Potty training....number 3

As both of the girls approached age 2, I started (and successfully) potty trained them. (side note: Ryan will admit he had nothing very little to do with this milestone). I'm not saying it was easy peasy, in fact, I probably shed a lot of tears. But the way I remember it, it was not terribly trying either. Fast forward many years, and along came Lincoln. He approached age 2, and I tried, without much luck one fall day, to potty train him. I didn't remember it being so hard with the girls! Plus it was 1 against 4 in this house and I wasn't getting much support from Ryan and the girls. 

So I quit. I would say that I was lazy, which I probably was, but in my defense, I was up to my eyeballs learning about Lincoln's food allergies which was a total game changer for all of us. 

Several months later (this past weekend), on a little bit of a whim, I decided to take the plunge again. This time, I warned Ryan and the girls to either get on board, or get out of the house :) I was fully prepared for them to leave for the weekend! But they didn't, and in fact, with only a little mumbling and one screaming episode (Sidney got peed on), they were even helpful! I have THIS pretty hilarious video (be warned....offensive language!), that I took one day as he was sitting patiently on the pot.

My plan is always to "pull off the diaper and never look back", and that's what we did. Stay home, drink loads of liquids, and pee. By day 3, Lincoln was a complete champ! I, on the other hand, felt pretty frazzled and was beyond excited to get out of the house this morning. If there's one major difference between boys and girls----aim! Ryan said it best today "it's like a missile"! Needless to say, the bathroom floor has been scrubbed many times/day because the boy has zero aim and makes a complete mess. One thing at a time, right!? 

Way to go buddy! We are so proud of you :) 

A new sport

I strive to expose the kids to a variety of sports. Let them try things (at least once) before making a decision about actually taking up interest. Sometimes, despite the battles it takes, I hit the nail on the head. 

And this time, I even surprised myself! 

I don't like winter much. I don't like cold. But if there is one thing I do like about snow, it's downhill skiing. But I'm no pro, so I knew that waiting for the kids to get a little older was in my best interest. Finally, this winter, I asked the girls if I could sign them up for skiing lessons. Ryan complained (it's expensive, they're involved in a lot already, and aren't they too young!?). 

Although there were tons of nerves and maybe a little whining this morning, an hour on the hill and they were both hooked! 

And good!

I truly was in awe at how well they both did. After their lessons, I couldn't get them off the hill! They spent another 1.5 hours going up and down, up and down. Don't get me wrong, they have a lot to learn yet as they only worked at the bunny hill today. But they loved every second and are so excited for next week! 

Click HERE and HERE to watch each of them in action. 

Way to go girls! 

Elmo Party

Some days it feels like birthdays last several weeks, and Lincoln's fell into this category as we finally held his Elmo party today. He was pretty excited to see the Elmo balloons come home with us from the party store! 

There were presents and presents and more presents for our favorite 2 year old. Harlow was a good helper as she showed Lincoln just how to rip off that paper. She was patient and very sweet with him! Then he lost interest and Grandma Sheri opened the rest! 

I've always loved picking out the kid's birthday cakes (usually with some input from the kids when they are old enough), but with Lincoln, the responsibility to bake and decorate the cake falls totally on me.
And I don't like it one bit. 

If these allergies persist, I'll be enrolling in some cake decorating classes..... 

Good thing he could care less what it looks like (it really wasn't that terrible; and the pinata effect was pretty darn cool). He was thrilled to see Elmo on top and even happier that he could eat it. All if it. Without a fear or being given an Epi afterwards. 

This boy of ours loves when we sing Happy Birthday to him-just look at that smile! 

After a couple of rounds of "happy birthday" and his best efforts at blowing out the candles, I started cutting/plating the cake. Regan was taking orders of cake/ice cream and skipped right over our birthday man on accident. Kari caught him, sitting like this, waiting patiently for his piece of cake and coconut ice cream. 

Thankfully, the smile reappeared as he finally was served his piece. 
Thank you to all who helped us celebrate! 

Happy 2nd Birthday Lincoln!
We love you! 

I make a slideshow every year for the kids' birthdays, something I've been doing since Regan turned 1 and just now, have I realized how to upload them to the blog. Click HERE to view Lincolns 2nd year. 

Flashback videos

I found this video searching for something on my computer. I simply couldn't resist to post it. This girl kills me! Her shaky butt, and the way she was telling Grandma Sheri to go sit down is hilarious!

Happy flashback to circa 2010: Sidney's first dance recital.

