Halloween Prep

Our kiddos are decked out and ready for the Halloween holiday coming up. We try to get good use out of their costumes and attend a few events around town. Today was just a photo shoot in the back yard with Regan our peacock, Lincoln our lion and Sidney our butterfly fairy (which by the way she discovered and created all on her own). 

Let's take a closer look at the littlest, because gosh darn it, he is sure cute in that lion. He didn't dress up last year, being only 3 days new, so I may have spent an outrageous amount on this costume, but really I'm making up for last year too :) 

Serious, it's just too much! I can't stand how cute he is! 

And all warm and fuzzy ready for trick or treating night. 

Valleyfair / Camp Spooky

We spent Saturday at Camp Spooky at Valleyfair, taking in another round of rides and entertainment. Our kids loved the singers/dancers and despite being dressed in torn costumes with zoombie like make up, they all got a kick out of the performance.

I think Ryan secretly likes that he gets to take Regan on all the adult rides. She adores almost all of them, and even the ones that scare her (like Steel Venom), she tolerates and is his riding partner. 

 

And while the big kids were on those rides, Sidney took comfort in walking hand-in-hand with sweet Paxton (Ashley will tell you he's not so sweet these days). He sure let Sidney take charge and hold his hand much of the day. 

 

 

Little Lincoln got to go on just one ride...but two times. They don't allow any hand-held infants except on the carousel. He likes watching how it operates, taking note that the music gets louder when we are on one side. He's so inquisitive and wants to check it all out. We both remember Regan being exactly the same way when she went on rides. Next year he'll be walking and the opportunities will be wide open for him!

 

Check out that curl on the right side of his head....no way I'm getting it cut anytime soon :) 

Fall photo shoot 2014

Yesterday after school, I snatched the kids and whisked them away to one of our favorite settings for a fall photo shoot. The girls were still in their school clothes, but the colors were perfect and they were eager to explore the park. 

This was the very first picture that I took and I'm in love with each of their smiles :) 

We love this park for its gorgeous big trees, but the kids love it for the swings and playground. It's a win-win in my book :) 

This was Lincoln's first trip and I think he thoroughly enjoyed himself. I have a picture of him swinging and Regan looking back at him, and the expression on her face is of pure joy as she watched him giggle. 

I think I may have picked the most perfect puffer jacket for Lincoln, and then paired it nicely with the beautiful gold tones on the trees. It's like I somehow predicted their colors. 

Fall has always been one of my favorite seasons (though i dread what is coming so i just enjoy what we have today instead), because of the gorgeous colors and the adorable vests, sweatshirts and sweaters. But his adorable face makes this picture perfect. 

Regan is a climber. She's like a darn monkey these days, and like Ryan and I, always tries to find the highest possible spot. Yesterday, it was among the tree tops. Looking up at her, I just had to snap a quick picture with those trees in the background. I commented that it would be a scary place at night, on Halloween, with all those trees looking like they would come alive. Sidney squashed my story... "mom, trees don't come alive". 

You're right kiddo. 

Sadly, this is the only picture I have of Sidney alone. Right after this, she was running around and stumbled on a branch, only to catch herself with her hands landing on yet another branch, all hidden under the leaves. She sliced her hand pretty good and was a ball of tears, wailing because I didn't have a band-aide. Drama queen. Ahem....Poor kiddo....

These two are the best big sisters around. They couldn't love their little brother more if they tried. Honestly. And they don't want him to feel left out of anything. Regan's old and tall enough to do most things that I would normally do with him (ie: take him up the stairs and then down the slide), so I took the opportunity to snap up pictures instead. 

And once he got the hang of it and was able to go down himself, she stood at the bottom to catch him, and let me catch their smiles. 

I absolutely adore this annual outing, at the bottom of THIS LINK, are links to previous years. I'll have to do a recap of all the years in a separate post.

Blessed

Regan's third grade class has had a rough fall. 

Beyond words difficult. 

Emotionally draining. 

The year started off when a third grade teacher suddenly lost her 3 year old son. He had health issues but it was completely unexpected. Last fall, her and I bonded over the fact that we both had boys named "Lincoln"; discussing how we each (we had no idea she had a Lincoln at the time) had come up with the name. And then we were suddenly faced with talking to the kids about death (of a child) and dying in words the girls understood. We hugged our children tight and were reminded just how quickly life could be taken away. Then, just as things seemed to be getting back to normal in school, and Mrs. H had returned to the classroom, we got another call. This weekend we learned that the mother of a fellow classmate died in a car accident just up the street from our home. She leaves behind a husband and 3 small children. Talk about tough. I am brought to tears by the amount of sadness in all of this. 

