April 2014: Spring Fun

Man, I'm just lovin' this spring weather! Here's a few things that we've gotten to do since spring has sprung (other than be outside, which we do as much as possible!)

 

We got to have a play day with our friend Norah...(that would be Katie's daughter) and we got to see their new house too!

 

 

We've already gotten in lots of swinging and park playing this year...

 

And we had a special surprise from Gramma (my mom)...she took us to see Frozen on Ice!! The girls LOVED it! What a special outing!!

 

I'm thinking we are off to a great start this spring. Looking forward to making more memories:)

July 2014: A June Recap...

Here's a sort of "photo-dump" as to what we've been up to during June. All I can say is we are LOVIN' this summer stuff...

Bonfires and being outside in our bug-free yard (thanks to mosquito squad!! Best investment/splurge ever!!)

Working lots...hanging out with teenagers...getting a twins game in here and there, and helping out at Feed My Starving Children too (day trip to the cities!!) - and I even got to invite my nephew to join us for the day...

My cousin Abbie Graduated!!! We had a great time celebrating her at her grad party...and the kids loved the candy bar!!! I can't believe she's done with high school, and am so excited for her to start her new adventures at Iowa State!

We snuck in a beach day with some great friends for a long over-due playdate with all our babies!! So fun to all be together and be going through this time of life together too!! (Shout-out to SueLynn & Aaron for their super cute baby Eliana and Maggie & Scott for their super cute baby Hailey!!)

On Wednesday nights, my church holds worship outside at our "Maria Chapel" which is a tiny little old church that we still own. It also happens to be located on a gorgeous lake with lots of property, so our church takes advantage of that and we have outdoor worship on Wednesdays around a campfire with a hot dog & brat roast after worship. My girls LOVE sitting on a blanket for worship, and I LOVE the casualness of the time I get to spend with my congregation people! 

And our girls still LOVE going to "school" (aka daycare). Every day, Adelyn asks if she gets to go and is very excited when the answer is yes. They are only in daycare 3 days a week, but we are so blessed to have found a great center for them to be a part of where the staff are incredible with kids' developmental needs, play needs, and creativity needs!! 

(ok, so we may not have accomplished the writing thing at 2 years old...but we are working on it! She at least recognizes her letters!)

The girls made these cards at "school" too, and they pretty much sum up the dad (aka Michael) that he is! Happy Fathers day to Michael this past June also!! We had a very chill, but good day celebrating him!

Both Michael and my schedules are very different from our schedules during the school year, and because of that, we are able to take some days off here and there and enjoy some extra days off with our kiddo's (and not pay for day care those days! Score!!). We are DEFINITELY lovin' this summer stuff....

Hope you had a great June too!! 

February 2014: Waterpark Fun with Claire!

When you can't join it...beat it!!! (The cold that is...)

We still are living in the frigid tundra here in Minnesota...except our frigid tundra now has an additional 13" of snow that was added to it last week. Not cool, Minnesota...not cool.

So we decided to take matters into our own hands and spend a night at a hotel with an indoor water park with my cousin Jenny, her husband Doug, and their daughter Claire. We had a great time and the girls loved, loved, loved playing in the water. They played until we made them get out. All 3 of them!

Yes, it was a great weekend (though a bit too short I do admit!). But it's all about making the memories:)

The only downfall of the weekend was that Olivya ended up sick. She woke up puking over night while we were in the hotel room, and I figured that perhaps she had just swallowed too much of the chlorine water from her time playing in the water. When she was still throwing up 36 hours later, I realized that it was not the chlorine water, but in fact, the poor girl had the flu (come to find out her entire class at daycare had the same stomach flu bug). This mama just can't catch a break.

Regardless, we made some great memories and had some much needed cousin time too!! I'm thinking this will need to become an annual thing!!

November 2013: This and That...Friends and Family Fun...

We continually are blown away by how blessed we are with family, friends, and life in general. Here's a snip it of what we've been up to in November...

Adelyn went to the dentist for the 1st time (no cavities! Yay! She did awesome).

Adelyn also got another haircut this month. Here's the before picture...

(Thanks Andrea for doing such a great job on cutting her hair!!)...

And the after...

We always make sure we have some play dates when we are back in the cities! Adelyn was SO excited to get to play with Norah this day...

And Adelyn & Claire always LOVE to play and see each other too!!! 

And we can't forget about Gramma! We LOVE when she comes up to visit us every couple of weeks!!

This month, Adelyn & Olivya have started to play more interactively, and it melts my heart! Adelyn will often read to Olivya, and they always sit next to each other in the morning watching their cartoons while we make breakfast...

Adelyn continues to LOVE her dolls. Usually, she get to take 1 or 2 of them to bed with her, but this one particular night, she insisted on having 8 of them!!! She was so overly tired and unreasonable, that we decided to not even protest, and this is how she slept the entire night...

And it continued into the morning (she had to take them with her when she woke up and got them all changed, dressed, etc. They all also had to have a real diaper on! ha.)

And Olivya is just growing so fast. Her personality is coming out and it's so much fun to see! This girl is still full of smiles, and she broke her first tooth this month!! 

Towards the end of November, we started talking about our trip to Texas (see next post). About a week before we actually were leaving for Texas, Adelyn would often get real "sad" and cry to see someone that we had told her we would be seeing in Texas. I thought it was so hilarious (I'm horrible, I know) that I just had to video one of her break downs to share with you ("I wanna see my Tashaaaa" is what she is saying). 

Kinda cute...kinda not, but it's a memory none the less.