Spring time!

This spring has been a bit of one for the record books as far as the weather is concerned. Minnesota can't seem to make up her mind. 

When it first started to thaw, Lincoln took out his sticks, and some left-handed ones from grandma Jan and started to practice. Just don't tell the city as we're letting him hit on a nearby ball field. Shhh! 

Easter-time rolled around and Sidney saw this giant thing at Target, insisting on bringing it home. She purchased him with her own money (and Lincoln a bunny the same size) and I ended up with Ducky riding shotgun on the drive home. 

Safety first: she even buckled him in! 

Regan started playing for the high school team! We are so amazed and proud at how far she has come in her softball skills. This team practices 5 days/week on top of her already busy schedule. I'm not saying there haven't been tears, but we are sure enjoying this new adventure. 

And then it snowed again. A lot. 

It was heavy and wet and in the middle of April. 

I was so over the white wet-stuff that I ended up going all "Dukes of Hazard" and flew over the piles at the bottom up the driveway and into the garage. I had to stop pretty quickly to avoid busting through the back wall and landing in the pool shed! 

And then it melted again. Ryan and Regan ran the Gopher 5K which ended on the TCF field. Lincoln and I joined in to cheer them on. There was a sea of people but we managed to watch them both cross the finish line and then gathered up for a quick photo op with Goldy himself. 

It's been a spring full of school, work and activities. We're ready for things to calm down a little, though know full well that this season will get worse before better. 

Bring it on :) 

Winter Show 2019

The annual winter show was this past weekend. But before we get into that, let's back up to the hours and hours of work that goes into this incredible show. 

Back in early December Regan committed to trying out for the Cast of the show, which meant doubling her time at the studio for the month of January in preparation. 

She had a great try-out and landed two roles in the Cast (one part in each show), she held an evil part and a good princess part and was over the moon with the opportunity. 

Each Saturday and Sunday, she spent 3-4 hours at the studio learning her roles. I had hours of coordinating our personal schedules to accommodate her dance, help volunteering at the studio with costumes and endless driving back and forth shuffling her around to formal practices and informal at friend's houses. 

In the last week before show weekend, Regan had 6 days straight of practice leading up to 2 nights of shows. Ouch. Couple that with other activities and school work, and we had a pretty stressful week. 

And then it was time for the show. 

Unfortunately, they lost their dress rehearsal night by having to add a third show due to ticket demands! Friday night ended up being show number one and I again volunteered as usher (secretly it's the best volunteer job around because once the show starts, I was able to watch from the back. Mom win!). 

Despite no dress rehearsal, they looked beautiful on stage. There were a few mishaps (more on that later) and a lot of tears backstage, but you wouldn't know it from the audience! 

 For the first (and third) show, Regan's Cast role was part of the Evil Army. When she found out she was in the Army after tryouts, she was so excited to wear this black one piece. Some kids love them, some hate them. Thankfully she was thrilled.

To get yourself inside this suit, one needs to be zipped up completely. And to get out, unzip. These girls also had a number of "quick changes" between songs to be sure they were back on stage and ready for the next song. Sadly, Regan's hair got stuck in the zipper and there was no getting her out. I was oblivious to this whole scene until hours later when a mom text me "Heads up they had to cut Regan's hair and she was crying...."

Wait, what!??! 

"her bun got caught in her costume and they couldn't get it out". 

My heart sunk to my stomach, not knowing how bad it would look. 

Following the show, as I waited for her to come out, the studio owner found me and let me know she wasn't prepared to hear over the headset that they were having to cut out Regan from the black suit. No one still had an update as to what it looked like. I feared the worst! 

There were lots of tears when I finally got to her, still not knowing how bad it was. Eventually after a shower and a good comb out, we realized that she has so much hair, no one would even notice. 

But they all went through the next shows without zipping their buns into the costume! 

Somehow she continued the remainder of the show, click here for a short glimpse of her jazz. 

Show two brought the princess role in cast and this beautiful girl shined on stage. 

In addition to the cast role, Regan had 5 other dances which were part of her regular weekly classes. This one was certainly one of my favorites, one of the ballet classes. 

Part of it might have been the gorgeous white leotard I may have paid too much for :) 

She picked that beauty out on her own (the studio provides costumes for this show, some of them require a leotard we can borrow or find on our own). This white leo is gorgeous, and she wore it to class the final week before the show. Only to get a tiny spot of blood on the side. In quickly washing it, I didn't realize I had also thrown in a newly purchased swimsuit in the washing machine at the same time. A maroon swimsuit. 

Her white (very expensive white) leotard was now pink. 

Double crap. 

Anyone close to me knows I don't do bleach very well (and I may have put holes in Sidney's white Vineyard Vines shirt once...). I was suupppeerrr careful and managed to get this leotard white again.
Dodged that bullet!

Her new glass-less face now that she's wearing contacts. I swear, she's all "growned" up, like she asked me so many times as a little girl :) 

Let me tell you, it was no easy feat picking her out on stage minus glasses this year. All those girls start to look alike! 

