A day with Sidney

Although I did spend a few hours with just Regan (volunteering at her classroom is a wonderful experience), the bulk of Fridays are spent with Sidney. And today, we took advantage of the gorgeous sunshine and headed out to see the fall colors. In between pointing out trees, we talked, played and just loved being together.

That is one gigantic leaf we stumbled across, the size of Sidney's face and a little hole for her eye.

The beauty in the colors is simply wonderful. Unfortunately, about 5 seconds into our journey today, I realized that Sidney likely is not experiencing the fall colors like the rest of us. I've mentioned before that we're pretty certain she is red/green color blind and when it comes to fall colors, it breaks my heart that she can't see the magnificence.

She really doesn't seem to mind, after all, she knows nothing different.

Stopping at the old style playground for some fun in the sun and playtime.

WEEEEEEE!!

And the afternoon was complete only after a little begging on the part of an adorable 3 year old who remembered eating ice cream at this park last time. She also happens to sense that this mommy loves ice cream....and I spotted 'mocha chip' which put me on a sugar high for hours!

Thanks for a great day Sidney! I love to spend Fridays with you!

She says the darnedest things

Tonight after a shower, Sidney grabbed her PJ's and headed downstairs to dress while I finished with Regan. Suddenly I heard Sidney climbing the stairs exclaiming "I need some new jammies, deez are broken mommy". I looked down and she said "Da odder leg is lost!".

I love that super serious, but oh so silly girl.

Frosting in my mouth

We made cupcakes this week for Wednesday night dinners, fundamiddle cupcakes.

Yep, fun in da middle. Chocolate to be exact. With a little pink frosting on top.

The girls seem to like the frosting the best. They tend to lick off the frosting and leave the rest.

BUSTED!!! They'd be happiest if I let them loose on the container of frosting.

Officially fall

Happy Birthday to Papa!

That also means we've moved from summer to fall...officially. Today we headed for lunch to celebrate and then check out the nearby pumpkins, apples, and everything else fall-related.

Sidney was willing to take a couple of decent pictures, after we promised her she could pick out some candy from "Minnesota's largest candy store!".

And when Ryan came across this pumpkin, he so wanted to take it home to use as our "joe" (aka: the ugliest, most full of warts pumpkin).

The sun was shining brightly, making it tough for Regan to take a good picture, but the hundreds of pumpkins in the background were too fun to pass up!

Big ones, little ones, fat ones, crooked ones.

I love fall, I just wish it didn't lead into the next season.

2011 VanSlooten party

Today we headed up to my old college stomping grounds to hang out with some great friends at an annual "end of summer/beginning of fall" bash. Chrissy goes all out and rented a bouncy/climbing deal for the many many kids to burn off some energy! It was perfect weather and with so many other kids, the girls instantly made new friends and were off and running.

Sidney stayed nearby as more kids arrived; the bouncy place got a little chaotic until she met a 12 year old girl who helped her navigate around all the wild and crazy boys!

Half of the best group of college girlfriends (+Colten!) a gal could ask for!

Thanks for a wonderful and fun day Chrissy and Jeff!

Swimming lessons, continued

Regan continues to make great progress at her swimming lessons. We took the plunge this fall and put her in a swim school (after recommendations from friends) with the idea that she'll be finished with swimming lessons after this session. We are definitely on that track. She had confidence and abilities before, now she is gaining technique with her strokes. It's been simply amazing to watch; I would recommend this swim school in a heartbeat.

Wednesday night dinners....we've grown

This is the second year that Logan has been joining us for Wednesday night dinners. And this year, another cousin of Ryan's has moved to the big city and is joining us weekly :) We are thrilled to have her and the girls simply love her! All night we heard "save me Leigha" from Sidney as she was being tickled, squished or attacked by her big sister.

And when Logan is around, the girls are sure to get tossed or flipped or tickled (until they "toot"!). Tonight, I came into the family room hearing "do it again Logie....please?". How could she resist!? Up and over hear head she went, with Sidney landing on the couch in giggles.

We tried playing a game, but the girls, with the help of Logan of course, decided making 'boobies' would be much more fun! Clearly, Wednesday night dinners aren't just about the dinner, but a lot about the memories that the girls are making...yes "boobies" included!

Oh brother!

Duck races

The girls scored these giant ducks at a doctor's office last week (side note: an 8:50 appointment and we first saw the doctor at 10:15....we aren't returning to that office).

But the ducks make for some fun in a freezing cold pool on these crisp fall days!

Sidney's stats-age 3

We took Sidney to visit her pediatrician this week and check out her growth over the last year. In full Sidney style, she walked into the exam room, took one look at the gown and said "I'm not putting that on". We pleaded and bribed with her to at least take off her shirt so the doctor could take a peek and she continued to refuse. The poor thing is fearful of the doctor, just as she is of the dentist and any other stranger who wants to invade her space.

