I'm starting to like this crazy guy

Finally, after spending time with Uncle Shane over the last couple of months, Sidney is warming up to him! This weekend, she even asked him to pick her up. It was adorable the way she just kept looking at him; we think she was thinking "he sounds a lot like my daddy!".

Macy's display

Regan has an excellent memory, but I didn't realize it was this good. Keep in mind, she's only 3.5 years old.

It started last Friday, while putting Regan to bed she started asking me if we could go see the "hot air balloons". I asked her to tell me more of what she was asking, and she proceeded to talk about the big tall building, where we go up the elevator and then see the hot air balloons and the men moving back and forth. It dawned on me, that she was thinking of the Macy's display (yes, there are some hot air balloons and elfs moving during the display!). After doing a brief online check, we realized it opened the very next day!! What a smart girl to think "it's time to go see the display!". So this morning we headed downtown, and both girls were in awe.....

Walking into Santa's Workshop at "A day in the life of an elf"

A little scared at first, both girls absolutely loved the display, so much that we had to go through twice!

This one's for you Uncle Shane....."CHEESE!"

They weren't really grumpy, probably just upset that I made them stop for a pose!

Then at the very end, Regan got to write her very own letter to Santa! She wasn't brave enough to sit on his lap but she knew exactly what she wanted on that letter "THOMAS" as in Thomas the train. So she asked me to spell it out and then she signed her name!

And yes, I had tears running down my face as she put her little postcard into that red mailbox.

Unsupervised in the toy room

Our toy room has an attached bathroom; given that Ryan was gone for the night, I opted to get ready for bed using that bathroom while the girls played. Guess I should have opted for a DVD instead. Regan had emptied all the toy bins (see the empty white shelving in the background?) and made herself a little train with the bins. What a MESS!!! However, she was so proud of her train and was in such a make believe fairytale place that I couldn't even think about scolding her.

Flashback!

Growing up, I remember my mom making my brother a lot of chocolate chip pancakes (I never thought the two should mix and ate my chocolate chips separate from my pancakes). My girls however, think this is a delightful dinner! Regan ate 3 of them tonight and Sidney had 2 :) Uncle Ben, want some next time?!

Hand me downs...

Not the toy, the clothes :) Regan wore this outfit at 9 months.....it finally fits Sidney and she's 14 months old! That just shows how different our two little girls are; from size to personality, they are two totally different girls.

Toy Room!

Thanks to Grandma Jan, our toy room got a fresh coat of paint as well as something extra special: chalk board paint on the closet doors! I was especially eager to find paint that didn't have to be the standard chalk board black. It helps to blend in a little better. We love our new space, although the grandparents are stuck on an air mattress now when they come to visit :(

Regan is really starting to write her name; here she traced the letters.

Sidney prefers to run around getting chalk on everything and showing me chalk. It's still fun, despite the chalk dust mess!

Sidney's Silly Face

Whenever I take out the camera now, Sidney looks at me, says "cheese!" and gives me this silly face!

She's got a bit of a fat lip, had an apparent fall into the door. Regan promises she didn't push her, but I was around the corner and can't vouch for that.

Trip to Germany

Ryan got an early Christmas present funded by his parents and recommended by his (wonderful) wife and kids.....a trip to Germany! While he really enjoyed his time visiting with Paul, Renata and Niklas, he missed us dearly and was eager to come home :) We were happy to have him back too! Next time we want to go with :)

Pretty Pretty Princess

Aunt Vicky and Uncle Lon bought Regan the Pretty Pretty Princess board game for Halloween, along with Lipsmackers lip gloss and she's in her glory! After finishing the game last night, she refused to de-crown herself and then added layers and layers of gloss to go along with her Princess style :) We're going to have our hands full when she's a teenager!

Photo shoot!

I attempted to get a good picture of Grandma Jan with both girls, this proved not an easy feat! (this is just a sample!)

Finally!

Park!

We spent the afternoon at the park today; it was well needed for all of us after spending the last 2 days painting! Thanks to Grandma Jan, it's finished!! (keep in mind Ryan't in Germany so he's just waiting for the surprise when he gets home!).

Sidney's face after she goes down the tunnel slide....all by herself! She LOVES it!

"Um, can someone please help me out here?"

Veteran's day!

Here's wishing all of our Veteran's a very Happy Veteran's Day from Regan's preschool class! THANK YOU :)

14 months old!

I simply cannot believe that Sidney is 14 months old! It's amazing at how fast time flies. She's a girl on a mission these days, getting into everything and anything. Every room we walk into, she's thrown something onto the floor and dashed on to the next! Sometimes it's exhausting but we love her :) I haven't a clue how much she weighs, probably somewhere around 23 lbs. She is a very sweet child, with a lot of compassion for her sister's tears (whether they be from a fall or that there are no more goldfish in the house!). Yet at the same time, she knows what she wants and Regan is learning that Sidney will fight back if she takes a toy from her!

LEAVES!

The girls had fun playing in the leaves on Monday with grandma/pa Friederich. My favorite is the first picture where Regan is in mid air jumping into the pile!

