swim time

It was so hot today. A day that needed to be spent in a pool and we did just that. Katie invited us to go swimming with her at the Thompson's neighbor's pool. The girls were really excited and declared on the way there, that it was a perfect day to go swimming. When we pulled into the driveway, Little Pie squealed with delight and excitement.

The girls LOVE Katie so they were so excited to be going swimming with her. In fact, as soon as we saw Katie, Little Pie declared, I will swim with you Katie! Little Bird looked a bit disappointed that she had to swim with me, likely her second choice.

The girls got right in and did their best to show Katie what they had learned in swimming lessons. We got out a couple of noodles and kick boards and float jackets, but the girls insisted on trying everything on their own. But then Katie suggested they put on the float jackets and jump in all by themselves.

So they got right to it. And before you know it they were all over the pool. And then Little Pie suggested we go down the slide and she hopped right out, climbed right up and slid right down. 

They must have gone down a dozen times, and Gramma and Grandpa were able to watch it "live" because they just happened to FaceTime us while we were there. The girls were unbelievably proud of their accomplishment.

So then it was suggested that I try the slide too. I climbed up and sat on the top but then teasingly told the girls that I was too scared. Both of them cheered me on with such enthusiasm, You can do it Mommy, it's not scary. And then Little Pie said, Use your brain, it will tell you that it is not scary. 

We had so much fun and can't wait to do it again!

wonderful week wrap up (last week)

I want to try and get a wrap up done once a week, but I guess it's harder than I thought! Summer is busy and tiring!! So here is what we did last week:

• Monday: I had seen something on Pinterest called a water blob, and because the girls are likely to have a swim suit on at some point in the day, I decided to try and make one. We had a bunch of plastic left over from when we put rock down on the side of our house years ago, so I cut some big pieces, duct taped them together and then filled them with water. The girls had fun jumping (and slipping) on it. The neighbor kids even had to come and check it out! I wish the plastic was wider so that the blob could be bigger, but I made two to try and make up for it.

• Tuesday: Little Bird woke up in tears. When I asked her what was wrong, she said that Sadie (her baby) wasn't in her bed with her. I immediately remembered that the girls had been playing with their babies on the deck the previous day. And then I remembered that it had rained over night. The babies were soaked. Little Pie said it was OK because Abby, her baby, was wearing her swim suit, but Little Bird had a melt down. I'm sure it was because she knew that she had done something "wrong" by forgetting her baby outside. But after the babies sat over the air conditioning vent for awhile, they were as good as new! It is amazing how different these two girls can be!

Tuesday afternoon was super hot, so I cut quiet time short and the three of us headed to the swim pond. We stayed for hours and had a blast!

• Wednesday: I finally got back to the gym after too long of a hiatus (I couldn't help it that the gym was closed for renovations last week!). It rained in the afternoon so the girls and I made blueberry muffins for Daddy to take on his golf weekend. We met Daddy for dinner that evening at the girls' new favorite restaurant, CPK (he was feeling bad that he would be gone for 4 days, so he took us out to dinner).

• Thursday: We were reunited with our summer pastime of weekly visits to the Town Green for their children's music program. This is our third summer of attending with BFF (and now Little Buddy) and we just can't believe that the girls are old enough to have done the same thing three summers in a row. It's also gotten much more popular and we actually might have to get there quite a bit early to get a spot. It's so fun to watch the kids dance and follow along with the music. 

• Friday: Uncle Drew's Special Olympics track meet

• Saturday: Since Rob was gone all weekend, the girls and I went to Faribault to pass the time. I got to go out for girls' night with my two besties while Little Pie and Little Bird went to A&W with Nana, Papa and Uncle Drew. We all had fun!

• Sunday: After playing in Nana and Papa's back yard all day (running through our new sprinkler), we headed home to be reunited with Daddy. But when we got home, there was a surprise next door! Our new neighbors were having a birthday party for their 6 year old and they had rented a bounce house! They invited us over and LB and LP had a blast even though they ended up melting down after a while. The "big" boys were trying to scare them and our girls were just so tired from a weekend outdoors. Not a good combination!

This week looks to be just as busy, and next week we are off to the Dells for vacation!

run uncle run!

It was a GORGEOUS day for our annual outing to Uncle Drew's Special Olympics track and field meet. This year instead of being at the U of M, we made an excursion to Stillwater. 

The girls were really excited and as soon as we got there, Little Pie told Uncle Drew that she knew he could get a golden medal ("I just know you can do it, honey" was one of her quotes). She was really laying on the pressure to get the gold, and poor Uncle Drew was so disappointed that it didn't work out today. (It's not like he doesn't have a million gold medals at home). It gave us a great opportunity to explain to Little Pie the message of the event (and all other Special Olympics events), "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

First event (that we saw), standing long jump.

Waving to his fans who were pretty loud, by the way.

Best attempt.

Go Uncle Drew, Go!

Fifth place finish.

Hugs and support.

