March 2011

Yay, it has been awhile since I have posted. Life gets crazy.

Here is a quick update:

Jake just finished his Mites hockey season. He is fast, so look out! He has been doing some "work", print and commercial. He thinks its pretty cool. And he is banking some cash!

Sydney is loving Kindergarten, and is very proud of how well she is reading. She is making some great friends. Sydney has enjoyed being a "Daisy" this year, and sold girl scout cookies for her troop. She just started up swim lessons again.

Regan is LOVING farm school this year. And really loves her alone time with "just me", and she refers to it. She has told me several times she doesn't want to get big and grow up. Regan continues to be the silly one in the family, and is always caring for her dollies.

Did I post we got a puppy? Last fall. He is cute, but I wish the potty training and chewing would end soon. I kind of forgot how much work puppies are, but boy are they cute!

Loving Summer

Gosh, I've been loving summer with the kids. Nice to have all the kids home. We got a new playset, that the kids have absolutely been loving! Regan likes the swings and slide best. Jake has taught Sydney how to "skip" on the monkey bars, and Sydney wants to show anyone that will watch. She is so proud of herself. We had a party for Jake's 7th birthday, and got an updated family picture courtesy of my sister Amy. Jake is playing TBall. He can really crack the ball, and loves to run the bases. He is not real sure if he likes the outfield, or waiting around on the sidelines...but he has fun with it :) The TBall team and families are great. Fun way to spend Friday nights.Sydney had her gymnastics show, and was very excited to show us all her new skills. Ms. Donna brought Sydney her very own flowers, which made Sydney feel so special! Thanks Donna!
Oh, and Regan is offically potty-trained! She loves being a "big girl" and thinks all of the underwear choices are great! Dora is obviously her favorite. But anything that sparkles comes in a close second.
I have lots more updates from this spring, which has been a very busy one....explaining my blogging absence. More on those things later.

Sydney's Gymnastics

Sydney- earning her medal in gymnastics.

Cake Pictures of the Birthday Girl

Happy 5th Birthday my sweet Sydney!

Gymnastics is done!

Well, the girls started gymnastics at a different place this fall. We just wanted to try out another place. Regan loved it, and Sydney like the old place we went to better. So, next session Regan will be PM and Sydney will go back to a gymnastics/dance class.

Gymnastics has been one of their favorite activities this fall. I'll post a picture from their Halloween Celebration class from Tuesday once I get it loaded.

"I Love Going to the Dentist"

She may live to change her mind, if she is anything like me.

Before going to bed tonight, I reminded Sydney that she is going to the dentist tomorrow to have to cavities filled. I told her I'd be there with her, and I'd hold her hand. I mentioned something about her having to be brave. She looked up at me dumbfounded and said, "Mom, I'm already brave, but don't worry I won't be afraid. I like going to the dentist." I smiled and agreed, that she did a great job last time.

We'll see how it goes....

UPDATE:
Sydney did super at her appointment. So well, that they actually filled two cavities. The dentist told Sydney that she was better than most 8 year olds. The dentist informed me that she needs to pull one of Sydney's front teeth because it was damaged. (fall on the boat this summer) She is worried it will get infected because the root has died. :(

First Days of School for Jacob and Sydney

The bus arriving after the 1st day of school. The bus stop has LOTS of kids at it each day!

Regan was so excited that Jacob was home from school!

Sydney feeding the baby calf, Tie-Dye. She was very glad to be back on the Farm at Preschool.
Sydney's first full morning of preschool. Regan wanted to stay with her. Next year she'll be old enough :)

Farm School Picnic

Sydney loved going to preschool at the Children's Farm Preschool this year. It is so up her alley; being outside so much and being able to help take care of the animals. Whenever I've asked her what her favorite thing to do at farm is, she always says the same thing; riding the horses. Personally, I think holding the baby kittens is a very close second. She made some great friends in the class! She is sad she can't go there all summer. I decided not to do the summer camps they offer this year, and try some different activities.

Swimmers....

