Elmo PJ's after washing off all those chaotic germs!

Happy birthday to the best little 2 year old around!

She gives the most amazing hugs and knows just how to melt my heart.

We love you Sidney!!

Flashback Friday

no one should be surprised by this flashback!

Birthday Eve

It's hard to believe our little baby girl is turning 2 years old tomorrow! Our once tiny little baby is now a full of energy two year old. I rocked her a little extra tonight, savoring every last minute with my 1 year old (although chances are she'll make her way into our bed before midnight!). Starting tomorrow, I will have a 2 and a 4 year old; that just sounds strange to me!

This little sweetie is growing some cute blond curls to go along with her very light brown eyes and quickly fading tanned skin. She absolutely loves playing with babies, feeding them, rocking them, and giving them orders as to where to sit. She also enjoys barbies, princesses and reading books. She is incredibly stubborn, strong willed and determined. She is virtually fully potty trained and we're ready to try the cute little Elmo undies as her reward for such a great job on this task. She simply adores her sister's attention, loves to rough house and play with daddy but her favorite seems to be simply being held by mommy. She has been a mama's baby from the day she was born, sleeping only while I was holding her (not to fret, we have moved on from that stage...sort of!).

But I know this beautiful-bouncy-almost-two-year-old won't always want her mommy to hold her, so for now, I'm going to squeeze her tight every chance I get and spoil her rotten with love and attention! Happy Birthday Eve Sidney Marie! We love you!

Go Vikings!!

With 2 out of the 3 Ahlness girls recently making their way up to the metro and settling into a new chapter in their lives, we are very fortunate to get to be a part of it all! Tonight, Maddi had her first Vikings party at her new pad (which is conveniently located all of 6 blocks from us). Although it was a little late for the girls, we opted to bathe them and bring them in jammies to watch the start of the game....or in their case, just enjoy all the food!

Sidney sat on her bar stool for nearly an hour! Vicky commented that Sidney had the best seat in the house with all the food at her fingertips.

The girls are just as excited about Logan and Maddi being nearby as we are.

"hey, it's my birthday eve. who cares if this is my second cupcake of the day!?"

Thanks for the sugar high Aunt Vicky!

Let the celebrations begin!

Tomorrow is Sidney's last day of school for the week, and with her birthday approaching on Friday, we picked up a cupcake cake for her to bring to school tomorrow! She was a little (or a lot!) disappointed that it isn't her Elmo cake that she is expecting for her party; and I wasn't able to get it across to her that this is for her to share with friends at school.

Happy 2nd birthday Sidney....celebration #1!

Chef Regan

We reunited with daddy after a long weekend at the cabin and celebrated

Labor Day by going out for dinner :)

Regan ordered a "build your own pizza" and was thrilled to get to work.

Final day "Up Nort"

Yesterday was our last day at the lake. It was a bit more chilly than anyone predicted, including the weatherman. But we found things to keep us busy nonetheless!

We took a family photo on the dock, something we do annually.

Sidney and Lila enjoyed a cookie while watching the kids play

On the left: Regan feeding the ducks in 2009; on the right: 2010. Her form hasn't changed much!

Regan and Carter had a great time playing with the boat lifts. This is something I remember doing as a child. They never did figure out how to get the sides evened out.

Glow sticks were a very cool "must have" around the campfire. I took a flash and no flash picture for the real effect :)

We can't wait to head back next year!!

Not wasting a minute!

Fortunately we get to spend some gorgeous days at the lake. Unfortunately, it only happens once/year. That said, we haven't wasted one single minute having a good time this weekend! What I like the most is reliving my own childhood experiences at the lake through my children; learning all about staying in a cabin (constantly wearing shoes, the bugs, nothing is kid-proofed and not everything functions properly), finding things to keep us busy without toys and electronics, learning about nature and just exploring something new!

Regan started out the morning with her cousins fishing off the dock. Thanks to Shane for filling in and baiting her hook as well as pulling off the multiple sunfish she caught!

Then it was off for a boat ride with Grandma Jan and Papa! The saddest part was when it was over, thankfully we got to go for more throughout the day.

The weather warmed up and the sun was shining so the girls took a dip (daddy is probably gagging right now because yes, mommy let them swim in a lake). When we asked Regan what was in the lake she named the usual "fish, sand, ducks" and then said "fuzzy stuff" as she started walking through some algae/seaweed!!!

Shane took Regan and Olivia for a row boat ride. Good thing he's a teacher; he instructed them to sing "Row Row Row Your Boat" and I'm pretty sure anyone with less patience would've gone nuts with these two singing throughout the ride!

The girls and I left the resort for a few hours to go into the city for a break. We found a fun park (Noonan's Park) with this adorable house. Connecting it to the playground was a little bridge across a pond; of course, the girls didn't stop on the bridge long enough for a picture seeing as though a playground was on the other side.

Sidney loved the gigantic tunnel slide and went up and down over and over again. What a cutie!

We ended the night with another campfire complete with s'mores and a pizza pie fry. Every year on the Saturday of Labor Day, we watch fireworks over the lake. This was Sidney's first real experience with fireworks and she loved it (these started before 9pm so it was perfect!). When they ended, the girls naturally thought it was bedtime and finally, this mommy could relax!

"Up Nort"

Yesterday kicked off our annual trip to the lake with my family and some extended family...minus one person-daddy. We've been going "up nort" to a lake for as long as I can remember, taking a small hiatus when we all took off for college. Unfortunately, Ryan has a wedding this weekend so as we headed north, he headed south. It was a busy first day and the girls are having an absolute blast! Thankfully the adults outnumber kids so I've had plenty of help.

We braved the cool weather and strong winds and fed the ducks, one ate right out of Carter's hand!

We celebrated Sidney's birthday with a present from Uncle Ben...a new doll! It was a hit!

Papa launched the boat with two little girls in tow: Olivia and Regan took a cruise over to the dock.

And ended the night with a good old fashioned campfire along with s'mores! Thankfully the wind died down just in time. Regan was loving the s'mores, I even let her have 2! Hey, we're on vacation!