Fall sunsets

While out at my aunt/uncles house this weekend for (an early) Christmas gathering, I took the kids onto the lawn to burn off some energy. The girls needed to run after 2 hours in the truck, and Lincoln just needed fresh air. I quickly realized that the sun was about to set and giving us the most amazing light for a few pictures. 

And so, I snapped away. 

I didn't really even have to ask them to stop for a quick picture. They saw my camera and were quick to oblige. 

It seemed that I couldn't take enough pictures. I just kept snapping away with whoever was in front of the camera.  

And as they ran (and fell), I took more pictures of them. 

Regan tried her hand with my camera too. She's learning, still a little wobbly, and so the picture isn't crystal clear. But she's getting the hang of it and I'm excited for her. 

Two of the most adorable girls around! 

One year prep

We're prepping for someone's first birthday around here. 

And in doing so, I've been swearing at Pinterest for all of their cute ideas for his special day. As I work on some projects, I needed a more accurate weight (than the 'hold him while stepping on the scale' method). So I busted out the infant scale today and this little man was all excited to plop down for a weight. (if you're wondering, he's roughly 25 lbs)

And when that project was finished, we headed outside for a little photo shoot of our own using said Pinterest projects. The final outcome will be posted later this week. 

Can you tell what I used to gather his attention?....you guessed it, a ball. 

His absolute favorite!

Endless creativity

Regan loves art. It's her "thing". She has a cabinet with supplies looking like the shelves of an art store. Her school offers enrichment classes periodically after school and she's always eager to sign up. And when she brings home clay work like this, I'm eager  to sign her up!

She was elated to learn how to draw daddy's favorite breed of dogs too. Now I'm just trying to find creative ways to display all of her art.

And let's not forget the little sister following in her footsteps. She whipped up this lion on the fly one afternoon. Quite impressive kiddos!

One year ago

Just about one year ago, we were painting my belly to look like a pumpkin, in the spirit of Halloween. Preparing the girls for the arrival of their new sibling.

Boy, how he has changed each of our lives. I am so thankful to have each of our kids. And I'm soaking up every "first", and every transition that Lincoln goes through, knowing he won't stay little too long...the girls have taught us that. 

Shockingly, it also means I'm savouring even the middle of the night cries for a pacifier or the 4am "pick me up I miss you" pleas....and yes, we oblige. Because we know, that this too, shall pass.  

51 weeks old

One week left until our baby turns one. In the blink of an eye, that year flew by us. I know we say that he never really was that little, but 9 lbs is still pretty little.

His cheeks maybe got a little rounder over the past year :) but he's still the sweetest, most loving, easy-going baby there is out there. And always seems to carry a smile. 

It's amazing how much he has grown! We are so in love with our little-big guy!

A boy and a puppy

Lincoln loves dogs. 

Like hugs and kisses in love with them. 

So I took a sequence of pictures on Saturday night while we were at a friends. Their dearest Golden Lab, Brody, is one patient dog. He let Lincoln "pet" him, crawl around him, and in the end....use him as a pillow.  Enjoy! 

(You can tell he's about to fall backwards) 

Here he's actually laying on Brody's belly

And then he slid off but was rather content with his spot

Even as Dave approached to ensure all was well, both Lincoln and Brody just laid there like "what do you want?"

Thanks Brody! 

Biking with the crew

Over the MEA break, we decided that Lincoln was close enough to the recommended age of 12 months for a bike ride (we're only 2 weeks away!). I had fun chatting with Regan as we rode up the street.

And I loved feeling the tug of Lincoln kicking his legs inside the carrier. I could tell he was in his glory, even if Sidney was squishing him, and we were making him late for his nap. He giggled and kicked for the duration of the ride.

And once again, this Minnesota fall is forcing me to take hundreds of pictures with the gorgeous trees in the background. I just can't help myself! 

Halloween Prep

Our kiddos are decked out and ready for the Halloween holiday coming up. We try to get good use out of their costumes and attend a few events around town. Today was just a photo shoot in the back yard with Regan our peacock, Lincoln our lion and Sidney our butterfly fairy (which by the way she discovered and created all on her own). 

Let's take a closer look at the littlest, because gosh darn it, he is sure cute in that lion. He didn't dress up last year, being only 3 days new, so I may have spent an outrageous amount on this costume, but really I'm making up for last year too :) 

Serious, it's just too much! I can't stand how cute he is! 

And all warm and fuzzy ready for trick or treating night. 

Valleyfair / Camp Spooky

We spent Saturday at Camp Spooky at Valleyfair, taking in another round of rides and entertainment. Our kids loved the singers/dancers and despite being dressed in torn costumes with zoombie like make up, they all got a kick out of the performance.

I think Ryan secretly likes that he gets to take Regan on all the adult rides. She adores almost all of them, and even the ones that scare her (like Steel Venom), she tolerates and is his riding partner. 