Year 2 of Level 1 swim classes has come to a close. I shouldn't say "year" maybe more like session. Sydney doesn't like going because she doesn't want to get her face wet....She is the front of the line in the picture below, Jake is happily smiling in the middle...

Jacob loves it, and has improved a lot and will even put his face under water (as long as he has goggles on) The teachers did a "train" to end the session, it was cute. The kids loved it!!

Jake is ready for more swimming classes, Sydney needs a break.

Well Checks

The girls had their well check doctor visits last week ( a little late) Both girls are doing great! And are very healthy. Regan has finally caught up on the growth charts!

Here are the stats:

Sydney (4yrs3mo): Height 41", 50%. Weight 36 lbs., 50%. And she can see and hear just fine....phew! At her 3 year appt, she was 50% percentile as well...steady eddy.

Regan (22months): Height 34", 75%!!!!! Weight 25.5 lbs., 50%

Huge improvement here, at her last dr. visit, in October (15mo), Regan was only in the 25% percentile. (the appt. before that only 5% percentile) Regan normally eats as much as her big brother at most meals, so you would figure she would be catching up one of these days...geez!

Happy 4th Birthday Sydney!!

You are 4 today!You have such a kindness and gentleness about you, but you can wrestle around with the boys any day. You are social at school, and knew all 20 kids in your class with 3 days! You are confident at school and have no idea you are the youngest in your class, and your classmates don't seem to notice either. You are always watching out for your baby sister Regan and are the first to coming running to her aid. You and Jacob are the best of friends and are together all the time. You are my little snuggle bug, and often ask if we can cuddle for a little while. (Silky and Blankie Bear are both present as well) You love to dress up in princess dresses and feel pretty. We've recently witnessed you peering at yourself in the mirror when you think no one is watching...kinda a funny kinda scary :) You are a wonderful girl inside and out, and you bring so much joy to everyone around you!!! You are such a blessing!

Happy 4th Birthday my sweetie.... Love, Mom

Making smoothies in your new smoothie maker :)

WhirlWind 24

The last 24 hours have been crazy...

• Worked out at the gym; Core Conditioning.
• Jake gets his eye poked, off to urgent care he goes. He came home looking like a pirate and miserable.
• Couples Group Christmas get together w/ all the kids...Fun!
• Drop Jake at school, and explain to his teacher what happened, and that he didn't want to miss the classroom Christmas party, but that he was pretty miserable.
• Dropped Sydney at School
• Dave Dr. Appt
• Return at Kohls
• Dropped Dave at the gym so he can get a quick workout in before he is down for the count for a few days.
• Embarassing attempt to purchase my MIL a Christmas gift, and realized I'd been driving around all day with no wallet in my purse...ggrrrr. (After my purchase was boxed, bagged and ready to go)
• Picked up Sydney from School.
• Picked Dave back up and dropped him at the hospital for his repeat surgery...this time it should work, right!
• Came home, and got the girls down for their nap. I cleaned.
• Picked up Jake early from school to take him to the Dr. to have his eye looked by his primary Dr. (Sydney & Regan are along of course)
• Jake's right eye now has TWO visible scratches (after dye and black-light) During this process Sydney has to go potty, really really bad. Dr. waits w/ Jake and Regan while I bring her...
• Jake'e eye should be all better w/in 72 hours!!!! Seriously. But atleast it is not infected, and will heal.
• Visit Dave (all went well), the discharge nurse explains the important details to me while I try to keep all the kids rained in, and from peeking into other peoples rooms. (I should have taken Jan up on her offer).
• Get the hungry kids to the car and pick up Dave at the front door.
• Pick-up dinner. Dave's Dad meets us in Woodbury and brings Dave home so he can have some peace and quiet. The kids were a little bit on the roudy side. Dave needs quiet so he can rest.
• Go to LTF to get my hair done, and let the kids play for awhile.
• Came home, and got all the munchkins to bed and helped my poor Davey!!

I am beat. Going to bed!

