Regan turns 17

 (Just getting caught up over here...)

Back in February, Regan turned 17. I can hardly believe it, almost a legal adult. It truly is a wild ride raising these kiddos. 

Although this birthday wasn't nearly as much fun....an incidental finding of COVID meant she was quarantined to the basement. Though she felt just fine and so we celebrated the best we could. 

She asked for Italian for dinner so we ordered in and I sat across from her and chatted while she ate.

And some yummy Nothing Bundt Cakes for dessert made for an excellent "birthday cake"! Though I wouldn't let her touch them, and couldn't unwrap them for a picture for fear she'd breathe her germs all over them and get us sick. (side note: I'm the biggest germ freak).

She was a good sport about it, and the 5 day quarantine when she was feeling fine wasn't as bad as it could have been. Bummer of a birthday celebration though.

Happy 17th Regan! 

Happy 16th Birthday Regan!

Sixteen years ago, this beautiful soul made us parents for the very first time. She arrived earlier than planned (4 weeks earlier to be exact) and has kept us on our toes ever since. 

She's smart (but terribly unorganized)

She has big emotions (both happy and sad, and sometimes mad)

Can't cook or bake for the life of her

And is fiercly social, easily making friends 

Her love for that little yellow ball runs deep. 
So when she found out her team practice was cancelled on her birthday, in true form, she was devastated. 

Coach Becky to the rescue with a 2-hour private lesson (Coach Becky chases that yellow ball around herself and knows just how passionate Regan is about softball). 

No place else she wanted to spend her birthday

We had to first make a pit stop at the Cambridge DMV so she could take (and somehow pass) her driver's test! We laughed pretty hard when she came back with her tester who proceeded to tell me all of the skills she still needed to work on. And that she had hit a snowbank during parallel parking-whoops. Regan had the biggest smile on her face and I blurted out "wait, did you pass!??!"

Yep, she sure did

Oh sweet baby girl, how in the world has it been 16 years already? I read the following words on a Parenting Teens page, and turned into a sobbing mess. 

You don't actually parent one person, you parent many different people who are all your child. 

There's the newborn, the baby, the toddler, the pre-schooler, the primary aged kid, the pre-teen, the adolescent, the full-blown teen, the young adult and then the adult. they all answer to the same name. They all call you Mum. And you never noticed the inflection point where one of those people turns into the next. 

You never get to properly say goodbye to all the little people who grow up because you don't notice the growing, the changing. Except when Facebook sends you those reminders that invariably make me cry because it's like showing me the face of someone I can never see again. Not in that way. Not at the same age. 

~Mia Freedman~ 

We are holding on for dear life, knowing these next few years are going to fly by. 

To watch the last 16 years in a matter of 4 minutes, enjoy the video below: 

Happy Golden Regan!

Fifteen years ago, on a bitterly cold morning (much like today!), I went into labor with our firstborn. She surprised us, ready to come nearly 4 weeks ahead of schedule. But she was ready to greet the world and we are so proud to be her parents! 

She's grown into such a beautiful teenager and it is so fun to watch her find her place in this world. As much as she tells me she's no longer in love with going to dance classes every week, she sure shines on stage and loves being in that spotlight. 

I love looking back at where she came from.
Up on stage, begging for a Hippopotamus for Christmas in a pink and black dress! 

And seeing her debut as catcher, just cracks me up! Sitting in the dirt. Not a care in the world as to how she is actually supposed to squat. 
My guess is she was actually playing in the dirt, and probably dodged every ball that came her way :) 

She's come a long way, playing this game she loves so much. In fact, when the pandemic shut down her club for a few months, we installed a heater in the garage so she (both girls actually) could continue working on their game. She holds a record for most recorded swings in the whole organization (they use some pretty awesome bat technology to track swings and provide feedback)! And all that practicing paid off when she hit her first dinger this winter! 

