New soccer shoes

Katie and Allie will be participating in soccer again this year and when their shoes came in the mail, their new soccer shoes turned into an afternoon filled with lots of soccer fun.  With all of the snow still on the ground, we decided to play soccer in our garage.  Kaitlyn and Allison can hardly wait for soccer to start!

Kaitlyn

Allison

Hand print Flowerpots

I found this project on a blog and after modifying it a bit the paintings turned into pictures I will treasure forever!

Kaitlyn's hands and fingers

Allison's hands and fingers

Allie the cat

Allie loves pretending that she is a cat.  I often tell her stories of my cat Gretchen and the funny things that Gretchen used to do.  Last night Allie got into my yarn and insisted that she was Gretchen the cat.  What a silly girl my Allie can be!

Katie and her baby

Katie told me that when she grows up and when she is like 40 years old, she is going to have 4 babies.  Their birthdays are going to be on April 1, April 2, April 7 and April 8.  Here are some pictures of Katie taking care of her baby Amy.  One day, she will be an awesome mommy!

Kindergarten Registation

Today we are going to Diamond Path Elementary School and registering Kaitlyn and Allison for kindergarten.  As I was making copies of their birth certificates last night, a whole lot of emotions rushed through me as I remember getting their birth certificates in the mail about 4 years ago.  As I looked at their certificates and see my name as their mother, it makes me feel so proud and honored to be a part of their lives.  God has been so good to me and I tell my girls everyday that I am so lucky to be their mom and so thankful for all of the angels that guided their path to me.

5 year old gymnastics

Katie and Allie are now in 5 year old gymnastics and they are loving every moment of it.  After class last week Katie said, "Dad can you believe that we are in 5 year old gymnastics class but we are only 4?"  Allie said, "Dad, we are in 5 year old class and we don't have to sit on the mats anymore before class. Mats are just for 4 year olds."  Their new teacher in Ms. Megan who Katie said is super nice and super fun.  Last week as we were driving to class, Katie asked if Ms. Kealy was still going to be their teacher.  I told them probably not, to which Katie replied, "Mommy, I could just take Ms. Kealy home with me and keep her all day."  I told Ms. Kealy what Katie had said and Ms. Kealy told me that she could take my girls home all day and keep them too!

Purple coat and snowpants

I am used to my girls fighting over most things so I have given in and buy two of the same of the items that I know will be coveted.  I just don't want to deal with the disappointment that comes from my girls having to share.  I would have to say that recently they have become pretty good negotiators and when they have to share they will say things like, "If I wear this shirt today, you can wear it tomorrow", or they will give in if the other one is extremely sad.

Yesterday afternoon Allison decided that she wanted to go out and play in the snow and Kaitlyn wanted to stay inside.  All of their snow gear was packed away in the car for daycare, so I let Allison wear my niece Jackie's purple jacket and snow pants that I had tucked away because the jacket and pants were still a bit too big.  Needless to say, the purple jacket and snow pants caused a lot of tears and disappointment.  Once Kaitlyn saw Allison all dressed, she started to cry hysterically and insist that she needed to go outside.  She wanted to wear Jackie's clothes.  I finally convinced them that they could take turns wearing the clothes, so for the next hour the girls rotated and took turns going outside with the coveted items.  So much drama coming from such little girls!

Katie in Jackie's clothes

Isa and Jackie get married

Katie was going through my jewelry box last week and found a few of my old rings.  She shared one of the rings with Allie and after I told her to put the rings back, she insisted on keeping them.  After I asked her why, she told me that they each  needed a ring because they were going to be in a wedding and Jackie was going to marry Isa.  She said, "Mommy the prince Isa needs to marry the princess Jackie."  I am so glad that my girls lives can be filled with make believe and princesses.

Cross Country Skiing

On Sunday we took advantage of hopefully the last weekend of snow cover and went cross country skiing and sledding at Lebanon Hills Park.  Being this was the first time on skis for Allison and Kaitlyn we didn't know quite what to expect, but much to our surprise they both did great and had fun.   Next year we will have to try downhill skiing.

Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn in front of Allison

Kaitlyn going down a hill

Daddy and Allison

Bath time

My girls can get so silly when it is bath time that their new nicknames are Miss Silly and Miss Milly!

Allie Miss Silly

Katie Miss Milly

Snow snow go away

It is hard to believe that last weekend we were in Florida and Tuesday we were shoveling 10 inches of snow back home in Minnesota.  We are so ready for Spring to finally get here!  On Tuesday we enjoyed playing in hopefully the last snowfall of the year.  After shoveling our driveway we headed over to snow mountain and built a tunnel before coming home to our backyard where we buried each other in the snow.  Allie and Katie both were so snugly warm under their snow blankets they thought they could sleep outside all night.  We all were so wet when we made it inside that I was thankful for our dryer to be in the entryway.

Captiva, Florida

Happy Florida day is finally here!  Thursday morning we drove to the airport to begin our journey to the warm, sunny beaches of Captiva, Florida.  After checking in our baggage we had fun walking on the moving walkways in the airport to our gate.

While waiting to board our plane, Katie and Allie had fun playing on the airport I-pads and watching people.

Allie

Katie

The highlight of the airplane ride was the snack and the Dora movie that we watched on our DVD player.

After arriving at our hotel, we had supper and headed to the beach to watch the sunset.  I would have to say the best part of my day was watching with delight as my girls watched the waves and played in the ocean.

Allie

Friday morning we went swimming at the hotel water park.  While the temperature outside was only about 62 degrees the water temperature was a warm 86 degrees.  We had fun swimming in all 4 pools and navigating down the big water slide.  After having an ice cream treat we headed to the beach.  Allie and Katie loved walking in the sand and having the waves lap on their feet.  We built sandcastles, found shells, ran in the sand, and just had a wonderful time on the sunny shores of Florida.  After eating supper we went to Sunset Beach for a sunset party where there was a band, arts and crafts and even smores.  Katie and Allie were the stars of the show, dancing, singing and being silly in the sand.  It was a great way to end our Friday night in Florida.

Saturday morning we went to the J D Ding Nature Preserve and took a guided boat ride out into the freshwater sanctuary.  We were so thankful the boat had blankets because we never expected to be so cold in Florida! Before the boat ride our tour guide took us to a fish tank where Katie and Allie bravely held clams, crabs, star fish and oysters.  A few people commented to us what brave sports our girls were by holding those slimy creatures!

Saturday afternoon we canceled our swimming plans. (It was only 57 degrees and very cloudy and windy!)  We went on a treasure hunt and while trying to find our treasures (different color rubber bands) we saw the most delightful sight of dolphins swimming along the coastline.  We watched the 5 dolphins play for quite a long time.  We ended our evening by having dinner at a local restaurant, the Bubble Room.  We were able to watch the sunset on the beach, where Allie decided to run for what seemed to be 1/2 mile.  It was fun to see her run and run with freedom and no worries.  After finally catching up to her, we walked back to our hotel room for our final night stay in Florida.

Sunday morning we went to Manatee Park where we saw hundreds of manatees frolicking in the water.  Katie and Allie enjoyed the playground while I had fun looking at the flowers and the greenery.

Before we got on the airplane Katie asked, "Mom why can't we live in Florida and visit Minnesota?"  So much insight from such a smart little girl.

Katie