Par-tay

As mentioned HERE, we transform our house every weekend to include a gathering/gatherings of sorts. And it's a good thing too, because now if there happens to be a day when we have no visitors, the girls are bored and begging for someone to come over. Today we had a houseful of boys but the girls still thought it was great. Well, Regan did. Sidney swam for about two hours before asking to go inside and play with dolls. Enough splashing, squirt guns and jumping off the board for her, she was ready for a quiet room to "read" to her dolls. Adorable. Click HERE for a picture of that. It's hard to believe that July has come to an end and our pool days are now numbered. We're going to live it up with a lot more fun before summer's end!

Girls' days

Each Friday is girls' day at our house. We spend the day cleaning, coloring, playing and of course, swimming. Sidney asked to help me vaccumm this week so I eagerly pulled out her toy vaccum (which needed new batteries before she was happy to use it) and let her loose on the house.

I went upstairs to clean up the bedroom floors and found her vaccuum like this (see below), passing Sidney on the stairs. I asked her where she was going and she said "I'm done cleaning mommy. It's making me too sweaty".

Welcome to my world sweetheart!

To cure Sidney's "sweaty-ness", we spent the rest of the day in some form of water.

But given the sunlight, everyone needed some shades (and sharing sunglasses is common among these two, see how Regan's are too small and Sidney's are definitely too big?!).

Then when the girls tired of the pool, I busted out the sprinkler for some more water fun! I just can't bear to spend too much time indoors when it's as nice as it is.

Yea they had a little fun :)

And when Ryan came home, we went back into the pool. Watch THIS video to see Regan as she works on doing handstands in the pool. I just love to watch her confidence grow and grow as she becomes so comfortable in the water. It certainly is making us much more comfortable knowing she can do so much on her own in a big body of water!

Dance classes

Regan wrapped up her summer dance classes tonight. I had the opportunity to watch the entire class and she is doing just great. (too bad all I had was my phone along for pictures). She loves this studio and we plan to return in the fall per her request. The summer classes were a combined 3-5 year olds and I'm definitely looking forward to a class of older children for her in the fall. Three year olds tend to misbehave in group activities!

Look at her up on those tip toes in her white ballet shoes (big poofy pink skirt). When she was finished, I told her she dances just like Claire (our babysitter and neighbor). Her eyes LIT up and she beamed with pride; that girl just idolizes Claire and it's really showing that she is picking up on her dance moves. Adorable!

Final final

Tonight was Regan's final t-ball game. Her coach is way into t-ball and offered a make up game tonight for one that was cancelled during the season. So although we thought we were finished last week, tonight was the final final (my tribute to Chuck Doeltz and Uncle Warren).

She wasn't much interested in playing t-ball tonight. I think she was mentally done last week and once she realized tonight's humidity level, she was really done.

Sidney didn't even make it through 1 inning. She was miserably hot and her curls were stuck to her head from sweat (not that this helmet helped matters). In an effort to save the ears of fellow parents around us, I opted to take her out of the heat and leave Ryan to watch Regan's final final in peace. That was a much better solution, really, it was.

Til next year t-ball!

Summer paradise

Ashley, this post is mostly for you! Sometimes when boys get together, they do things that are a bit crazy, even for boys! Ryan managed to perfect his flip, watch it HERE.

Dooley couldn't be shown up and had to try it himself, Annie couldn't bring herself to watch!

But he really didn't do so bad! It's all fun and games until someones back is completely red!

The offspring of the UMD clan that gathered at our home Sunday afternoon (it was a bit sunny for a photo shoot on the swing).

Yep, he did it AGAIN! and loved loved loved it. Click HERE if you want to see Dooley in action the first time, and read the comment from Ashley who says it best :)

Just another day in paradise!

Friends, fun and SUN!

We got to hang with my bff today and her 3 adorable kiddos today. But first, we needed the rain to clear, so we went outside and made stinky faces at the ugly sky...

And watched as the sky cleared just in time for their arrival!

We had a quick lunch on the deck and the kids just couldn't wait to hop in so that's where we headed!

