Flashback Friday

This week marks the 3rd anniversary for Ashley/Jamie (Sidney's Godparents). At just 18 months, this little cutie was honored to be a part of their big wedding day as a flower girl! She did a remarkable job and had a wonderful time.

Uncle Warren took Regan for a dance at the reception;

we all miss him so much as he went to heaven too soon this past month.

I guess Regan did have as many curls as Sidney does!

Happy Anniversary!

Jump and swim!

Our brave girl let go today; Regan has decided she is confident enough to do the doggy paddle all on her own :) We're both incredibly nervous, but she's doing so well we hate to discourage her. At one point, she took a noodle out to the deep end and then ditched it so she could swim to the edge unassisted!!!! Plus then she asked Ryan if she could jump off the board without holding his hands. She's come a VERY long way in the past 2.5 months. Congrats Regan, we're so proud of you! Coincidentally, swim lessons ends tomorrow so we'll see how she does at her last class.

PS: Sid did jump at the end, but my memory card was full :(

80's hair

I cropped this photo to make it a bit more internet appropriate; but you should have seen these two silly girls covered from head to toe (literally) with their foam soap tonight in the tub! Who doesn't love foam soap; it's like shaving cream but soap. Works great for the kids to lather themselves up after a messy, but fun, day in the humidity.

And that 80's hair on both of them, where did that come from??!

Girly girl

Sidney by far is a girly girl. She loves to wear dresses, play with her shoes and carry around a purse. She was pretty protective today of her purse (and it's contents of bracelets, necklaces, brushes for her "makeup", etc) and didn't appreciate anyone wanting to play with them while we attended a bridal shower. Can't say I blame her, I don't like anyone digging in my purse either!

And are you surprised with this picture? When it's 90 and humid, it doesn't matter what time of the day it is; it's a given, we go swimming.

What to do when it's hot and humid.

This sure has been the right summer to move into a house with a backyard pool. It's been hot and humid so often that when it does rain, we breathe a sigh of relief that we can run errands! Our morning rain was short-lived and when the sun broke this afternoon, the company came over and into the pool we all went. We might not even know what to do with ourselves come fall! You mean there's life beyond our backyard???

Sidney's becoming so brave, she enjoys jumping off the board into daddy's arms.

The Ryans and their babies enjoyed some time splashing around.

Any child that is close to, or smaller than Sidney, is considered a "baby" in her eyes. Megan is 8 months younger than Sid and she was such a good BIG girl with Megan. She shared not only her life jacket but (gasp!), her snack!! Sidney loves to eat and sharing a snack is not always easy for her.

Friday Playdate

It's not often that people can say their best friend from middle school remains their best friend; I'm lucky enough to be able to say that :) It's been even better now that Kari/family have moved closer to our home town which is a much shorter distance to us than any previous city they have called home. Today they headed up for a visit and everyone had a wonderful time!

Of course, there was lots of swimming by the older 3

Which resulted in some well needed breaks

And once the little ones woke from nap, we had our hands full!

William was ready to go head first into the pool; his face lit up when his toes hit the water.

They enjoyed every corner of the toy room too!

Thanks for coming to visit! Can't wait until next time!

Ready, Set, Jump!

Regan got brave tonight and jumped in for the first time at swim lessons! Just like that, she did it :)

Accidents happen...

...but not today!!

Elmo, who now sits in our bathroom, tells us that "accidents happen" but Sidney doesn't want to listen to him today and that's fine by me! Today is day 5 of potty training our almost 2 year old and we went accident free ALL day long! I'm so proud of our little girl, and she might have an M&M mustache to prove her success :) Of course, I've done this once before so that's not to say she won't have a day full of accidents tomorrow. But this one goes down as a perfect day in my book of potty training!

Congratulations Sidney!!

Preschool Open House

We have chosen the best preschool for the girls. It's official, the best! Tonight was their usual summer open house and they've out-done themselves again! The girls had so much fun showing us around and exploring the many "fun" activities in store for the evening.

The directors brought in yet another jumper and despite the 90+ heat and humidity, the girls had so much fun on this fire truck slide jumper!

