Broken bones and summer fun

We're catching up on summer around here, and I'm way behind on posting :(

 

A few weeks back, I had planned to take a week off from work to hang with these two cuties. We had big plans to find some fun and explore the city. Sadly, Lincoln took a couple of back to back tumbles and ended up with a broken collarbone and in a sling (more on that later).

So we switched gears and found some fun that was a little more laid back. We headed to our nearby Hyland Lake, where we watched a family of beavers literally save one of their own. It was so sweet to watch mama race to the bottom of the falls and swoop up her baby who had gone over.

Us mama's are always on duty :)

 

 

We also found paddle boats and took a nice long paddle around the lakes. My favorite part was when the kids fought over the front seats and I got to take a break in the back. It was a beautiful summer day.

I managed to convince the whole family to join me downtown at StoneArch. I love the background of this photo, seeing the history of the flour mill and the Mill City ruins. And I love seeing those girls together with smiling faces.

 



With all of the softball hoopla around here, I'm still working to give the girls chores and life lessons. Regan was super excited to learn how to cut the grass....until she realized it's not as easy as it looks. We had lots of patches of uncut grass the first time.
She's getting the hang of it, and has likely mowed the lawn more times than Ryan has by now! 

 

 

We've found some pretty amazing ice cream shops this summer, and this one by far tops them all. Oh the yummy deliciousness of cupcakes and ice cream. YUMMY!

 



 

And although this place gets an A for presentation, the flavor doesn't get more than a B.

 

And here's that awful xray…..the full story is that Lincoln jumped into the pool with intent to land on the Magic Carpet. Sidney pushed it away while he was mid-jump and he only half landed on it. Likely breaking (but not displacing) the collarbone, so it didn't show up on xray.

Two days later, although still cradling her arm, Lincoln wanted to join us all on the Color Run in St Paul. Sadly about 3 blocks into the run he tripped on his own feet and landed RIGHT on his collarbone, completely displacing it. Ouch.

I may have carried him over 2 miles to finish the 5K.

 

And in the midst of all those falls, he was still googly eyed over everything fire works!

Here is a before and after picture from the run. Notice how I was still carrying Lincoln after the end, my arms were literally shaking!  

 

I promise Lincoln is in this cute family summer selfie (see him looking through the railings!?).

 

 

And all that while on that busy stay-cation week, Regan was busy chasing after kiddos at the nearby camp where she was a volunteer Junior Counselor for 10 days. Such an amazing experience.

Sure wish summer would last another 3 months; so much fun left to be had!

Planting with mom

Each year about this time of year, the girls and I get the itch to start planting. Many years ago, our neighbor would take them into his back yard, and while his daughter video taped, they would "film" episodes of "Planting with Steve". The kids thing it's hilarious and they actually do 'takes' while filming. It's quite hilarious! 

Yesterday, with it's glorious weather, was the perfect day to dig in the dirt, and so Regan said it was Planting with Mom! We didn't video, though we maybe should have :) They started with their fairy garden and I just loved how they worked together getting it perfect for the fairies. 

Their "working together" went sour for a while so we had to take a break to allow them to cool off. 

After some much needed time apart, we moved on to the window box and front light post. Regan likes to get dirty and was quick to ditch her gloves. Princess Sidney prefers a little less mess but wants to be just as involved. 

We're all so very excited to be spending more time outside and enjoy spring time. I'm so glad they like to do these things together! I love our quality girl time. 

Art, Art, and More Art!

We have a couple of little girls who are obsessed with art. You name it, we have it on hand. Crayons, markers (regular, window, ones you blow into and the ink splatters, dry erase...), paint (water, finger, regular, acrylic, oil...), chalk, pens and pencils (boxes full of them). And then there's play doh, stamps, glitter, scissors, model magic, and the list goes on. Four entire cabinets of art supplies.

My parents bought Regan the "mother of all" art kits for Christmas. She's in love. 

I'm in love that they play on this together. 

Just look at the rows and rows of colors. And there's everything a girl can think of to use on paper, all wrapped up into one tidy kit. 

It also came with a "how to" booklet which has taught her the step by step instructions for drawing a basic puppy face, butterfly and whale. Regan took it to the next level and is now drawing away on her easel. 

Look out world, here's the next Georgia O'Keeffe!

Drama

Sometimes when you couple this: 

 With a big sister who is giving mom this "I'm about to really drive my sister nuts" face: 

 you get a lot of drama: