The Kelly Clan

Micey Monkey

2012-02-03T13:01:00.000-06:00

Maya's latest dance/gymnastics routine. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t10wKSf7EKE

Found

2012-02-01T17:10:00.005-06:00

Sorting clothes the other day I found ALL this in Maya's dirty clothes hamper. Brace yourself...

2 skirts from the "too small box"
3 clean, and still folded T-shirts
5 pairs of clean and still folded pants
1 clean summer dress
1 clean sweatshirt
2 dress up tu-tu's and 1 dress up shirt
4 swimsuits
1 American Girl doll hat and dress
1 pair of rolled up clean socks
2 plastic bracelets
1 random paper butterfly

This could possibly be her biggest haul ever, although I have found some amazing things in her dirty hamper. Gotta love this kid.

Lazy Sunday

2012-01-23T22:11:00.005-06:00

Beauty shop-ing

Snuggling
Begging

Pouting

Working

Lego building

Fort constructing

Sleeping/TV watching

Now that's what I call a lazy Sunday!

2012-01-04T20:38:00.002-06:00

I'm so glad Santa brought the girls these Rudolph noses in their stockings. The only thing better would have been if they actually blinked red like they were supposed to. This is one of my favorite pictures from Christmas!

Maya's Christmas Program

2011-12-16T21:50:00.002-06:00

Maya had her Christmas program on Thursday. It was pretty much a repeat of what we saw 2 years ago with Maggie. Same anges, shephards, wiseman and Mary and Joseph, same songs.
Not that it wasn't totally cute though. How can 4 and 5 year olds NOT be cute when they're wearing these adorable angel costumes.

I mean..come on...isn't she the cutest little angel you've ever seen!

She belted out the Christmas carols, changed to fit her classes theme of going "Around the World". To us it was like deja vu, but she thought it was great.

Even the same teachers....who are fabulous by the way. And the nicest people you will ever meet. They are the ones who should be wearing angel suits...there are some characters in Maya's class that definitely require the patience of angels. : )

What we've been up to...

2011-12-10T21:04:00.003-06:00

We've been busy...as is obvious by the lack of blog posts. As you can see from the pictures below, we've been busy!

First it was Bella's birthday. Our little lovely is now 9 years old. She got a new (on clearance from Halloween) spider which she promptly tore apart and destroyed the squeaker. She also got homemade pupcake treats that were a hit!
The Christmas tree was found, purchased and decorated...after about 3 trips to Target to get lights. Sigh.....

Maya's been quite the little performer lately. We've been attending LOTS of performance, both of the singing and gymnastics/dance variety. Very entertaining.

Here she's singing a Christmas carol, but usually its one of her kids CDs and let me tell you - she is quite the diva!

Maya and her BFF Lily have been playing...ok, mostly dancing and dressing up.

One day when Lily, Meghan and Chase were over, I set this sensory tub for Chasey so the girls could do a craft at the table without him drooling all over everything. Lets just say the girls liked the tub as much as Chase did.

Ahhh, they finally got to the craft...decorating Christmas shapes with stickers, glue and other stuff found in the craft bins. : )Here are the results of multiple crafts.

I found a couple of recipies for chocolate goodies and were just begging to be tried, so I enlisted Maya and Lily to help. Good thing Maya went and found those little aprons. I know the table looks clean in the picture, but trust me, it was COVERED in chocolate, as were the girls for the most part. : )

These Giant Mallow Cups and Christmas Krunch bars were super yummy!

So that's what we've been up to. Today we traded in the girls too-small ice skates for new ones that actually fit and headed to the rink. Their skating is much improved from last year already on our first time out. We are crediting it to their roller blades, but who knows. Pictures to come. : ) Tomorrow we're off to the Macy's display and the Holidazzle parade. Good stuff!

False Start

2011-12-02T21:51:00.002-06:00

False start to Christmas. Maya found her Santa gift in the office closet tonight while I was at work. She and Aaron were playing hide and seek until she spotted that pink beauty in the closet. He said she was NOT to be denied that car! : ) I knew it was THE gift this year for her since she just got her American Girl doll for her birthday from Grammy and Poppy! Aaron said it was all he could do to get her not to go to bed with it! Gotta love it, even if it means I need a plan B for her Santa gift. Hmmmm.... : )

Maya turns 5!

