Photo shoot!

Regan will turn two in just a couple of weeks! In preparation for her birthday, we had her pictures taken last weekend. She did great and we love how they turned out :)

Today we will head to Washington DC to visit Uncles Ben and Jon again. We're looking forward to a little warmer weather (Ben thinks I'm nuts to say 50's is warm...how quickly he forgot what -5 feels like!). We've received security clearance to tour the White House on Friday and everyone is really excited! Unfortuantely we aren't allowed to take pictures so I won't have any postings for everyone. We also plan to go up the Washington Monument and visit the DC Aquarium. I've been to DC at least 5 times now and this will be my first trip up the Washington Monument so I'm looking forward to that the most! Hopefully the flight will be uneventful and the Barney DVD's will keep Regan occupied!

Evil Eyes!

Thankfully this face isn't as common as it used to be! Now that she can do it when asked, it's pretty funny! Instead of giving us these eyes, Regan now stomps her feet, throws her head back and whines when she's asked to do something she isn't happy about.....I think I prefer the face.

She's Miss Independent these days, "Regan do it" or "my turn" is heard hundreds of times a day. She's also picking up on everything said by mom and dad, including sighs or groans! Oh and does she repeat things: the other day an airplane flew REALLY low over the house and Ryan commented "what the hell was that?". Well, wouldn't you know it, Regan asked me "what the hell was that?".

Lesson learned.

Sesame Street Live!

Tickets-$41 each

Nacho, 2 pops and popcorn-$18

Elmo balloon-$8

Seeing Regan's face as Elmo and Cookie Monster shook her hand-Priceless!

Tonight we went to see Sesame Street Live-Elmo Grows Up! It was such a great show!! Our seats were only 5 rows from the stage and the characters spent a lot of the time running up and down the aisle next to us, stopping to give a high-5 or shake a hand. Regan got a little scared at first when Cookie Monster came by (see the picture of her/dad saying hi), but she didn't have time to get scared when Elmo surprised us from the other side! All she kept talking about was that Elmo touched her hand; she was so excited! I'll admit it, I cried more than once watching her face light up, or trying to sing along, or dancing to the music...I'm such an emotional mom!

Approaching two

Regan decided this week that her baby needed a "time-out" and here's a shot of it. It was hilarious to watch her take her baby to time out and tell her baby it was time to come out and say she was sorry! At least she's understanding it, I hope!

We've had many successful days with potty training and I'm going to knock on wood when I type this, but at this point, I think it's safe to say we're officially potty trained! We are so proud of her and she's definately showing us her independence, especially when she announces it's her turn to use the potty and to please get out of the bathroom!

This week, we really learned how much she loves daycare. It's been obvious lately considering she has been telling mom to go back to work at 5pm pick up. But recently we arrived at daycare and she's run off to play with another little girl as soon as her boots are off! They love to dance, learn numbers and letters and play in the kitchen together. And yesterday when we were leaving, Jillian asked for a hug and wouldn't let Regan go! How cute!!

I'm this big!

As we approach Regan's 2nd birthday, we bought a growth chart to track her height. She's roughly 32.5 inches right now (hard to get her to stand still next to it). We'll let the doctor make the official mark next month.

Daddy dressed me today

Regan hung out with daddy on Saturday while mommy judged a competition and this is what she looked like; can't say it's my favorite shirt. We owe a big Thank You to Uncle Shane for this shirt :)

In this picture, she's showing us her muscles and making her 'tough-guy' face!

Building a snowman

Last weekend proved to be great weather (and snow) for building a snowman! Daddy commented that it was a pretty pathetic snowman (his words exactly "I didn't think you were making one that was Regan's height"), but he wasn't helping so he didn't get to comment much more! Regan still struggles with standing in the snow and prefers to be held so I couldn't really make a gigantic snowman. She did enjoy picking out the rocks for his eyes and smile (notice the rock for a smile is even slanted like a smile!). Unfortunately, less than 5 hours after we built him, he tumbled over due to the warm weather! Thankfully she wasn't upset...this time!

That face...

....is so precious! Regan is really into pretend play these days; the other day I caught her using her toothbrush on the rubber duck, telling him she needs to clean his teeth! Sometimes we'll come upon her and she's saying things we've told her like "sit down" to her baby in the high chair, or "play blocks?" to her dolls. Lately her favorite nightly event is to play Guitar Hero with dad, what a sight that is!

FORE!!!

