St. Nick's

The kids were eager to go to bed Friday night, knowing they would wake with filled stockings from St. Nick. He had visited Sidney at school Friday and they learned all about who St. Nick is so she taught us all of her lessons before bed. 

And when she hopped out of bed, she raced down to find her stocking. Sadly she had to wait for her big sister to wake so I let her help Lincoln with his gifts. He's more interested in the paper anyway. 

Finally she was able to dive into her stocking which contained a couple of treats, markers, earrings and a beloved play-along book of doll stickers (which she hasn't stopped playing with since opening).

Regan has eyed this snack for many months, and we have never bought them. She was so excited to see St. Nick had brought them for her to try! 

We packed up and headed downtown to the Macy's 8th Floor Display and the start of Round 1 of Christmas celebrations.....(next blog post)

13 months

Right before our eyes, Lincoln has turned into a toddler. I've finished with the month by month stickers (insert whimpers of sadness) but want to keep documenting how he is changing month after month. Because really, it is just amazing. 

He's no longer an infant...in so many ways! He has started whining (imagine that with his two big sisters teaching him this dreadful noise) to get his needs met. It's really just a total fake cry....in other words, a pretty darn good whine. If we prevent him from doing something dangerous, he whines. If we pull him away from play time for a diaper change, he whines. If we stop reading books before we've read his favorites for the 40th time, he whines. You get the picture. And he is very good at it.
Here Ryan was trying to get him situated better on his lap, but Lincoln just wanted to face the fire.

But just as he's good at the fake cry, he's also mastered the fake laugh. And that one almost always turns into a real belly laugh as we laugh at his fake giggle. And then he just gets proud of himself for making us laugh and we all lose it in hysterics :) 

When he does something BIG, he gets proud. Like puff out his chest and stand tall kind of proud. The grin on his face shows it too. He is taking a few steps on his own and this, by far, makes him so excited and proud. As does discovering how a toy works or mastering a fork (pre-stabbed with food). All these things will give him a sense of accomplishment and he will be certain to let us all know. 

He still loves loves loves to play with balls. The newest "game" that he and I created just last weekend, was to place as many balls as are laying around (often 5-6) close by him and he will throw them at me as fast as I throw them back at him. We laugh and giggle as the balls go flying around us.

And if he can convince someone to read to him, he will sit (or stand as this was the case) for a very long time. I adore that Regan is patient enough and has the perfect tone in her voice, to make story time fun. He prefers that I read to him, frankly, he would prefer if I did everything, but sometimes, I need to ______ (insert shower, make dinner, go to the bathroom, etc). 

He has officially mastered the busy-boy title. This kid can empty anything in 2 seconds flat. It's seriously comical to watch. He will crawl to a toy box, a bin of diapers, an art crate, you name it, and within a matter of seconds, has it emptied. He has no care for the actual items, it's as though he wants to see how quickly he can toss the items out of the holder. I've never seen anything like it. It's hilarious! One diaper at a time, he emptied this diaper caddy. And it took him no more than a couple of seconds before it was scattered around the floor. He would've done the same with the wipes container had I not stopped him.

At 13 months: 

* he wears mostly 18 month clothing and size 3 Pampers diapers

* no longer is a good sleeper thanks to several 'colds' (these may end up being asthma, but that's another post) and several trips out of town in which he slept poorly and got into bad habits

* walks around holding our hands and has taken his first steps (video to come in another post)

* has started playing more interactively with us and his sisters

* still loves to swing and thanks to an indoor swing hanging in our kitchen doorway, we plop him in and away we go! 

* he now really dislikes the car. I think it has to do with being strapped in and not being able to move/crawl/cruise like he would prefer.

* favorite foods are any fruit. By far that is what he eats the most of. Kiwi, blueberries, bananas and cantaloupe are among the favs. 

* still snuggles and hugs and gives some wonderful slobbering kisses! 

We love you Lincon!

Holiday cheer

The Christmas season is upon us. And Ellie our Elf has returned, in style :)

 As we do nearly every year, we sought out the perfect tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. We've visited many o' sale lots of trees, and lately, have gone back to the same one. Eventually, we'll get to the whole "cut down your own tree" experience, but with two crabby travelers and one who naps most of the day away, it's tough to work that experience into our day. So for now, we'll enjoy our experience of finding the perfect pre-cut tree in a local mall parking lot :)

  Lincoln might have been less than thrilled...

The girls took such pride in helping decorate the tree this year. They helped with everything. From the lights, to the sweeping up pine needles, to the hanging of each and every Germany glass ornament. They loved it.
And for the first year in a very long time, not one ornament was lost. Simply amazing! There was one year where we lost many due to a defective tree stand and the whole thing toppling over (let's just say I still get a laugh out of that despite how many ornaments I lost). And then the next several years where my "helpers" got a little too eager and many more were lost. But this year, we had our quick reminder lesson on how to hang ornaments and they worked together, asking for my help with the heavy ones, and not one ornament was lost! Way to go girls!