Sidney insisted on going down with her big sister but then wanted to back out at the top. Regan's been around long enough to know about "forced fun" and just tugged on Sidney and down they both came together.

Crazy hair and face painting were a part of the fun too :)

And what's a party without food and ice cream!

All you need is love

After an incredibly difficult weekend, the girls showed us just what life is all about: Love

Pool Party

Today we hosted our very first pool party. We've been incredibly hesitant to do something of the like given the ages of the kids. We opted to start with family and had my dad's brother, kids and grandkids over for some fun. It turned into a great afternoon and nothing catastrophic occurred!

Sidney caught some great advice from Olivia while stopping for some snacks.

Regan spent the bulk of the time in the pool playing with her cousins and showing them all she had learned with her new pool.

Sidney enjoyed some snuggle time with Grandma Jan.

School days

The girls' school changes up the cirricculum during the summer months (more play, less academic focus). And they don't mess around when it comes to playing! Every few weeks, they will alert us that a giant inflatable jumper of sorts is making a visit. This week, it was a giant inflatable waterslide with a pool below! Needless to say, Regan was in heaven; the thing was nearly 20 feet tall! Made me want to go back to preschool.

I think the slide will be the highlight of her week, definately

higher than the nightcrawler races held the day before. YUCK!

Family Day

Ryan and I played hookie from work today (but since I have co-workers who read this blog, it was planned ahead of time!). We spent the day having fun and doing all sort of kid things! Regan once again, enjoyed ride after ride at Como Town, while Sidney braved only the little train where I got to ride along. She spent the rest of the time waving from the sidelines and looking cute chomping on some popcorn.

After an hour of being on the sidelines, Sidney and I decided to check out some "aminals", like the "jaff" {giraffe}, "zeba" {zebra}, "mokey" {monkey} and "rooaaarr" {anything else}! She enjoyed seeing them all eat their lunch and we were lucky enough to catch part of Sparky's fun show! Her face would do the WOW look when he did a silly trick.

Regan spotted this beautiful rainbow on our drive home, though it wasn't even close to raining. Ryan smiled and said "no matter how old a person, rainbows are always pretty amazing". Isn't that the truth.

Once home and nap time ended, Regan showed off her new trick: a back float! We moved into this house less than 2 months ago. At that time she needed her floaties or a life jacket to maneuver at all in the pool. She has gradually moved away from those two items and now can confidently use a tube or a noodle into the deep end as well as hop off the side of the shallow end independently. With the help of some swimming lessons, she's learning just 'how' to swim and with the extra practice at home, she's able to perform! We were so proud to see her face as she squealed "look mom, I can swim!".

I think we need another family day, really soon!

These two little cuties are growing up way too fast!

The smallest swimmer

Just a clip of little Sidney swimming away :) This was one of the first days she learned to swim, she was kicking away like crazy, she's calmed down a bit lately.

Too much fun to stop

While I don't love that she is leaning into the deep end of the water here to fill up her silly toy and blow out the water, I do love her cheesy grin which is her "I'm doing something silly and I know I shouldn't be doing it, but I'm having so much fun so please don't make me stop!" grin. So I didn't, I just made it a little safer by sitting closer.

Ball games and summer fun

We headed across the river today to watch Hunter race for the championship at the national level. Three games later, the girls had their fill of concession food and heat so we opted to come home for a dip in the pool. That team is going on 12 hours of ball right now and I haven't yet heard the final outcome. We saw some amazing games!

Auntie Vicky filled in today since Grandma wasn't around; she bought the girls a chocolate treat and they were both very happy (and messy)!!

Regan spent a lot of time digging in the diaper bag this morning, looking for something else to do or eat or play with; she found the sunscreen and under the circumstances of sun and heat, I just let her play. Looks like we need a few more lessons on how to apply lotion.