The doctor then walked in and smiled, as Sidney clung to me. I mentioned that we had once thought Regan was our challenging child....boy how wrong we were :) Sidney did allow the doctor to exam her, from the safety of my lap, but when it came time to do the hearing/vision test and check her color-blind status, she melted. Forget it. That was not going to happen. So we ended with a flu mist, which went much better than a shot would have gone.

As for stats: she's 30 lbs on the dot (fully clothed of course) and 36.5 inches. Growing like a weed!

Jeans?!

For years, Miss Regan has refused to wear jeans. Unfortunately this refusal has worn off on Sidney who now also refuses to wear jeans. Well, with the introduction of stretchy jeans and a neighbor girl who she just adores, Regan put on some jeans and went to school today! And boy, does she look older than 5!

Fall fun

When summer hits, our family tends to get daily exercise via swimming. We're in the pool nearly, if not every, single day. So the outdoor toys/equipment is sadly neglected. With cool weather upon us, we dusted off the cobwebs from the bikes and took the girls out for a stroll tonight. Regan has impressed us by almost (solely) climbing the hill, whereas in spring, she would barely make it out the driveway and start whining.

Today she was off and pedaling.

This lil' peanut still needs a push (or 57) to make it around the neighborhood, but we're working on it. Her steering could use some work and she prefers to move close to parked cars and then reach out her hand and touch them. I'm sure the neighbors love her for that.

Thank goodness she's cute!

Minnie Mouse Party

Surrounded by family, Miss Sidney Marie celebrated Minnie-style today. Complete with a cake from my best friend, she had the best Minnie party a 3 year old could ask for! The afternoon started off with a bag full of dance/ice skating costumes from her older cousins and she put one on and never took it off.

I joked that her birthday turned into a 'birthday party, turned pool party, turned Vikings party', all in one! We managed to fit in a lot of fun today!

Sid reminded us the real reason for today's celebration: her birthday! With enough presents to last her all year, she dug in and opened up new toys, bath fun and more dress up costumes.

A family picture, with two beauties dressed up for a dance show and two parents who were trying hard to cheer on the Vikings. Happy Birthday Sidney! Hope you had a great party!

9-10-11: Sidney's Birthday!

Today is 9-10-11; it also happens to be Sidney's 3rd birthday! Pretty cool. She didn't understand the importance of the numbers, but I couldn't stop thinking about how ironic it was.

This morning, as she rose at 6:20am (go figure, it's Saturday!), I looked at her and said "Happy Birthday! You are 3 today!" and with a puzzled face she said "I'm not 2 1/2 anymore?, I'm 3 now?". It's like she expected something magical to happen, or to feel different now that she was 3. I could see the wheels spinning in her head as she thought about being 3.

Once everyone was awake, we let her open presents and get to know her new iXL, or "leapster" as she calls it.

Ryan then headed out for an all day golf outing with the neighbor and I embarked on a day of fun with the girls. We first went to the park, Sidney's pick. She's been eager to get her hands back into this park when she realized that it is where Regan attends school and now plays daily. Someone was feeling left out.

But we all quickly got hot in this 80+ heat (remember, it's September in MN) and came home to swim. The clock hit 11am and my mind went back 3 years ago, when my water broke, right in my office and I sat on my garbage can. Pretty resourceful (especially for a germaphobe) :)

Today at the same time, Claire came over with more presents and we opted for lunch on the deck, mid-swim. Perfect idea on a gorgeous afternoon!

And then it was on to a 3+ hour nap for my darling girls who were clearly wiped out from all that playing and swimming. As the clock ticked to 2:59pm, the exact time she was born, I found myself right back in that hospital room. Flood of emotions :) Ryan came home and we ventured over to Rainforest Cafe. Sid was apprehensive, as she always is, but plastered on a brave face and forced herself to have fun. She loved it after the first 10 minutes on my lap...oh yea, and her $9 Icee arrived at the table.

And then we splurged some more on a ridiculously priced (and enormously sized) dessert, that we decided was warranted given it is her birthday! Click HERE to watch as it arrived.

Tonight, as we put Sidney to bed, she said the same thing she says every night "sleep good, like I did last night?" and this time Ryan replied "no, not like last night!" because she's been sleeping poorly and coming into our bed around 11pm. I suggested she get a big girl bed like Regan and she jumped at the idea. Then I told her she had to stay in her big girl bed all night; she replied "I don't think that's a good idea". Oh well, I like my baby girl contained in her crib!

Sending you all the birthday wishes i can muster up my sweet beautiful girl!