There was a host of kiddos on that stage for the final bow each show. 

And when her group from cast ran out, I got giddy hearing those fellow dancers squeal and cheer. Our girl was beaming with pride on stage. 

I loved this Pixie costume. A huge thanks to all my mom friends volunteering back stage who sent me photos throughout all of the shows :)  A short glimpse of one scene is here. 

The final show was back to the evil army costume (she's center in that photo below). 

We played it super safe and all of the army was instructed to leave the bun OUTSIDE of the costume so as to avoid anymore haircuts. HA! 

My camera had a hard time keeping up focus with the stage lights and speed sometimes. I think this photo, although blurry, is a fun depiction of all the movement. No wonder Lincoln loves the winter show! 

We love watching her shine on stage, doing her thing and showing off all her hard work. 

And I know darn well she adores all the socialization part of dance. She has deepened friendships and made new friendships, with kids young and old. 

And according to this younger friend's mom, Ava was just as excited and proud to have made a 'big-kid' friend in Regan. They clearly were having a good time together sharing inside jokes and giggles :) 

Oh goodness, these costumes might be the most hideous things anyone has ever seen! I had to include the photo in this post, if to only remember them years from now. 

The bow at the base of their head is made for a wreath, and is at least 10" in diameter! It's humongous and ridiculous! 

There was a cute cheering crowd that came one night to support Regan and her friends...this photo was taken while we were still crying over the haircut. Thankfully she had that amazing support and love to lift her up and not ruin her evening! 

Congratulations Regan on a job very well done. Your persistence to learn 9 different dances in a matter of a month amazes me. I love watching you dance on stage. Your skill has grown and grown over the last 7 years!
Nice job! 

Winter dance show 2018

A little picture overload going on in this post. I had trouble picking just one photo, so instead you get many :) 

The girls have been working in their dance classes towards the winter show (which I am forever grateful is held in January and not December). It's Christmas-time themed, but with the already busy-ness of December, the last thing we would need is a dance recital. 

Regan is old enough now to try out for the "cast" in this Nutcracker like production and was thrilled to make the cut. She was so dang adorable on stage and those little kiddos sure looked up to her when she put on her "cast" costume. 

The cast had 3 very long weekends to pull off all their dances; it doesn't sound like much, but they practiced 2-3 hours every Friday/Saturday/Sunday and their hard work sure paid off! They were amazing! 

And sometimes, when you're so excited it hurts, you take a silly pose picture for your mama. 

And your sister follows suit, with crazy bent arms. 

 Sidney is sure excited to make her way through the next few years before she too can join the cast. But while she waits, she does so with some super fun friends that helped keep her entertained back stage until it was their time to dance. 

Those grade 2-3 kiddos were sure cute up on stage, even though Sidney proclaimed they didn't all know the dances very well (and let's just say that bothered the daylights out of her). 

These show costumes are owned by the studio, and reused each year. Some are adorable, and others are, well, a little silly looking. So let's just take a look at that giant wreath bow turned hair bow....I couldn't even look at them without busting out laughing. It was seriously hideous! 

When all was said and done, the girls danced in a total of 3 shows, spanning 12 hours and a total of 29 dances between the two of them. That's a pretty incredible day if you ask me!
This was my favorite dance of Regan's regular classes, her tap dance "Hot Chocolate". So much going on and so many girls all tapping in unison. Incredible dance!  

I don't know how many kiddos make up this show every year, but here are most of them during final bows one show. There are a LOT of kids up there!  

I'm so proud of these two lovely girls. They worked hard and it sure showed. Great job girls! 

Turkey day 2017

 We started off Thanksgiving a little different this year. Working in health care, rehab to be more specific, I am thankful every single day that I have the ability to exercise. In fact, as odd as it sounds, I'm incredibly thankful to be able to run. So it seemed fitting to start off my Thanksgiving day with a quick 5K. 

To clarify, this was totally not my idea. In fact, see that other girl in the photo below? It was her idea. Regan's friend Adrian wanted desperately to run this race, but her parents are not runners. As she and Regan enjoyed cross country over the fall, the idea to run the Turkey Day run grew and suddenly included me! None of us parents were willing to let the girls lose with 9,000 runners, and it seemed safest for someone to run along side. I volunteered myself, knowing it would be a good way to start the day. 

The beauty that morning was stunning. We ran through downtown and near the river. It was a gorgeous morning (yes, a little chilly but at least it wasn't windy!). 

I was so proud of the girls! They stuck with it, running the entire time. I paced them at 10 minutes/mile and although they were winded, they never needed to stop. I tried striking up conversations with them, but could tell they were both too tired to think and too out of breath to respond :) Super happy to have spent the morning with my oldest! 

 After the run, we got to join the rest of the crew and prepped our Thanksgiving meal. 