I really am loving how much they can participate in this season now that they are getting older. After decorating the tree, they made cookies and helped wrap presents. It's incredible how much they can do if we let them. And how much more excited they get to show off the tree, or offer up a cookie, knowing they took the time to decorate or bake. I'm loving this holiday season already!

Turkey day

Thanksgiving has come and gone and we have loads to be thankful for this holiday season. On Wednesday night, before all of the festivities and travel, I asked the girls what they were thankful for and it was a round of "my family" or "Lincoln" as we went around the table. Sure they have the reasonings for naming who they named "he plays with me" or "she gives me chocolate", but they were excited to talk about who and what, they were thankful for.

I for one, am thankful for each and every one of these beautiful blessings (and their daddy too but we rarely get a picture together!).

We traveled to New Ulm for the holiday; with Hope in tow we packed into the truck. I'm really thankful that Ryan convinced me to buy that sucker over a year ago. It's sure come in handy to have 3 rows of seats. We celebrated with each side of the family and lots of good food, loving family and entertaining conversations. 

The kids enjoy our trips to New Ulm....although Sidney doesn't love the drive. At 6 years old, she's still our worst traveler. If it's not a nap, Lincoln isn't far behind. We barely notice that Regan is in the car, our stellar traveler :) They do enjoy playing with grandma's toys, staying busy with her in the sewing room as they create their masterpieces and chasing puppies at family gatherings. 

As we wrapped up Thanksgiving and look to the next holiday, I wrapped my arms tight around this amazing family of ours and said a big prayer of thanks for all that this live has given to us.

Loss

We lost a devoted blog follower and dearest family member this month. Just over 2 weeks ago, I raced to Abbott to meet my oldest godchild, Hope, where we would tragically and unexpectedly say goodbye to her mother.

Hope recently told me that Cheryl read this blog religiously (I really never know who reads these posts). And I recalled that Hope knew when Lincoln learned to crawl..all because Cheryl had read it on this blog and immediately messaged her. I've spent the last two weeks remembering my aunt Cheryl and how wonderful she was to everyone who had the opportunity to meet her. The woman was never without a smile, and if she spotted you, be it in a room full of 400 other people, she would holler for your attention, just to say "hi". 

We are deeply saddened and will forever miss her. I couldn't avoid writing about it, for its what has been on our minds, the topic of conversation, and the endless questions from the girls (who are just trying to comprehend the concept of death). 

We will take care of her dear Hope who we love so very much. 

Watch over us Cheryl, we love you. 

fall progress-2014

Yesterday afternoon, we headed to the girls' school for their fall conferences. They were both a little nervous for what their teachers would tell us....and I remember the same feeling when I was growing up. Not that they (or I) had anything to be worried about, but frankly, maybe it's a little healthy for them to feel nervous. They weren't sweating and scared, no, it was more of a "I wonder what she will tell you" kind of nervous. 

As it turns out, they are both excelling academically. I honestly didn't expect anything else. There was no indication that they were falling behind. And so, we listened to each teacher tell us their impression of our children. 

Regan's teacher (and student teacher) were up first. She talked about her reading, that she's at a level R (current should be N-P so she's ahead of schedule). This was certainly  no surprise to us. The kid is a book worm. This week, she came home with Harry Potter and another gigantic book from the library at school. Mrs N laughed that when she sat at her desk, with her pile of books, she could hardly see around them. This is her headboard, since she spends at least 30-40 minutes/night reading. 

I know just how important reading is for learning, and so, I am so very relieved that she excels in this area. As for math....well, she's getting along. It's not her strong suit, but in her defense, Mrs N admits that the cirriculum changed this year and Regan/class are now expected to be doing dividing/multiplication, whereas previously, these were 4th grade requirements. Even worse, when we were in school, those requirements came even later (eye opener to Ryan who likes to boast how easy that came to him.....he was 12 years old, not 8!). So we just keep telling her she's doing great because confidence is half the battle. Mrs N told us what Regan's teachers from prior years have been telling us all along: she likes to talk. Yes, we know. Thankfully she takes redirection well and is quickly remembering when it's Mrs N's turn to talk and when it's her turn to talk. Successful conference #1. And then, she brought home this amazing drawing she had done during her art enrichment course....incredible! 

And then it was onto Sidney's teacher. We went through how she's doing with letter recognition, numbers, counting and reading. Miss P talked about how much she enjoys having Sidney in class. 

She went on to say that when a group of kids struggles to understand  concept, Miss P often asks Sidney to answer the question and then to explain her thinking. She says it's like having another teacher, someone who can help her peers learn. WOW. I was stunned. It's no surprise that Sidney is seen as a leader among her peers (and her teachers), but it impresses me that she does so with grace. Miss P says within the class as well as within the smaller friend group, she notices that others follow Sidney's lead. When Sid says her favorite color, the rest end up picking the same color for example. 

A sample of her sight words

And while she is also described as a 'talker', Miss P says when it's time to learn, Sidney is quick to stop chatting and sit quietly to learn. She's a rule follower, that girl and it bothers her when people don't. We are so very proud of the progress she has made in Kindergarten! Successful conference #2. Here's some of the fun counting she does around the house....we count everything these days!

These two girls of ours never cease to amaze us! Congrats on such wonderful conference reports. Keep up the good work. 

