Go Vikes!

Regan slept through most of the first Vikings game, but that was ok with mom and dad because it gave us the opportunity to watch the entire game! She did manage to turn towards the tv and cheer along side mom and dad during a portion of the game; she didn't know what she was cheering for, but it was super cute!

Is there a future DJ in our family?

Yes, I realize this stereo is more than antique, it's so old that even Regan has figured out how to use it! She loves to push all the buttons and knows exactly how to turn it on and off, which by the way, she takes pleasure in doing everytime she walks past it!

Playing with Natalie

We were fortunate to get to babysit Natalie Schwartz last night and Regan sure enjoyed herself! Natalie was sleeping when she arrived and even though we placed her where Regan could see her from the dining table, Regan couldn't wait to get out of her chair to sit next to Natalie. It was adorable to watch Regan give her kisses and hand over toys all night long. And it was a good test for mommy and daddy as well, two kids aren't as easy as one (not that we think one is "easy")!

Nana and Regan

Nana babysat for Regan for a couple of hours while mommy, daddy and Papa Leo rented jet skies! Everyone had a fabulous time :)

Family photo

Everybody ready?

....because I'm driving!

Ok, so she obviously didn't drive the boat, but she did manage to figure out (on her own) how to raise and lower the motor into the water! It was pretty funny to suddenly hear that noise and turn around to see Regan :) She sure had a good time.

Lake Darling~Alexandria, MN

We spent Labor Day weekend on Lake Darling again this year and unlike the past 2 years, this year we actually got to spend every minute outside enjoying the gorgeous weather! Regan had a great time climbing around Grandpa's new boat and going for a ride. She took a nice snooze on her second boat ride, so calming (pictures of that yet to come). It must have been her pushing all those buttons that messed up the fish finder, no wonder we didn't catch any fish!

Great MN Get Together!

We spent last Friday with all 4 grandparents at the MN State Fair. As you can see, Regan fell asleep on mommy's back, yet her nap didn't last real long. We enjoyed lots of yummy {non-fat, right?} food! We had hoped to take Regan down the Giant Slide (a yearly favorite) but she was nearly sleeping on grandpa Leo's back at the time and we didn't want to disturb her slumber. It was funny to hear daddy put an end to all the greasy food she was eating.....although everyone else kept on going! Until next year

Another round

We headed to the Como Zoo for one last look at the animals this summer. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more~ daddy or Regan :) We could tell she was bothered by her eye teeth during the day, but she perked up after chewing on a teether for a while. Our favorite part was watching Sparky the sea lion perform; daddy is still amazed at what they can teach an animal.

A day at the park

Mommy and Regan decided to spend a day at the park this weekend while daddy worked on some long-overdue yard work. Unfortunately, our fun was short lived.....after we took this picture, our dare devil wanted to go down the slide by herself. Unsure of whether this was a good idea, mommy (luckily) decided to climb up to the top and go down this particular slide with Regan. At the top, mommy noticed someone had made a big mess out of the slide....using it as a toilet for #2. Yep, that's right, there was human poop all over the slide; and I'm not just talking little rabbit turds. Completely disgusted we were quick to exit the playground area and head home to play in the water. Anyone up for a play date at the park?

Mommy called the city on Monday and they apologetically said they would be sending out a team right away to clean it all up. A happy ending, right?

What are you looking at?

At least they were "light" chips, right? Regan found the bag of chips laying on the table last week and took it upon herself to climb onto the chair for a snack. It was pretty adorable, until she dumped the bag and every crumb landed on the kitchen floor!

Beauty shop

We played beauty shop on this rainy afternoon and fortunately, mommy was faster than daddy at grabbing the camera so it was he who got his picture taken! Regan did a lovely job at putting "badets" aka barretts in his hair.

Play date!

Regan got to play with Thomas Schwartz on Saturday evening and it seemed the two had a lot of fun! At the time we took this picture, Thomas was really getting the chair to rock and Regan was having the time of her life!

18 months old!

Regan turned 18 months old yesterday; what a milestone. It seems between 12 and 18 months, she has probably changed the most, or at least it's been the most notable. Just this week she reluctantly gave up her pacifier and that was not an easy task. We "forgot" it at Nana's last weekend and we haven't seen it since! She has done amazingly well without it, although the first few naps/nights were painful~maybe more for mom than Regan. The first night, as Regan finally drifted off to sleep, mommy was rocking her and could hear her making a sucking noise with her tongue, that was enough to bring tears to mommy's eyes. As painful as it was, we knew it had to be done. Just 5 nights later, she's peacefully able to fall asleep without it. She also transitioned from two daily naps to just one daily nap this week. This has been a big change for mommy and daddy, but Regan's doing well with all the time she gets to play now.

This will be the last 'monthly' picture mommy will take of Regan. In the beginning, we were able to get 5-10 pictures of her with her sign, this time around, we got 2 and the second one was of Regan climbing off the couch barely facing the camera! We are learning that toddlers rarely sit still, they change their minds on a minute by minute basis and are quick to pick up whatever is said! Good thing "sit" sounds pretty much like sit and "truck" sounds pretty much like truck.

