Summer...bring back the heat!

These cooler (not very welcomed) temperatures have not stopped us from being out and about this summer....although we have altered our typical past-times recently. Instead of swimming laps, playing pool games and having water races, we are exploring local play grounds, pedaling the bikes and even roller skating! 

This week, Sidney wanted to pull out the roller skates and go for a spin. Keep in mind, she has no idea what she is doing when it comes to wheels on her feet, and kept her head safe with a helmet. So Regan grabbed one hand, and I the other as we went back and forth on the side walk. Sidney giggled the whole way, and on one occasion while she lost her balance and started to fall, she laughed and said "they should make butt pads!"

At 4 years old, she can be quite witty :) 

Loves

I'm missing my "stay-cation" weeks with my two loves this summer. Normally by now I'm knee-deep into planning and experiencing some fun adventures around town. However, with a bun-in-the-oven, practicality has taken over and I'm reserving most of my paid time off for baby's arrival. 

Today, I took the day off from work, despite that, to spend it with the girls. Regan requested we head to Minihaha Falls. 

And boy were the falls going. Complete gush of water over the edge. The girls were mesmerized.

Both had high hopes of wading in the (normally) shallow parts of the area; however, when I saw the falls I knew better. By the time we got to the bottom, they were convinced it wasn't a safe idea as well, though that doesn't mean they didn't ask over and over again! 

We were able to find a great spot for a picnic lunch though. 

And when the fun was over, it was time to climb back up. I asked Regan to show me how much fun she was having.....

She laughed after we took that picture. Because really, she was having a great time. Stinker. 

Looking forward to a few more days with my loves! 

Go Twins!

We are thankful to Ryan's amazing company for giving us tickets in the suite to last night's Twins win! Target Field's suites are wonderful. The suite themselves are big and spacious and then the seats in front of the suite are comfy with great views of the field. 

Hands down, this is the way to watch a game. The girls brought totes of books, colors and other trinkets to keep them busy. And of course, there was all sorts of ball-park food to keep everyone happy :) 

Check out those cozy seats! And a bathroom just outside the suite reserved practically just for me! It was a pregnant lady's dream. 

Around inning 6 or 7, Sidney was ready for a little down time. She ventured inside the suite and settled in with an iPhone for some TV time. The girls did great and while leaving, admitted that they weren't thrilled to go to the game, but once there, they sure had a great time :) 

Valleyfair

Our girls love rides. It's no lie that they could go round and round and up and down all day long, neither of them wanting to stop for a meal or to go to the bathroom. So each year, we try to make a day out of Valleyfair. Some day, I'm sure they'll need season passes like the older kids in our neighborhood, but for now, they are happy with once or twice a year. 

And so are we! 

Ryan is just a big kid when it comes to rides. He loves them as much as the girls. Who am I kidding, so do I! But Valleyfair is much more strict than Disneyland and I wasn't allowed on much of anything. So Ryan took them on rides that spun, and he/Regan went on rides that went way up high! Her favorite is still the Corkscrew, and Sidney might tell you this Scrambler is her favorite (listening to her giggles and seeing the laughter plastered on her face is priceless!). 

One of only two rides I was allowed on today, the Ferris Wheel. So I jumped at the opportunity to take a spin into the sky with these two little girls. We watched as the sun was setting after a very long day of fun. 

Our spunky Sidney was striking some poses for me :) 

Thanks grandma Sheri for a fun filled day!

Some Pig

last weekend we caught the end of the Aquatennial sand castle competition. This competition is really quite amazing and we try to see the end results every year, as it gives the girls some fun inspiration while digging and making their own sand creations.

Our top winner this year went to Charlotte's Web "Some Pig" pictured below. 

You can see the girl laying down next to Wilbur, and the spider in the web with the words "Some Pig". 

Pretty cool stuff.  

Minnesota summers-we love them!

Summer goals

We have several informal 'summer goals' around here. Nothing drastic or written out for all to see. But things we've discussed that we should try to accomplish during the summer. One of Sidney's summer goals was to jump off the diving board and swim to the edge, without help or a floatation device. Keep in mind she's 4 years old, and rather hesitant at trying something so daring, so I wasn't sure this was realistic. 