Congrats Hunter on a great day of softball! We had so much fun watching :)

So tired

Sidney has had issues with sleeping these days. Well, that's not entirely true, she's actually never slept well. Her current problem is that she wakes often before 6am and wants to get out of bed (usually to eat, and then play). By 10, she's ready for a nap but since that's not the general routine, it doesn't work that way. By the time 12:30 rolls around, she's over-tired and can't stay asleep longer than an hour despite all my hardest efforts. That was the case today, and we unfortunately we're out late watching Hunter's softball game this evening (nice game by the way!). Sid couldn't even make it home, she zonked out in the car; shade's in tact.

Flashback Friday

Apparently our girls do look a lot alike

It's HUMID!

Sidney's hair has a built in hygrometer (google it); her hair curls tight when there's a slight touch of humidity in the air. It's so darn adorable.

Pictures just don't do it justice; I could watch those curls bounce forever.

Unfortunately, her whole body becomes uncomfortable with the humidity. She complained all evening about a tummy ache when I suddenly realized she hadn't gone #2 all day. She was holding it in at school to try on the toilet! Poor girl. Of course, we tried a few times right away but that didn't work .....then we took a bath. You guessed it, poop in the tub. :(

Celebration picnic in the park

Regan had a chance this summer to participate on a tball team, coached by the most patient woman I know. Throughout the year, she never once changed the tone in her voice to show irritation, despite the multiple girls digging in the sand, or not paying attention. She remained calm and most importantly, showed the girls how much fun it was to be a part of a team! So what else would make her one of the most patient women I know? Well, not only does she work part-time, she also coaches TWO teams in the league, and she also has FIVE children of her own! FIVE kids from 2-12 years old! Patient and maybe a little nuts?!

Tonight we had an all-ages league picnic to celebrate the end of a fun season! Coach Melissa brought hair coloring for our team; the girls just loved it!

Regan and her best buddy and coaches daughter, Izzy.

Regan scored one of the first raffle prizes! She picked out a bat, which shocked me because her other options included stickers or pencils. That's my little sports fan! She leaned over to me and said "mom, he told me I could take the bat!!". She was so excited :)

Coach Melissa with Regan and Izzy; the girls are waiting for their playdate; both of them hounding us to set a date!

Regan is sad that tball is over; I guess that means she wants

to play again next year!

T-ball finale!

Regan played in her final t-ball game of the season tonight. We are incredibly proud of her for growing so much in the past 2 months. She's learned about the game, how to throw/catch, play every position in the field, and that field sand is not for sand castles. Tonight, she even took a few swings without the tee and made contact with the pitch!! YEA!

She's not real fond of the catcher's gear nor all the work that goes into chasing every throw!

Catching a few pointers from Coach Johnson while at 3rd base.

A proud mommy with a little girl who just wants to join her sister on the playground after the game.

Aquatennial Sand Sculptures

Tonight the girls and I, along with grandma Jan, headed to Lake Calhoun to take a peak at some amazing sand sculptures. We saw a sculpture of Shrek, castles, and a shark. Our favorite, and the winner, was a multi-sculpture of Alice in Wonderland. I think the girls have been inspired to make some of their own in the sandbox tomorrow!

Dollhouse with Sidney

Sidney could play contently for hours on end. She loves anything remotely girly, including babies, dress up, barbies, and her most favorite-the dollhouse. She loves to set up the table, putting as many chairs around it as she can fit, and then trying the best she can to set dolls on the chairs. This generally leads to a pretty unhappy little girl who is frustrated with her lack of dexterity. Once we help her out, she proceeds to set the table with all sorts of food so her little friends can have dinner!

Hot fun in the summertime!

When the temps hit 90, everyone wants to get into the pool. Today was no different, with a few extra perks. First, the pool temp hit 82 which is our record so far. I'm very pleased with this temp!! It's that temperature that makes you want to hop back in because the water is warmer than the breeze that just chilled your body.

And second (and definitely more exciting)....Sidney learned how to swim!! Our little peanut is not even 25 lbs and less than 2 years old, yet she has figured out how to wear a life jacket (not an infant one) and kick her legs silly so that they stay under the water and she doesn't end up with her face into the water doing a front float. It's simply amazing to watch her move across the water from one end to the other; we're so proud! (Don't worry mom, Ryan is just outside of this picture, I'm not daring enough to leave her alone yet!).

O how I love Minnesota summers!