2011-11-12T21:52:00.005-06:00

Maya Brynn Kelly is 5 years old!

I know its hard to believe, but its true! Since her real birthday was on a Monday, we celebrated on the weekend. First up...presents!!!!

The BEST PRESENT EVER!!! A new balance beam from Grandma and Grandpa and mom and dad!
Next best, a new workout outfit from Auntie Callie. She LOVES it!

Is there any doubt she likes it?? : )

No birthday would be complete without one of mommy's famous princess cakes.

With her birthday being on a Monday and since we were unable to celebrate that evening due to me working and Maggie being at gymnastics, we picked up Lily and headed out to the Mall of America to ride the rides! You used to get in free on your birthday...to all of you who are thinking this as I was...not true anymore. Bummer.

They had the Diego bus all to themselves!

Giddy up horsey!

Their favorite..the swings!

Ready to ride the frog hopper (or whatever its called!)

The looks on their faces were priceless!

Choo-choo!

Ready for the hot air balloons to lift off.

Checkin' out the sights at the top of the ferris wheel, sporting her new shirt Lily got her. They visited Winter the dolphin on their trip to Florida. So cool!

Another favorite, the little roller coaster. It got an "this is awesome!"

Oh yeah! Hands up!

Add in a trip to look around the American Doll store and lunch at McDonalds and you get a great 5th birthday!

Ghosts & Goblins Meet

2011-11-08T22:19:00.004-06:00

Maggie's last meet was the Ghosts & Goblins meet, aptly named, since it was on the weekend before Halloween. The girls didn't have their best meet, but it was another good experience for them.

Waiting for warm ups to begin.

The best part of the meet was after the competition was over all the teams had a costume contest. The girls' coach was the Cat in the Hat and the girls were Things 1-8! Maya was not to be left out and I made her a Thing 9 shirt. She thought she was hot stuff and jumped right in with the big girls. The girls didn't win the costume contest, but their coach, Tiffany did win for best coach's costume! Next up, the State meet in December. They are working hard to show their best stuff!

Halloween

2011-11-05T21:58:00.003-05:00

Better late than never right? Actually I've been looking for a picture of the girls in their costumes, but can't find one. They were in their costumes and out the door so quick we couldn't get the camera out in time I guess. Maybe next year.

We did get our pumpkins carved however. They both made up their own faces, but I did most of the carving. Both were very proud of their creations. Maya did not want her picture taken though.

Bella all dressed up in her pumpkin costume, ready to bark at all who dare come to the door trick-or-treating.

Some jar lanterns the girls and I made. We put tea lights in them and lit them up for the trick-or treators. I think they turned out rather good, don't you?

Jack-o-lanterns!

Finally dark and the jack-o-lanters were a glowin!

Maya guarding the candy bowl from Bella as the last of the trick-or-treaters came by.

The girls had a great time trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Maggie, Kyra and Meghan took off running. Maya went out with Lily and Megan Z. and myself. They did quite well themselves. We made the neighborhood rounds before they peetered out and sat down to chow down.

Aaron was in charge of handing out candy this year. He was a total scrooge and therefore we are left with a huge hoard of candy. Maggie has already been caught sneeking it more than once. : ) Another successful Halloween down the tubes. Already looking forward to next year!

Maya Monkey

2011-10-29T20:47:00.000-05:00

Maggie's Meet

2011-10-26T21:50:00.003-05:00

Maggie had her very first competition 2 weeks ago. The meet was in Eden Prairie at Legacy Gymnastics. It was kind of nice that it was an in-gym meet. The feel was much more homey and practice like than if it had been held at a highschool or something. She has 8 girls on her team - Makenna, Maggie, Lauren, Kendall, Haley, Quinn, Marina and Molly.
Here they are warming up for beam. Maggie's on the right with her arms out to the side.

