That's what she said

The land of many bike trails

2011-08-23T19:10:00.004-06:00

One thing I love about Minnesota is that they take their parks very seriously. When we first moved here I was always amazed at how people were just always outside. Walking, biking, jogging, playing at the park. It just wasn't quite what I was used to. Then I survived my first Minnesota winter and after being in hibernation for 6 months, I realized, people want to enjoy every waking moment that they can outside, before they have to hibernate again.

The girls love riding in the bike trailer. Except for when Chloe reaches over and pinches Jade, (on accident, of course).

One sunny, Friday afternoon, we went for a bike ride with Dan's cousin and his wife. It was really fun, although, I wasn't pulling the trailer. :)
Taking a break mid-way.
Chloe loves to stand up now. She can pull herself up on almost anything, including underneath a chair, and, much to Jade's dismay, on Jade.
Jade took a spontaneous nap the other day. This hasn't happened since she was about one. She was just watching a video while I laid Chloe down for a nap, and when I came out, she was asleep. It was just one of those busy, play 'til you crash, kind of days.
Dan and I had our first vacation away from the girls last weekend. We went to Wisconsin dells, WI. They have several water parks in the town and we visited two, Chula Vista and Noah's Ark (the largest in the US). We had such a great time and really owe a huge thank you to our friends the Howells and Charisse Smith, for watching Jade and Chloe. Knowing they were in good hands made it really easy to enjoy ourselves.
We went with Dan's cousin Brandon, his wife, Emilynn, and her sister, Lauren. Here we are, having dinner at a Japanese hibachi grill. Good times. :)

Summer

2011-08-10T21:42:00.004-06:00

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've updated! Well, in all honesty, I kind of can. :) We've been trying to squeeze every drop out of this summer since we'll be sticking around for another Minnesota winter. A few pics from July:

This is us, enjoying our 3rd annual trip to Music in Plymouth; an outdoor music concert featuring the Minnesota Orchestra and kickin' fireworks show. Jade, of course, held her ears and faced the other way during the fireworks, but, luckily, did not cry the entire time.

Dan's family came out for a visit. Stef and Kevin came with the girls, from Texas. Mike and Lou came from Idaho. Here is a cousin shot; soon to be outdated because Stef is expecting a little boy this fall. Can't wait!
Of course, we needed a family picture, and it turned out super nice.
We've been hitting the local beaches. Jade loves to play in the water, she's like a fish. She asks me pretty much every day if we can go swimming.
We went on a hike/boat ride with Dan's Aunt and Uncle, and cousins.
Chloe is getting so big!! She is army crawling all over the place and loves to pull herself up on to things. She's getting very strong.

Heartbeat 5000 5k

2011-06-27T19:44:00.003-06:00

Saturday I ran a 5k. Dan brought the kids and they played while I ran the race. I ran with a few of my friends from church. Here's a pic a Jade popping bubbles with Corbin.

Running downtown was fun. Running up the bridges was the worst though, they felt like mountains. The finish line was over a portion of the Mississippi River. Here's a picture of me after the race. I couldn't bear to post the one Dan snapped as I crossed the finish line. I look like I'm going to puke, and I felt like it too. I really pushed myself at the end there and it wasn't fun. I hadn't run in over a month prior to the race.
My buddy Rachel was my motivation. Every time I saw her ahead of me she was running, she never stopped to walk. So I had to keep up with her.
This lovely lady next to me is Laura. She's having a baby in October and she totally rocked that 5k, pushing her two boys in a jogging stroller! Um, she's like 6 months pregnant and still skinnier than me. :)
Look at this little cutie!

Minnehaha Falls

2011-06-24T20:17:00.000-06:00

The weather here has been so hit and miss lately. I'm really saddened by it, seeing as how we only have a few months out of the year to really enjoy the outdoors. Thursday was probably the best day we've had in a long time. We went to Minnehaha Falls which is in the heart of the metro. It's really a fun, cool park. There's a restaurant, playground, you can rent bike-cars. I don't know the official name.

Jade seems to be thinking, "Get off of me, mom".

Here's a picture from the base of the falls. If you go, know that there isn't a stoller/wheelchair accessible way down (that we saw). We folded up the stollers and carried them (and the girls) down.

It was worth it though, because after following the river down a ways, we came to this awesome wading area! Jade played and played. She was having so much fun, but by the end she was crying because her feet hurt (not to mention she hadn't napped and was exhausted).
She is the cutest thing ever!

Dan's graduation

2011-06-15T18:51:00.000-06:00

Dan had his graduation. It was a great graduation but very anti-climatic, because he won't be done with school until August 20th.

Lynn, Ruthanne, Brandon, Emilynn and Harlow were able to come see him graduate. It was nice to have someone to sit with and hold Chloe while I tried to snap pictures.

We had a BBQ at the Randall's house afterward.
Jade's first time running through the sprinklers. I know, you're thinking, she's 3!! She had such a blast and slept like a log that night. :)
Chloe and Harlow! Brandon and Em's little girl.
The cake that Dan's mom got for him.

Jade's last day of preschool

2011-05-24T05:54:00.006-06:00

Jade had her last day of preschool last week. She has loved it so much and it has been really good for her. She's always more talkative and engaged with us when she comes home from preschool. I'm so glad that she qualified for free preschool through the school district.

Here's a picture of her class. They sang three songs, The More We Get Together, Like A Butterfly, and some Freeze Dance song.
Jade with her teacher, Mrs. Porter (on the right) and Mrs. Turk, the teacher's assistant (up top).
This is Jade's aide, Ms. Cheryl. She would assist Jade throughout the day. Getting her on and off the bus,helping her with class projects, and helping her stay on task.
Afterward, we went to the park while Dan took a test. The girls had a great time, of course.

Then we went to Mall of America. Jade rode on the carousel with Daddy. :) I love her smile in this picture.

Playing with Grandma

2011-05-07T05:38:00.001-06:00

Louann came for a visit. It was bitter-sweet though, Dan's maternal grandpa passed away, so she came for the funeral. It was very nice to have her play with the girls and have her here.

We have several friends here in Minnesota that work for General Mills, so we decided to run in the Run of the Mills 5K. I was expecting that Dan would be able to watch the girls while I ran, but he had an unexpected interview at a hospital in Vegas. So I took the girls in the double jogger. It was a bit worse than I thought it would be. There were many stops to put binkies back in mouths and at one point I took Chloe out and held her and pushed the stroller with the other hand. Really though, my time wasn't awful. Somewhere in the 42 minute range.
Jade ran in the kids race, the Cheerio Chase. She did really well, as in, she kept running to the end. She was running at a leisurely pace. I don't think she gets the idea that she wants to be first. It was so adorable though.

2011-04-10T05:32:00.000-06:00

I had to post these two pictures of the girls in their jammies. The first one is of Jade at 4 months old. The second is Chloe, more like, 5 months old.

2011-04-04T05:14:00.000-06:00

These pictures have no rhyme or reason, they just couldn't miss out on being put on the blog.

Jade got a train set for her birthday, she seems to like it pretty well.
After a run in with a marker. :) Doesn't every kid have their own version of this picture.

Our little photographer

2011-03-24T05:10:00.000-06:00

Jade loves to take pictures. She loves scrolling through the pictures we've taken on the camera, or watching the videos we've taken of her playing with Chloe. Here are a few shots from our budding photographer.

Dad and Katrina visit

2011-03-07T05:01:00.000-07:00

My dad and sister, Katrina came for a visit! It was so nice to have someone from my fam come and stay. They're the only two, with the exception of my mom (who's visited twice) to come and stay. It was perfect timing too, just at the tail end of winter, when we were all going a little stir crazy from being inside ALL THE TIME.

This was Chloe's first chance to meet Grandpa Bob. :) She really liked him, and smiled a lot for him.

Jade loves swimming!

2011-02-24T04:39:00.001-07:00

One of our favorite activities is swimming. It has been a life saver during the winters here in Minnesota. Our apartment complex has an indoor pool and a hot tub. Lately we've been going pretty frequently.

