Spring break week '13

It was spring break week this week. And we lived it up right. The girls and I made the most of every second of our time together. We stayed incredibly busy running here/there and everywhere. We met up with friends, we shopped, we went to a movie, we shopped, we saw Mr. E.B. (twice), and shopped some more. 

The kiddos loved the movie The Croods. I have to admit, I had some good laughs too. A great way to spend an early afternoon at the mall. 

Shopping with these two knuckleheads sweeties is always entertaining. On this particular outing, they enjoyed pretending to play the role of every department we walked past. This entailed toting around suitcases, touching all sorts of "boobies" (aka: bras), putting each other to bed, etc.  

And then at the end, they posed and asked me to take pictures. Awwww :) 

And when we were at home, they loved up on their American Girl dolls. One night, we put pajamas on each doll, grabbed the animals and snuggled up to catch up on a little Disney. 

It makes us cold to look at Sidney on most nights, as she insists on wearing summer PJ's in the middle of a 20 degree night. But she knows herself well, because if she does ever wear winter PJ's, she's sweating an hour into her slumber. 

And as much as Sidney would like us to believe she does NOT need a nap.....we found her like this on many occasions. She really does need that mid-day snooze. 

I'd like to thank Regan on her photo-bomb. She's learned well from Ryan. 

 And today, well today was the most beautiful spring day in March we could have asked for. As temps rose over 50, we headed down to a local egg hunt. Turns out, with all the recent melting, it wasn't much of a hunt as it was a "handout of eggs". The girls got eggs until their baskets were overflowing. 

And after a yummy delicious lunch at the original Red Savoy's, we once again found Sidney like this.....

 After her quick slumber, we spent the rest of the day enjoying the lovely temps and catching up with some friends. The girls took us on an hour long walk around the block, stomping through puddles, picking up (very dirty) leaves for a "leaf collection" and making a complete mess out of their outfits. 

But what did I care,? we were finally outside, for more than 20  minutes, and no one was complaining it was cold out. 

Bring it spring!, after all, it was SPRING break week! 

and we're back!

After several trips to Best Buy, lots of internet research and many calls to my (computer) expert brother, we pulled the trigger and purchased a new computer. Ah it feels good to have a laptop in my hand again :) 

The girls were great with patience, but it may have to do with the fact that we used bribery.....

the beauty of iPhones is that we can shop/talk/listen to sales people, and the kids are entertained. 

Trust me, this is not what we prefer, but when it's necessary, we are so grateful for them. 

Here's hoping I actually like this puppy, because I'm currently not loving it, just loving the fact that it's a laptop again!

School work

Each day, the girls come home with various papers that show us what they are working on in class. And each day we tell them just how proud of them we are. Yesterday, I could hear in Ryan's voice that he was REALLY proud of Regan. Check it out....
(The 'sandy desert' paper is a task where each student has to come up with other words they can make. Finding a big word is always the challenge).

Twin day

Regan participated in twin/multiple day at school this week. Her/Katie spent an hour at Target (driving their mothers crazy) as the scoured the racks for the perfect outfit and accessories. Katie's mom reminded me that now the girls have realized we will let them go shopping every year for twin day. We are in for some trouble as these two get older!
Unfortunately, I made it to school only for lunch and Regan had left her scarf in the classroom during my photo op.

This girl...

Cracks me up! Her adult like personality, taste in clothing, and grown up demeanor have us in stitches on most days. She's one bundle of joy that makes me long for her to stay 4 forever!

Bear with us....

As we have been blessed with the "blue screen of death" on our laptop. In other words, until we purchase a new one, fix and transfer all the data from the old one, my blog posts and pictures will be delivered via iPhone. Which also means: much fewer posts :( hope you can survive without our (boring) updates!

Waterpark of America

Ever since the girls were introduced to waterparks, many years ago, they have begged to go to the Waterpark of America. We usually spend a weekend in Duluth at their hotel/waterpark, and compromised with the girls for Waterpark of America this year. So finally, we headed for a day of fun. 

This place is like the mother-of-all-waterparks! They did it right and the kids found it incredibly exciting! We hadn't even set down our belongings and Sidney was on a slide, screaming with joy. 

A seven story bodyslide....

and even Sidney managed to go down with a little coaxing, click HERE 

to check out the video . 

At first you will think she hated it, just wait for it at the end though... 

Ryan had more fun watching Sheri come out and laughing "mom, it looks like a monsoon when you come out!". Little did he realize, it looks very similar when he comes out!

The family sized ride "Eagle's Nest" was definitely a family favorite. Despite the long lines/wait times for this particular slide, it's the one Regan kept begging for. Sheri turned green at one point when she was facing backwards during one trip down, but otherwise, there was fun by all! 

Pardon the iPhone quality pictures....but you get the point, they had a complete BLAST! 

 And when we asked if they were happy with their decision to pick this waterpark over Duluth, it was hands down--YES!! 

Thanks grandma Sheri and grandpa Arnie for a fun filled day!