Sidney's 3rd birthday slideshow

I create these sentimental slideshows for both the girls' birthdays to capture how the year has gone. Click HERE to watch. It really is a labor of love as I spend hours sifting through photos to find just the right ones (and a few the girls enjoy too) which show their true personality as well as memories from the year, and then hunt down songs that seem to capture an idea I'd like to express to them about just how much they are loved!

Enjoy!

Sidney's 3rd birthday eve

Tonight marks the last night of the terrible twos; and tomorrow we embark on the horrible threes! Well, it's pretty safe to say we've been entering them for a while.

This picture of Sidney says it all; just look at that face! It's the same face she made right after delivery when I announced to the doctor "she looks pissed off!" (yes, I said those exact words, it's the worst I said during/after delivery). Well needless to say, she continues to show us a similar face on a regular basis.

But thankfully she shows us faces like this too, which completely outweigh any crabby look she flashes.

Today was my first day alone with Sidney, as Regan enjoys full day kindergarten. Sid broke my heart as we walked out of school and she said "I miss my Regan". She really is a sweetheart who adores that big sister.

Tomorrow I promise to post all fun things related to Sidney as we start her birthday celebration!

Kissing Hands

I love it when teachers, day care providers and similar professions, give us little tokens of our children's day that make me teary eyed. Today, Regan came home with a note about a book that was read in Kindergarten about the kissing hand. At the end, the note said this:

"Today we made you a kissing hand, so you always know you have your child's love, even while they are away at Kindergarten. We know that we as parents, have to be brave too. "

And then there was a picture of this.

Yep, I cried.

I will take my kissing hand wherever I go.

Kindergarten here she comes!

Another first for the oldest of the bunch: first official day of kindergarten. It was a morning of sleeping in for this house (a whole extra hour!) as we all planned to go with on the first day of school. A nice breakfast and a few pictures later, we were out the door on our way.

Doesn't she just look proud!

We parked and started the walk into school. All of us nervously making the trek from car to school, hand in hand.

Another dear father, with camera in hand, offered to take our photo. How sweet! The look on Sidney's face speaks volumes..."Please don't leave Regan here!". If I had to pick the person who had the hardest time this morning, it would be her. She doesn't fully understand what is going on, and as we walked out of school, she said "I want my Regan".

Let the waterworks begin....for both her and me!

Regan, however, walked proudly into class. So quickly in fact that I had to call her back out to give her a kiss goodbye!

I worked a shortened day so I could hear how the day went as soon as possible (secretly I already knew as I had typed her sweet teacher a message and she replied at the end of the day). To celebrate, us 3 girls chatted over ice cream. Highlights of Regan's day include playing on the playground, eating lunch (and remembering her lunch number), coloring with friends and "hey mom, I even took a nap!".

All day kindergarten is tough!

Downfall of her day, she learned there is only 2 more days of school this week and responded "mom, why I can't I go more?". I hope she's this eager in 10 years!

Congratulations Regan, we are so proud of you! And don't worry, your little sister is going to adjust just fine.

Kindergarten Eve

This morning I took our baby girl (um, I mean BIG girl) to kindergarten. It wasn't really her first day, just an hour orientation to mess up my work day and toss everyone off schedule. Fortunately, there was a LOT of good done for her. On our short drive to school, she anxiously sat in anticipation of going to a foreign school where she would know none of her soon to be classmates and this fact made her very very nervous. After checking in, I helped introduce her to another friend and the ice was broken; just like that. I spent the hour listening to the teacher/principal throw up information faster than my brain could process. Man alive do they have a lot to tell us and in such a positive manner. We are blessed to be in this school. Regan spent the hour coloring, climbing aboard a bus and playing. Not a bad first day. She made two friends in an hour. Success :) As we left, my no-longer-anxious 5 year old was full of life and spirit asking me to race to the car because "we're coming back tomorrow for the WHOLE day!". Someone is excited tonight.

I will reminisce about the little girl that has grown up so fast, in the blink of an eye.

I know I know; it wasn't her REAL first day of kindergarten but all the neighbors were taking "back to school" pictures so we wanted to get in on the fun too!

(looks a little nervous, doesn't she!)

The wee one of the bunch is going through this transition right along with us. She looked a lot like this photo below on her drive in to preschool this morning. Sad that she was alone in the car, without her big sissy to keep her company (or bug the living daylights out of her). Sidney is going to miss Regan tremendously, mostly the two days/week when they would spend the days at home playing, arguing, giggling and laughing.

I hear this is just the beginning, the next 13 years are said to go even faster. So we will take it all in, enjoy every second of everyday.

And be proud that she's ready to tackle the world of kindergarten and all it has to offer.

Love you to pieces Regan!