And so I've spent a great deal of time lately feeling blessed. Taking an extra minute for one more round of kisses in the mornings. Spending every second of every day loving up on this family. And when Lincoln curled up on my chest one morning this week, I knew that I'd be late for work...but it didn't matter. Not one bit. I snuggled him tight and let his arms wrap around mine in a loving hug for as long as he wanted. While the sadness runs deep, the love runs deeper. 

and he CRAWLS!

It's taken him many months of trying but Lincoln has finally succeeded in crawling. For the past week or two, he would move one "crawl" (for lack of better description), but then sit back down before trying again. He never really figured out the crawling deal....until tonight. Just like that, he went from sitting to crawling, with his goal to reach Ryan's water cup. Once he did, we cheered and clapped and then forced him to do it again so I could quickly grab a video. We tried a few more times but he went back to his one crawl---sit---one crawl. It's late, after 9:30pm when he mastered this, so we'll give him a break :)
Click HERE to watch for yourself! And he is pretty darn proud of himself :)
I'm so excited to show the girls in the morning, they're going to be so happy for him!

Weekend getaway

 

When I was growing up, my family used to take "weekend getaways", mostly trips to the cities to take in an 'event' (ie: sporting event or something of the like). I fondly recall the excitement of packing up for a couple of nights snuggled into a hotel room, exploring this great state.

 

Over the past several weeks, we started talking about taking a trip to Duluth to see the fall colors and really "do Duluth". Something we haven't yet done with the kids. In each previous trip north, they've only ever experienced the waterpark in Duluth, never even making it down to Canal Park!? Crazy, I know. And with the fall colors in full view, we couldn't miss the opportunity!
The entire drive, we commented just how pretty the scenery was: reds, golds, even green. It was simply gorgeous. Too bad the kids had their noses stuck in a DVD and barely looked up to see what we were pointing at. (note: we are very blessed to have a DVD player....Sidney wouldn't make it 20 miles without constant whining if it weren't for the distraction of a movie. Even with one, she still whines.).

 

Our first stop was Canal Park.

 We grabbed some lunch and then stretched our legs after the 2 1/2 hour drive north. The girls were so excited that the bridge was being raised (twice) and we had a chance to see both a small fishing boat and a really really really big one head out on the lake. 

They had a great time climbing around on the rocks, walking out to the light house and chasing birds. It was a chilly, cloudy day so we all bundled up in our winter gear.

 

We found a lovely chocolate/gift shop and Sidney scored a peanut butter cup the size of her head :) She's still working on finishing that thing; a nibble here and a nibble there, that girl is like a mouse.

 

 

After a trip down memory lane, showing the kids where Ryan went to college, seeing 2 of the 5 homes he lived in, and exploring the UMD campus a little (we were amazed at all of the new buildings and newness of it all), we headed up to Enger Tower.

When we travel, Ryan and I always look for the highest possible location, because let's face it, the best views are often from above. And when the colors are turning, it is mesmorizing.

 

Lincoln happened to fall asleep somewhere on our drive, and so, in the spirit of family time, I bundled him in a blanket and carried him up the 90+ steps to the top of Enger Tower. It was very very breezy so I didn't stay on the upper level long before heading down to take cover on another level. The smiles on the girls' faces in this picture tell me that they were having a wonderful afternoon.

 

And the smiles on these boys too :)

I'm so in love with this family of ours and so thankful to be able to take these weekend getaways, snuggled up cozy in a hotel room.

 

 

We ventured down to Fitger's for dinner and explored various shops while we waited for a table (30 minute wait for dinner at 4:15pm!). 

Lincoln is in love with standing, and prefers to stand no matter where we are. So he stood near some railings while we waited, and then stood in the booth while we ordered our meal. He caught the attention of every pedestrian on the sidewalk and many even pointed, waved and smiled a big 'hello' to our cutie.

 

 

On Sunday we were all very excited for our day, having seen pictures and antcipating some real family fun on both an alpine coaster and a zipline. The girls are both tall/old enough to experience this fun and we were giddy to be able to join in the fun. The tracks are such that you begin and end in the same location so it worked perfect for half to go on a coaster and the other half to wait with Lincoln.

 If you've never been on an alpine coaster, we highly recommend checking it out! There are only 4 in the United States (we've done alpine slides before, but this was way faster, up to 26 mph! And much longer).

Here's Ryan and Regan as they wrapped up their first ride.

 

Sidney and I were both pretty nervous. While we waited to get the green light, we talked about how fast (or slow) we wanted to go. There's a single seat belt strapping me in, and one for her too. Each car goes alone, meaning we aren't hooked up in a train like this picture shows. Instead, it's just the peacefulness of your car and the scenery around. If only I could have taken pictures and drive at the same time!

