Busy days of school

With the end of the school year upon us, I am spending endless hours with Regan at her school. Today was their "Olympic Day" (think track and field day in elementary school fashion). The kids look forward to this day where they spend ALL DAY outdoors doing various relays/activities. 

Oh who are we kidding, it's not the activities that Regan is excited about....it's the socializing! 

In order to volunteer on a Friday, I need some back up support.
Enter my mom to the rescue. This woman is a saint!! 

She drove 100 miles, with the possibility that the rain wasn't going to clear up and I wouldn't need her help. 

 She knows how important it is for me to volunteer at Regan's school and didn't hesitate at my request for help. Well, the rain stayed away, and she/Sidney came to cheer on the kids all morning.

I love getting to see Regan at school; with her friends and listening to other parents or teachers as her leader. She's the same sweet Regan we love so much! 

spring gymnastics meet 2013

The girls have been working hard learning various skills and routines during their weekly gymnastics lessons. They both have been some amazing improvements and are really enjoying themselves. This week, they participated in the spring meet. 

This was Sidney's first meet and I'm pretty sure she's HOOKED! 

Each of them took turns on the bar, beam and floor in separate age divisions (which worked out nicely for us because it meant we got to devote all of our attention to just one kiddo at a time). 

Check out Sidney as she headed up for her handstand! 

She ended up bringing home two 2nd place ribbons, 1 3rd place and was the all around 3rd place finisher! She was pretty stinkin' proud of herself, all the while saying "mom, I tried my best!" because she knows that we don't push for a certain finish, but rather ask her to try her best, instead of sit on the sideline goofing off. 

Regan went next, showing us her bar, beam and floor skills. 

This girl has no fear I tell you. We can see the concentration in her eyes as she prepares for her dismount, and I just L-O-V-E to watch her! 

(side note: I was not a gymnast and so her skill at age 7 simply amazes me!)

Regan ended up with 1st place, 3rd place and 4th place ribbons, putting her at 2nd place all around. 

And of course the grand parents couldn't miss out on the opportunity to cheer along their two favorite granddaughters! We were excited to see them and happy to have a good cheering section for them. 

Dress Rehersal

Regan has worked very hard over the last 9 months learning and working on her tap and ballet skills. She's doing wonderful and we are so very proud of her. Tonight she was able to climb on stage and practice one more time before the big show this weekend. 

This little girl was a star up there. She loves to be on stage and it shows. She had a great time watching the other girls perform too. 

It's a very long season of dance, one that I am ready to hang up for the year, but I sure hope she wants to continue her dance career because man alive, we love to watch her shine. 

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We celebrated daddy's birthday this weekend and a celebration it was :) We started the morning with rhubarb muffins made fresh from our very own garden. And then headed off to a family-friendly (and funny) movie, Epic. 

After a fun afternoon of playing around at home, a little yard work, we took daddy for dinner at his choice-The Nook in St. Paul. He loves this place. A 30 minute wait later, we were eating dinner. And to my delight, we went to this place for dessert: Cherry Berry! YUM. 

It was a great birthday celebration and we wish daddy a very happy year ahead! 

Morning glory

This morning, while daddy was away golfing, the girls and I took a walk on a nearby trail. I got some pretty cute pictures and we had a great time, though we all wished for warmer weather. 

Regan brought her scooter, and Sidney brought her bike, making it very difficult for this mama to keep up with their wheels! 

Eventually we made it to our destination and took a break. Watching the waterfalls, gazing at the lake and of course, taking pictures. 

I love this gem of a place in the middle of our city.

The girls turned away from the waterfall and discovered not just one, but THREE climbing trees. They have never really noticed them on our previous visits, though Ryan and I have both mentioned how perfect each tree is set up for climbing. 

In a matter of minutes my girls transformed into monkeys. 

They played like this for a very long time, running from tree to tree, scampering up them like it was second nature. I did hear each of them call out (at separate times) "mom, I'm stuck!", as they looked down at me from way up high. 

Not to worry, I rescued my monkeys and we all came home safe :) 

Regan lately

This picture speaks volumes....

Regan has a bit more sass and a little less sweetness as of late. We're working towards her finding her voice in this big world and us discovering a new level of patience as she develops into her own being.  Don't get me wrong, she has her moments of sweetness, where she leans in for a hug, uses her most polite voice or sweetly helps Sidney with a task. Unfortunately, she has had a recent (LONG) stretch of spunkiness that includes attitude, back talk and downright disrespect. Sometimes I just have to take a deep breath. 

Yesterday I attended a (very boring) seminar, but one thing I was reminded of, is that the human brain develops from back to front. I was quickly reminded that Regan's brain is not yet fully developed. Duh, right? I obviously knew this, but I was slapped in the face yesterday: she lacks full frontal lobe abilities. I talk about these things everyday at work with therapists and doctors as well as patients and families, but I had never transferred it to a developing young child. Makes perfect sense. She has difficulty understanding the consequences of her behavior (scream at my parents and I will lose privileges, as an example) and she lacks impulse control (pushing my sister out of the way because she is making me mad, another example).
Boy how I love her to pieces, but wowzas is she pushing our buttons.