Seasons

Seems like winter kind of snuck up on us. We went from fall to winter in the blink of an eye. The kids went from this: 

To this: 

They might be a little more excited than Ryan and I.

Lincoln's first birthday-Party day

We celebrated the little man's first birthday with a red and blue party on Saturday.

I think he was maybe just a little excited to be turning ONE!

 

This was the only picture I got with the three of us, and I think it's a tad blurry unfortunately :( It was tough getting Lincoln to slow down enough to take a decent picture! I never even got a family picture. Good thing we had formal family pictures taken this week!

He loved all of his fun balloons and decorations.

And the cakes?! Well they were over the top adorable. I went to take his picture sitting next to this big cake and he dipped his little fingers right in for a taste. Needless to say, I knew he'd have no problems later on digging into his smash cake!

That little elephant was adorable! When I found this similar cake on Pinterest, I wasn't set on getting the elephant too (basically because I knew it would probably cost a fortune for someone to make!). Ryan loved it though, so when our cake lady said she could whip one up easy peasy, I was sold!

I had to set him a little further away from his cake in order to get a decent picture. He kept reaching for it and got mad when I wouldn't let him touch it!

His month by month pictures finally came together in banner format. Man alive has he changed. His cheeks quickly filled out and personality just blossomed.

His high chair got a make over for his special day too. Draped in ribbons and one single balloon to decorate the chair, it was all ready for his 'smash' session.

 

And balloons hung in the doorways that he was so excited to touch. Mr. Adorable knew that this day was all about him.

And he loved every second of it!

 After presents and dinner and playtime, it was cake time!
There was a loud chorus of HAPPY BIRTHDAY and boy he just wanted to dig in. That song couldn't have ended soon enough.

 

 By far, he gave us the BEST first birthday smash cake performance.
It went on and on. The frosting was thick and eventually I wiped it off so he could get to the actual cake part.

 

Once he started hugging the cake, we all just lost it. Too stinkin' cute!

 

He made a mess like I have never seen before.

I'm still finding bits of cake in places I didn't think to look while cleaning up (like the door frame about a foot to his left).

He did this.

All. By. Himself.

 

That was one messy kid!

 

I plopped him directly into the bath.

And then all the kiddos got into their jammies and posed nicely for us at the end of the night.

I think it's safe to say that he had a pretty amazing first birthday party.

Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate!

Halloween 2014

Halloween has come and gone. It was a whirlwind of a day. Heck, it was a whirlwind of a week! Sandwiched between Lincoln's birthday, family pictures, Lincoln's 1 year doctor visit and his first birthday party, was Halloween.

Ryan and I decided back in September that we would spend this special day volunteering at the kids' Harvest Parties. Well let's be honest, I made the decision and he hastily agreed to being signed up when I asked him in the middle of a chaotic Open House for school. :) You see, when we only had one kid in school, he was free to go about his day while I spent time volunteering. He's honest when he says volunteering isn't his thing. I even roped him into cross-walk volunteer for the morning of Halloween. I'm pretty good :) lol

 

My parents came up to babysit Lincoln while we headed to school. On the drive, I gave him a preview of what to expect and it went something like this.

Me: "I want to warn you that the chaos and noise level is slightly deafening on party days".

Him: "I might hate you a little right now".

 

In the end, he admitted that it was fun! And seeing the girls be so excited to each have a parent volunteer is worth every second of that deafening noise level.

 

I got to spend the afternoon with Sidney. It was my first time volunteering in her Kindergarten classroom. And while I'm familiar with some of the kids (due to lunches, school events and living in the neighborhood), it was fun to see her interact with all of her classmates.

Her class operated in station format. I was in charge of the 'snack' station. It was a pretty cute owl. She was over the moon delighted to have me as the parent-helper for her first station.

Miss P decorated their tables with some paper in the morning so that the tables were somewhat presentable. She asked all the children to draw a little picture on their table spot. I couldn't resist snapping a picture of Sidney's spot.

My little Picasso. 

Here is her class.

She's sandwiched between her two BFF's. Those 3 are essentially inseparable! 

I was able to sneak away for a few minutes and catch Ryan in Regan's classroom. Unfortunately, their grade was operating on a little different rotation so he only got to spend the last 15 minutes or so with Regan's class (some grades rotate between all grade level classrooms, some grades stay in their own classroom and just rotate stations).

His station was the mini golf into a carved out pumpkin. Not a bad gig for the golfer in the family! 

Here's Regan's rowdy bunch! I had to snap quickly because these kids were excited. Like jump around, can't sit still, excited! Regan's in the back next to Mrs N and her BFF. 

And as if that excitement wasn't enough, we dressed up after dinner and headed into the bitter cold (just under 40F and getting colder). Lincoln (and I), made it to about 6-7 houses before he was ready to go home.

 I love love loved his costume though and just had to take him out in it! He certainly was the cutest little lion that I ever did see :)

 

It was a slow night of treaters at our house...only 6! SIX kids. Sad. We are accustomed to closer to 30. Darn cold must have scared them all away.



Thanks mom and dad for helping out!