Ashley/Jamie's wedding

Saturday, the hottest, most humid day of the entire summer (or at least it felt that way) was Ashley and Jamie's wedding in New Ulm. Ashley is daddy's cousin and Regan was one of the flower girls! She was beautiful in her white dress and did so well walking up the aisle; well, she needed a little help from the usher to actually make it all the way up! It was pretty cute, daddy stayed at the back of church with her and told her mommy had a present up front. Unfortunately, there was a baby part way down the aisle that caught Regan's attention more than mommy holding up a present for her! We couldn't expect much out of two 18 month old flower girls, but they did amazingly well! The wedding was beautiful and Regan really enjoyed kicking up her heels on the dance floor! She tuckered out about 9 pm and decided to make her bed on the edge of the dance floor. Mommy took her to bed at Nana's shortly thereafter.

Family fun

Just a quick shot of the whole gang :)

Rehersal

Rehersal for Ashley/Jamie's wedding was Friday evening and Regan did quite well! She basically bolted up the aisle after daddy informed her that mommy had a present waiting for her at the front; but it worked! This picture is a little fuzzy....that just shows how fast she was running!

Gotta wear shades!

Regan wanted to be just like mommy and daddy this Friday as we headed down to NU! She was pretty cute sporting her shades. It was one of the longest trips of our lives, after this smile came a lot of screaming because she wanted to get out...now! We survived :)

Perfect night to play outside

which is pretty much any night in Regan's book. However, tonight was beautiful and we're lucky we got her to come inside for dinner and a diaper change! While daddy spent the evening watering the grass (yet again), mommy and Regan went for a bike ride and played in the yard.

If you can see the right side of her mouth, she has a fat lip and a scab/bruise. Unfortunately two nights ago she was taking a short walk with dad and got tangled up in her own feet (which happens frequently with Miss Independent) though she fell hard this time, and bit down on her lip. Little did we realize how much lips bleed! There was blood everywhere and mommy's first thought was "stitches!?" Thankfully it looked worse than it was and she came out with a fat lip and a three cuts (two on the inside and one on the outside, darn teeth). The biggest downfall of this all....Regan's a flower girl in daddy's cousin's wedding on Saturday! Hopefully we can get the "ouch" to heal by then! We realize there will be many more falls to come, and thankfully she didn't get hurt too badly.

Bibs are overated

...or at least that is what Regan would like us to think. She's officially decided she is no longer wearing a bib, no matter what we're eating (and she feeds herself these days). In other words, look out Shane, we've got a lot of pictures you'd probably rather not see! Tonight she had some yogurt with dinner and I think more ended up on her dress than in her mouth, but who's keeping track?

Lessons the hard way

Although this has nothing to do with Regan, it's a pretty funny story! I think the conversation went something like this:

Ryan~"why can't you use cocoa for chocolate milk?"

Liz~"try it and you'll know"

Ryan~"I don't want to try it"

Liz~"just try it"

Ryan~{see above pictures} mumbling something along the lines of "you're going to get it, this tastes like concrete"
Liz and Regan~laughing hysterically!
And now he knows, you can't use cocoa for chocolate milk!

Following her daddy

Daddy couldn't be more proud of Regan in hopes that someday, she too, will be a "bulldog". He just couldn't get enough of her in this bulldog sweatshirt.

For those of you not from Minneapolis, only in MN can we go from 90's to 60's overnight! So yes, there was a reason we wore sweatshirts on Saturday!

Stuck in a bucket!

Silly Regan decided herself to climb into this bucket! She had a hard time standing alone, but sure thought it was funny!

Pigtails!

Regan left for daycare with a barrett in her hair that she pulled out before we even arrived at daycare. Well, she returned home with pigtails! Alyson and the kids played beauty shop :) Jilly had one pony on top, Regan had two and Brennan (yes, it's a boy) got three! They were so adorable and proud of their new do's! Mommy is still amazed at how Alyson got Regan to sit still long enough to do anything, and then help her forget about the pony in her hair so that she won't pull it out. The other kids serve as a very good distraction!

Wallner Family Reunion

Today we went to a family reunion where, at times, I had to keep an eye on two kids! Ryan seemed to have as much fun playing with the "toys" as Regan did! She did have a great time on the slip n slide, but no she didn't actually go down the slide! She preferred to run next to it, getting splashed with water and then play in the pool of water at the end. She also LOVED the sandbox (hint hint to daddy!).

ChuckECheese

Mommy's cousin, Hope, came to stay with us for a long weekend and it's nearly tradition to spend an evening at ChuckECheese in Edina. Regan seemed to enjoy watching and playing the games as well as sitting on rides pretending she was a race car driver!

Cool chick!

Priceless

It's a party!

We attended Caden's fourth birthday party tonight and Regan couldn't get enough of her party hat! Caden is our daycare provider's oldest son. There were 8 children there, twice as many as she cares for everyday. Regan loved running around with all of her friends and really liked touching the new baby's toes.

A visit to Uncle Shane and Aunt Amy's

Considering our place at Izaty's was only 30 miles from Uncle Shane/Aunt Amy's park model, they graciously invited us up for a drink Saturday night....little did they realize what it would be like to have Regan around! Good thing Shane thinks she's so cute, otherwise he probably would've told us to leave after only 2 minutes! As Regan snacked on her puffs (outside of course), we joked that Shane would want to vaccum the grass after we left!

more vacation pictures...

as you can see, it was a good time for everyone, a great way to relax and the sunsets were amazing!

Shrimp?!

She's a fan of shrimp, what can we say!