Well, today she went for it. Out of the blue she asked me to stay close to her in the water, but yet allow her to do this 'trick' on her own. I coached, encouraged and cheered for her as she made the initial leap! She was so excited and proud of herself that she did it over and over again. Thank goodness she kept going because that allowed me to take a quick video! 

Click HERE to watch her :) 

24 weeks

Here we are at 24 weeks (and one day). Baby is growing and at about 1.5 lbs, is sitting breech currently. We got another peek inside today and s/he is looking good. The cord was across the face, casting a shadow on the cheek in the picture below. 

As for me, I can't complain. This pregnancy is both similar and different from the previous two. Strangely, I get some horrific side aches from simply walking. I can do an elliptical for 30 minutes, but can't walk one block. At this point, we are chalking them up to muscle pains and nothing more. Baby is constantly moving and that is very reassuring. Feeling the breech movements is something unique to this pregnancy, as neither of the girls were ever in that position by this stage. So I get a lot of kicks to my bladder....yea, that's fun :) S/He is very active in the afternoons and evenings, this is very much a pattern. I'm up most nights with a wild one and I can't help but smile at 3am :) 

So far so good. The girls are thrilled and excited and both enjoyed seeing baby today during the ultrasound, commenting "ohhhh, it's so cute!". Sure is! 

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Now I know that when we bought this house several years ago, we were going to have our share of critters. After all, in ground pools are warm places for critters to hang out.

So I've seen lots of dead animals floating in the pool, and I can muster up the energy to scoop them out and toss them in the trash. But imagine my surprise, when I glance in the pool yesterday afternoon and see something swimming in the water! To say I was in hysterics is putting it lightly. I'm sure the neighbors thought I had just severed a limb the way I was screaming. But there it was, a mouse swimming laps in our pool. Who knew mice could even swim!? And to make matters worse, I was home alone with the girls. Awesome. Hysterically, I mean calmly, I called Ryan for advice. He chuckled and offered up a solution "fish it out with the net and clobber it". There was no fishing anything LIVING out of the pool by me. No way. I couldn't even fathom it. My pregnant self just kept screaming. But I knew I couldn't just leave the darn thing in there, so I did the next best thing and called Shane to my rescue. Thankfully he was just up the street running errands and gladly came home to to put me at ease. By this time the darn thing had swam into the skimmer (white box in the picture) and I stood watching to make sure he wasn't going to climb out of the hole (white box to the left on the deck). Shane bravely stuck his hand into the skimmer, scooped out the ugly thing with a shovel and gave him a good ending. This one is gone, but I know more are to come! 

Weekend of fun

It was a typical HOT weekend around here. Once again, we have a calendar filled with pool parties and we are all loving every second of it. This weekend was stock full of time with great friends, great neighbors and even a family night swim! 

Ryan's getting pretty good at launching the littlest of the family into the air; and she's loving her view from high up in the sky.

The girls were pretty giddy as we hosted a group of Ryan's college buddies/families and they had plenty of friends to play with. 

And since it was dark by the time they left, Ryan promised the girls we could climb back into the water and take a family night swim. The look of shear joy spread quickly across Regan's face, since she has been begging to stay up late and swim with the light on. 

The ending of this picture turned out better than it looks. Ryan didn't really do a belly flop, but rather had some fancy term for the type of airborne dive he did. 

The closer they swam to the light, the happier the girls were. So much of our time was spent going off the board over and over and over again.

All that late night action must have tuckered them out! They both slept until 8:30am today; not a common occurrence by any means!

Happy 4th

It was a fun-filled 4th of July once again with a day watching a parade (or golfing depending on who you are in this family), swimming, eating and fireworks. We hope you and your family had a great day celebrating the 4th as well! 

No Daycare-Part 2

 On their final day without daycare this week, the girls spent the day with Uncle Shane. It was initially a bit of a scary thought considering he has never babysat them and we were leaving for nearly a full day! I gave him two instructions before leaving the house: keep them alive, and keep them entertained! Boy did he have his work cut out for him with the entertainment part, and he did a great job documenting the entire day and giving me updates via pix/text, assuring me that he was, in fact, keeping them alive! 

Of course, I'm sure they had a great breakfast in front of the TV...here's hoping they didn't start the day with chocolate (though they both tattled later and told me just how much candy he fed them throughout the day!)

