Fun Times

Thanks to an icy snow storm on Sunday, Katie and Allie were able to finally put on their snow gear and play in the snow.  Fun times for my little snow bunnies.

Here is Allie climbing on my garden fence.

Katie had  fun drawing in the snow using a stick as her pencil.

Allie still loves to eat snow!

Here is Katie wanting me to push her on her swing.

Here is Allie trying to pick up a big stick.

After spending about an hour in the snow we warmed up inside with hot chocolate.  I am so happy that my girls find so much pleasure in the great outdoors.

Edinborough Play Park

Saturday the girls decided that they really wanted to play at an indoor park.  With the lack of snow cover and our subzero temperatures I thought that was a great idea so we went to Edinborough play park.  It turned out to be a great adventure and best of all, the girls had a ton of fun!

Katie driving a tricycle

Allie

Allie

Katie

Power Stuggles

This week has been a week of extreme power struggles between me and my children. Here are the top 10 naughty things that they have done this week.

1. Writing on the walls with crayon and marker.
2. Losing my Lifetime Fitness membership card.
3. Destroying a fabric sample that I had on loan from a furniture store.
4. Throwing their full orange juice glass at me.
5. Telling me that if I don't be quiet and stop telling them how naughty they are, I won't get a treat later on.
6. Getting into a few of my untouchable personal belongings when I told them at least 5 times not to get into them.
7. Standing out in the cold and screaming at the top of their lungs at me that they are cold.
8. Not sharing the rope swing at preschool open gym while other's were waiting in line and after I told Allie 5 times to get off of it, I took her off and she threw the biggest temper tantrum ever in front of about 50 people.
9. Squeaking at me all day when I gently remind them not to do something.
10.  Throwing a big pile of dirt on the kitchen floor when I told them not to.

After having such a tough week and feeling like a bad mom, I had a great conversation with a great friend who recommended a book to me about children and power struggles.  I bought the book and am hoping and praying that I can learn a lot so I can be a better parent and understand more about children and why they want to be in control most of the time.  Please say a prayer for me!

Birthday Weekend

I am so thankful for so many January Birthday's in my family because it gives us reason to celebrate during a time of the year when it is so extremely cold in Minnesota.  This past weekend we celebrated friends and families birthdays on both Saturday and Sunday.

Our friend Madison turned 5 on Saturday and Kaitlyn and Allison were invited to her gymnastics's birthday party at Gleason's gym in Eagan.  The day started off at 40 degrees but as the day progressed and the wind started to blow, the temperature dropped to about zero.  I was so happy that we had something fun planned indoors!  The girls had so much fun on the trampolines, jumping in the foam pit, playing silly games and celebrating one of their good friend's birthday.

Sunday after God Zone we celebrated my mom's birthday and my niece and nephews birthdays out in Glencoe.  We had an amazing time and the girls had so much fun.  The highlight of the day was Katie and Allie presenting my mom with their flower gifts that they each had picked out for her.  I am so blessed to be a member of such a wonderful family.

Cuddle Bears

What a great place to snuggle on a cold, cold night!

Kaitlyn

Allison

Dr. Allie is in the house

Have no fear, Dr. Allie is here to help you!  I may be biased, but isn't this one of the cutest little Doctors that you have ever seen?

A nice January day

This winter so far has been pretty amazing with mild temps, enough snow to keep us entertained, and a lot of sunny days.  Last week Kaitlyn and Allison decided that they wanted to play soccer in the snow.  After finding all of their soccer gear, we dressed up and headed outside. Our soccer game lasted about 10 minutes  at which time it was decided that a bike ride was in order.  We biked to a neighborhood cul-de-sac where there is a big pile of snow (we call it snow mountain) and the girls climbed and jumped on snow mountain before we heading home.  I am sure a lot of our neighbors get a kick out of watching my girls bike down the street in the middle of winter wearing soccer shoes, pants, soccer shorts, winter jackets and hats.  Another wild and wacky day at our house!

Allison

Kaitlyn

Swimming Lessons

Swimming lessons started again for my girls and I would have to say that the lessons went a bit better than I expected.  Ever since Katie's scare in the water, she has been so hesitant to let go of me anytime we get near deep water.  I have tried reassuring her that she can be brave and let go of me, but she just clings on to me so tightly and refuses to let go.  An interesting note is that when she is in shallow water, like a zero entry pool, she kicks and uses amazing arm strokes and swims beautifully!  I had tried to enroll the girls in a swimming program that my sister uses, but I was unable to get the class that I had wanted so I decided to enroll them in the YMCA program.  There are a total of 3 kids in their class and their instructor, Margo, seems to understand Katie and she promises that she will work with Katie to get over her fear.  There are a few tears involved but I think it is going to work!  Last week Kaitlyn told me that someday she will be able to swim without using a bubble belt, which means that she will swim all by herself.  Let's cross our fingers and say a prayer for Kaitlyn!