We took the kids down 3 times and did the zipline once (cool, but just too short in everyone's opinion). I went down fairly slow the first time, and am so glad that I did, because the view of Lake Superior from the side of the 'mountain', is like no other.

Simply breathtaking.

We sure had a lot of fun and it was a weekend getaway to remember. I have a feeling we have a lot of them in our future as we work on exploring this great state as a family of 5!

mIsMATaCHeD dAy!

We're in the middle of the school-wide Read A Thon fundraiser and there are some pretty fun and crazy special days dedicated to raising awareness about reading. This past week in particular was "Amelia Bedelia mismatched day". The kids were encouraged to wear stripes with polka dots, their clothes inside out and backwards.

Our girls were giddy to participate, and Regan even let me french braid her hair starting from the bottom and going up!  

It took a little extra time to pick out clothes that didn't actually match. The kids tend to gravitate towards clothing that is in the same general hue or genre. I think I spent at least 10 minutes in front of each of their closets searching for clothing that looks silly when paired together. Eventually, we came out with some silly looking outfits.



But when it was time to get this stud dressed, I couldn't resist putting him in some jeans and a button up shirt. Boy he's a cutie with a smile that lights up the house! 

Fall ball tournament

We spent nearly 7 hours at the softball complex yesterday. With all 3 kids in tow, and all 4 grandparents joining us, we took in Regan's end of the season fall ball fastpitch tournament.

I simply cannot believe how far she has come in just 5 weeks. She has worked hard, but her coaches worked just as hard.

 

 

 

She has 3 coaches, two amazing head coaches-Sarah and Brad and one assistant-Mark (former Texas Ranger pitcher), and man alive they are one heck of a group. All Mark ever cared about was that the girls had FUN. And I mean that in the best way possible! Even during a tournament game, where Sarah disputed a call by the ump, Mark says "'let's just have fun and get some more hits!".

 

They all knew how to motivate those girls as a team. And to get them excited about ball and to be a good sport. Never once was there a thrown helmet, or tears, or frustration.

 



Poor Lincoln took a couple of short cat naps in the comfort of the stroller where he was roasting. He had no other option and took it all in style, but see that wet mark just at the right of his head....yea, that's sweat. And yes, he's holding a bottle of lotion, because after 6 hours, he was bored with all the toys and mad that I wouldn't let him put chewed up sunflower seeds in his mouth so he stole Grandma Jan's lotion and finally closed his eyes.

 



 

Regan is so blessed to have the support of all of her grandparents who made the trek up to watch her play hard for 3 games. They cheered and got excited with each at bat. I poked fun of my mom who was dressed more for the country club with her white shorts...sitting on dirty bleacher benches!

She's pretty stylish like that ;)

 



I don't have Regan's official stats for the tournament, other than to say that every at bat, she got a hit. Every. Single. One.

I feel compelled to brag a little, because at the start of the season, she struck out every single time.

Every. Single. Time.

And Mark has logged many hours working with her batting. And no one is more proud of her than he is (well, and maybe us too!). She sure wins the award for most improved hitting.

It's machine pitched fast pitch, but there's a lot she had to learn to gauge that speed, seeing as though this was her first experience with fastpitch. But I think she's hooked. She loved it!

 

This was the bracket. Their team went into the tournament at 4-0. And then won their first two tournament games to move onto the championship game. Regan took a hard hit grounder to the chest playing outfield, but she knocked it down and got the ball back infield, never stopping to whine about being hurt. They were tied up 7-7 at the end of the game and went into extra innings. Sadly, in the end, they lost by 1 run and took home second place. It was a nail biter but those girls need to be proud of themselves. They had one heck of a season!

 

 

Hats off to this amazing league that Regan joined. I'm so amazed at what these kids did this season. They worked hard, they improved, but most importantly...they had FUN!

 

 

Congratulations Regan! We are so proud of you!

 

11 months

Our dear sweet Lincoln is now 11 months. He's the happiest baby on the block, and is a light in our lives. 

I've asked the girls several times, in several different moods, what they think of having a baby brother? Are they happy?, do they still like him? (I know they love him....but I have wondered if they ever felt left out). And not once, never ever, have they said anything except "I like him!" Or "he's the best!"  Even when they are huffy and crabby because I can't give them 100% of my attention in that moment.

And my heart melts a little each time. Because he is the best, and I'm so glad that they love him so. Regan picked him up today and said "I want to keep you a baby forever!"  It really resonates to her that he is growing, and quickly. And it amazes me that she gets it, and truly wishes he would stay little just a while longer. 