Around the pool

Last night, the kiddos had a bit too much energy. It was one of those times where they just needed to burn off steam. So around the pool they went. 

Although decked in snow pants, boots and hats/mittens isn't exactly how we prefer to spend our time around the pool. 

They climbed, sat, tossed chunks of snow onto the pool cover and repeated it all over again (posing in between for mom). 

And then they each grabbed an extra large ball of snow and had a snack. Funny thing is, they brought their chunk of snow to where they normally sit and snack during summer months. Even without their chairs to sit upon, they still plopped down in that same spot. 

When they had nibbled down their balls of snow, they brought them indoors and asked to complete their own science project. "What will happen to our snow inside the house in a bowl?"

Seriously. 

We let them melt overnight; but first, asked them each what would happen. Regan thought it would melt, but not entirely, Sidney thought her snow would last til morning. 

In a 70F house. Apparently they think it's pretty cold in here! 

They squealed to see their bowls full of water this morning. Such a learning experience! 

Random thoughts

I still haven't broken out my camera from hibernation this week. So iPhone pictures will have to do for this oh so random post.... 

I enjoyed a little extra time with my favorite 4 legged creature this week. When Milo's owner, who happens to be my bestie at work, is seeing a patient with an allergy (or dog fear), I'm #1 babysitter. Oh he is just so pretty and I could curl up next to him and lay on the floor. 

Ryan scored some sweet deals from the on-site store set up at work. One of his perks. Every so often, they hold a sale and sell things for super cheap. The girls and I always love attacking him when he comes through the door carrying bags of goodies. We never quite know what we will find, and this week, the girls each scored over-sized Tinker Bell coloring books and bubbles/soap. 

Not only did Regan have her very first snow day this week, but she also had an already-shortened week with Thursday/Friday off! Man what it must be like to be in first grade these days. So this morning, as I got ready for work, she hung out and danced around in her PJ's. She took some extra time, pulled on my boots and struck a pose, just for me. 

And later in the day, Ryan brought the girls to the hospital for a lunch date. He needed a break (rough day with the two of them I hear) and I wanted to see my loves. They love playing around in office chairs, perching near the window to color me pictures with highlighters. I remember doing similar artwork for my mom so many years ago.

And with a bit of permission from Angie, Milo got a little LOT of loving!! 

I had to laugh when I looked down and Sidney asked "what does this say?" pointing to the "Please Don't Pet" sign on his back and there were oodles of hands petting away. 

Happy iPhone pictures; I will try to do better with bringing out the camera and taking some shots of life before it passes by too quickly. 

What we've been up to

It's been brought to my attention that I'm slacking in the blog department lately. My apologies. Sometimes, life just sucks us in and whisks us away. We've been busy with all sorts of fun, but I haven't been real great at taking pictures along the way. Here's a few photos from the last week: 

Sidney and I had some fun sending pictures to Uncle Shane while he is literally half a world away soaking up some warmer/much more humid temps. She was serving up bowls of suds....

And there's not much better than a sweet smelling 4 year old after a nice warm bath. 

We are on a streak of birthday parties too. This month alone, we have 5 invites on the fridge between Regan and Sidney's friends. I'm happy that they have such lovely friends, but it sure adds to our activity calendar when they are all smashed into a few weeks! 

Regan headed to this mini water park for a fun afternoon of water fun

And our little fish is turning into one heck of a swimmer. She helps the not so experienced swimmers and is a life saver (sometimes literally I heard!) to the supervising parents. She apparently swooped two little ones from going under, one was technically already going under when she grabbed her. Nice work Regan! 

 Sidney and I have been finding more fun/less work on my Fridays off. It dawned on me that if we shuffle tasks around a bit, her and I can get some quality fun in on a Friday. And we're taking complete advantage of daddy getting groceries so we can find the fun! 

changes

Obviously a lot has changed for this family over the last 7 years. The biggest is probably the addition of sweet Sidney. A more recent change, and a very very drastic one at that, is depicted in the picture below.....

Holy moly just take a look at that transformation :)
Ryan has gone through a bit of a change in lifestyle, adopting a much healthier life in general. We are very proud of him and I can assure you he has so much more energy and is so much more quick to jump at the opportunity to run around outside or chase the girls now that he is down 22% of his own body weight. Simply incredible!
Congrats Ryan :) We love you!

Winter wonderland

Today was one of those soak-it-up, loving-every-minute-of-it day. After a whirlwind of a super busy non-stop weekend, it was a beautiful afternoon to just love up life with our two cuties. 

The temps were perfect for a trek to the sledding hill. We assumed we'd be in good company but actually had plenty of room to enjoy the hill. 

Ryan is just a big kid at heart. He had just as much fun going down the hill as Regan does. In fact, he was a little bummed that the girls' little legs got tired after a short while and they were ready to pack it up. 

Someone has carved out a "jump"  in the hill. Regan went down several times but we were hesitant to let Sidney take a turn for fear she would take a big digger and end up a muddy mess. Finally, Ryan gave in and she was over-the-top excited! You can hear her holler up to him "see told ya" after a little giggle, referring to "see, I told you I wouldn't fall off!". 