 

And while the big kids were on those rides, Sidney took comfort in walking hand-in-hand with sweet Paxton (Ashley will tell you he's not so sweet these days). He sure let Sidney take charge and hold his hand much of the day. 

 

 

Little Lincoln got to go on just one ride...but two times. They don't allow any hand-held infants except on the carousel. He likes watching how it operates, taking note that the music gets louder when we are on one side. He's so inquisitive and wants to check it all out. We both remember Regan being exactly the same way when she went on rides. Next year he'll be walking and the opportunities will be wide open for him!

 

Check out that curl on the right side of his head....no way I'm getting it cut anytime soon :) 

Fall photo shoot 2014

Yesterday after school, I snatched the kids and whisked them away to one of our favorite settings for a fall photo shoot. The girls were still in their school clothes, but the colors were perfect and they were eager to explore the park. 

This was the very first picture that I took and I'm in love with each of their smiles :) 

We love this park for its gorgeous big trees, but the kids love it for the swings and playground. It's a win-win in my book :) 

This was Lincoln's first trip and I think he thoroughly enjoyed himself. I have a picture of him swinging and Regan looking back at him, and the expression on her face is of pure joy as she watched him giggle. 

I think I may have picked the most perfect puffer jacket for Lincoln, and then paired it nicely with the beautiful gold tones on the trees. It's like I somehow predicted their colors. 

Fall has always been one of my favorite seasons (though i dread what is coming so i just enjoy what we have today instead), because of the gorgeous colors and the adorable vests, sweatshirts and sweaters. But his adorable face makes this picture perfect. 

Regan is a climber. She's like a darn monkey these days, and like Ryan and I, always tries to find the highest possible spot. Yesterday, it was among the tree tops. Looking up at her, I just had to snap a quick picture with those trees in the background. I commented that it would be a scary place at night, on Halloween, with all those trees looking like they would come alive. Sidney squashed my story... "mom, trees don't come alive". 

You're right kiddo. 

Sadly, this is the only picture I have of Sidney alone. Right after this, she was running around and stumbled on a branch, only to catch herself with her hands landing on yet another branch, all hidden under the leaves. She sliced her hand pretty good and was a ball of tears, wailing because I didn't have a band-aide. Drama queen. Ahem....Poor kiddo....

These two are the best big sisters around. They couldn't love their little brother more if they tried. Honestly. And they don't want him to feel left out of anything. Regan's old and tall enough to do most things that I would normally do with him (ie: take him up the stairs and then down the slide), so I took the opportunity to snap up pictures instead. 

And once he got the hang of it and was able to go down himself, she stood at the bottom to catch him, and let me catch their smiles. 

I absolutely adore this annual outing, at the bottom of THIS LINK, are links to previous years. I'll have to do a recap of all the years in a separate post.

Blessed

Regan's third grade class has had a rough fall. 

Beyond words difficult. 

Emotionally draining. 

The year started off when a third grade teacher suddenly lost her 3 year old son. He had health issues but it was completely unexpected. Last fall, her and I bonded over the fact that we both had boys named "Lincoln"; discussing how we each (we had no idea she had a Lincoln at the time) had come up with the name. And then we were suddenly faced with talking to the kids about death (of a child) and dying in words the girls understood. We hugged our children tight and were reminded just how quickly life could be taken away. Then, just as things seemed to be getting back to normal in school, and Mrs. H had returned to the classroom, we got another call. This weekend we learned that the mother of a fellow classmate died in a car accident just up the street from our home. She leaves behind a husband and 3 small children. Talk about tough. I am brought to tears by the amount of sadness in all of this. 

And so I've spent a great deal of time lately feeling blessed. Taking an extra minute for one more round of kisses in the mornings. Spending every second of every day loving up on this family. And when Lincoln curled up on my chest one morning this week, I knew that I'd be late for work...but it didn't matter. Not one bit. I snuggled him tight and let his arms wrap around mine in a loving hug for as long as he wanted. While the sadness runs deep, the love runs deeper. 

and he CRAWLS!

It's taken him many months of trying but Lincoln has finally succeeded in crawling. For the past week or two, he would move one "crawl" (for lack of better description), but then sit back down before trying again. He never really figured out the crawling deal....until tonight. Just like that, he went from sitting to crawling, with his goal to reach Ryan's water cup. Once he did, we cheered and clapped and then forced him to do it again so I could quickly grab a video. We tried a few more times but he went back to his one crawl---sit---one crawl. It's late, after 9:30pm when he mastered this, so we'll give him a break :)
Click HERE to watch for yourself! And he is pretty darn proud of himself :)
I'm so excited to show the girls in the morning, they're going to be so happy for him!

