Happy Halloween 2010

The last of our Halloween excitement took place tonight as these two munchkins explored our new neighborhood while Trick or Treating. They each gathered up 4 lbs of candy, and I know that because I weighed their bags. Yes, on the scale. That's a whole lotta candy for just going around our block; a little deceiving considering our "block" isn't a standard city block but it's still only ONE block!

While we walked tonight, Regan sang us Jingle Bells. I begged her to come back to Halloween and she said "I can't sing Halloween songs". Thanks for the beautiful singing!

Out of that 8 lb pile of candy, each hyped-up-super-excited-child of ours choose 1, maybe 2 treats.

And then they each followed that sugar treat with some carrots.

Just trying to even out the nutritional pyramid again.

As promised, here are the 5 pumpkins on display this year. They turned out great :)

Carving pumpkins

Apparently the magic age for Regan is 4. Because at 4 years old, she finally dug her hand into the pumpkin without too much trouble and enjoyed the feel of the seeds, string and mush. She desperately tried to convince Sidney to do the same, but wasn't successful.

Sidney appears to be putting her hand into the pumpkin, but it was a staged picture. She wasn't going near the ooey, gooey inside! We got a lot of "yuck mom!" looks from her and a few evil eyes at the smell.

I think the girls were quite happy to be painting their pumpkins versus carving them. In Sidney's case, she painted her arms, high chair and the table too.

You'll have to wait until tonight to see the final products!!

Halloween Party 2010-Round 3

We took the girls down to a nearby shopping area for more Halloween fun this morning. All the shops participated in the "Trick or Treat" fun and handed out lots of candy. It was a great way for mom/dad to browse the shops too; we started remembering how much we both enjoy certain stores and have missed shopping now that we have two little ones.

Sidney is a pro at Trick or Treating now; she's not waiting for her sister to catch up, she just runs from one to the next!

We got to hop into a fire truck too! Regan thought it was pretty cool; but you guessed it, Sidney got a little frightened.

It's tiring work to be such a cute chicken! We received oodles of compliments on her costume and we saw lots of people pointing her out to their friends. She is an adorable chicken if you ask me.

Halloween Party 2010-Round 2

After a quick dinner, we got back into costume and headed to meet some friends for another Halloween Party that we attend annually.

But first, I snagged a picture of Cinderella and the Chicken

There were lots of games and indoor trick or treating....

And of course, there's this 3 story indoor park that is a favorite for Regan and her buddy, Emerson. Sidney went up with Ryan once and insisted on coming back down quickly.

Ryan got in on the fun too, ok, well all of the adults did but he's the lucky

one to be featured on the blog! This is not an easy toy to maneuver!

Regan got a bit of a scare out of the haunted house. She didn't realize I went in the side door and was waiting for her inside; she actually jumped as I snapped this picture and then followed it up with a good laugh! Let's just say she does better than me when scared....

I tried and tried to get a good picture of them with this Halloween scene in the background; this was my final try and it just cracks me up!!

Apparently, if you add me into the photo, they do a little better at posing :)

Halloween Party 2010-Round 1

Cinderella and her chicken attended their classroom Halloween parties today!

Regan had no problem taking part on a non-scheduled school day.

Sidney, on the other hand, was pretty sad that we went to school on a Friday. It took her a very long time to warm up and sit on the chair versus my lap.

That's A LOT of sugar sitting on her plate!! Thankfully she didn't eat it all :)

Flashback Friday

Regan 2008

Lady bug girl

Sidney 2008

Our little jalapeno

We've been BOOED!

I love this new neighborhood we have found, we just feel so at home here. It has an amazingly family friendly atmosphere. So this afternoon, as the girls and I drove into the driveway, we noticed this pumpkin filled with treats sitting on our front door steps. The sign says "We've been booed!" and the second page gives instructions on how to pass it along. We're so excited to celebrate Halloween in this wonderful neighborhood!

"Pay toys!"

Sidney loves to play with toys. She is constantly ordering us to "sit down, pay toys" (aka: PLAY toys). But lately she's been playing with them in an unusual way. She loves to make piles of toys wherever she goes. Last night, she took her shopping cart into the toy room, piled it high with toys, and then unloaded everything onto the steps. Not a real safe spot for a 2 year old to be playing.

Then tonight, she unloaded two bins of baby doll items onto the

couch and sat nicely next to me while playing.

It's ok, we don't get it either.

Ahhh, but she's so darn cute that we just let it all slide

Weekend with Hope

This weekend we had my cousin Hope stay with us during her MEA break from school. It took the girls a couple of hours to warm up to her before they wouldn't go anywhere in the house without saying "where'd Hope go?". It was most funny this morning when they thought she must have left already because even at close to 10am, she was no where to be found. I tried to convince both girls they should take after her and sleep in sometime too :) 6am comes a little early!

Sidney didn't want to sit for a photo so Regan tried holding her and pressing her head still....thanks for the help Regs!

Fall ball

Thankfully Logan has continued to play softball into her college years, and even better is that it's in the metro area so we get to see her talent! This morning we headed to her scrimmage and the girls spotted her all the way from the parking lot!

Favorite Fan #1 and Favorite Fan #2

Flashback Friday

Once upon a time (actually many times) I saw these people in action....

not me and Sheena, the Golden Knights

and decided it would be fun to do this.....

Ryan couldn't let me have all the fun so he did it too!

And can you believe we went back for more?

Wonder if we'd do it all over again?

Another round of breakfast

Breakfast is done in shifts around this house. Sidney wakes at 6am and is eating by 6:01, for the first time. Ryan leaves for work just before 8, and while he grabs something for his drive, Sidney eats whatever that may be (breakfast #2). Regan tends to eat around 8:30 or 9am, and today, Sidney slid a chair next to her so she could share in yet another breakfast. It's amazing that she continues to be a little peanut with all the eating she's doing!

Tailgating and more...

Ryan and I left the girls in the hands of Grandma Jan yesterday and spent the entire day getting ready and cheering for the Vikings. It was a wonderful day to tailgate for 4 hours before the game! The girls had fun playing at the park, twice, and having Grandma Jan all to themselves.

Ryan and the girls, Logan, Hunter, Vicky and Maddi

We play "washers", which I'm terrible at, and Maddi is REALLY good at. She opted to do some cheering and spelled out names like Y-M-C-A. Thanks for the great pics Maddi!

It was a long game, I literally sat on the edge of my seat the entire game and was visibly shaking at the end. But finally, a Vikings WIN!

Apple Orchard

This morning we ventured to Belle Plaine with some friends to a local apple orchard/pumpkin patch/scarecrow contest/FUN! It was a beautiful fall morning with a wonderful mix of sun and wind. Here's a little glimpse at how it went....

Regan rode a pony while Sidney stood on the sidelines per her own request. Someday she'll get enough courage to join her sister.

Regan and Grace sandwiched into a car in front of me/Sidney for a train ride. We picked apples before the ride and Regan snacked on her apple while enjoying the scenery.

Such a serious face in the middle of all those pumpkins.

It's getting slightly easier to snatch a photo of all 4 of them, right now they are 5, 4, 3, 2 years old!

And who couldn't resist an attempt at a fall family photo.

A stop for lunch at Clancy's put the icing on the

cake as far as Ryan's morning was concerned!

Pile o' leaves!

Chores around the house are so much less "chore like" when they involve FUN! So this morning as I started to rake leaves in the back yard, I opted to rake one big pile at the end of the slide for the girls to do this....

The look on Sidney's face of pure joy after she went head first into the leaves was priceless, but I was a little nervous it would be the opposite so there wasn't a picture of her giggling as I prepped myself.

Flashback Friday

3/2005

Shortly after getting married and taking a wonderful honeymoon to Hawaii, I convinced Ryan to join me on a European tour. Here's one of our photos. We were lucky enough to meet up with many friends/family overseas, and this picture, taken in Germany, is with my cousin Sheena who was studying abroad at the time.

Basement progress

This post has little to do with the girls, but some people are asking about the basement progress, so this is how the weekend was spent. Thanks to some amazing helpers (Shane, Arnie and Dooley), the sheetrocking is nearly finished!

And today, while we scurried off to the office, Arnie finished installing the lights. I think we've decided to hire out the next step (mudding, sanding, smoothing, etc) for a faster finish. My goal is to be finished by Christmas! And to think it all started with my mom and I on a Monday afternoon starring at a wall thinking "how can we take this down?" before starting the demolition!

Flashback Friday

Regan playing with Thomas

October 2007

They were so little!

Summer day in October!

It's 82F.

On October 8th.

In Minnesota!

So we're decked out in some pretty cute skirts with ponies in our hair and

heading outside for an afternoon of fun!

Daddy's helpers

We stopped by Ryan's office on our way to lunch today. The girls enjoy "helping" dad with his work. Let's just say his meticulously maintained desk isn't so clean after they color with highlighters on random sheets of paper!