I also realize that the end of the school year is upon us and that also means we (meaning me and the girls), are running around this place like chickens with their heads cut off (that reminds me of the reason I became a vegetarian....another blog post someday!). There is a giant dance recital she is preparing for, a gymnastics meet she is practicing for, ongoing swimming lessons, school parties, school picnics, track/field day, and everything in between. We are running almost every week night, and I'm gearing up to spend more time at her school in the coming 2 weeks than I am at home or work combined! Ok not really, but it sure feels that way!

Despite all of her sass and our crazy end of the year schedule, when we settle into a book at night, taking turns reading, and she drapes her legs across mine, I am reminded just how thankful I am that she calls me 'mom'. 

We love you sweet Regan! 

Weekend fun

We pack a lot of fun into each weekend, and this one was no different. With the cooler than desirable temps recently, we haven't been able (or willing is more the word to use) crank the pool heater 24 degrees so as to be warm enough to actually use. As a result, I busted out the crazy sprinklers and slip 'n slide instead. 

I set it up at the back edge of the yard which has a steady downward slope. The girls got the bright idea to set up the slide just at the beginning of the slope and had a blast. I loved listening to them giggle as they "drove" their little make believe cars. There was plenty of yard work and house work for me to be doing, but I couldn't seem to break away from the fun! 

Later in the day it started to rain so we headed inside. 

And then we found this "visitor" in our pool! Thankfully he left quickly, probably to find a less chlorinated place to wade. 

We also had some WONDERFUL friends come over for dinner. Niklas, his little brother Marcel and parents Paul and Renata came all the way from Germany to visit. Niklas is one smart little boy, knowing 3 languages already, so he had no problems jumping right in to play with the girls. It was so much fun. We miss them already. 

Here's to another successful jam-packed-full-of-fun weekend! 

Harlow turns one

We joined the extended family in celebrating Harlow's first birthday this weekend. She is our youngest Godchild and we were so happy to be part of her big day. 

She was simply adorable in her tutu and necklace as she strutted around the deck showing off her walking skills. 

It was a brilliant idea to bring the smash cake ceremony onto the grass, too bad she wasn't real interested in her cake this time around. Might have had something to do with the massive audience she had of aunts, uncles and cousins waiting for her to dig in! 

All the kiddos line up each birthday to pose for pictures. They're getting pretty good at complying with our regular request. 

Happy First Birthday Harlow! 

Sidney update

I am so lucky to be able to spend Fridays with this little cutie. We have loads of fun together, dancing, getting the house back in order from the week, talking, running errands, playing, singing and just being together. I loved my day off with Regan when she was younger, then with both of the girls, and now with my Ninnie. She is one sweet little girl, and so very funny. Her latest antic is to hike her pants up, tuck in her shirt (the Steve Urkle look) and in a silly voice say "did I do that?". We can thank Ryan for teaching her :) 

She does an amazing job of solo play while I'm spending a little time cleaning or getting in a quick 30 minute work out. And I thank my lucky stars that we get one more year together before I send her off to the big world of Kindergarten. With a September birthday, she missed the official "cut off" and although she's quite ready in all aspects, I'm happy to have her one more year! She's loving, independent, sweet and sassy all rolled up into one petite little frame. 

She loves technology too and is constantly asking to play on the iPad or my iPhone. She likes Regan's iPod too (don't tell Regan!). Sidney is definitely my "take my picture mom" little girl. As you can see, she will strike a pose at any chance. All I do is tell her I'm going to take her picture and voila, she's posing for me. Oh how I love this sweet and feisty little 4 year old! 

California 2013-Day 5

Day 5 (Mother's Day): We spent Mother's Day at Newport Beach. This place is hopping!! We thought it was crazy busy when we arrived at 11am, but by 4pm, there wasn't a single parking spot around! And the beach was filled with people. The girls were in love with the ocean, the sand, and the people. They made new friends, and played right through lunch, never stopping to even think about eating. No lie, we skipped lunch! 

I didn't have my long-range lens along on the trip, because really I wouldn't have needed it. Except for about 30 minutes of this day, when a group of roughly 6 dolphins swam through the beach! It was so cool! At first we thought we were seeing sharks, (and everyone had eyes on the surfers further out) but once we saw a few tail-splashing and small jumps, we knew they were dolphins and everyone relaxed. 

We brought back about a pound of sand with us too. How in the world do I get sand out of their hair?! It's everywhere, still now, and I don't know what to do! 

Fruit and crackers were enough to tide everyone over until dinner. 

California 2013-Day 4

Day 4: I have to chuckle as I write this, because during this particular day, my thoughts were "this is going to be a low key day", which it was, but now that I added pictures/words to describe our day, it was anything but low-key! 

We moved to yet another hotel, the one we would stay in for the remainder of our journey (if you're counting, it was hotel #3). And unfortunately, it was the day when our scheduled plans were going to start changing. Ryan had planned to spend the day golfing with Danny, and me/girls, at his back yard pool oasis and possibly a local butterfly garden. Seeing as that was no longer in the cards, we opted to do the next best thing for Ryan: mini golf. 

Sidney, our future golfer. 

And then we let the girls take in a few fun rides at this local small amusement park. They laughed and giggled at each ride, and we were so thankful that Sidney could go on them all alone with Regan. 

We spent some time in the hotel pool and had the place to ourselves. It was lovely! Ryan launched the girls "high into the sky" as Sidney likes to say :) 

And later we came across a local park/play ground; and the flowers made for a beautiful back drop.