We scored a pretty awesome impromptu photo shoot recently. She was doing her thing, having a catching lesson with her club. Nearby a professional photographer was finishing up taking headshots for the website. He told her to remove her covid facemask for a quick picture, and then later sent her this image. 

I love it! 

Her golden birthday is not exactly how she planned it would be, pandemic and all. Little did she know, her best high school buds had a surprise up their sleeves. And with a little mom-coordinating of schedules, I managed to convince her to run outside in the -10F weather to grab the mail (for the record, it’s Presidents’ Day, there was no mail)! And out from no where jumped her two besties with silly string and gold balloons, hats and presents! She’s picked some pretty amazing friends (bonus: they have amazing parents too!)! 

So alas, her pandemic Golden wasn’t completely a bust. And her bright personality shines on, just like in this photo below. 

We love watching her grow up. She's loud and outgoing, friendly and an extrovert. 

Happy 15th Regan! 

15 things I love about her: 

-she makes friends wherever she goes

-she is dedicated and driven

-she does her homework, without reminders 

-...and her grades show it! 

-she can easily talk with adults 

-we jam out to music on our daily drives to softball 

-she willingly tries new activities 

-she knows what she likes, ...and what she doesn’t 

-she works hard 

-she has a passion for animals, even tho we don’t have one

-she has a giant heart 

-she loves a MN summer 

-she’s a great traveler! 

-she loves to explore whatever I come up with when we travel 

-she has a beautiful smile! 

Love you sweet girl! 

 

Winter-little things

As we sit in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic, I wanted to quick look back and remember the fun we had this winter season of 2019-2020. Before we all were isolated in our homes (except yours truly who must go into the hospital every day). I cried today for the first time since this all started, and I cried 4 times. Fear for the unknown. Sadness for what is lost. Hope that we will get through this untouched.

 

But I can't live in that space too often, life moves on. So up with the bootstraps!

 

 In no particular order, here's some random photos off my phone.

 

The elementary school collected 2 liter soda pop bottles for the ring toss game at the carnival. They collected loads of these bottles. And then Sidney proceeded to bring EIGHT back home. The girl is a master at ring toss!

 

 

We woke up on Regan's birthday to our house being TP'd.
Our security cameras actually caught the little buggers on video the night before and woke me up, but it was minutes too late and they were already headed down the street.

I laughed. Because really, who doesn't want some fun loving TP on their birthday!? And we cleaned up 7 rolls of it!!

Although she asked around, the little vandalizing fellas haven't come clean.

 

(side note: I wish I would've kept all that TP now that we can't find any on store shelves).

 

We had lots of fires, and cuddled up around them after a busy weekend or long day at the rink. There is something about the smell and heat of a fire that just brings us all together. We tend to congregate around the fire, often me and the girls huddled up on the hearth. But this time, I caught Ryan and Lincoln snuggled in together.

 

Grandma Jan came back from a quick Arizona trip, all tanned and filled up with Vitamin D. I'm thankful now that she's here this winter and can isolate herself and not be traveling.

 

As the snow began to melt, we busted out Lincoln's new bike from his birthday last year. He was hesitant at first, but is already cruising around on that thing like he did with his little one. And he's so proud to be riding this bigger one.

 



 

I thought I had seen it all. And then, while volunteering, someone showed up with this dog in a sling. I took a double take, and then a photo. Because, it's a dog in a sling!?

 

Lincoln picked up on reading, thanks to Dick and Jane. They really are the best. They're short and repetitive and easy enough to finish in one setting. He's already graduating onto bigger books now.

 

His teacher sent home some of his work from school.

Ahhhh, I giggled and giggled reading his "brave" spelling as I thought back to both girls in kindergarten with the same types of work.

Sound it out: 'uvn'

 

 

Regan and I volunteered with her summer club softball team sorting and sorting nearly 300 pizza orders from her team. The association sold pizzas for a fundraiser. Thank you to those who supported her!