We had a picnic lunch and explored the various activities that were set up to keep everyone entertained between events. The girls had fun attempting skee ball, football toss, basket ball shots, and soccer goals. 

Nana found some popcorn that conveniently came in a megaphone.

Anyone who knows her would probably say Little Pie does not need a megaphone!

I love the teeth in this shot.

The second event we saw was the relay and the girls had a blast yelling in their megaphones at all the participants on Uncle Drew's team.

He's doing the sign for I Love You, all the way across the field. My zoom lens did pretty well.

The hand off.

Run run run!

Another hand off.

 Unfortunately the team came in fourth. When we got to the awards area, we saw that the "royal" ambassadors from Maple Grove were handing out medals. The girls thought it was so cool that the girls were wearing princess crowns. Little Pie went right up to them and said, "Hi princesses, where are your pretty dresses?". Little Bird was star struck and kept wanting to talk to them with her shy, quiet voice. The ambassadors were so sweet and agreed to pose for a picture.

We had a great day!

father's day and a birthday

So Little Bird was sick on Mother's Day so I guess that means Little Pie needed to be sick on Father's Day. (the girls have been more sick this spring/summer than they were all winter!)

After a sleepless night, Little Pie finally slept late in the morning while Little Bird ate the French toast we had planned for breakfast with her Daddy.

It was a slow moving morning, but the girls had fun sharing their Father's Day project with Rob. 

Little Pie

Little Bird

When Little Pie finally woke up, we got ready to head to Magramma and Boompa's house to not only celebrate Father's Day, but also Boompa's 85th birthday! As an added bonus we got to see Erin and Cody as they had just returned from their amazing honeymoon.

And because the weather this spring/summer has been annoying, it rained all afternoon, but the sun finally came out in time to eat and share gifts.

Little Pie was dragging a bit since she didn't feel great, but Little Bird was ready to get outside after being stuck indoors. They had fun checking out Magramma's garden and running/racing down the "big hill". 

Little Pie didn't want to eat supper so she provided some birthday entertainment for Boompa.

And of course they had to help hand out cards and presents! The girls each drew Boompa a birthday picture; Little Pie drew a picture of him and Little Bird drew a picture of his house. 

And because I didn't get a picture of me and the girls on Mother's Day apparently I didn't get a picture of Rob and girls on Father's Day (why can't I think to take these obvious photos!?).

wonderful week wrap-up

Since last weekend was crazy busy with party after party, we had to take it easy a bit this week to catch up from all of our fun.

• When Monday morning rolled around, Rob took off for work but the girls and I took forever to get moving. In fact, Little Bird slept until 10am. Since she refuses to nap no matter how tired she is (she sat in her bed for two hours on Sunday while Little Pie took a nice nap), she catches up on her sleep by sleeping in late. Gramma was still in town, so she took us out to lunch where Little Pie declared California Pizza Kitchen to be her favorite restaurant. Later that day, the girls played nicely at home while I tried to clean up from the weekend, and everyone went to bed early.

• For some reason, summer went away on Tuesday and was replaced by what felt like a sunny, brisk fall day. I barely remembered sweaters for the girls since I wasn't expecting such a cool day, but we still had an awesome time meeting one of my BFF's at the Como Zoo with her two sweet little girls. Little Bird was in heaven, making sure she was ALWAYS holding Ms. K's hand. I don't think she really cared about any of the exhibits; she was so in love with walking hand in hand with Ms. K. Ms. S was a riot and it was so fun to watch the four girls interact. I wish we were next door neighbors because these four girls would for sure be BFFs just like their mamas.

So many blondies!

Yes, it's a challenge to get four girls to look and smile.

• Wednesday's weather = disgusting. Our plans were cancelled for the day so we stayed home and had our own fun. We made ice cream sandwiches (so easy and fun!) and worked on "projects" for Father's Day (I hate projects! they never turn out!). Also, I can't stand it when the weather is terrible all day and then turns nice when it's time for dinner/bed.

• Thursday's weather = more disgusting. When we woke up, it was just as dark as it was when we were sleeping. Storms rolled in in the morning and forced us to miss the first Town Green music event of the season (apparently the show went on, although I doubt many people sat on the soaked lawn in the drizzly weather). We were quite disappointed as that is our thing to do in the summer with BFF and Little Buddy. Instead we brought our picnic lunch to their house and played inside.

• On Friday, summer returned! We went to Elm Creek beach for the first time this summer with H&M. We got there around 10:30 and the mamas thought we would stay until 1 or so. But the kids were having so much fun that we didn't leave until 3! The mamas had a chance to chat on the towels while the kids played SO WELL together. We had to drag the kids to the car because they didn't want to go (although, H was so tired he needed  to be dragged!). They had so much fun filling buckets, digging holes, filling holes, running around, eating lunch ... being kids!

We are looking forward to a very fun Father's Day weekend!

scary storms

As spring/summer approaches, I always wonder if it will be the year the girls become afraid of thunderstorms.

