another first

 

BOTH of these little girls wore underwear to church this morning. And BOTH of these little girls were dry when we got home.

Little Pie is doing really well now that we have convinced her to wear her underwear. We made a slight modification in her potty chart, changing it from Dora to Olivia. She has been promised an Olivia toy when she fills up the chart. 

We are all so PROUD of her!

minnesota special olympics

While Uncle Drew has been competing in the Special Olympics for 26(!) years, the girls are just starting to learn all about the incredible organization. 

Uncle Drew competes in several sports throughout the year, but the State track and field event is one of the most fun. The girls participated in their first games last year, but I think they got way more out of it this year. We were there for FIVE hours and the girls had so much fun and were so good and didn't have any meltdowns. (Plus, Little Bird used the porta-potties TWICE!) Wow, we have come a long way in a year.

I brought our two single strollers so that Nana could push one and I could push the other. The girls were so good about riding when they needed to and staying right by us without running around and getting in everyone else's way. They loved looking around for Uncle Drew and watching him do the standing long jump from the bleachers. Both Uncle Drew and the girls were so excited when each spotted the other, and continued to wave enthusiastically to each other.

Uncle Drew got a bronze medal for the long jump and each girl had to check it out. Uncle let Little Bird wear this medal for the rest of the day. Before giving it to her though, he told Little Pie that he would earn her a medal in his next event, the shot put.

To which he did!

A silver medal for the shot put! (and a silver medal for Little Pie to wear)

Now each girl has a medal to wear!

There was some down time too, but the girls stayed very busy checking everything out and being adorable for all the spectators.

Getting in a few rounds of Ring-a-round-the-rosy with Nana

Checking out the law enforcement tent which Little Bird became obsessed with because there was a huge inflatable polar bear in front of it and a "tunnel" to run through.

I thought we would need to leave after our picnic lunch, but the girls were having so much fun and showing no signs of melting down. Plus it was the most beautiful day, we just had to stay and enjoy the rest of the afternoon and see Uncle Drew's last event for the day, the relay.

His team placed second, so now Little Bird, Little Pie and Uncle Drew could all wear a medal together.

But the best part of the day was seeing Little Pie reach out to hold Uncle Drew's hand as we walked away from his last awards ceremony.

A photographer (who must be affiliated with Special Olympics so I will be scouring their website for this photo) also thought it was cute and snapped a bunch a pictures. 

We also ended up walking right past Senator Al Franken(!) who looked directly at them and smiled. :) I was hoping he would stop and pinch her cheeks or something. Isn't that what politicians are supposed to do!?

june gloom

Years ago, when I traveled to San Francisco for work, I was always so disappointed in it's weather in the summer. It was always cold and windy and cloudy and drizzly and gloomy. We were working all.the.time. so it didn't really matter, but it still wasn't very pleasant to walk from our hotel to the Williams-Sonoma offices. 

This week's weather reminds me of those days in San Fran. It is cold and windy and cloudy and drizzly and gloomy. But because we still love to socialize, we met BFF and Ms. E at the Town Green to see "The Bazillions" (a kiddie band) and have a picnic.

The poor kids were so cold! They warmed up after a bit and ended up having a blast. The mamas decided it was worth it to sit through the semi-drizzle and cold breezes to see the kids have fun together.

Little Buddy looks to be having the best time. And I think he seriously did!

new park...finally!

The new play area at the Elm Creek Park Reserve finally opened! We have been waiting for this huge new super fun play are to open since last year. And it didn't disappoint.

We met BFF and Ms. E there for our Monday play date. Now that school is out, the parks are busy; especially this one. It will take some getting used to as we have had to learn how to maneuver around all the "big" kids.

Little Bird was really anxious to try the three and four story tube slides but I think I distracted her enough that she didn't realize that we didn't do it. We will wait until Daddy is around and he can handle that adventure.

father's day

Poor Daddy was still pretty sick on Father's Day morning so he slept in, not only because it was *his* day but because he needed the rest. The girls promptly wished him a Happy Father's Day when he emerged (without any prompting from me!).

I love how Little Pie kisses with her forehead but makes the smacking sound with her lips.

After lunch, we headed to Brenda's for a celebration with some of the other fathers in our family. The girls were super excited because the day before I had told them that we were going to go SWIMMING. The weather, like every other day this summer, was not the best for swimming, but the pool was plenty warm!

Not surprising, Little Pie was ready to get in the pool the minute we got there. However, I was surprised that she clung to me with a death grip. The last time we went swimming she was jumping off the side and trying to get away from Daddy because she wanted to do it herself. I tried and tried and tried to get her to let go of my neck or my hands, but she was having none of it. She didn't want to get out of the pool, but she didn't want to do any "swimming" while in the pool. 

Notice her grip.

After a while, I gave up. Katie tried to get her to be a little more independent and was much more successful than I. It looks like Katie will be her new swimming buddy!

Little Bird on the other hand was her usual cautious self. It took about 45 minutes of coaxing from Nana and Erin to get her fully into the pool. After that she was a daredevil; willing to try anything and everything!

Little Bird is finally excited to be in the pool!

