Pool pictures

Our girls, like most kids their age, have IPod touches, or other devices that allow them to take selfies. That said, they seem to be in love with taking pictures of themselves; not that there's anything wrong with that :) However, this summer, they discovered the joy of underwater cameras. And no matter how much I reminded them that they are not designed to take good selfies, they didn't listen! We got a lot of pictures like this as a result:

 

Oh but not to worry, we had plenty like this as well! Good think we keep a clean pool.

Eventually, sometime around August, they got the hang of it and I got a few more pictures that looked like these last two instead.

Here's hoping they pick up next year where we left off. We're missing summer already around here....

Fall ball 2016

We wrapped up another season of softball this weekend when the fall ball state tournaments came to a close. It's tough having two ball players in different age brackets, in a fairly competitive league. This season, it meant practices spread across 4-5 days/week and an overlap of games on most days which meant having to 'divide and conquer'. Ryan was an assistant coach for Sidney's 8U team which meant he obviously went to all of her games. Lincoln and I then went to all of Regan's games but thankfully were able to make it to many of Sidney's as a result of timing/good location. Unfortunately that was not the case for the state tournament. Sid played in Rosemount and Regan in Minnetonka, and as luck would have it, after a very long day of ball, they both ended up in the consolation championship game! And then they both won! We had all of the grandparents divide and conquer yesterday too, which meant that I had a few extra hands to help chase a busy toddler (just look at those devilish eyes!). 

After 6 straight months of softball (summer then fall seasons), we are actually all a little sad to see it end! I'm going to miss the friendships, both of the girls and our own. This sport is just as much an activity as it is socialization and we have been with some pretty great parents. I'll miss the excitement, the nail-biter tied-up games, the triumphs and the successes. I'll miss the look in their eyes after they made an out, the pride after sliding safe at home, and the cheering on of teammates. Heck, I might even miss the rah-rah repetitive cheers...ok maybe not! 

But I'll tell you what I won't miss: the never ending amount of sand at the back door. No matter how often I would sweep, mysteriously, more appeared seconds later. Some days, I swear we brought home more sand than we left on the field. We all are looking forward to a few clinics during the off season, improving skills and having more fun as we gear up for next spring! We're down to just dance 3 days/week for the bulk of winter, and I'm a little curious what we're going to do with all of our free time!

Congratulations girls, on another great season! 

Wedding festivities

The girls got to be involved in one of the prettiest weddings last weekend. To say they were over joyed is an understatement. Ryan said it best, you could see the joy in their eyes! 

Let me back up a bit. Several years ago, Ryan's cousin-Leigha moved just down the street. We started having her over for weekly dinners and the girls clung to her. Lincoln came along and she continued to come over whenever our schedule would allow. She's even brave enough to babysit all 3 of them, sometimes at 7am so we can be crazy and run a 5K. We all love her! 

Once she met Craig, he would join us when his schedule allowed; the girls liked it best when they would beat Leigha in their regular game of Old Maid. 

One night at dinner after their engagement, she surprised the girls and asked them to be a part of her wedding as usherettes. To them, it was like winning the lottery! They were so excited! 

She picked out some adorable dresses and the girls fell in love instantly. We fielded question after question about weddings as the months went on. Finally the day arrived and they got to put on their pretty dressed for more than an alteration session. They got to pick out a cute hair do and Vicky did amazing at dolling them up.

"Look mom!" I heard over and over again.
But they were just so beautiful in their twirly dresses. 

We spent several hours ahead of the wedding having pictures taken and enjoying the sunshine. Despite the bugs and the bees, I had so much fun watching our girls be a part of Craig and Leigha's special day. And shockingly, never once did I hear "are we done yet?", or "my feet hurt" or "can we leave?". They wanted to be right where the action was at any cost. 

They entertained little Eddie a bit and fell more in love with that little boy. 

Their official "job" was to hand out programs and guide guests to their seats before the ceremony started and then be the first to walk up the aisle with little Eddie. I heard multiple times just how adorable they were and I completely agree! 

They took their job seriously I tell you, planning out where to stand and how many programs to hold at a time. They were so grown up!