Weekend getaway

 

When I was growing up, my family used to take "weekend getaways", mostly trips to the cities to take in an 'event' (ie: sporting event or something of the like). I fondly recall the excitement of packing up for a couple of nights snuggled into a hotel room, exploring this great state.

 

Over the past several weeks, we started talking about taking a trip to Duluth to see the fall colors and really "do Duluth". Something we haven't yet done with the kids. In each previous trip north, they've only ever experienced the waterpark in Duluth, never even making it down to Canal Park!? Crazy, I know. And with the fall colors in full view, we couldn't miss the opportunity!
The entire drive, we commented just how pretty the scenery was: reds, golds, even green. It was simply gorgeous. Too bad the kids had their noses stuck in a DVD and barely looked up to see what we were pointing at. (note: we are very blessed to have a DVD player....Sidney wouldn't make it 20 miles without constant whining if it weren't for the distraction of a movie. Even with one, she still whines.).

 

Our first stop was Canal Park.

 We grabbed some lunch and then stretched our legs after the 2 1/2 hour drive north. The girls were so excited that the bridge was being raised (twice) and we had a chance to see both a small fishing boat and a really really really big one head out on the lake. 

They had a great time climbing around on the rocks, walking out to the light house and chasing birds. It was a chilly, cloudy day so we all bundled up in our winter gear.

 

We found a lovely chocolate/gift shop and Sidney scored a peanut butter cup the size of her head :) She's still working on finishing that thing; a nibble here and a nibble there, that girl is like a mouse.

 

 

After a trip down memory lane, showing the kids where Ryan went to college, seeing 2 of the 5 homes he lived in, and exploring the UMD campus a little (we were amazed at all of the new buildings and newness of it all), we headed up to Enger Tower.

When we travel, Ryan and I always look for the highest possible location, because let's face it, the best views are often from above. And when the colors are turning, it is mesmorizing.

 

Lincoln happened to fall asleep somewhere on our drive, and so, in the spirit of family time, I bundled him in a blanket and carried him up the 90+ steps to the top of Enger Tower. It was very very breezy so I didn't stay on the upper level long before heading down to take cover on another level. The smiles on the girls' faces in this picture tell me that they were having a wonderful afternoon.

 

And the smiles on these boys too :)

I'm so in love with this family of ours and so thankful to be able to take these weekend getaways, snuggled up cozy in a hotel room.

 

 

We ventured down to Fitger's for dinner and explored various shops while we waited for a table (30 minute wait for dinner at 4:15pm!). 

Lincoln is in love with standing, and prefers to stand no matter where we are. So he stood near some railings while we waited, and then stood in the booth while we ordered our meal. He caught the attention of every pedestrian on the sidewalk and many even pointed, waved and smiled a big 'hello' to our cutie.

 

 

On Sunday we were all very excited for our day, having seen pictures and antcipating some real family fun on both an alpine coaster and a zipline. The girls are both tall/old enough to experience this fun and we were giddy to be able to join in the fun. The tracks are such that you begin and end in the same location so it worked perfect for half to go on a coaster and the other half to wait with Lincoln.

 If you've never been on an alpine coaster, we highly recommend checking it out! There are only 4 in the United States (we've done alpine slides before, but this was way faster, up to 26 mph! And much longer).

Here's Ryan and Regan as they wrapped up their first ride.

 

Sidney and I were both pretty nervous. While we waited to get the green light, we talked about how fast (or slow) we wanted to go. There's a single seat belt strapping me in, and one for her too. Each car goes alone, meaning we aren't hooked up in a train like this picture shows. Instead, it's just the peacefulness of your car and the scenery around. If only I could have taken pictures and drive at the same time!

We took the kids down 3 times and did the zipline once (cool, but just too short in everyone's opinion). I went down fairly slow the first time, and am so glad that I did, because the view of Lake Superior from the side of the 'mountain', is like no other.

Simply breathtaking.

We sure had a lot of fun and it was a weekend getaway to remember. I have a feeling we have a lot of them in our future as we work on exploring this great state as a family of 5!

mIsMATaCHeD dAy!

We're in the middle of the school-wide Read A Thon fundraiser and there are some pretty fun and crazy special days dedicated to raising awareness about reading. This past week in particular was "Amelia Bedelia mismatched day". The kids were encouraged to wear stripes with polka dots, their clothes inside out and backwards.

Our girls were giddy to participate, and Regan even let me french braid her hair starting from the bottom and going up!  

It took a little extra time to pick out clothes that didn't actually match. The kids tend to gravitate towards clothing that is in the same general hue or genre. I think I spent at least 10 minutes in front of each of their closets searching for clothing that looks silly when paired together. Eventually, we came out with some silly looking outfits.



But when it was time to get this stud dressed, I couldn't resist putting him in some jeans and a button up shirt. Boy he's a cutie with a smile that lights up the house!