 

And finally, sometimes I fail miserably at taking pictures with the girls. Here we were watching Lincoln play hockey. I had one girl with the giggles, eager to take a picture, and another one who was annoyed and cold and not in the mood. Can you guess which description fits each girl :)

 

And now, as the winter season slows down, we are met with the most unique situation of quarantine and isolation and social distancing.

The kids are doing online school for the foreseeable future,

 Ryan's working from home, and I'm being greeted at night with "were you safe today?"

meaning was I able to avoid close contact with anyone.
People are hoarding paper products, the store shelves are empty.

Softball is cancelled.

Volleyball is cancelled.

We're filling our time with games and bike rides, more fires, movies, arts and crafts, play dou and family time.

Trying to make the most of this and taking one day at a time.

 Each day, we are one day closer to this being over.

Happy 14th Birthday Regan!

Fourteen years ago, this little girl made her debut. She arrived 4 weeks early, unable to feed normally so we used a dropper, but with a set of lungs to let us know she was ready for the world. 

And she hasn’t stopped talking since! 

 

I was blessed to be a mom for the very first time, and in the blink of an eye, now 14 years have gone by. 

 

 

 

It’s so very hard to believe. So slow, yet oh so quick. There really is some truth to the saying “the days are long but the years are short”. 

 

 

Our adorable, chubby cheeked girl is growing up right before our eyes. 

She has an immense love for animals (particularly llamas and dogs), a giant heart that cries crocodile tears of sadness and an uncanny ability to talk and talk and talk. :) She is athletic and adores sports:, long distance running (no sprints!), dance and her absolute favorite is softball. 

 

 

Beyond everything, she is social. Every single school conference since kindergarten, we are reminded that she loves to talk. I cringe because since the 5th grade, she learned how to be social, while getting her work done at the same time. It’s a fantastic life long skill, but one that most of her classmates have still not yet mastered, and as such, can be distracting to them. She easily makes friends, always trying to help the new kids. She floats around, having all sorts of groups of friends. Her coaches and teachers clue us in that these traits (though challenging at times), make her a true leader. And those comments make me proud :) 

 

 

 

 

 

Her most recent realization has been that she will graduate high school in just 4 short more years. While this life event is so very exciting, she cried those crocodile tears when she did the math and discovered Lincoln would still be in elementary school. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that her math was off, and he would actually be younger than she calculated. Her fear is he will forget her, she’ll become a stranger that shows up on holidays....(we are a tad dramatic over here!).  But I secretly cried right along with her. If 14 years went this fast, imagine how quickly the next four will go. So my advice to her, keep making memories, don't hide behind those screens, and your siblings will always remember their fun big sister!

 

I’m hanging on to every moment over here. Clinging to this sweet girl who drives me batty with her eye rolls and general lackadaisical attitude. This sweet girl I love so fiercely! 

Happy 14th birthday baby girl!

 

Chicago

For Regan's birthday this year, we struggled to find just the right gift for our new teenager. We thought and asked and finally decided on an "experience"....

fitting that I opened this dark chocolate wrapper while we were on our trip. 

My mom and I decide to book flights and take her to the Windy City for a long weekend. Our real reasoning was to see Hamilton (something she has been begging for since last year). 

But we did a lot of exploring and had some fun along the way. 

We put on 5-6 miles/day on foot, walking all over the city. While the river was no longer bright green from St. Patrick's Day, the Riverwalk was a lot of fun and the architecture was incredible. 

Sunday morning was the Shamrock Shuffle. All of the streets were closed down as runners came flying by. Regan was wishing we knew in advance of this race so she couldn't joined :) My little runner, so proud of her. 

Instead we stopped at every Starbucks she could find, cupcake shops and popcorn shops. 

Navy Pier 

Millennial Park

The famous bean

Tricks on the bean

After hours and hours of walking and eating and exploring, we finally got what we came for: Hamilton. 

I suspect all 3 of us are going to be singing those lyrics for weeks to come. It sure didn't disappoint (and this was my second go-around, and I loved it just as much the second time!). I'm so grateful for my mom for sharing this experience with us, we sure made some great memories!