For the days leading up to his babysitting job, he told the girls they would be throwing pancakes in the street for the cars to drive over (not actually tossing them AT cars). And he did not disappoint! Even bought a box of frozen pancakes-which he told me later "flew like frisbees" into the street. 

That afternoon, Sidney told me all the pancakes were gone from the street, now stuck to the wheels of the cars. Great life lesson he taught them :) 

I'm pretty sure he loved the play time with American Girl dolls.....

And what day isn't complete without a Cadillac ride?, all the way up to Subway for lunch! Thanks Uncle Shane for keeping them alive and entertained. The girls have some great memories of their day with you :) 

No daycare-Part 1

I normally take several weeks of vacation time in the summer for "stay-cations" with the girls. However, while trying to save every ounce of vacation time for my upcoming maternity leave, we've been left to either 1) leave the kids in daycare each week or 2) round up a back up plan. 

And this week, we opted for option two. 

My mom came and spent 2 days with the girls and lived it up, just like I would have done. They stayed busy busy busy! She took them to Como Town one day where they went on rides for 5 hours! My germaphobic mother is much like me and her hand sanitizer was never far away :) 

On her other day with the girls, they ventured to a nearby park/lake where they had a picnic and enjoyed a paddle boat around the lake. I'm quite certain, the girls had a great time with Grandma Jan and we are happy to have her nanny-like services!! 

College friends reunited

Today we hosted a whopper of a pool party and I'm pretty sure that all 30 of us will be sleeping soundly tonight! Each year, we invite a group of my college girlfriends/families for a fun afternoon, and with all the multiplication we have done over the last 16 years, we added up to 30 people this year! The weather was picture perfect. Simply beautiful. 

One angle looked like this often....

and another like this...

The kids pick up where they left off the last time and are instant friends. 

And there were a LOT of friends to play with today! Sixteen little tykes ranging from 4 months to 7 years. Sure kept us parents busy this afternoon! Thankfully the only crisis was a cookie that got dropped into the pool and a little guy who thought it was worth falling into the pool for :) He was swiftly saved; but the cookie?...not so much. 

There were some breaks in the water action and with a toy room stuffed full of dress up, all the girls were in their glory!

Regan and Lucy even ate dinner in their dress up clothes! We had such a big group that it was picnic time for the kiddos, either pool side or grassy patch. And not a one of them complained about not sitting around a table (except possibly those who didn't want to take a break from the water of course). 

This group of gals seem to pick up where we left off last time too. I'm soooo thrilled to have them all in our lives! 

Happy Birthday Hudson

We headed to Hudson's 5th birthday party yesterday and it was an afternoon of Scooby fun! The kids were happy to be chasing around the backyard with Hudson and Paxton and this year, Harlow got to join in the crazy fun. 

Regan turned out to be a great babysitter for Harlow; following her around as she caused trouble and then keeping her out of harms way. 

Sidney enjoyed splashing around with both boys in the kiddie pool. 

Ryan had a little too much fun on the trampoline, he went back to it over and over throughout the day. He and Regan played a game that she learned in gymnastics where he had to bounce her hard and then catch her. Eventually he figured it out. 

Harlow finally convinced her mama to let her into the pool and then Ryan caused her to scream as he bugged and splashed her. 

Sidney and Paxton shared a chair while watching Hudson open his gift. I couldn't resist taking their adorable picture together. 

All the kids took a few whacks at Scooby but eventually the bottom trap door opened instead and out fell the treats! Trouble maker (aka: Ryan) later took a whack at him and decapitated the poor dog. 

Happy 5th Birthday Hudson! 

Thanks for letting us celebrate with you! 

Life lately

in general, we've kept busy. 

Between play dates, birthdays, swimming, gymnastics and all sorts of family fun, it has been a very busy summer.
We're wrapping up the month of June and it is definitely our favorite time of the year. All 4 of us simply L-O-V-E the heat. The more the merrier. We just don't seem to get enough of it in our 3 short months of summer, so when we do, we live it up. 

Updates:
Regan has settled into her summer program routine and is starting to enjoy herself a little more each day. She was overwhelmed at first, but has adjusted well. She's making new friends, keeping some of the old, and learning her new role in her 3 day/week summer schedule. She continues to attend weekly swimming and gymnastics classes and is doing great in both of them. She's working on the butterfly stroke (AMAZING!) as well as handstand-bridge-kick overs. Fun stuff! She is keeping up with some reading this summer (not as much as she should be, I'll admit) and continues to pick out chapter books on our regular library outings. She'd much prefer to watch a movie or the beloved Disney channel and I swear we could drive to Russia and she would be content watching TV the whole way (in her defense, the poor girl gets car sick if she tries reading in the car). 