Their first summer, they just slept right through them. In fact, they weren't even aware of them when they were awake. The only time they were affected by a storm was when we had to wake them up and carry them to the basement as sirens blared outside one late night. They were only just a bit confused.

The following year, I thought for sure they would wake up scared from passing thunderstorms. But even at 18 months, they were completely oblivious and slept or played right through them.

So it had to have been last year that they would finally call for me in the night because thunder and lightening were too scary. But at 2 1/2, they were brave little things and either slept right through or didn't care much about them. It was, at this point, that they did actually become aware of them and were surprised, more than scared, when a clap of thunder shocked us one afternoon. Their only question, what was that?

OK, so this spring, I geared myself up for consoling girls when storms rolled around. But while we've had a few already this year, it was only last night that they got just a little bit freaked out. And it wasn't the thunder and lighting, or the loud rain or the crazy wind. It was the fact that we lost power and their night lights went out. Each of them called us into their rooms because they were nervous about their lights going out. I explained what had happened (in 3 year old simplicity) and they seemed to be fine with my little science lesson. Since I couldn't tell them when the power would return, they kept calling me into their rooms to ask me to give them the explanation again. Little Pie was so worried her music wouldn't work again, but when the power finally came on around 11:30, all of us finally relaxed and went to sleep.

I'm proud of them for being so brave! (I know I wasn't as a kid!)

kelly's graduation

This weekend was our weekend of parties! After two parties celebrating my cousin's wedding, we were ready to party with Rob's cousin, Kelly, to celebrate her graduation.

The girls love Kelly and were so excited to bring her a graduation present.

Even though the girls were hanging on by a thread, they had a blast running around the party.

They got in on some ping pong action.

And Little Pie got to play her kicking game with Uncle Rye.

It was no surprise that the girls were exhausted after three late nights and lots of socializing. Fortunately there were very few melt downs and of those, they were quite minor. Today we are lying low and not doing much of anything. Little Pie napped for two hours while Little Bird laid quietly in her bed.

It's amazing how busy and FUN summer can be!

princess erin

On Friday, my cousin Erin was married to a great guy, Cody, at Harriet Island in St. Paul. It was a hot, HOT day and while we all sweated off a few pounds, it was an amazingly beautiful ceremony and reception.

We started the wedding celebration with a groom's dinner at Brenda and Eric's house on Thursday evening. The bride was beautiful and the night was spectacular. The girls were very excited to wear their party dresses and thoroughly enjoyed socializing with the guests.

Anticipating their first encounter with the bride.

With the bride and groom.

Special guest, Lobo.

Twirling.

With, Brenda, the MOB.

With Katie, sister of the bride (or as she referred to herself, SOB).

Being silly with Boompa and Uncle Drew.

Rehearsing.

Impatiently waiting for Erin to be done rehearsing.

Joking; typical of these two.

Papa, Nana, Katie

Playing with the "bouquet".

Bouquet admirer.

Bride and Groom

Erin and Cody were engaged on a hot air balloon ride.

Eating cookies as fast as they can before Daddy takes them home to bed.

Rob took the girls home to bed and I got to stay and party a little bit longer. Whoop whoop!

---

The girls have been so excited to see Erin as a princess. They couldn't wait to see her in her white dress. When Friday finally arrived they barraged us with questions of when they would get to see Erin as a princess. When we finally dressed and arrived on location they were impatient for the wedding to begin. And when they first grabbed a glimpse of Erin as a princess, they followed her around like little ladies-in-waiting.

I've concluded that little girls are automatically drawn to brides.

The girls with their great aunt and uncle, the MOB and FOB.

Uncle Eric and Uncle Drew.

Trying to get the girls to look at the camera is still tough. Look up, no, look down!

Brenda and Magramma.

Erin and Magramma.

Erin with Boompa and Magramma.

Sharing in the bouquet fun.

My cousins with my girls.

What a picture of me? Look fast there are only two! (I'll spare you the sweaty, too much to drink pics from the end of the night).

What? A family picture?! Amazing!

Picture taking got a little old.

After this point, I went up to do a reading but forgot to have Rob or my mom take a picture.

We had Katie's glasses with us so these girls turned in to a couple of movie stars.

After the ceremony was finished, Little Pie recessed down the aisle dramatically waving to both sides of the audience saying goodbye to everyone. She is our social butterfly.

Husband and wife!

When the ceremony was finished, the girls ran around for a bit during the social hour. They (and Rob and I!) were anxiously waiting for Gramma and Grandpa Bob to come and pick them up and take them back to Uncle Rye's house for a sleep over.

These girls were exhausted and ready to go! Thank you Gramma and Grandpa!!

Let the party begin!

Katie gave a sweet (tear jerker!) maid of honor speech!

And because Erin and Cody are light hearted, fun, hysterical and unique people, their first dance was to Starship's "Nothin's Gonna Stop us Now". It was sweet and hilarious and totally them.

Boompa made an appearance on the dance floor to dance with the bride.

Nothin's Gonna Stop Them Now!