Finally, the rest of the family showed up. This stud-muffin was something else. (on a side note, a cutie like him is hard to resist and we are about ready to purchase a few t-shirts for these large parties to help inform well-intended people from feeding the kid with food allergies-yes, they actually make tshirts for this reason....we did a lot of chasing him all night). 

However, we purposely put him in pants and long-sleeves....the bugs were out of this world bad! Poor buddy kept asking for "sade" aka: shade, because he was so hot. He may have watched the bulk of the ceremony from beneath a tree :) 

With the girls busy at work, we snapped a partial family picture, but I love how it turned out. It's so fun to get everyone dressed up sometimes and even better when we get a cute picture too. 

The girls and Eddie were the first down the aisle and did a wonderful job. The instructions were along the line of 'if it takes Eddie too long, or he gets distracted, pick him up'. He was just as happy being carried so that's what they did part-way up the aisle. And how pretty were they walking up. 

Leigha was simply stunning in her gown....all day (and night, and weekend), the girls would tell us that "Leigha was the prettiest!" and "she looks like a princess!". Sidney went so far as to say she's using Leigha's dress for her own wedding one day :) ha! 

Before leaving the ceremony venue, we snapped a quick full-family picture with the whole gang. We then spent the night eating and dancing and having a grand time celebrating. We are so grateful that Craig and Leigha choose the girls to be a part of their wedding, it is something they will remember forever! Thank you!

Miss Sidney is 8

Last night, we put to bed our little 7 year old for the last time. This morning, she woke up 8 years old. How could she have grown up so darn fast! Where did those 8 years go? People, I still think of her as my little girl. Maybe not that skinny little infant with spunk and sass who refused to sleep if I wasn't holding her (and now have permanent shoulder damage as a result)....

But for sure, I think of her as my little 4 year old girl. She is such a fun kid, always making us laugh (and sometimes pull-our-hair-out cry) with her antics and her 'always-saying-what's-on-her-mind' personality. Her adorable smile and ability to live out each day to the fullest are contagious. So when did she go from 4 to 8? Feels like it happened overnight.

She has been looking forward to this birthday for a very long time. She was thrilled to be turning 8 and had a pretty short list of things she wanted for her big day: a selfie stick and a Fitbit. Well, let's just say that Lincoln joined in with her excitement (although we all know he has no clue what she just opened!). I love this picture, pardon the blurriness. It's so adorable!

Oh my goodness is she over the top excited for those two gifts. She loved them to pieces and we love her. Lincoln thinks of her as his very best friend, and really, how can you think otherwise?! There are so many reasons we love her to pieces, but him....he loves her because she's fun. She can play and imagine and engage in just about anything. He loves to be by her side (when she tolerates) and scoots his dining room chair so close to her that he's essentially on her lap.

With a flurry of excitement in this house over the next several weeks, we had no choice but to hold her birthday party on her actual day. She was surprisingly a little bit saddened by this fact initially, stating that she wanted to spend her day with "just the 5 of us" and that she still really wanted to have the traditional birthday girl's choice dinner out. Once we got past those concerns, and assured her we would still go out for dinner after her party, she warmed up to the idea and invited some friends to Paint Your Plate for a fun afternoon.

Instead of having a monstrous sized party, we had a nice eclectic group of school friends, softball friends and long-time nursery school friends. I love that she thinks so highly of her relationships and really thought about who she wanted to spend her day with. These girls had a lot of fun around the table, giggling and designing their ceramic pieces.

Sidney counted down the minutes before she 'for real' turned 8 (at 3pm exactly) and loved hearing her birth story....again! She still thinks she was born on the garbage can...although I keep reminding her it was only the water breaking :)  She loves to hear that Ryan burst into the wrong hospital room and prays hard that "I didn't come out with blood or anything on me!". Hands down, this spunky little girl of ours has the best birth story.

I just cannot believe our little sweet-sassy-super fun Sidney is 8!

We love you so much and are so glad you're ours!

Happy Birthday Sidney!