In other words, look out mommy, daddy's teaching me how to golf and you're in the path of this shot! Sometimes we think she'd rather use her new clubs as a hockey stick, or her pull bag around like a stroller but eventually she'll get the idea! Occasionally she'll get a real good shot and everyone better look out or the ball is likely to wind up hitting you!

Daycare Holiday Spectacular 2007 (in 2008)

Our daycare holiday party was post-poned until tonight but it was well worth the wait! Here's a few shots of the evening; the whole crew is sitting on the stairs with Alyson; our little elf in green; and everyone singing Rudolph with their red noses! Regan really got into the dancing and singing this year and even put on her own little show with her green hat pulled down over her eyes during an entire song. She lifted it up at the very end when she, along with everyone else, yelled "Sleigh Ride"-it was so cute!

Sledding!

When mommy heard it was over 30F outside, she headed straight outside to take Regan sledding. Unfortunately, no one mentioned the wind so sledding didn't last real long. We run down the street pulling the sled and stop quickly so that the sled turns real fast (think "crack the whip") and Regan has a blast! We had the camera all set up to take a few pictures as soon as she whipped around, and here is the result!

Why?

Ohhhh!!!, here we go! Regan has recently started in with the "why?" questions. At this point, it's still cute and funny, but we know it's going to lose it's excitement quickly! We can definately feel that we are approaching the "two's"-from the attitude to the tantrums, to the ability to express herself better to the questions, it's all so much fun! We continue to work on potty training and she's got a good handle on it at home and today we started working on it at daycare too. She did quite well and I think she has amazed the provider! She still has her moments when she gets caught up in playing and forgets (but we often forget to ask her so we're to blame as well). Last night she actually woke up from a complete slumber and started crying because she had potty in her diaper and wasn't calm until mommy changed her diaper.....there could be some long nights ahead if this keeps up!

Penquins in the snow!

This one is for Uncle Ben out in DC; hope you like them! He bought Regan snow decorations for Christmas and wanted some pics of the sculptures. Lucky for him, we went sledding (the winter version of going for a walk these days) and Regan spotted a snowman and wanted one in her yard too. Now, I have absolutely no clue how anyone built a snowman with snow that doesn't stick together, but putting together these guys was a piece of cake!

A new kitchen!

Grandma and Grandpa Friederich bought Regan a new kitchen for Christmas and it's definately one of her favorite new toys. We made a wise decision and ended up assembling the huge toy in our living room and it's staying right there for now. Given it's the most played with toy right now, it didn't make sense to hide it in the basement. We love watching as she cooks up eggplant, asparagus and a DQ ice cream cake all in one pot! Her imagination is really at work lately!

Christmas Eve at Nana and Papa's

We spent Christmas eve at Nana and Papa's in New Ulm. It was a wonderful evening and not your traditional Christmas eve meal...sauerkraut and dumplings!!! We were in heaven :) Regan was exceptionally well-behaved in church, I think the bribe to open presents worked well, we might have to use it more often!

I'm cute!

Regan might have been sick, but she sure looked cute posing for the camera Sunday evening!

Merry Christmas!

It was another rough start to the weekend as Regan unfortunately picked up a stomach bug from daycare (?or maybe she's getting her molars?). Whatever the case, Friday, Saturday and Sunday were not the best days for any of us. We did manage to open presents from Santa on Saturday morning and drive to New Ulm without much trouble at all. She adores her new art table/easel from Santa and was so excited that she refused to open the rest of her presents!! In fact, it took her over 24 hours to open her last present and that darn toy made it all the way to New Ulm with us before she actually decided she'd open it. The pics above are with her and her new art table.

Rachael Ray!

Tonight while daddy went to the Vikings game, mommy and Regan made a quick stop at the Mall of America to see Rachael Ray! She was having a book signing event and the crowd was unbelieveable. It was fun to see her, but there was no way Regan was waiting in that line to get her autograph so we took some pictures and headed home.

Swimming!

Regan's been talking about a pool for a long time; constantly wanting to go in a pool. Today she got her chance! We didn't have time go swimming last night at the hotel, so this morning after breakfast, we promised her we would go swimming. She held us to our promise and she had so much fun! The last few times we've taken her swimming, she's been incredibly apprehensive of the water and pretty fearful of going in. This time, she even got brave enough to try jumping into mommy's arms!

Shake your booty

Regan was our rock star on the dance floor at Jeff and Chrissy's wedding Saturday evening; she kicked up her heels off and on for over 2 hours! We thought she had enough around 9pm as she fell asleep while dancing with mommy, but she quickly woke up and got her "second wind". I apologize for the fuzzy picture, she was moving too fast!

