Spring break week '13

It was spring break week this week. And we lived it up right. The girls and I made the most of every second of our time together. We stayed incredibly busy running here/there and everywhere. We met up with friends, we shopped, we went to a movie, we shopped, we saw Mr. E.B. (twice), and shopped some more. 

The kiddos loved the movie The Croods. I have to admit, I had some good laughs too. A great way to spend an early afternoon at the mall. 

Shopping with these two knuckleheads sweeties is always entertaining. On this particular outing, they enjoyed pretending to play the role of every department we walked past. This entailed toting around suitcases, touching all sorts of "boobies" (aka: bras), putting each other to bed, etc.  

And then at the end, they posed and asked me to take pictures. Awwww :) 

And when we were at home, they loved up on their American Girl dolls. One night, we put pajamas on each doll, grabbed the animals and snuggled up to catch up on a little Disney. 

It makes us cold to look at Sidney on most nights, as she insists on wearing summer PJ's in the middle of a 20 degree night. But she knows herself well, because if she does ever wear winter PJ's, she's sweating an hour into her slumber. 

And as much as Sidney would like us to believe she does NOT need a nap.....we found her like this on many occasions. She really does need that mid-day snooze. 

I'd like to thank Regan on her photo-bomb. She's learned well from Ryan. 

 And today, well today was the most beautiful spring day in March we could have asked for. As temps rose over 50, we headed down to a local egg hunt. Turns out, with all the recent melting, it wasn't much of a hunt as it was a "handout of eggs". The girls got eggs until their baskets were overflowing. 

And after a yummy delicious lunch at the original Red Savoy's, we once again found Sidney like this.....

 After her quick slumber, we spent the rest of the day enjoying the lovely temps and catching up with some friends. The girls took us on an hour long walk around the block, stomping through puddles, picking up (very dirty) leaves for a "leaf collection" and making a complete mess out of their outfits. 

But what did I care,? we were finally outside, for more than 20  minutes, and no one was complaining it was cold out. 

Bring it spring!, after all, it was SPRING break week! 

and we're back!

After several trips to Best Buy, lots of internet research and many calls to my (computer) expert brother, we pulled the trigger and purchased a new computer. Ah it feels good to have a laptop in my hand again :) 

The girls were great with patience, but it may have to do with the fact that we used bribery.....

the beauty of iPhones is that we can shop/talk/listen to sales people, and the kids are entertained. 

Trust me, this is not what we prefer, but when it's necessary, we are so grateful for them. 

Here's hoping I actually like this puppy, because I'm currently not loving it, just loving the fact that it's a laptop again!

School work

Each day, the girls come home with various papers that show us what they are working on in class. And each day we tell them just how proud of them we are. Yesterday, I could hear in Ryan's voice that he was REALLY proud of Regan. Check it out....
(The 'sandy desert' paper is a task where each student has to come up with other words they can make. Finding a big word is always the challenge).

Twin day

Regan participated in twin/multiple day at school this week. Her/Katie spent an hour at Target (driving their mothers crazy) as the scoured the racks for the perfect outfit and accessories. Katie's mom reminded me that now the girls have realized we will let them go shopping every year for twin day. We are in for some trouble as these two get older!
Unfortunately, I made it to school only for lunch and Regan had left her scarf in the classroom during my photo op.

This girl...

Cracks me up! Her adult like personality, taste in clothing, and grown up demeanor have us in stitches on most days. She's one bundle of joy that makes me long for her to stay 4 forever!

Bear with us....

As we have been blessed with the "blue screen of death" on our laptop. In other words, until we purchase a new one, fix and transfer all the data from the old one, my blog posts and pictures will be delivered via iPhone. Which also means: much fewer posts :( hope you can survive without our (boring) updates!

Waterpark of America

Ever since the girls were introduced to waterparks, many years ago, they have begged to go to the Waterpark of America. We usually spend a weekend in Duluth at their hotel/waterpark, and compromised with the girls for Waterpark of America this year. So finally, we headed for a day of fun. 

This place is like the mother-of-all-waterparks! They did it right and the kids found it incredibly exciting! We hadn't even set down our belongings and Sidney was on a slide, screaming with joy. 

A seven story bodyslide....

and even Sidney managed to go down with a little coaxing, click HERE 

to check out the video . 

At first you will think she hated it, just wait for it at the end though... 