Sidney is still little Miss Popular in her ongoing preschool program. She has remained with the same core group of children for a very long time. Some of them since infancy. This really is her second family. They love her and she loves them right back. She's told us she is trying to decide which of two boys to marry. Yes, we have our hands full. Depending on the day, she is married to either one of them. This girl cracks us up! She too is participating in swimming lessons and gymnastics classes on a weekly basis. She has mastered swimming across the deep end of our pool without any floatation device; quite impressive to watch her tiny 34 lb body paddle 16 feet without stopping. In order to keep up with the bigger kids, she still puts on a life jacket or grabs a noodle but she's really making some amazing gains. Though she adores her Disney channel like her big sister, she tires quickly and we joke that on a 2 hour drive, we can't make it 10 blocks without her saying she's bored. Makes for some long trips. 

As for us parents, well, we're taking life as it comes these days. I commented to Ryan that with all we have going on in our house right now, we are both handling the summer in a positive manner. Not much rattles us anymore, and while we still have very full weekends (and week nights), we've learned to take things one moment at a time. And it's proving quite helpful for both of us. 

Ryan's loving his new job (something he hasn't ever really been able to say) and is still a goofball in the pool, doing all sorts of "tricks" as he likes to call them. As for me, I'm enjoying my sleepless nights feeling baby kick (the first pregnancy to keep me awake with kicks), multiple trips to the bathroom day and night, and wishing my (other) full time job as social coordinator for this family would pay in dollars :) 

Here's to another two months of fun in the sun! 

Babies everywhere

Roughly two weeks ago, Grandma Sheri sent me this picture while she was babysitting. Three robins eggs in a nest (the fourth showed up the next day). 

 Ryan and I spent one evening this week, reading up on the life cycle of a robin. Boy did we learn a lot, and information we have had fun sharing with the girls. 

Who knew that robins laid eggs one day at a time? For a total of 4 days. 

Who knew the mama robin is the one that sits on them for 12-14 days? 

We read that she turns them several times a day so they don't stick to the side of the egg. Gross. 

And that they peck their own way out of the shell, in the same order that they were laid. 

One egg per day. For a total of 4 days. 

So for the last 2 weeks, we've watched mama sit on her eggs. And if we happen to scare her away (so that I can quickly water the flowers), boy does she give me grief. Squawking and chirping to her male counter-part who, today, nearly took off my head! 

(See him perching on the side?)

It's no wonder he was so ticked off, Ryan had pulled down the basket so we could all take a quick peak at her nest. Gosh those things are ugly, but it was another lesson in the cycle of a robin. 

By this evening, we had 3 baby robins being fed non-stop as mama and daddy robin take turns flying in/out of the nest. They are busy busy birdies! 

Baby Belly #3

Baby is growing and it's showing on the outside. I'm beyond the questionable stage and into the full blown "you are pregnant!" stage. 

I don't have any real complaints while pregnant, never really have. Spent the first 9 weeks feeling like I had just gotten off a roller-coaster every moment of the day, but that has since subsided. I'm loving this warm weather because it means cute skirts and dresses on a daily basis and that means a very comfortable waist. 

Baby does a lot of flips and kicks throughout the day, but more importantly, throughout the night. This is a new experience for me, having never really been woken by a pregnancy (other than bathroom trips). Now I lay awake, smiling at the beauty inside of my belly keeping me awake. Let's just hope it figures out night/day in the next 4 months! 

No major cravings to describe. I really wanted a donut a couple of weeks ago but resisted the urge. Shocking! 

My workout routine has slowed down. I still head to the gym 4 days/week, but instead of busting out a 2-4 mile high paced run and some strength training, per the doctor's orders, I'm lazily going through an easy Elliptical or bike workout. 

Lap swimming in our pool hasn't been something I've been able to participate in. I tried a couple of times but each time I get out of the pool with some belly cramps so until I get the all-clear, I'm holding off on any more laps. 

Here's a progression over the the last 8 weeks: 12, 18 and 20 week pictures.