National Zoo

The National Zoo is probably the most amazing zoo I've ever been too. It has everything you can think of (though not giraffes for some reason). My favorite was the Pandas, by far. Regan loved the hippos and talked about them all afternoon (Ryan's favorite too!). Here are a few shots...keep in mind, it was another hot and HUMID day :)

Panda eating lunch, it's amazing how close we got! He sure was putting on a show for everyone.

Look at that hair! Did I mention it was humid? She kept pulling off her hat so we just lathered her hair/head with sunscreen.

Ben and Regan checking out the aquariums.

The orangatangs are free to roam the zoo! Yep, they let them out and they walk above you on these ropes, no enclosures or anything. There are signs talking about how/why they don't come down or fall. They were so cool.

This thing in the petting zoo took a big dump right before I took this photo. Ryan was explaining it all to Regan...hilarious!

Sidney snoozing on mom.

I wonder why no one was in this exhibit? Again, it was out in the open without fences/screens. Strange. We saw the sign and kept right on walking!

Mom and Regan posing with the bear sculptures.

Uncle Ben and Regan posing with the monkeys.... Regan went right in front of his head!

Washington DC

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, we've been hanging out in Washington DC for the last week :) It was a super fun trip! We saw sights (Old Town Alexandria, Mt Vernon and the National Zoo were the highlights) and just relaxed in the hot and HUMID weather. They tell us the humidity wasn't bad, but Regan's curly had told the truth :) Except for the ticks and black widow spider (yep, you read that right, Ben killed a black widow spider while we were out there) all was well!Here are a few photos, I'll post more of the zoo on a different post.

Regan admiring uncle Ben's huge fish at home!

Family photo at Mt Vernon with views of the Potomac. It was terribly humid this day!

This is what Ryan and uncle Ben did most (all) of our trip! (playing on their iTouch/iPhones). Incredibly annoying!!

We found an awesome park for Regan!

Regan and daddy watching Finding Nemo on the way home.

Sidney eating lunch on the way to DC! Her first flight :) I felt slightly bad for the guy next to us, he was super nice and made faces at her the whole time; I felt bad for him because he had a 16+ hour flight ahead of him after we left...headed for South Africa!

Sprinkler fun

It was 97 degrees today; yep, for all you out of state (country) people, you read that right, 97 degrees in May in Minnesota! So as we watered the grass tonight, we (along with all the neighbors) let the kids run through sprinklers. Regan just puts her back/butt towards the sprinkler and says that's good enough! Eventually she'll run through them like a big girl.

I love food!

Notice the little circle noodle stuck to the middle of her forehead?! No one is quite sure how it got there, but we all laughed hysterically at her! Tonight Sidney got a tasting of lasagna with real little noodles. She has a tendency to gag on them but has been doing better recently. Maybe it was the fruit I mixed it with; I'm certainly getting creative!

"Look at me, I can stand!" Now if only she'd start taking steps! She's perfectly content just standing up. That's ok, I guess she should learn to crawl before she walks; we should have at least one kid do it in that order!

Best Friends

This is Regan with her best friend-Gracie from the neighborhood. They just adore each other and scream like little girls (which of course they are) when the other appears at the door or at the park for a play date.

Regan had so much fun yesterday hanging out with grandma and grandpa Friederich. She showed off her gymnastics moves on the "balance beam" and gave some cute smiles for grandma at the park :) Isn't she precious?

Alright all you blog followers, I'm having major trouble with my blog (as you can tell). I made a bad decision to change the template of the blog away from black (thinking pink and spring); well, it's backfiring on me! I cannot figure out how to get rid of the useless stupid pink template that I found on another website and just use a blogger template. So....bear with me as I try to figure this all out. In the meantime, I'm hoping to add some new pictures to the existing blog. If you have any suggestions on how to help, I'm open to them!

Wagon ride

The girls went for their first wagon ride together on Sunday. Sidney only lasted about 1/4 of a block before getting mad (might her sister have picked on her?, very likely). Regan made it another 1/4 of a block before wanting to get out to pull the empty wagon. I think it'll be a while before we use the wagon for its intended purpose.

Teeth!

Here's a picture of Sidney's bottom teeth. It's not the greatest picture, but you can see her teeth and that's all I was after.