A couple weeks ago I took her floaties off and wanted to help her practice swimming without them, I turned to talk to a friend for one minute (which is all the time it takes, of course) and saw Jade bouncing off the bottom of the hot tub, with her mouth barely at water level. I quickly swooped her up and out of the water. She was fine but certainly a little freaked out. I can't tell you how panicked I was. I totally balled that night telling the story to Dan. Ever since then, she's been very cautious around the water. Slowly, but surely, she's getting her confidence back.

These pictures were taken pre-water fiasco.

Happy 31 Dan!

2011-01-27T04:51:00.000-07:00

Dan turned 31! We surprised him with a cake and a couple gifts. He works so hard and school has been rather stressful for him, so it was nice to celebrate and have a little fun.

He requested a German chocolate cake. I made it from scratch and it was fantastic! If I do say so myself.
Look at Jade's face in this picture. :)
Happy Birthday babe!

We love to read

2011-01-21T21:54:00.006-07:00

Every week Jade and I (and now Chloe) take the shuttle bus from our apartment complex over to the library for story time. She can't be bothered to sit still for all those stories though, with a toy kitchen/restaurant calling her name. She will run back over to the story time area though if she hears music. She likes to bust a move.

We've always enjoyed reading to Jade and really encouraged her to spend time with books. Dan and I both like to read and hope to pass that on to our girls.

Jade's latest favorite book from the library is, The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog by Mo Willems.

It's hilarious! The book is cheeky and fun. Although, I think it has started a new round of selfishness in our house. Everything is "MINE". Check it out! (Ha Ha, get it? Check it out?)

Sisters

2011-01-20T18:54:00.002-07:00

When I found out I was having another girl I was so thrilled that Jade would have a sister. I know how much I love my sisters and wanted that for her. Dan snapped a picture of them all cuddled up after having a bath together. Jade has been so helpful and feels very sad when Chloe cries. She'll be a great, big sister!

Jade starts preschool!

2011-01-19T18:37:00.000-07:00

Jade started preschool on Wednesday! She was so excited. Certainly more excited than I was. Because Jade struggles with her speech she gets to attend a preschool in a fantastic school district and receive one on one help with speech and well as getting to be in a typical preschool setting. I'm really excited for her.

I felt really nervous sending her off on the school bus. I mean, who ever heard of a 3 year old riding the bus to school on their own? But seeing as how we only have one car and Dan is in school five days a week, all day long, over an hour away from our house, we didn't really have any other option if we wanted her to attend. I was relieved to hear that the bus has seat belts and that there is another adult (other than the driver) who assists the kids while on the bus. Here she is, all buckled in and ready to go. She got a small pouty face when I said goodbye, but once I was off the bus and waved at her through the window she waved back.

She came home even more happy then when she left. She had made a "doctor bag" at school, she got to play in the gym (because it was 2 degrees outside), and read a story about doctors. My baby girl is getting so big!

Sweet Dreams

2010-10-22T19:57:00.003-06:00

Tonight, as I leaned down to kiss Jade good night, she wrapped her arms around my neck and said "I love you". I whispered "I love you too. Sweet dreams" and as I went to stand up she hugged me tighter. This was one of the first times that she has spontaneously said "I love you" and it melted my heart. Love my little angel.

Apple Jacks Orchard

2010-10-21T21:52:00.003-06:00

Every fall, (ok, last year, and this year) we've gone to Apple Jacks to enjoy the fall weather. Last year we picked delicious apples (ok, pilfered fallen apples from the trees). But this year there were no apples on the trees because of an early frost. So we bought some apple cider doughnuts and enjoyed the scenery.

Jade went on a pony ride, which was really short, but she had so much fun.
We had such a great time with our friends and Jade had a great time trying to feed the goats and staring at the turkeys. Sadly, it feels like fall is almost on its way out.

Jade turns 3!!