Ryan had more fun watching Sheri come out and laughing "mom, it looks like a monsoon when you come out!". Little did he realize, it looks very similar when he comes out!

The family sized ride "Eagle's Nest" was definitely a family favorite. Despite the long lines/wait times for this particular slide, it's the one Regan kept begging for. Sheri turned green at one point when she was facing backwards during one trip down, but otherwise, there was fun by all! 

Pardon the iPhone quality pictures....but you get the point, they had a complete BLAST! 

 And when we asked if they were happy with their decision to pick this waterpark over Duluth, it was hands down--YES!! 

Thanks grandma Sheri and grandpa Arnie for a fun filled day!

Around the pool

Last night, the kiddos had a bit too much energy. It was one of those times where they just needed to burn off steam. So around the pool they went. 

Although decked in snow pants, boots and hats/mittens isn't exactly how we prefer to spend our time around the pool. 

They climbed, sat, tossed chunks of snow onto the pool cover and repeated it all over again (posing in between for mom). 

And then they each grabbed an extra large ball of snow and had a snack. Funny thing is, they brought their chunk of snow to where they normally sit and snack during summer months. Even without their chairs to sit upon, they still plopped down in that same spot. 

When they had nibbled down their balls of snow, they brought them indoors and asked to complete their own science project. "What will happen to our snow inside the house in a bowl?"

Seriously. 

We let them melt overnight; but first, asked them each what would happen. Regan thought it would melt, but not entirely, Sidney thought her snow would last til morning. 

In a 70F house. Apparently they think it's pretty cold in here! 

They squealed to see their bowls full of water this morning. Such a learning experience! 

Random thoughts

I still haven't broken out my camera from hibernation this week. So iPhone pictures will have to do for this oh so random post.... 

I enjoyed a little extra time with my favorite 4 legged creature this week. When Milo's owner, who happens to be my bestie at work, is seeing a patient with an allergy (or dog fear), I'm #1 babysitter. Oh he is just so pretty and I could curl up next to him and lay on the floor. 

Ryan scored some sweet deals from the on-site store set up at work. One of his perks. Every so often, they hold a sale and sell things for super cheap. The girls and I always love attacking him when he comes through the door carrying bags of goodies. We never quite know what we will find, and this week, the girls each scored over-sized Tinker Bell coloring books and bubbles/soap. 

Not only did Regan have her very first snow day this week, but she also had an already-shortened week with Thursday/Friday off! Man what it must be like to be in first grade these days. So this morning, as I got ready for work, she hung out and danced around in her PJ's. She took some extra time, pulled on my boots and struck a pose, just for me. 

And later in the day, Ryan brought the girls to the hospital for a lunch date. He needed a break (rough day with the two of them I hear) and I wanted to see my loves. They love playing around in office chairs, perching near the window to color me pictures with highlighters. I remember doing similar artwork for my mom so many years ago.

And with a bit of permission from Angie, Milo got a little LOT of loving!! 

I had to laugh when I looked down and Sidney asked "what does this say?" pointing to the "Please Don't Pet" sign on his back and there were oodles of hands petting away. 

Happy iPhone pictures; I will try to do better with bringing out the camera and taking some shots of life before it passes by too quickly. 

What we've been up to

It's been brought to my attention that I'm slacking in the blog department lately. My apologies. Sometimes, life just sucks us in and whisks us away. We've been busy with all sorts of fun, but I haven't been real great at taking pictures along the way. Here's a few photos from the last week: 

Sidney and I had some fun sending pictures to Uncle Shane while he is literally half a world away soaking up some warmer/much more humid temps. She was serving up bowls of suds....

And there's not much better than a sweet smelling 4 year old after a nice warm bath. 

We are on a streak of birthday parties too. This month alone, we have 5 invites on the fridge between Regan and Sidney's friends. I'm happy that they have such lovely friends, but it sure adds to our activity calendar when they are all smashed into a few weeks! 

Regan headed to this mini water park for a fun afternoon of water fun

And our little fish is turning into one heck of a swimmer. She helps the not so experienced swimmers and is a life saver (sometimes literally I heard!) to the supervising parents. She apparently swooped two little ones from going under, one was technically already going under when she grabbed her. Nice work Regan! 

 Sidney and I have been finding more fun/less work on my Fridays off. It dawned on me that if we shuffle tasks around a bit, her and I can get some quality fun in on a Friday. And we're taking complete advantage of daddy getting groceries so we can find the fun!