A rough start

Moments after we got on highway 62 this weekend heading for St. Cloud for the final wedding of the year, our car got a flat tire. The worst part is that these tires are only 3 weeks old....we haven't even received the bill for them yet!! Thankfully we got a quick tow and were back on the highway with the other vehicle in less than one hour. Regan did amazingly well and really enjoyed the tow truck ride! (The driver suggested we just hold Regan, but as you can see, the top picture is of mom strapping her car seat into the truck). Although we were late, we quietly slid into church and had a wonderful rest of the weekend.

Sharing with Elmo

Mommy caught Regan being so nice today as she shared her snack of dry cereal with Elmo. It was adorable because the cereal actually went into Elmo's mouth and she thought he was eating it! Hours later she went back over to Elmo and found a piece of cereal inside and snatched it out and ate it!!

Oh yea, and she's not wearing any bottoms because we're attempting potty training and it makes much less laundry when we just turn up the heat and forego wearing pants. Not much progress yet, but we're staying patient.

Happy St. Nick's day

We celebrated St. Nick's day over the course of a few days so we could enjoy all the gifts instead of opening them all at once. I happened to enjoy Regan's new Cabbage Patch doll the most, brings back so many memories! Regan's enjoying feeding her new doll and giving her stroller rides.

Snowstorm

We spent the first day of the first snowstorm of the season shopping, decorating our Christmas tree and of course, sledding! We only broke one ornament while decorating the tree, which is pretty good considering we only have German glass ornaments. Tonight before we laid Regan down to sleep, she had to say good night to all the ornaments ("ni-ni baby", "ni-ni house", "ni-ni football" and finally "ni-ni lights"); it was absolutely precious.

"I want this one, daddy!"

We went to pick out a Christmas tree this evening and Regan wouldn't stand still for even one picture. We were looking forward to getting a cute picture of her all bundled up in her snowsuit; next year we'll bring the stroller again so she can't dash off.

Holiday decorations

Regan came down with strep throat on Tuesday evening so she stayed home from daycare the rest of the week. Thursday she felt well enough to help mommy put up a few Christmas decorations, and she was amazingly a big helper! She was happy as long as she got to do whatever it was she wanted :) At one point she walked around with a candle (unlit of course) and everytime mommy asked for it back, she threw a fit. Needless to say, she got away with a lot of things she doesn't normally get away with!

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....someday she'll kill me for taking {and keeping} this picture!

Happy Birthday Nana!

It was a big surprise for Nana on Saturday :) After a year of planning, we finally surprised her with a big party for her 60th birthday! We started the day as though it was just any other day; playing at the park, making a cake and opening presents. We headed for dinner, or so Nana thought, and she walked into a room full of 70-some friends/family! She was definately shocked and we owe it to Regan for getting into the right room of the building (mommy needed Nana's help in the bathroom to change a poopy diaper and we happened to walk right through this room on our way to the bathroom). SURPRISE!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We enjoyed Thanksgiving in New Ulm with both sides of the family; one for lunch and the other for dinner. It was a long day and Regan was pooped by the end of the night after visiting with so many people and eating so much turkey! One year ago on Thanksgiving she took her first steps, it's amazing to think how much she has accomplished since then. She continues to amaze us everyday with new words and things she can do. She's now beginning to master 'jumping' and actually getting some air under her feet; to be honest, it was more amusing to watch her jump and not go anywhere!

The Nutcracker Macy's display

We took Regan to the holiday display tonight at Macy's and the excitement in her face was worth a million dollars! She did get a little tense in the beginning as she noticed the figurines moving ever so slightly (and then the rats going round and round didn't make her any less nervous). She eased up completely towards the end when we entered the beautiful Candyland area and even got down to show us what she saw and dance to the music! We attempted to bring her in to see Santa afterwards and she wanted nothing to do with him- "No Santa" she kept saying. We slipped out and hope she'll be interested in sitting on his lap a little closer to Christmas.

Mommy's supervisor

I spent some time raking the leaves in the back yard this afternoon and my little princess sat comfortably in her yard chair while I worked! She did lend an occassional "hand" or should I say, made an occassional mess by running/jumping into my pile of leaves :) She then made up for it by helping, with her tiny little hands, put the leaves into a bag; it was adorable as she picked up 2-3 leaves at time and dropped them into the bag. What a helper!