Cheese!

Our precious Sidney :)

Grandpa and his girls

Grandpa Arnie got the girls all to himself tonight and I'm not sure who was more excited, him or the girls?! We love having him up here, and although we put him to work most of the time, he was able to enjoy the evening, work free!

Happy Halloween!

In Minnesota, we bundle up to go Trick or Treating; winter jackets, hats and gloves are almost always a requirement. ...

We went out with the entire neighborhood and stuck together for most of our time Trick Or Treating, at least 10 kids and 8 adults! ...


"Hey guys, wait up!"....

"All that running was worth it, my sister gave me a SUCKER!"

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Hope it was as much fun as ours!

Halloween Eve!

It was a busy Halloween Eve for us :) We started the morning off with storytime at the library and a witch was our reader! The girls loved being in their costumes and hearing some funny and some scary Halloween stories. This afternoon, we were able to join Regan's class for a special Halloween party where the kids were fed cupcakes, cookies, ice cream, lemonade and candy and then sent on our way....can you say "sugar high"!? Yikes! Regan's especially looking forward to Trick or Treating tomorrow night!

Regan checking out some books before storytime all decked out in her costume.

The witch was good at holding the kids' attention today.

Regan was sweet enough to share her treats with Sidney and nice enough not to knock her down when she ate almost her entire cookie :)

She kept calling this her mask; she'll figure it out tomorrow after the first house puts candy inside her bag! She'll no longer need to use it on her head! Goof ball :)

Happy Halloween everyone!

(If you can't tell, Regan is wearing a unicorn and she is the rider, Sidney is a pink poodle...perfect for our little "princess")

Dancing Sidney

Thanks to Alison Stueber, we all love Raffi in this house :) Sidney's learning how to dance on her own, but doesn't quite have her balance yet. Enjoy!

Sidney's morning face

This is what Sidney does when she wakes up. Walks around with her "little blankie" and pacifier until her eyes adjust and she's ready for toys :) She's a little bit like her dad in that she needs a few (or many!) minutes before she's ready for the day to start.

Reading

Sure hope this isn't how she thinks we sound when we read her stories! (Sorry for the crying in the background, we had just baked cookies and Regan thought she could get two of them before bed?!)

Getting ready!

We carved pumpkins today, or should I say, Ryan carved pumpkins after I dug out their guts. Regan did the supervising and Sidney begged to get a chance to help (she still has this way of sticking everything in her mouth so she wasn't allowed near the seeds!). Regan preferred to stick her hands in the water of seeds over the pumpkin guts; she doesn't know what she's missing!

(see Sidney peeking up whining to help?!)

(nice job daddy! you do great work!)

I love bacon!!

Thanks for the bacon Uncle Lon, as you can tell, it's a hit! Ryan made it on the grill so I wouldn't have to smell it all week long; he impressed himself on how well it worked!

Finally!

It's been a long time coming, but Sidney is finally walking, on her own, and quite well! After you watch the video below, you'll know why it's taken her so long to accomplish this milestone, Regan has done a lot to get in her way (literally!). We're so proud of Sidney, and best of all, she beat Ryan by a couple of weeks (he was a late walker by his mother's report).

You might have a kid in preschool if.....

she comes home from school to tell you she had "meat chunk surprise" for lunch today!

Oh, the days of school lunches; I'm certain I don't miss them at all!

Sucker

Sidney got her first sucker tonight, of course she loved it! Since it took her a good 20 minutes to consume a dum dum sucker, we now have a new plan for dinner out-bring a sucker! Wish us luck as we try it out :)

Regan was showing us her colored tongue after eating her sucker, so Sidney decided to show us her tongue too! This one's for you Shane!

Half-Haunted Halloween

This afternoon we went to Woodlake Nature Center to take part in their Half Haunted Halloween party! Regan and Sidney both enjoyed being in their costumes for an hour. Regan was incredibly shy along the trail, not wanting to get too close to any staff/adults in their costumes. It took a lot of coaxing to get her to participate in the "games" to win her treat/prize. At the end, they have the biggest petting zoo we've ever seen. Ryan and Sidney got approached from behind by a horse! Regan's favorite were the bunnies; we think she felt the most safe hanging out in their separate pen, not to mention the bunnies were the softest animals out of the bunch.

Regan on the Lily Pad

Dad, Sidney and "the horse"

At one point, Regan told me "next time we get to bring a bunny home!". Wonder where that bunny will be sleeping??

Mom and Sidney at the end of a long afternoon. The Nature Center is really quite pretty. This is going to be our annual picture; check back in 2008 and you'll see a simlar pic. I'll try to post them together.

Pumpkins

This morning, our neighborhood park hosted a pumpkin giveaway. We love this event and enjoy letting both girls pick out their very own pumpkin; this year's pumpkins were HUGE! Regan's favorite part of the morning was probably the hot cider and cookie as well as the little toy she picked out. Sidney's favorite was sitting and touching all the pumpkins.