But his personality is bubbling, and he's happy and so much fun at this age. I believe in my heart that the girls are loving each stage he goes through. From the adorable itty bitty (ok, so he maybe never was that itty bitty), to the standing and slobbery kisses. He ranks high on their lists. Sometimes at the end of a long day, Sidney will be crabby at bedtime and tell us she "won't say goodnight to mom and dad, just Lincoln".  No matter what, she will always grab a kiss from him; she even has her own nickname for him..."chubsers" (she may or may not have heard us call him that too;)

I love how they love to see his new developments. Like when he stood momentarily for the very first time and they catch a glimpse and scream "Lincoln's standing!" or today when he got into a 4 point bear walk, up on all fours, they squealed "Look what he's doing!".  It would be easy for them to feel left out; I get it. He's cute and adorable and a baby so everyone gushes over him. But instead of getting upset and sad that he steals all of the attention, they jump right on that band wagon and tell people how cute he is or his newest discovery. They've joined the party of loving him up and it makes the mother in me so very happy. 

 

Now onto his 11 month update:

* sleeps 9pm-7am (or thereabouts), fussing at times but getting himself back to sleep for the most part on his own.

* likes his pacifier, especially when he's tired and ready for a nap

* eats table food x 3 meals and maybe some puffs for a snack. Still nurses 3-4 times/day (7am, 1pm, maybe 7pm and before bed).

* just started cruising along furniture....usually trying to go after someone's electronic or the TV remotes

* I am his human jungle gym, he is constantly climbing all over me.

* loves to play with balls, stacking items (well, we stack, he knocks down), my water bottle, books (favorite is Baby Boo!), farm animals/tractor.

* is able to put items back into a container, but prefers to take them out. We only know he is capable of this because he can put a ball into the basketball hoop or a chicken ball into the farm. Stinker. Any other container he just empties out.

* doesn't yet crawl, but gets himself around; mostly by pushing himself backwards when he's on his belly. Or by going from sitting to belly and back to sitting and eventually gaining enough ground to be where he wants to be. This is a sight to see, and so hard to describe to people because I call it "scooting".

* loves to go for a ride in his red car, and still a fan of stroller rides and swinging on the playset

* says both mama and dada, but dada isn't for anything in particular, whereas mama is definitely for mom.

* claps his hands; especially this past weekend at Regan's softball tournament! He had a great time clapping away and was so proud of himself for acting like the rest of us cheering her on. 

* waves bye bye, mostly at cars, but sometimes at people too :)

* gives kisses and snuggles like nobody's business; and I'm so in love with them. When he hugs me, he pats my back and it just gives me such a warm heart.

* things we're working on: identifying body parts (nose, toes, etc); so-big (this one is hit or miss), blowing kisses, walking, crawling, climbing stairs. And he has two awesome big sisters that just love to help him.

* wears size 12 month and some 18 month clothes, size 3 pampers cruisers

* weight: ~23 lbs

* heights: about 31" ?



 

He's a heart throb, this 11 month old cutie!

 

Sever's 2014

We met up with some great friends and headed out to Sever's this year to see what the hype was all about. And I'll admit, I was pretty excited to see all the pumpkins out front set up for a cute back drop. The kids obliged and let me take their picture :) 

Once inside, it was corn pits and giant slides, corn mazes and pig races. We opted out of the camel rides after seeing how short of a trip it really was (and the extra fee was a bit pricey for a 30 second ride). 

Sidney and Emerson rode down the giant slide together and giggled the entire way. Belly laughs, that I could hear from the bottom; they were contagious and I couldn't help but laugh right along with them. 

The kids were overly excited jumping around at all the attractions, it really was hard to keep track of all of them. Inside the exotic petting zoo, Regan waited patiently for a llama to lick the last remnants of some food from her hand. She was giddy to be up close and personal to all those animals.

Lincoln napped most of the afternoon, and when he was awake, he was the easiest kid in the group. No whining from him, no crying, no dashing off to the next attraction. At one point I heard "is he really always like this?, just mellow and easy?"

Although when I stuck him in the corn pit for a quick picture, he was quick to try a nibble of corn. Before he got his hand to his mouth, I emptied the corn from his hand. He attempted the same with the other hand and I was just as quick. He looked up at me with the "what the heck mom?" look. Sorry buddy, that stuff would be bad on so many levels! 

It was a beautiful 'fall' day, with temps into the 80's. We fully expected to be in jeans and sweatshirts when we planned this outing. But instead, there's a bit of sun kissed cheeks and tan skin across our pictures today. 

It didn't take any of us long to realize just what an icky place that corn pit really was. Ryan said "wonder how many mice are in there"....gee thanks! 

But oh it makes for some gorgeous pictures....

We're happy to have experienced this festival, but I think we'll stick to the smaller apple orchards in the coming years. Just something about them that makes us want to go back.