Family fun day

With a host of friends feeling ill, our plans this weekend have been cancelled twice already. We hope they all feel better soon, but we were happy to stay healthy. In the meantime, it has given us plenty of opportunity to break into some Christmas presents and P-L-A-Y!

Tonight, I created some delicious cake-pops with my new cake-pop maker. 

These puppies are heavenly bite sized yummy-ness! 

After several boxes of Lego friends, art on the easel, along with a few rounds of "teacher", the girls were ready to dig into some structured craft projects. They created some pretty cute snowmen to hang on our fridge to replace all the Christmas trees/Santas that came down this week. 

Such an artist! 

Newfound favorites

In my book, it never hurts to try new things. After all, who would have ever thought I would turn into an avid runner?! 

Last winter we took the girls ice skating. It was a little bit of a flop for Sidney; and while Regan seemed to enjoy herself, she never really had the balance to do it on her own. 

Fast forward one year. The girls have been talking about going skating for a long time; seeing the kids across the street at the man made rink fueled their pleas. 

Yesterday Grandma Sheri took them across the street....let's just say they're hooked!
Today I brought them back again. 

I wouldn't say that either of them are graceful, and they both still spend a fair amount of time on their bums, but man alive they love it! Sidney is still "walking" most of the time, but Regan figured out the "walk walk glide" combination of skating. 

And when it comes to something active-outdoors and enjoyable in a Minnesota winter, this is a newfound favorite we'll be happy to appreciate! 

Christmas morning 2012

Christmas morning had no warmer weather than Christmas Eve. I continued to feel frozen to the bone (welcome to winter in Minnesota). We enjoyed some play time at my parents house and a delicious breakfast courtesy of my dad the best omelet maker! Finally we got our butts in gear and headed to Ryan's parents' house for the next round of craziness. 

Regan has announced that she doesn't like that Santa has to come early to our house; and she is going to tell him next year to come on Christmas day. 

Uh-oh. 

Look out grandparents, you may end up driving here next year! 

The girls were all dressed in red and remind me just how quickly they are growing up. 

Once again, the girls were spoiled to no end. After they opened oodles of American girl gifts and other items, they opened an iPad and Regan about passed out. We're calling it our family gift, but I'm pretty sure we know who is going to have it more than me or Ryan. 

They snuggled up in a big love seat after lunch and watched Alice in Wonderland. 

Side by side. 

We took some pictures with Grandma/pa Friederich

And later that afternoon, with their Godparents when we all met up for a big celebration. 

Sidney with Ashley and Jamie

Regan with Vicky and Lon

Merry Christmas!
We had a lovely time, ate lots of food and spent a lot of time visiting and catching up with family. Thanks for all the memories. 

Christmas Eve 2012

It was a very cold Christmas eve this year, but inside, it was toasty warm! 

After spending the morning playing with our new toys from Santa (the day before), the girls napped and then we headed to New Ulm. Yes, we can still convince our almost 7 year old to take a 2 hour nap! It's wonderful :) 

I snatched a few pictures of the girls before we left. 

The drive was icy and I was a bit of a "SLOW DOWN" freak but we made it. We saw one car that had just spun out and however it happened, was about 30 feet into the ditch/field, trying to shovel themselves out. No one looked injured and so we continued on as stopping on the ice wasn't in my suggestions :) 

We snapped a few pictures at my parents' house after dinner. 

The kids were itching to dig into their presents, but they took some great photos. 

They scored lots and lots of toys. Regan's favorite was a purple Furby...this thing amazes me! It's so darn fun. Yes, "Kate" can be annoying because sometimes I cannot make her shut up, but we are really having fun with her! There's even an app for the Furby!

Merry Christmas

Santa Christmas

It's been a busy month for this house. With Christmas on the horizon, we've been busy baking, celebrating, shopping and loving up on each other. Last night, after dinner with Aunt Amy, we came home and found a note next to our dear Ellie the Elf. It read that Santa was coming!! 

And so we went to sleep and sometime in the middle of the night....this happened: 

We heard Regan waking up first this morning. Amazingly it was just after 7am. Unfortunately, she was in tears. She couldn't put it into words, but later informed me "I'm sad because Ellie left". It broke my heart as tears welled up in her eyes. She really loved searching for that sweet elf every morning. And me too! 

She wiped away her tears when she started to unwrap the biggest present ever (insert: THANK YOU Santa's two brave elves for putting together this easel before wrapping it! those are some super smart parents,  elves!)

Christmas is so great. I love watching their faces and expressions as they discover what is inside each and every present. With stinky breath and bed head, I love them so very much. 

Look at Sidney's face!! She was sooooo excited about her gift from Regan :) It's several pairs of dangling earrings. Big sis things she'll love them! 

Santa knows the girls love their gymnastics classes and delivered some personalized leotards; Sidney decked out her doll in the Santa hat too. Fitting for the day!

Our biggest surprise to the girls, was a second American Girl doll! Talk about a last minute surprise. We didn't make the final decision on this present until 10 hours prior. And so, we wrapped up a picture of the many AG dolls for sale and wrote them a note letting them know that we were heading to the mall so they could pick out new dolls! 

They were over the moon elated. 

Merry Christmas girls! Mommy and daddy love you so very much! 