She's such a hoot!

I later took Regan to the nearby outdoor ice rink. After some time on the ice, she put her boots back on and climbed around in the snow. I followed her around, eventually sat down in the snow and laid down pretending to sun-bathe. She giggled at me and when I opened my eyes, this was my view. 

breathtaking

Smarty pants

 Tonight we were invited to school for smarty pants, aka: Regan's conference. 

It was one of those proud parent moments where we got to hear all about her wonderful attributes pertaining to academia and beyond. 

We talked about her reading levels, math lessons, behavior choices and friendships. 

Sending her off to school each day, we know we are only going to hear about a fraction of her day when she comes home. So getting an overall picture, from an outside source (her teacher AND student teacher), is something we look forward to. 

And that overall picture is that she is our shining star! 

We are grateful she loves to read and is reading beyond expected grade levels. It struck me tonight when Mrs M. said "First, we learn to read. And now, she reads to learn". 

Incredible. Seriously incredibly amazing. To think, just one year ago, we were getting through sight words. And now, she's breezing through chapter books like it's nobody's business.

She's picked up on her daddy's knack for numbers too, and for that, this mommy is GRATEFUL!

We love you smarty pants! 

Thank you for making us proud! 

Never a dull moment

Last weekend we took a quick family outing to Target. I turned around to glance at something on a rack and when I looked back, this is how I found my family: 

What you can't see are the girls actually pushing the cart (note: he wasn't real happy with my picture taking as he knew it would be up on the blog). A Target employee walked past and chuckled as he made a comment about Ryan doing it right :)

We like to have a little fun around here.  

Birthday fun

SEVEN!

yesterday was Regan's big day. She turned seven and I simply cannot believe my eyes. She's beautiful, fun, social and sweet. Oh don't get me wrong, we have plenty of drama out of that little girl! But we love her oh so much and were so excited for her big day. 

While she was busy at school (though took a break to have lunch with her family brought in from Subway), Sidney and I were at home baking her cake. 

This wasn't just any cake, we baked her a rainbow cake! 

With rainbow sprinkles decorated in the shape of a 7. 

 After school we picked her up and gave her a big surprise....we had bags packed and were headed to a hotel for the night. Regan is the typical child who adores swimming pools and hotels. What better way to spend a cold February evening!? We love that Maddi got to walk down the hallway of her hotel and spend some time with us too! 

The room was filled with ooohhs and aaahhhs when I cut into this masterpiece. And boy was it yummy! I myself was stunned. It worked!! I kinda thought it might turn into a brown mess, but nope, it worked! 

Back into the pool which we essentially had to ourselves for hours. Regan was in her glory and Sidney is showing us how her hard work at swimming lessons is paying off. We had a great time! 

Finally, finally, finally, Regan opened her presents from us! Too bad Sidney had told her about this earring holder mustache ahead of time :( The joys of 4 year olds picking out her own present for her big sister. 

Regan's excited to hit the malls with her new heelie shoes...I'm hopeful she doesn't smack her head figuring it out. She was most excited about her OWN iPod. (and secretly both Ryan and I are too....he cannot believe he went out and bought this item for his SEVEN year old; and I'm super happy to have mine back!). 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET REGAN!! 

We love you so very much! 

 Seven things I love about Regan:
1. How friendly she is. She makes a new friend wherever we go. Never a fear to talk to someone new.

2. Her love for children. She adores her sister and every other wee-one.

3. Her smarts. She just seems to 'get it' when she learns something new. Boy I hope this continues!

4. She is an amazing swimmer. She has a 'no fear' attitude in the water and tries so hard to accomplish new things.

5. She loves to read. And would prefer if you would listen to her read, and we do this so often. I love it!

6. Her snuggles. She asks me every night to lay with her and snuggle. Oh how I love this time of day.

7. She loves her family more than anything in the world! And her hugs prove it.

Birthday eve

 

7 Years ago, I was a waddling, 8 month pregnant lady. And yet I was loving every second of it. I was chubby beyond words but no major complaints. Today I told the girls the story of Regan's birth (the very edited story!). Oh did they laugh and giggle and begged me to tell it again and again; alternating between Regan and Sidney's birth stories.

The smiles across their face were priceless. They were so proud to hear about the moments leading up to their birth. They both loved hearing the details of clothing worn by first visitors, weather, their first car rides, and on and on.

Oh boy were we blessed with this cute little 6 lb 13 oz bundle of joy!

 

She grew and she grew into a bouncing off the wall toddler. And the silly stories continued on, and boy do we still laugh about some of our silly times together.

She has a serious love for art and has for quite some time. This year's birthday gifts circled mostly around art. Very fitting for this sweetie.

She's an amazing, sweet, girl who is inquisitive and curious and melts our hearts. She has her daddy wrapped right around her finger.

 Though unfortunately, the moments like the picture below still continue....

Happy Birthday eve Regan!!

We love you so very much!

Can't wait to share in your big day....and with a big surprise for you too!