Happy Birthday Emily

On Saturday we had so much fun helping our friend Emily celebrate her 5th Birthday.  Emily hosted a "Princess" Birthday Party at her house and all of the kids dressed up in their princess gowns, tiaras and shoes.  After playing some fun games, the kids did some art projects and had fun making and eating edible bracelets.  The best part of the day was singing "Happy Birthday" and eating Emily's "castle cake." Allie and Katie both decided that they want the same cake for their Birthday.

Allison

Kaitlyn

Allison

Open Gym

Last Tuesday we met some friends at the Rosemount Community Center for Preschool Open Gym.  It had been a while since we had visited the center and  I had forgotten how entertaining a bunch of balls and kids can be.  All of the kids had a blast dribbling basketballs, playing with hula hoops, playing line tag, and the best game - freeze tag.  After our Open Gym time we went grocery shopping at Cub, another one of my children's favorite things to do, for the simple reason that they get to eat a free apple while pushing their own kid size grocery cart.

Allison

Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn

Como Park Conservatory

It is usually this time of year when the Como Zoo Conservatory sounds so inviting to visit.  The warm, humid air and the lovely greenery and flowers just draws me there to visit. Today we had lots of fun visiting the conservatory.   I truly believe that Allison and Kaitlyn are starting to appreciate a bit of nature and hopefully one day this magical place will also be a favorite of theirs!

Influenza

I just knew it would be inevitable that I would get sick this year.  It has been a crazy last few weeks in the pharmacy treating so many sick people so on Monday when I started not feeling well, I knew I too had gotten the awful crud that seems to be going around.  I am now feeling better but my little Allison is not doing so well.  After waking up with a 102.5 degree fever yesterday, I made an appointment for her to be tested for strep.  The little trooper that she is, she did awesome at the doctor's office!  Dr. Azar said she was too cute, too smart and too good and I was also so proud of Katie, who really did an amazing job being patient and kind to her sister.  Allie does not have strep and I am hoping over the weekend she can make a full recovery and spare Kaitlyn and Todd from these nasty germs! 

Allison is a swimmer!

 

My little Allie is now swimming on her own.  Last Tuesday when we visited Lifetime we watched a little boy take a swimming test during a pool safety break.  This little boy was amazing - he was only 5 years old and he could swim a lap all by himself.  His reward for passing the swimming test was a yellow wristband to prove that he can swim all by himself and also ride the water slides.  Well Allie really became very fascinated with the yellow wristband and decided that she wanted a wristband too.  When the pool reopened, we all went into the deep end and she basically started swimming a lap by herself!  I would have to say that this may be one of my proudest moments ever!  Allie is also jumping into deep water and swimming back to the edge without any help!  Katie is still not quite swimming....this may be one of my hardest challenges yet!  I haven't told Katie that I enrolled her in swimming lessons again.  Wish me luck on Tuesday morning because that is when swimming lessons start again!

Happy New Years!

As our New Year Eve tradition continues, we spent the evening with some great friends at our house.  We rang in the New Year with our friends Emily and Karen playing games, eating great food, enjoying some fun drinks and just being silly.  We are hoping that the New Year brings us all of the wonderful blessings that 2012 gave us, plus more!  I asked Kaitlyn and Allison if they had any New Year's Resolutions and after I explained what a resolution was they both agreed that having more fun and playing would be good goals for the upcoming year.  Ah, to have the life of a 4 year old child!  Here is a picture of Katie enjoying her New
Year's Eve.  A different post follows of some pictures that my friend Karen shared with me.

New Year's Eve

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2013-01-02

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Merry Christmas

To say that I am blessed is an understatement.  Christmas this year was magical and delightful in so many ways.  Spending Christmas with family and friends and seeing the magic unfold in 2 four year old's eyes is priceless.  Allison woke up around 4 AM on Christmas morning and after I got her snuggled back in her bed she whispered to me, "Mommy I think I just heard Santa's footsteps on the roof."  How could I say anything but, "I think I heard them too!"  She fell back asleep until about 6:30 which is the time that Kaitlyn woke up.  After some cuddle time, we went downstairs and to see if Santa visited our house.  To say that Kaitlyn and Allison were excited is a huge understatement!  It was so much fun watching them discover that Santa had visited and had eaten the cookies and taken the carrots for Rudolph.  After unwrapping the gifts and declaring, "This is exactly what I wanted," or "I put this on my Santa list," we had to unbox and take out each gift they received. The dollhouse, art supplies, Minnie Mouse light up shoes, and flash lights were the big hits.  After playing with our new toys for a while we drove to Glencoe and spent Christmas Day with my family.  Kaitlyn and Allison had so much fun sledding with their cousins, putting puzzles together with their Aunt Mary, unwrapping more wonderful gifts and eating cookies and ice cream.  When we got home around 7PM it was so hard convincing them that it was bath time and not playtime and what made it a bit more challenging was the fact that I had to work the next day at 8AM so they needed to get up early and be at school by 7:30AM.  That was by far the most challenging morning ever.  I was so happy that we could spend the next day at home, playing with and discovering all of our new toys!