Videos

Lincoln is catching on verbally and expressing himself in ways that I often can't describe without a video. The other day, I asked him what he wanted for a snack....and his response was that of a teenager. Listen for yourself: 

https://youtu.be/g8vIjPHVV4E

Is it bad that my favorite part of the video is his (fake) blown kisses to my "I love you". And my second favorite part is that he suddenly disappeared because he tripped on his own feet at the end. Toddlers are incredibly uncoordinated and our little guy ranks right up there when it comes to stumbling on himself. 

He's also learned how to softly ask "why" to every darn request/statement/comment that is made. Now I could find this mildly irritating (and eventually I probably will), but currently, I think it's the most adorable sound. And he knows it. You can see it in his smile that he knows he's cute. 

https://youtu.be/j3G96ewxOBI

And as for spitting out every bite of an apple?, yea that's his latest act. Talk about irritating! It's a mess. I feel like Hansel and Gretel with his trail of Apple bites! 

Oh how I love you Lincoln! 

Videos of Lincoln

Lincoln is like a sponge these days, learning more and more each and every day. Often, I will hear him repeat a new word out of my mouth and look at him with that "say it again!" look. In the last few days he has added the words: see, please, mine, dog and my favorite....no-no. 

I know!!!

How in the world can I be excited that he says "no no"?! Well, it's something that I've been working on with him for a few weeks. He mastered the word yes long ago, but then everything turned into 'yes'. It's like at my work when a patient perseverates on a word and that's all they say. Makes it unreliable.

So the other day during bath, Lincoln took a giant amount of water and dumped it out of the tub. My response was "no-no!"

His response.....click HERE.

I love it :)  

One word that he has yet to master is 'more'. He has his own version of the sign, and it is beyond adorable. For those that are unfamiliar, it is normally signed like this

Lincoln only puts his first fingers together, and it is so delicate and adorable. 

Click HERE to see his reaction to a police car zooming past and his perfect expression of what he would like to happen next.

We see that sign constantly, especially when he sees a dog, an emergency vehicle, a semi truck and more recently, when he 'toots'. :) What a boy!!

One final video..., he has his hands on Regan's recorder from school this past year (lucky for us, she gets to keep it forever which means we get to hear Hot Cross Buns on a daily basis). Lincoln has picked up on her tunes but has no idea how to actually make the sound come out, and so he hums a tune rather than blow. Oh how we love him so!! Click HERE to listen. 

Spring has sprung

 The weather this weekend was simply perfect (for spring). It was a wee bit windy, but when it feels like 70 and the sun is shining down on our faces, it's perfect in our minds. Plus, when you factor in the fact that it was snowing (monstrous size snowflakes) on Friday morning, a little wind is nothing.
Saturday morning was a "divide and conquer" type of day. With two active young girls, we often find ourselves having to split up duties to get everyone where they need to be. This weekend, I took Regan to a 2 hour softball practice while Ryan went to gymnastics with Sidney. Given the glorious weather, it was an easy decision to tote Lincoln along. We hung out at a nearby park and he was giddy with delight! 

After a quick snooze in the swing (check out that drool!), he played to his hearts content. I couldn't believe his giggles, they wouldn't stop. It was hilarious and I finally turned on the video on my phone. Click HERE for a little clip. He played so hard for those 2 hours that he napped for 4 hours in the afternoon! FOUR hours! And we had to wake him up at 4:30pm or he may have slept longer. 

Sunday morning we headed to Lake Harriet for a stroll around the lake. Lincoln fought like crazy to leave the house (he just wanted to play outside), but was super excited when we arrived at our destination. We brought along his red car because we knew he'd sit in that much longer than in his stroller. The girls brought their scooters and had quite the lesson about public trails. Between the ducks, the airplanes and all of the dogs, Lincoln was in toddler heaven!

They have a pretty fun playground at Lake Harriet so we burned off some energy climbing around for an hour. See Sidney way way up there?....I may have just given grandma Jan a heart attack with this picture :) 

Here's to spring time fun! 

Silly busy boy

Lincoln is busy. Very very busy. But when he's active, I can't help but smile because it reminds me that at least he's healthy. (A third ear infection since January has made for a tough start of the year). He likes to toss things across the room, as seen in this clip  and make big messes all day long. Oh boy does it make Ryan mad!

We spend many hours each day outside. He likes to ride in his car, sled down the driveway and watch for busses. For hours on end, the boy could stay outside. We get cold far before he does. And often can only convince him to come in with a major distraction (food or dancing).