3 beautiful girls in their water wings!

It was a bit like catching Dooley in THIS post! What do people like so much about this watering can!?

Regan enjoyed single, double and finally triple rings! She even jumped off the diving board with three rings.

And what day isn't complete without a water fight by the oldest two.

Thanks Kari and kiddos for a fabulous day! I'm so glad that the rain went away and we were able to enjoy a fantastic day!

End of stay-cation

Today was the final weekday of my stay-cation with the girls. We packed in a lot of fun this week, thanks to the glorious Minnesota weather. Yes, I am one of the crazies that simply loved, loved, loved every second of the heat wave. On our final day, the girls asked to head to a park. Not any one in particular, but just play at a park. So to the park we went :)

By the smiles plastered on their faces, I think they had fun!

After a nap and some afternoon swimming, we met up with my friend (and coworker) for dinner. And the girls know, wherever Angie is, Milo comes too. So they get pretty excited to go for dinner with Angie when Milo gets to hang out under the table (or in this case, peer over the table!).

It's been a wonderful week off from work and us girls are refreshed and ready to head back to school/work, although none of us are excited to be spending 8 hours apart and out of the pool :(

Busy stay-cation Day #4

Days like today remind me just how much little Sidney looks up to her big sister. Often she wants to be just like her, and we forget until it slaps you in the face like it did today. I took the girls to Como Town for some rides this morning, something they have asked me to do but the humidity was preventing a good outcome.

I've been leery about Sidney going on rides; last year she clung to me and refused to even consider going without me on a ride. So when we arrived today, I debated how to go about wristbands/tickets. Her confidence had me thinking "she IS going to do it this time". Something just seemed to convince me that she was going to go for it. So I bought them both an unlimited wrist band and we ventured off to the first ride they could see. The swings!

Regan coached Sidney for a few seconds and they were off, up in the air, laughing, smiling and waving at me! She did it! and with a no fear attitude!

After what seemed like 100 rides, we stopped for a picnic lunch, took in the Sparky show and went back for just a couple more rides. I caved at the exit and bought tickets for the big Carousel ride. Where again, Sidney wanted to be just like her big sister.

Boy was she upset when she learned that the magic age is 3 and before that, I needed to stand next to her.

Not. happy.

After a nap and a swim, we headed over to Regan's year end t-ball picnic at a local park/playground. I'm telling ya, this city league knows how to put on a picnic! It's always a great experience and the girls feel so special. It's fantastic!

Sidney wasn't about to give up her big sister; enter "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mentality!

Regan and her bff from our old neighborhood.

Regan scored the first raffle drawing and picked a softball (a PINK one!) as her prize. Just look at that face! She is so proud of herself!

This year was an awesome year for Team Pink Flamingos. Their coaches went above and beyond, showing patience, dedication and a love for teaching kids how to play t-ball.

And if you want to see a super cute video of Sidney going down a really fun slide at the playground while she got ditched by the bigger kids (I know, that part makes me sad), click HERE. She wouldn't respond to my question because she was too busy watching Regan/friends race around.

Hump day!

With today's predicted temps, I (strongly) encouraged a movie morning with the girls. We opted to see Cars 2, which wasn't exactly like the original Cars that I loved so very much. Sidney ended up falling asleep and Regan had a million questions about why the cars were constantly shooting each other (clearly these are girly girls!). Nonetheless, we enjoyed the morning indoors snacking on popcorn.

After nap time, we ventured into the amazon, I mean our backyard, and hopped into the pool. But not before a snack of fresh peas in the pod. Thanks Vicky (and Lon!).

Some dear friends returned for a second round of swimming this week where the kids showed us just how much they love the water.

(Regan and Grace jumped off together)

And Sidney took a break next to the water.

Happy Hump Day!

Stay-cation Day 2

We started out this morning with a couple of treats: Caribou for me and donuts at the bakery for the girls. They love going to the bakery for a special sugary treat (and although I consider Caribou a treat, I grab one more frequently than one probably should). On such a hot day, I knew we would work off all those calories and sugar in the pool this afternoon.

Sidney enjoyed her chocolate sprinkler dounut and Regan got her usual "Big Foot".

We are blessed with some amazing friends. And today we had the opportunity to spend time first with a couple of my friends from graduate school and two of their kiddos and later one of my friends from my days at SCSU and her two kiddos. Talk about fun!! Regan's swimming abilities have grown astronomically in the last week. Frankly, in the last 24 hours she has simply amazed me. Not only is she going after dive sticks in the shallow end, swimming under the water and swimming the length of the pool, she is now jumping off the board without a life jacket and swimming to the edge (and repeat, repeat, repeat). Check out the picture below where she is doing a karate move off the board and then a video of her HERE. (side note: she's asking "did it work?" because my camera lens fogged up when I brought it outside so she had to wait a very long time to catch it on video. It's that humid!)

I know most people are really not enjoying this weather, but we are having nothing but fun and are so thankful for great friends to enjoy it with!

Stay-cation Day 1

Every summer, I take a couple of weeks off from my (often very stressful) job to spend time with the girls, doing things that we all love to do.

I happened to take this week off.

The hottest week of the year.

And I feel like I've just won the lottery.

These are the days I live for.

Hot.

Humid.

Ahhhh, YES!

This morning, we ventured down to Lake Harriet, a place where I spent countless days in my 20's when I first moved to the Minneapolis-area. I love that place.

It was 10am and these girls were sweating to the point of visible drops running down their faces. We cooled off in the bandshell (concrete was cool), while watching some crazies run/rollerblade and bike past us. Of course, my girls (loudly) pointed out every man without a shirt, asking me "why is he running nakie?"!

Regan wasn't much for taking pictures this morning. She's a lot like Ryan. Gets hot quickly and has a hard time cooling off.

The dock was our last stop, before racing back to the air conditioned car. We love this dock, despite the stinky smells from washed up fish-icky! So many fun pictures of the lake/girls over the years.

And of course, with 100+ heat/humidity today, we spent the afternoon in the pool with a great group of friends and a playdate!...complete with chocolate cupcakes for dessert!

Just what will tomorrow will have in store?!

Busy summer weekend with the Johnson's

We had the opportunity to host the Johnson family for three days this past weekend. The girls were in their glory to have two boys as playmates and us parents got a work out to say the least! After just an hour on Friday night, Ash and I were sweating just trying to keep up with the four kiddos while our husbands took in a gorgeous night with the Twins downtown.

Saturday morning, we ventured to Como Zoo in the heat and rising humidity to enjoy the "amimals".

Sidney was way into the zoo this day, running to each exhibit, looking for the animals who were trying to hide out in the shade. She'd squeal with delight when she found them and frown when she couldn't see them.

Did I mention it was H.O.T.?!

A snow cone should do the trick (until it started to quickly melt and Ryan ended up double fisting just to finish them off....he has a hard time wasting a good snow cone!).

We cooled off in the pool all afternoon.

The boys worked on more "tricks" off the board. Jamie perfected landing on the surfboard...and better yet, staying on it! This is not an easy feat!!

Sunday morning, the kids polished off all the donuts I could create. They just devoured them and enjoyed every sugary tasty bite. Then again, who wouldn't?! We had to get all the energy we could for our house was about to be invaded for an incredibly large pool party!

Ashley (sober) decided it was her turn for tricks. She did flips off the board, much to my dismay (because I really don't need any future patients) and then tried to play it safe by going down the kiddie slide...

Clearly that didn't work so well Ash, did it?! The slide slipped away and she landed more or less on the deck instead of in the pool.

Regan waited and waited and waited for Hunter to arrive!! And finally she got into the pool to play with the rest of us.

Boy can Paxton eat. And when it comes to dipping strawberries in chocolate, he was in his glory!

And yes there was a passing shower or two, but who really cares when it's hot, humid and we're already soaking wet!?

Notice who is on that raft with Zevlen? Yep, it's no secret that Nala is my favorite dog!!

Regan needed a quick seat for a break and Amy's lap worked perfect; thankfully a wet kid didn't seem to bother her :)