Como Holiday Display 2012

We love Como Conservatory. Some day I tell the girls they might get married there :) Today we happened to see a bride taking pictures while we meandered around the sunken garden snapping our own family photos. It's a gorgeous place and with the girls dolled up in Christmas dresses, I couldn't be more excited that Christmas is just around the corner. 

Here's a little of our afternoon: 

 (I asked them to pretend they liked each other, and they dove in for a kiss!)

(just asked them to look 'happy', this is what I got)

Como we love you! 

From spiders to mice

When we first got married, I remember standing on a ladder, painting a ceiling of our upper level and hearing Ryan scream for me. I descended the ladder, walked down the stairs to the main level. And he hollered again for me. I walked into the basement and mumbled "if you are screaming because you want me to kill a spider, I'm not going to be happy". 

I was right.

He wanted my help killing a spider. 

Fast forward to today. He was gathering firewood to get ready for tomorrow's fire. He knocked on the window of the house to show me what he had found. 

In his hand, was a frozen mouse. He then pretended to take a bite. 

We've come a long way Ryan! 

And boy am I elated because I can kill spiders, but I don't do mice. 

Christmas baking

Last night, we continued our tradition and the girls created a gingerbread house. I have to think they might like eating it as much as they do decorating it. 

But they took time and added candy pieces one by one. Regan loves patterns these days so she was pretty thoughtful of adding things in color patterns. 

 They did a great job and it kept them busy for about an hour.

And then they decided it was time to eat. And for whatever reason, thought they should eat without using their hands!? 

Silly girls. 

Sidney wanted to dive into the peanut butter balls and gave me this face when I told her "first let me take your picture". 

She looks pretty scary to me. 

Class Winter Party 2012

Regan's first grade class held their winter party on Friday. I adore volunteering and this year, my volunteer job is to take pictures of the class for the yearbook...I kinda like that job :) Don't worry, I take more pictures than of Regan that get submitted to the yearbook. 

They changed it up a bit for this party and took all 4 first grade classes to various stations around the school rather than staying within your own class and separating into 4 small groups. 

So that meant 21 kids diving for "snowballs" for the start of the snowball fight!

Who knew balled up white socks could be so much fun!! The class had a blast tossing the balls at this innocent photographer.

Gosh this is a good looking bunch of first graders. They have a LOT of energy but listen so very well to their fantastic teacher who loves them each to pieces. 

 The "bobbing for donut" station cracked me up. It was a hoot!

Regan chased that mini donut in circles before realizing she needed to get it from below. I couldn't contain my laughter and ended up in tears it was so funny.  

What's a party without crafts. Each child created their own beautiful masterpiece to bring home to their tree. Awww, so cute :) 

Rudolph!

I'm that silly mom who Christmas-ized Sidney's presents to her teachers and added a bit of holiday cheer with Rudolph wrapped Hershey bars affixed to some gift cards. 

Thank you again Pinterest! 

Germany 2012

Ryan has spent the last week running around Germany, having a wonderful time (insert one totally jealous wife but clearly not holding it against him as I was the one who encouraged the trip!). We are very happy to have him home, but very happy that he got another experience under his belt. Ryan's close friend, Paul, moved to Germany roughly 10 years ago, and this was Ryan's 3rd trip to visit him. 

He's always apprehensive to travel without me, and I'll take that as his way of saying 'thanks' for always safely getting him where we intend to go! He did great navigating through the airport and Paul was right on time so the trip started out well. 

I can't give you much explanation of these pictures, because the lovely husband is in a deep slumber after being awake close to 24 hours. 

But, here's his trip in iPhone pictures (his only camera), with a few captions that I know about: 

Raphael (Paul's friend who Ryan met during his last trip) Paul and Ryan

This was at a brewery, and yes, all those beers lined up behind them were for those 3. 

Needless to say, when people would ask me "what is Ryan doing in Germany?", my response was "drinking!". 

These pretzels are everywhere, this particular yummy looking thing was from a bakery. And to be honest, my mouth waters just looking at it. 

Even if there is a beef stick touching it!

Oh how I wish he could've brought one home for me.

He was super excited to show me this picture....see the word up there?

Ulm. 

No, they didn't go. They were Munich bound...

BMW...

They toured around Munich for a day, courtesy of Paul's uncle who lives there. I think this is something like the Munich Space Needle. 

Finding the highest point in a city is key, I'm soooo glad they got to go up here and view the city. Awesome!

I believe this is one of the beautiful churches. 

Breathtaking. 

Good Lord. 

You and I are seeing this picture for the first time together.

I've got nothing. 

Other than to say this picture was likely meant for Shane. 

Oh this one is nice too Ryan. Thank you for taking it, but thank you even more for not sending me this while you were away! That is one scary looking fish.

Again, another church in Munich....Love. Love. Love it.

But alas, he made it to the Hofbrauhaus and apparently picked up a waitress...wonder if I wasn't supposed to find this picture?!

His one request for this trip: Hofbrauhaus. He wanted to experience the beer, the food and the atmosphere. I think it lived up to every expectation he had. 

Ooooo, see!? They are even pretty at night! 

His last night there, he had to babysit Niklas for about an hour. They sent me this picture....

 And the girls and I sent this one back to them in return!

I'm so glad he had a great trip, the girls are sad to lose their spot in our bed, but we are all very happy he's home safe and sound.