He plays hard....and then crashes hard 

and when he's battling yet another ear infection, he sleeps with his mouth open because his sinuses are plugged. 

We love you sweet baby boy!

Variety Show 2015

Regan and her friends were eager to try out for this year's Variety Show at school. They practiced and sang their hearts out. With so many acts to choose from, we really were a little uncertain that they would make it past the try out round, Much to their delight, they made it to the actual show! I think our biggest surprise was these girls only practiced during their recess time. So it really is pretty amazing that they did so well. We are so proud of Regan and her friends; she truly has a great group of girls around her. 

Way to go Regan! We are so proud of you! 

You can click HERE to watch to their rendition of "snowman showman". 

pardon the shaky video....I had Lincoln trying to stand on my legs to see over the man in front of us. 

New Year Q&A

I found this cute little 'year in review' questionnaire interview type deal for the kiddos. On New Year's Day, I took a short video of each during their Q&A so someday I can look back at their views on life.  They both like to be in front of the camera, so it was pretty easy to get them to cooperate. Here are their answers:

Regan age 8

Sidney age 6

Giggles and first word!

Regan loves getting Lincoln to laugh. Tonight, as Ryan was changing out of his work clothes, she grabbed his belt and did to Lincoln what Ryan has done to the girls to get them giggling. She proceeded to snap his belt over and over and Lincoln went crazy, laughing away at her! He wasn't laughing nearly as much once I pulled out the camera, but you can see he was still entertained. Then, at about the 1:05 mark....you'll hear him, plain as day, say "mom". He does it more than once and I'm so happy I had it on camera! Clearly he's just making noises, but I'm happy as pie to believe he is saying "mom"!! Click HERE to watch. Enjoy!  

Dancing Queen

This girl cracks us up. All day long. 

Tonight was like no other, except that I caught it on video as I pretended to be looking at my phone when in fact I was using the video record :) 

Sneaky mom. 

She's in love with dancing while watching her shadow. 

Enjoy this adorable 4 year old still in her gymnastics outfit after dinner on the patio. 

But don't forget to clap at the end (listen to her holler at the end "clap"...."CLAP!"). 

cracks me up.

A peek into our world

Click HERE for a little clip into our lives. 

The girls were busy with the karaoke (courtesy of Taylor Swift), while Ryan was outside looking for a jump rope for Regan to practice Jump Rope for Heart. 

Stick around for the minute long video, because towards the end of the video, out of nowhere, Sidney takes a digger when she tries to climb on top of a ball to shut off the lights (bright idea).

Between Ryan dancing in the window and Sidney's surprise digger, it's worth the minute of your life to watch. 

Just another day in paradise! 

Date day

Regan took me up on my request today for a date. We headed down the street to the local ice arena and skated our hearts out. She's doing quite well, tumbling still but figuring it out. She realized today that indoor skating is slightly more difficult because the Zamboni sure makes the ice more slippery. She complained in the beginning saying "I need more skate marks in the ice!". 

Turns out some classmates were also enjoying the day at the arena so she ditched me for a bit and went around with her pals. 

We had a great date and enjoyed some cappuccino and hot cocoa afterwards. Mmmmm! 

Here's a clip of her sailing at a decent pace: 

Thanks Regan! I love you to pieces! 

Rollerblading

Regan's been focusing on a rollerblading unit in her gym class this January. She's been having a great time and each day comes home telling us it was the best part of her day. Today, Sidney and I went to school to take some pictures of Regan in action and help out the class get all of their gear on. Wowzas, that's a lot of elbow pads, wrist guards, knee pads and helmets! Safety first!

 

Tubing 2013

20 degrees F

Sunny skies

Little to no breeze. 

A wide open Sunday

what to do.....

go tubing!! 

This place is a blast! Ryan and I definitely have more fun than the girls do, but they are warming up to it each time we go. I should clarify, they have fun for the first 1-1.5 hours, and though we could keep going up and down over and over again, they let us know it's time to head home. 

Here's a few videos from the action. The first, we are linked together, all 4 of us going down together. 

The second video, is just Regan sailing down on her own. Sidney did the same thing, and she was so funny to watch! All 34 lbs skipping down the snow, stopping way short of the end because she was too light. At one point, the ski patrol asked if everything below was alright because Ryan had to run part-way up the hill to collect her and the tube. She was perfectly fine, just too much of a light weight to get the tube to finish out the run at the end :) 

Flashback Friday

This video just makes me smile, ok, more like laugh out loud :) I love watching them groove and seeing Sidney's toothless smile!

August 2009