2010-09-20T21:31:00.001-06:00

My beautiful baby is 3! Jade is the most fantastic child! She makes it very easy to be a parent. We are so lucky to have her in our family. She is developing quite a sense of humor. She laughs to herself when she's watching shows, like if Curious George does something extra silly. :)

Her birthday party wasn't scheduled until the weekend after her birthday so on her actual birthday we wanted to take her out for something fun. We asked her where she wanted to go and she said "Ikea". She loves that place.
Here we are getting ready to head down to her party, which we had at the club house at our apartment complex.
We brought the CD player down so that the kids could dance to The Wiggles. Or just run around like maniacs, you know, whatever works.
We had pizza and hot dogs, pineapple, and chips. It was so fantastic and delicious.
We got the cake from Costco and it was super delicious! Jade was so excited to blow out the candle and loved/got shy when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her. (If you can't tell, the Oreos on the cake are supposed to look like mickey mouse ears).

Jade's Dental Surgery

2010-09-17T11:51:00.004-06:00

Jade got my bad teeth genes. I took her for her first dental checkup a few weeks ago. They confirmed what I was dreading. She had two cavities on her lower molars. Because she's so young and wouldn't be able to hold still long enough to have the cavities filled they wanted to put her under.

Here's a picture of her in the waiting room. She wasn't allowed any food that morning and I felt so bad for her because the whole way to the surgery center she kept saying "eat, eat". Once we got there and she saw the room full of new toys she seemed to forget how hungry she was.

Here she is, in her cool hospital jammies. She didn't seem nervous or anything, although, I'm not sure how much she really understood what was going to happen. Dan was able to be there with her while she fell asleep. We waited in the waiting room for about an hour and a half and she was done. When we came into her recovery room she was just staring at the wall. She didn't seem overly happy to see us but I think she was still kind of out of it. She kind of freaked out when she saw the IV in her hand. I held her while she ate three pink otter pops and watched Sesame Street.

30 weeks

2010-09-16T21:13:00.002-06:00

I haven't been very diligent at getting pictures of my belly. But this is one that I took today, I have about 10 weeks left and I'm feeling really well. Except for some nagging back pain. So excited to have another baby girl join our family.

Minnesota State Fair

2010-09-10T22:10:00.003-06:00

It was cold and rainy but we couldn't pass up the Minnesota State Fair. We met our friends there and let the feasting begin.

Here is a picture of Jade downing her first glass of all-you-can-drink chocolate milk. After telling her she could get some chocolate milk while driving to the fair, that's all she talked about the whole way there.

She was so excited about going on the rides! We let her ride the carousel and she had a great time, even though this picture might not look like it. She actually looked pretty nervous the whole time but when we asked if she had fun she said "Yeah!".
Jade and Ava, wearing their Pronto Pup hats. The Pronto Pups must be a Minnesota thing because I didn't think they were all that great. I'd rather have just had a corn dog. Oh well. Cool hats.

Wicked!

2010-08-31T22:17:00.000-06:00

Dan and I got to go see Wicked with our friends the Smiths. We had such a nice afternoon out! And the show was fantastic! The Opheum theater is really neat, very ornate, with a huge chandelier. The music is fantastic and the costumes and choreography were awesome as well.

Chuck E Cheese

2010-08-27T22:24:00.000-06:00

So what do you do on a lazy Saturday? Take your "spoiled" daughter to Chuck E. Cheese, of course!! We didn't have anything planned for the day and had just received a coupon in the mail for some pizza, so we enjoyed! (p.s. The pizza is probably better than you remember it. At least it was for me.)

Whack-a-mole, or whack-a-shark. Whatever. Just whack!
This was my favorite ride at Chuck E. Cheese as a kid. After Dan got Jade down he said "well, that was dumb". Oh well.
Jade and Daddy riding a big kid roller coaster ride. She's reaching for his hand. She's too cute!!
Enjoying the sucker, and holding her bracelet, that she won with her tickets.

It's a girl!!

2010-08-26T08:15:00.002-06:00

We are so excited to announce that we'll be adding another baby girl to our family in November! She looks healthy and is growing right on schedule. She loves to move around, which is fun, for now. :)

We're so excited for Jade to have a little sister. I'm not sure how much she really grasps but she seems pretty excited. She loves to talk to baby sister, but that of course means lifting up my shirt, which isn't so much fun in the grocery store. She'll be such a great helper. We can't wait!