Lake life

Every year over Labor Day weekend, my dad's side of the family gathers for the traditional weekend at the lake. Going back, this has been something we have done since I was a child. I grew up going to various cabins/resorts throughout Minnesota each summer, and I am so very happy that this weekend tradition lives on for my own kids. I cannot thank my parents enough for pulling us together and giving us a long weekend at the lake each and every year. By far, it is our girls favorite part of summer. I do not lie when I say that the moment school ends in June, they are asking when we go to the lake! And there were tears this morning when we had to return back home, knowing it would be another long year before we get to go back again.

This post is picture heavy....consider yourself warned :)

We went back to Idelwild at Lake Osakis this year and Lincoln laid eyes on this mower sitting near the playground and claimed it his for the entire weekend. Thankfully there wasn't much competition for him and he pushed that thing around all. day. long. So much so that the resort owners wished it really did cut the grass so they could put him to good use!

My brother won the title of 'favorite uncle' with all of his offers for boat rides and tube rides. Lincoln was pretty hesitant that first trip around the lake, hanging on to me the entire time. But once he got a little more comfortable with the whole 'we-are-on-water' feeling, he eased right into it and just enjoyed the ride. There's discussion about my dad selling his fishing boat and next year renting a ski/fish boat for the weekend....let's just Sidney is NOT in favor of this plan. The tears streamed down her face as she thought about this idea; and frankly, I mirrored her feelings.  

With having a toddler on our hands, one who moves very fast, we instituted a rule from the start for Lincoln: if you go on the dock, you wear a life jacket. And the boy had no questions and no fusses with that rule. He loved walking on the dock, fishing off the dock, and heading down to the boat so he promptly wore his "life-a-jacket" at any request.  

My poor mother (and brother and cousin-in-law) got tasked with helping the kids fish off the dock many times each day. Let it be known, I don't do well with unhooking fish and I don't much prefer to bait a hook, so I'm just fine letting someone else teach them how to fish! Ryan fully agrees with me on that :)

My mom has been their teacher since they were little, and now, both girls can cast their own line (and do it well!), Regan will bait her own hook and if it's simple, unhook her fish! The kids figured out quickly that if they stayed near shore, they could catch these tiny perch at a pace that created chaos for those trying to take them off the hook. It was pretty comical to listen to Lincoln fish. That boy didn't just catch fish, nope, he was catching shark! Watch him in action HERE.

Regan enjoys fishing so much that she went out on the boat with my parents one afternoon. She has the patience for it and chatted their ears off. When she successfully reeled in her first 'keeper', I guess she squealed in both delight and shock! And there was no way she was getting that fish off her hook; it was much too big for her liking! I guess she squealed and shouted a little too much and caused those boats around her to turn their heads and check out her big fish :)

The peacefulness with water nearby is something I can't even explain. I love that there is always something for us to do, but nothing really that needs to be done. I don't clean, we did as little cooking as possible, and it's all about chasing the kids, finding fun and being together.

 Look at this little boy....between his fingers is a tiny minnow that my brother helped him pick up. EWWW! He came up to me "mommy choch it" aka: touch it.

Um, no thanks buddy, I'm good!

Here is our half of the group, some day I want to take a picture with the entire clan! We fill up 5 cabins between the 21 of us and virtually take over the place. The kids listed this as their favorite parts of our weekend:

Regan-catching her first 'keeper' fish!

Sidney-tubing

Lincoln-camp fires each night

Thanks mom and dad for yet another wonderful memory for our entire family.

We love you!

Sidney's turning 8

Upon her own request, we hosted Sidney's family birthday party a little early this year. She had hoped it would be warm enough to have a pool party, but in the end, we got a taste of fall that August weekend. The kiddos didn't seem to mind and although we shivered with sweatshirts around the pool, they had a great time jumping in and swimming around.

Sidney picks her own theme each year, and this time around it was CANDY! Although in all honesty, the girl doesn't so much like candy. She's actually a girl after my own heart and prefers chocolate. But she picked all things candy this time around and adored her cute cake.

I just can't believe this little girl of ours is already (almost) 8! She is sweet and sassy and our biggest spit-fire. That one has a temper like no other (gets that from her daddy!) and a soft side like her mother (the tears were flowing as we ended our favorite Labor Day cabin weekend today...more on that later).

She is a leader among her friends and feisty as can be. She had so much fun celebrating her big day and is looking forward to her actual birthday coming up this weekend.

Happy Birthday Sidney! We love you!