She did great for her first meet. Floor was first and she did pretty good - a little goof on her round off back handspring, but a good start. I think her score was a 7.65. Next was vault and she scored a great 8.9! So close to that 9.0!!! Bars came next and that was a disaster. 2 falls, but what do you do. She only scored a 7.05 on that one. Definitely room for improvement and she has as one of her goals to make her bar routine this weekend at her second meet. Beam was last and she wobbled her way through, but stayed on. Yay! I think her beam score was a 7.35. Anyway, her scores were enough to qualify her to the state meet. All her teammates except one qualified to state in their first meet. Pretty good I'd say!

Maya really wanted to get onto the floor. She had to settle for sitting on the concrete floor though. We had to call the sister of a teammate to bring an emergency leotard, since she forgot hers. : )

As a team the girls took second place out of 6 teams! They were so excited to get that big trophy that is now proudly displayed in the gym.

Happy girls after the meet. Great job girlies! Their next meet is this Saturday bright and early! Wish them luck!

Pumpkin Patch & Apple Orchard

2011-10-19T21:58:00.005-05:00

About a week ago when Grandma and Grandpa were visiting, we made the annual trek to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch. We went to Afton Apple for some picking.

First we hit the apple orchards.

We hopped on the tractor and made our way out to the trees.

Everyone got a little carried away and we came home with 2 GIANT bags full of apples!

There were lots on the ground.

Next it was off to the pumpkin patches.

The pumpkin selection was really good this year. Lots of really nice round, blemish free pumpkins for the picking.

Mags went all over that field searching for the perfect pumpkin.

Maya found hers right away.

Maggie finally found hers WAY out in the field.

Two happy girls!

Silly girls waiting for the tractor to come pick us up.

Off we go with pumpkins and apples in tow.

Looks like an empty bus. : )

While Grandpa stood in a very long line to pay for the pumpkins, the girls rode the cow train. Here's Maya riding in Kathy...

...and Mags in Misty the cow.

Finally we hit the cafe for apple donuts. Yummy!

All done!

Suprisingly it was about 80 degrees that day which was a little weird. Picking out pumpkins while wearing shorts and sweating just didn't really jive, but what do you do. Now the weather's changed and I even turned the fireplace on today. Winter is coming whether we like it or not. But first, Halloween...better get carving those pumpkins!

We still have apples sitting on the counter. We made applesauce, apple cake and I made apple cupcakes with caramel buttercream frosting a couple days ago. They are TO DIE FOR! The frosting just melts in your mouth. Mmmmmm......I'll post a picture later. Too bad you can't have one. I've had one to many. : )

80s Party

2011-09-28T09:09:00.003-05:00

Welcome back to the 80s!!!! Last weekend we had a going away party for our awesome neighbor Davin, who just deployed to Afghanistan for at least a year. He chose the theme...an 80s dress up party! Quite a cast of characters showed up...

Michael Knight (from Knight Rider) and Hanz (of Hanz and Franz of SNL - We're here to PUMP YOU UP!)

The Ghostbusters

Bret Michaels (lead singer of 80s band Poison), and his groupie

Andy and Claire from the Breakfast Club

Maverick and Charlie from Top Gun

The guy from Better Off Dead.

Hanz and Franz from SNL - We're here to PUMP YOU UP!

Hanz and Franz showing off their muscles!

80s ladies!

There really is no caption for this one. : )

Getting geared up for Karaoke!

Even Rajeev was sucked in by the 80s ladies.

Awesome party...thanks Paula and Mary for hosting. Thanks for Davin being depolyed so we had a reason to do it! Thank you for serving our country...stay safe. The Cove will watch over Katie and the girls!

Birthday Girl!

2011-09-26T21:59:00.004-05:00

Happy 7th Birthday Maggie!

We had to celebrate a couple days early due to Daddy going on a business trip, but she didn't care. Grandma and Grandpa were even in town to celebrate with her.

Lots of presents. Maya even contained herself and let Maggie open all of them.

Chapter books.

New game.

Easy Bake oven.

New gym bag!

Her actual birthday (today) consisted of school and gymnastics. I brought cupcakes to gymnastics tonight so the girls all ate those to celebrate. I can't believe she's already seven. Time flies. Happy Birthday Mags!