After being in the pool for awhile, both girls were super excited to try the SLIDE. They wanted to climb the steps and go all the way to the top to slide down, but I opted to have them start in the middle and have Daddy catch them. They LOVED it.





Of course we did more than swim, we had to play with Lobo too.

Lobo says please let me go back to my nap.

The girls were the official entertainment of the day!

ho hum saturday

Despite a sick Daddy, a still semi crippled Mommy and outside weather that feels like it's going to rain any second (even though it hasn't), the girls have managed to entertain themselves VERY well today.

They started out with a game of Time Out. This is where they pretend to put their babies in time out at the bottom of the stairs for such infractions as jumping through the basketball hoop. Those silly babies.

Naughty Babies

Telling their babies that they are in time out and that they will be back to get them in two minutes.

They also played very well in Little Bird's room. They must have been in there for at least an hour. Every time I peaked in on them, they were very busy, but best of all they were getting along.

I was so grateful for the independent and cooperative play today because I had something important to do.

Make S'mores cupcakes for our Father's Day celebration tomorrow!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The girls got to enjoy a S'more snack this afternoon with the leftover frosting. I'm pretty sure they loved it.

Little Pie and her trademark "smash"

Little Bird and her delicate "I don't want to get messy" moves.

five green and speckled frogs

There are so many hilarious things about this video!
1. Little Bird saying freckled instead of speckled.
2. Their tone deafness.
3. Trying to out sing the other.
4. Little Bird fighting over when to turn the page.
5. The fact that they are practically nude (they were playing in the water).
6. Little Bird throwing the book on the floor when it's all done.

bummer summer

Monday started off as a great day; birthday party, lunch with friends. 

It ended with me not being able to stand up straight.

After taking the girls for a bike ride in the afternoon, we got home only to find that I had strained my back so bad that I couldn't stand up. I guess 60+ pounds is too much for me.

I still had to feed, bathe and put the girls to bed. By myself.

The girls had to figure out how to do some things on their own. Little Bird is able to get in and out of the tub by herself, but Little Pie still needs a little help. Nobody can get their pants up correctly. Thank goodness they are in toddler beds because I don't think I could have lifted them up into cribs.

Tuesday morning I woke up feeling the same, but I could at least almost stand up straight. (I was leaning quite to the right). I had to call BFF's Mama to come watch the girls while I went to the doctor to get some muscle relaxers. 

The girls thought it was pretty fun that BFF's Mama was in charge.

The muscle relaxers and the ibuprofen haven't helped much and it's Thursday afternoon.

I'm really looking forward to Daddy coming home tomorrow, not only to help me with all the girls' physical needs, but to also give me a really good back rub.

I guess my dream of going on bike rides every afternoon is over. :(

happy birthday miss e!

 We had the privilege of attending Ms. E's 3rd birthday party this morning.

We got all dressed up in our pretty pink skirts for the princess/pink themed party.

It was a terribly windy morning so all the moms felt for Ms. E's mom and the craziness that ensued as a result of the ridiculous wind gusts. 

But the girls could care less. They just had so much fun!

Chatting with birthday girl.

Girlfriends

Watching Ms. E blow out her candles (sort of a difficult task given the wind).

You know it's windy when even Little Bird's hair goes crazy!

Present time!

The party goers.

Goodbyes and hugs.

This is literally how excited Little Bird was to give Ms. E a hug. You would think she just met Justin Bieber or something.

when daddy goes on a four day golf trip...

...Mommy and the girls go to Nana's house!

At Nana's...

...we play with a new ring toss game (making up our own rules of course).

...we sit at our table for snack.

...we get really silly with Papa.

...we go to Auntie B's house and visit with friends.

Little Pie is asking (very seriously) if Luke can see the choo choo.

Auntie B and sweet baby V; Auntie 'Cole with Luke.

Little Pie being very gentle with Baby V.

 ...we get lots of cuddles with lots of people.

 

...we, of course, play at a park; and LOVE it.

...we watch Uncle Drew at his track practice; from the comfort of our new chairs.

...we share stickers with great-grandparents.

...and we sing Happy 88th Birthday to Gramcracker!

what we do with gramma

When Gramma pops into town, we...

...visit a new (to us) park.

...we run like the wind because we can't contain our excitement.

...we slide and slide and slide some more.

...we get help from Gramma up the steps.

...we let everyone know our Gramma goes down the slide too.

...we are utterly shocked and confused when we suddenly find Mommy at the top of the slide.

...we hold Gramma's hand up the steps even though we don't *have* to (and we love it).

...we sometimes go our separate ways.

...we stroll hand in hand down the path to the dock on the lake.

...we watch, in awe, other little kids catch fish with their dad.

...we bravely (without hesitation) agree to the other dad's suggestion to push the fish back in the lake.

(She really did touch it!)

...we tell Gramma that the turtle we see in the water needs to go find his family.

...we go out to lunch!

...we play at the park by our house with Gramma while Mommy goes to the gym.

(Hmmm...No photo)

...we play Scrabble on Gramma's iPad.

...we laugh, we hug, we have adventures!