Roller skating

Uncle Ben sent rollerblades to Regan for her 3rd birthday (at the same unfortunate time she broke her collar bone). Well, the sun is shining and the bones are healed so we attempted roller skating today! She's getting the hang of it and will be transitioning to real skates by next year I'm sure :)

Grandma Jan brought up golf clubs for Regan....real ones. She's just figuring out how to use them and I wasn't able to get a shot of her tonight. But Sidney held onto this one long enough for a cute pic. Can you tell everything goes into her mouth these days!

Como Conservatory

Regan was definately dressed in the right color today; she blended in with all the spring flowers.

Poor Sidney couldn't figure out why I wouldn't let her eat all those pretty flowers. She got pretty mad at us!

Como!

It was a little chilly this morning to be at Como Zoo, but apparently I wasn't the only mom who had the idea: it was packed! We parked a long ways away but it was worth it. Both girls had a wonderful time and Sidney and I were the hit of the zoo! Let's just say we were the kangaroos that the Como Zoo doesn't have :) Everyone commented and some even asked where we found such a clever thing.

Happy Mother's day!

It was a lot easier to take pictures separately, but we did our best at getting one together too. It's been a wonderful Mother's Day, with flowers and coffee from Caribou this morning but best of all, just getting to spend it with my girls and not doing any housework!

8 months old!

At 8 months old, Sidney weighs 16 lbs and 5 oz and is roughly 27 inches long. She remains my "little peanut". She loves to laugh and smile and is definately the cuddliest baby I have ever known :) She's so sweet and enjoys playing with Regan, provided she's nice to her and most of all, being in her johnny jumper!

Sidney's present

Sidney made me a mother's day present at school too :) It's a flower with her handprint in the middle, so sweet!

It was "life jacket" day at swimming lessons today. Thanks to Grandma Jan and Papa, Regan has a life jacket to use on Papa's boat so we got a chance to use it today in the water. Regan didn't really understand the whole "the jacket makes you float so you don't have to hang on to dad" concept. It could have been the fact that this was dad's first trip with her into the water at swim lessons and she was just a little nervous. She did pretty well overall but was pretty happy for free play to start so she could take off her jacket.

My girls with my tree

Poor Sidney can barely see from beneath her brimmed hat, but it's sunny and she doesn't have much hair. Besides, she doesn't really seem to mind. As for Regan, well, as long as she gets a long turn in the swing, she's happy.

Learning to drive.

If this is how Regan learns to drive a real car, we're in big trouble!

Eventually she'll figure it out, but for now, she drives like a crazy girl, crashes, gets scared and doesn't want to get back "behind the wheel". All the while we're trying not to laugh out loud because it's just so darn cute.

Happy (early) Mother's day!

Regan brought home this adorable hand painted picture frame today from school :) They had taken pictures of the kids in a t-shirt sporting "I Love Mom". How adorable! She's pretty proud of her artwork and I'm so proud to be her mommy!

Spring photo shoot!

Our gorgeous tree in the front yard has bloomed! We headed outside tonight to take some pictures because we feared the storms would rip the flowers right off. I absolutely love this tree and only wish it would last all summer long. Sidney likes the tree so much that she started eating the flowers when we weren't looking!

Golf Cart!

Finally the snow has melted and Grandpa Arnie could put together Regan's birthday gift from them, a golf cart!! Grandma Sheri was eyeing this cart since I was pregnant with Regan and she finally had a chance to give it to her for her 3rd birthday. The battery should be charged and ready to go this afternoon so we'll have to let her test drive it. It looks just like Grandma Jan and Papa's cart :)

Grandma Sheri found this baby for Regan. She was excited telling me about it "Liz, it even cries when you take out the pacifier or bottle". Oh great, just what I needed a doll that actually cries!! Thanks Grandma Sheri!

"more"

For those of you "non signers" this is what more is supposed to look like.

But this is how Sidney signs "more". As long as we know what she's saying, I'm not worried about her technique!

Ryan just loves this outfit on Sidney; it's like a gigantic onsie. Best of all, it sports a Schell's logo!

"MOM I'm done!"

Isn't being a mother grand?

Standing

Sidney's learning how to stand; maybe she'll follow Regan's footsteps and walk before she crawls.

Go Logan!

Sidney is a good cheerleader :)

We got a dog!

Just kidding :) Not like anyone is really going to believe that statement :) Tonight I took the girls to Logan's softball game in Stillwater and Vicky brought the dog along. Regan is finally warming up to Halle and tonight took her for a few runs (what 3 year old walks anyway?) holding the leash all by herself.

I can hear it now "daddy please can we get a dog?"