Trick-or-Treat

The kids had a fun time trick or treating, and received way too much candy of course!

Jake was Mr. Incredible, Regan was a tulip fairy, and Sydney was cinderella of course :)

What a beautiful day!

Loving this weather today, just gorgeous!

Today I gave Regan her first Oreo cookie, she was thrilled and enjoyed it :)

Little Sydney is sick. I think it is food poisoning. She woke up from her nap yesterday and lost her cookies. She was completely fine yesterday all morning, so we'll see. Sydney doesn't have a fever. I hope it passes quickly, it has now been 24 hours. Although she hasn't thrown up for a long time, she is moving quite slowly.

I am sad to be leaving her soon for the weekend. But looking forward to the warmer weather. The forecast is high 70's all weekend. I hope things go smoothly for Dave this weekend.

My friend Cari has another surgery tomorrow morning. They will be installing a chemo drip in her head. My heartaches for her and her family. They've been through so much! But she is strong and is going to beat this terrible cancer. Please pray for her and keep her in your thoughts on Friday and this weekend.

Night Terrors....

Last night Sydney had a night terror. It was pretty creepy. It lasted about 30 minutes, she also had one on Friday night. I've learned that they are mostly caused by lack of sleep or a major change in sleeping habits. Since she started going to preschool in the afternoons, she isn't getting as much sleep because she isn't napping on those 3 days. We're going to try to bring back an earlier bedtime and see if that helps.

Hopefully, her sleep schedule adjusts soon...night terrors are very freaky!

What happened to August?

Seriously, I've barely even posted this month...it has just flown by. There has been a lot going on.

• Visited my Dad at the Cabin in Lutsen.
• Spent a few days in Alexandria with some great friends and our kids. We had 11 kids under age 6, and 4 moms....fun times! (I'll post a few pictures)
• My friend Cari, after battling breast cancer for a year was diagnosed with a brain tumor and has since had surgery to have it removed.
• Struggled to make a decision on what schooling option is best for Jake for this fall. He is a young 5, and we really wanted to have him wait to start Kindergarten until next fall. What we've decided on is a 3-day/week Kindergarten program at a Christian school. And he will most likely attend full time Kindergarten next fall.
• Regan started cruising along anything she can, and has mastered a very quick butt scoot. Or "Gorilla" scoot as Dave calls it. Because she really looks like a gorilla. Funny! This may end up being her version of crawling. We shall see.
• Spent a long day at the State Fair. The Giant slide was a big hit, so was the Little Hands Farm.
• And lots of other things....

Hard to believe next week is September. I am going to make an effort to post more regularly, at least it is one of my goals for next month :)

Fun times at the Cabin

Cabin Trip 2008

At the shore in Grand Marais. The kids had a blast throwing rocks back into the water.
Regan loved moving the rocks around...they were nice and warm!

Picking fresh raspberries around the cabin. I think they ate them all :)


Regan loved playing with Grandpa Doug. Pretty Sweet...

The kids each had their individual fishing trips with Grandpa Doug. When I asked them on the ride home what their favorite part of going to the cabin was, they both said "FISHING". Sydney caught her very first fish, her first time fishing! She couldn't stop talking about how it flopped around. Jake and Sydney each throw back a fish, and held it with there bare hands, something my dad won't even do. They were so brave.

Good Times! In the car when I was driving home Jake said he wants to go to the cabin more, so he can spend more time with his Grandpa Doug. Smart kid.

Silly Kids

These guys really make me laugh! I asked them to get ready for their bath before bedtime. This is how I found them. Both "wearing" their clean underwear, Sydney wearing her jammies....They both thought there were absolutely histerical!

Farm Camp, fun summer times...

Jake and Sydney went to Farm camp together in the mornings for two weeks in July. They both really loved it. Jake was able to show Sydney the ropes. On the last day the parents were invited to see what the kids had been up to during camp. Sydney was so excited to show me that she could ride a horse. She was SO brave, and confident. Jake was excited to show me the animals and the veggies they were growing in the garden.