Four days before Thanksgiving, Ryan got the bright idea to deep fry the turkey this year. I sort of did a 'face-palm', because again, working in health care, I envisioned spending Thanksgiving in the ER due to burns. So we both read and watched and scoured the internet on "how to cook a turkey without killing yourself". There are some pretty great reads out there! 

I'm happy to announce it was a complete success! No one was injured and Ryan was beyond pleased with the outcome of his bird. I can't say the smell of it was anything grand, we had to open 6 windows and the front door (think greasy fast food joint); so much for that delicious cooked turkey smell. Apparently in his mind, it was totally worth it. 

At the end of the day, I felt so much love in my heart and as always, am so thankful for these three cuties who call me mom. 

Fall activities

As the fall softball season wrapped up, we jumped two feet into some (new) activities for the remainder of the fall season. And I'm one proud mama to see these kids excel or try new things. Although each of them are only in 1-2 activities at a time, multiply that by 3, and we have ourselves a pretty jam packed week racing kids to/from activities.

I know I've mentioned it before, Regan joined the middle school cross country team this year and has had the time of her life. Contrary to how we thought this was going to play out, she is loving the running and the only complaining we hear is how sore she is. Not once has she whined about practice or tried to weasel out of a run. Her coaches remind us that soreness is a sign of growth, and so she runs on :) Too bad this season has just ended, because I think she would've just kept on running! So for now she will continue dancing several nights/week and see what else she can find to occupy her time. 

Couple of videos from her last meet HERE and HERE

Sidney also has been dancing in several classes/week, in addition to gymnastics. She teetered on not signing up for gymnastics this season, but last week when she found out that she had passed out and will be moving up to the next level, she was on top of the world! I'm pretty sure she was super happy with that original decision to sign up, and of course is begging to stay in for the next season. So she flips on. 

Video of her attached HERE.

And then there's Lincoln, who has turned into a complete fish! At the end of the summer, when he really started swimming well without his life jacket, I knew it was time to get him into formal classes. We headed back to the (unfortunately super expensive, but fortunately really good) swim school and they placed him where they thought he belonged. Our little guy has blown it out of the water with this swimming lesson business. Not only does he pay attention and do as he is instructed, he is good. And I'm not just saying that cuz he's my little boy. No, really, he is a fish! So much that the deck guard plopped down next to me last week and requested we move Lincoln to the next level...now. She expects that he may even head up to the level ahead of that when the session is finished! What's even better, he adores this class! Begs to go to "fwimming wessons", even as we're driving away, he's asking when we go back. And he swims on. 

Video of him in action HERE

I'm so proud of these kiddos of ours, watching them grow, engage in something new and participate in these activities. It sure is a lot of work (or, it's a TON of work!), but we do it for them and wouldn't want it any other way! 

Innagural band concert

When we heard that our elementary school required the 5th graders to participate in band, we were a little surprised. But like two good parents would do, we set out to give Regan the experience she deserved with her first year of band. We allowed her to choose any instrument she would like, either standard band or orchestra and set to practice and learn this new instrument. Her choice?: clarinet. I know she was inspired by the 18 year old neighbor girl who also plays clarinet, and figured it was give her an incentive to practice.

Sadly, I think that clarinet collected more dust than we would have liked. It's not that she doesn't like playing it, she just hasn't found a practice schedule that works for her. Of course we know that she should "practice everyday", but let's face it, that's not realistic in this house. But when she did practice, I tried to get little snippets of her music. Click HERE to listen.

After 8 months, she and her classmates gathered up for their first band concert. I must say, I was actually impressed with how well they sounded! Unfortunately, due to the evening concert coinciding with softball and dress rehearsal for her dance recital, Regan was only able to make it to the day concert....hence the not-so-dressed up 11 year old :) Still so proud of her!

10U qualifiers

Regan's softball season is in full swing. We spent our weekend split between 10U qualifiers and 8U state (more on that later). Two tournaments, two cities and one very tired family! 

It was a great weekend and we love to watch them play ball. 

This little guy gets dragged around from game to game. Mostly he carries a smile on his face (he is 2, so he has his moments!), and he just loves those girls who oohh and aahh over him. 

He's been a great sport about all of the ball playing, digging his trucks in the dirt or playing with his big bouncy ball. After each inning (when the girls are switching from hitting to fielding or vice versa), he'll ask "all done?" or sometimes "pay more?". 

His cheeks are sun-kissed and his knees are skinned up, but he's does great cheering on those girls! 

Ice Show: Red Carpet 2016

Our girls are involved in a variety of activities. They love them all and we have a hard time telling them "no" when it comes to sign-ups. So when they asked again to sign up for the local ice show, we obliged. It was only 3 practices and nothing grand, but they have so much fun so we go along for the ride. This club produces a number of pretty amazing skaters and the girls realize that they need to consider joining the club for next year if they want to make any improvements in their skating abilities. It's certainly the closest (in proximity) for practices, but I'm not so sure they are ready for some odd ice time slots! We'll see what they decide in the coming months.

Click HERE for a link to watch Sidney, and HERE for Regan.