Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Breakfast

Some people go to Disney to have Breakfast with the Princesses. Many mornings I feel like I have a slice of the princess breakfast daily. Here's a normal morning.

Ella, mostly unaccessorized (at least for now).

Lydia in her Sleeping Beauty pajamas, glass slippers, necklace, and bib*. The sunglasses** and wands carefully placed within arms reach. Grace with her slippers, princess pajamas, bib* and sunglasses**.
* Grace and Lydia hated wearing bibs when I actually wanted them too. Now they seem to think that Ella is cool and they carefully select them to wear.

** Usually I wear night and day contacts. Since I am wearing my glasses today, they followed suit and needed to get theirs out too.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Badger Day

Nothing is better than catching up with friends that we haven't seen in years! Our friends April and Matt were back in Wisconsin to catch up with friends and celebrate their 10 year anniversary! We spent the day hanging out and watching all our little ones play so well together.

Here's Heather. We are so happy that you married into our group! Ethan met Heather 10 years ago at April and Matt's wedding. (She doesn't always look like this though).

Lydia loving the splash pad.
After lunch and splashing at the park, we all got the kids ready and headed out to the Wisconsin Badgers fan day at Camp Randall. Here is Lauren, Lydia, Teddy,Ella, Helen, Emma, and Grace. Katherine is the little girl in the front row not looking at the camera. (Poor Teddy he is very outnumbered with all the little girls).

My girls with random Badger football players.



And of course the cheerleaders!

And the family with Bucky.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Home Improvement Helpers

Grace and Lydia's bedroom was long overdue for being painted considering that they have been in the room for a year.

Grace helped tape the entire room. Lydia insisted on being held while I scraped old paint.

Grace also helped Paul patch holes.
I don't think Paul considered her offerings much of a help. Since he requested a close up shot to prove his point.
She was proud!
Yes, Grace and Lydia seem to be covered in band-aids lately. Lots of band-aids. A band-aid is used to cover their many mosquito bites. Since Lydia really will scratch each bite until she draws blood, they are necessary for her. Grace just seems to think they make great wardrobe accessories.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Summer Dance

What do you get when you put 12 toddlers in a class, give them some music and teach them a few moves in 6 short weeks? Cute, definitely not always synchronized girls.

Grace loved everything about dance. She gets to wear cute outfits (usually), cute shoes, and not get dirty.

Then you add Lauren! Grace LOVES Lauren! Lauren showed up to watch Grace and brought flowers and candy! Grace couldn't have been happier!!

State Fair Fun

What was I thinking when I brought three girls, three and under to the fair? That they would love it of course! (Paul met us after work). We had a great time on the rides, eating the food and seeing the many animals.

The fair was a day of first on the rides this year. It's the first time Ella rode on a carousel and bot did she LOVE every second of it. She was so giddy bouncing up and down the entire time! Up until late last year, Grace was terrified of the carousel. It's nice to finally go on without having a toddler cry, scream and try to climb off the ride.
After a recent trip to Bay Beach with Grandma and Grandpa, Grace decided that she wanted to go on the Ferris wheel. Since she was too short for the real ferris wheel, we sent her up in the ferris buckets. She couldn't have been happier.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Door County 2010

Paul and I spent a long awaited weekend in Door County without the kids. We had a great time hiking (well maybe not exciting hiking, since we were wearing flip flops), visiting the many local wineries, enjoying delicious food and soaking up the wonderful Door County sites.

Me, about to get carried away by the many mosquitoes at Peninsula State Park.



The Whitefish Dunes State Park has a sand sculpting contest. Some were amazing!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Splashpad

In case you haven't noticed yet, Lydia likes to take Grace's clothes. Most of all she likes to borrow Grace's swimsuits. As I was looking through pictures from the past 6 weeks, I've noticed that one week Grace may be wearing a given swimsuit and the next week, Lydia's managed to claim it.

Lydia's latest closet steal.
Grace (don't be surprised when Lydia's sporting this suit in a couple weeks).
Aside from the swimsuits. We just discovered the Jackson splashpark! It is great fun. Since I haven't build up the courage to venture to the beach or pool by myself yet, splash parks are the perfect place everyday water activity during the week.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Sand, Water and Sun

Grace and Lydia LOVE the beach. Where else can you play with endless amounts of sand and water? I love that they play together all morning while we are there.

Grace getting the water.
Lydia's in charge of getting the sand.
Time for a little break to jump in the waves with Mom. (If I would have known that Paul would take 100 pictures of me in my swimsuit, I would spend more time at the gym).

Paul and Lydia
Grace and Paul (no matter how many pictures Christy took of me, I wasn't going to spend time in the gym or sun.)
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On a separate completely non-beach related note. I figured out how to schedule blog posts. Instead of posting 10 blog posts once a month, I can spend an afternoon getting them all done and then schedule them for the next couple weeks! I may never look like such a slacker again!!!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Gymnastics

Both Grace and Lydia were enrolled in the park and rec gymnastics courses over the summer. Grace thought gymnastics were okay, not really that exciting. Although, the highlight of each class was that after class she played with her new friends McKenzie and Ava. McKenzie's sister, Lily was in Lydia's class so they had an extra 30 minutes of quality time each night.

Grace on the balance foams.
Grace getting ready to jump off the horse.
and of course Grace with her new friends!
Lydia was not a fan of following directions. She had an idea of what she wanted to do and would convince (in a very unpleasant and stubborn manner) the teacher that she could do it her way. The kids in her class were supposed to jump off a horse, then do a somersault and get their gymnastic diplomas. Lydia was NOT liking that idea. So she found a different horse and did it her way.
She's my pouty princess!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Escanaba

Back in July, we went to Escanaba, Michigan to celebrate Travis and Cara's wedding. It was a fabulous weekend filled with family and fun. We found an amazing beach with slides located on the sandbar.

Lydia playing with Grandma Borneman.
Grace and Grandpa Borneman playing on the slides.
Cody feeding Ella. Apparently it's harder than it looks. ( I have a feeling he'll be a pro in another year). Alyssa's morning wasn't complete without the beach. Thanks for coming with us Cody and Alyssa.
Grace
Off with the swimsuit, on with the party clothes!
Just because the swimsuits are off doesn't mean the girls won't play in the water.
A long day at the beach and wedding, yet Ella is ready to show off her newly acquired crawling skills while Lydia practices walking in heels.
Now only about 10 more posts to get caught up!