Maya's first day of school...finally!

2011-09-20T09:57:00.002-05:00

Well, it wasn't when we expected, but Maya finally made it to her first day of school. She was sick on the official first day, but we made it today, barely. I was remembering back to Maggie's first day of 4 year old preschool with Mrs. Ringrose. She seemed so much bigger, and as I remember it, it went quite differently.
Maggie's first day - spiffy new school clothes
Maya's first day - hand me downs
Maggie's first day - showered body, curled hair
Maya's first day - chalky from yesterday's gymnastics, yesterdays slept on hair
Maggie's first day - arrived 10 min early to take pictures
Maya's first day - arrived with not a moment to spare, last kid in the class, a hurried picture at the classroom door.
Maggie's first day - drove right to the school
Maya's first day - took the round about way because I apparently was headed to the grocery store, not school.

But, we made it, she's happy, and I'm finally free! Good thing we don't have a third kid or they might not make it to school at all!

First of First

2011-09-08T21:35:00.002-05:00

The first day of first grade...its a wonderful thing. Good thing school started or we were gonna have to kick her to the curb. Year round school isn't such a bad idea. : )

Hyped up and ready to go.

The Tri-fecta. (Kyra, Meghan N., Mags)

Addison Alcove bus stop this year. Quite a crew with four new kindergartners this year!

Ahhhhh....the bus is FINALLY here! See ya'll later!

Maya watching the bus go...wishing she was on it. Preschool doesn't start for 2 weeks yet. Bummer.

Sunflowers

2011-09-05T21:06:00.006-05:00

This year in our little garden, I was out voted and it turned into a flower garden instead of a vegie garden. We planted wild flowers and sunflowers...giant sunflowers. We grew these from seeds and the package wasn't joking...these babies are HUGE!

This was like 2 weeks ago. They're almost as tall as the first floor of the house and at the bottom, the stems are 2+ inches in diameter.

The blossoms got so big that they bent over and actually broke the stem, so I cut them off. I tried scissors, but it took one of the kitchen knives to cut those suckers off.

As you can see, they are bigger than our heads!

Maggie's Statue of Liberty pose. : )

These sunflowers were cool, but I think next year we'll be back to zucchini and cucumbers.

Hip Hip Hooray...

2011-08-31T21:11:00.001-05:00

...Maya made her very first bridge kick over today!

A's and oil pastels

2011-08-21T21:15:00.003-05:00

Summer is coming to an end...only 2 weeks till school starts. Time to get back into the swing of learning. We've been doing "homework" sporadically throughout the summer, but we've tried to kick it into high gear in the last week or so. Maya is definitely in need of some extra help. Poor thing, she just can't keep up with her smarty pants big sister. Her writing is terrible, which I'm sure is totally normal for a 4 year old, but we've been trying to work on it some. Last week we started with good ol' letter A. We started with some printing, and then I got out the shaving cream and let her try some that way.

Pretty good with the capital letter...the lowercase took a bit more practice, but she finally got it.

I've been trying to get her to write her name with lowercase A's, so this is an important one for her, but a hard one too, she likes to put the line on the left side instead of the right. Oh well...practice makes perfect!

She is not a traditional pen and pencil learner like Maggie, so I'm having to be a bit more creative. I think the shaving cream was a success though! Later in the week we learned how to write the letter "T". This one we did by painting. Much more fun than writing with a pencil don'tcha think?!

We've also been slacking a little on the art projects, but last week when I was watching the neighbor kids, I pulled out some paper and the oil pastels and they created masterpieces! I got this idea from one of the blogs I read but can't remember which one (sorry!). I had the girls start with a circle and color in a rainbow of circles around the original one. A total "no fail" project.

They all turned out great. I might even frame some of them and put them downstairs in the basement for some color and give the walls a "modern art" kind of look. Now to come up with something for this week.... ; )

Who needs water?

2011-08-01T19:18:00.003-05:00

A tube and a friend are all a girl needs!

Breakfast

2011-07-24T09:15:00.003-05:00

Maya declared that she was making breakfast this morning. First came making orange juice.

Then came toast and cupcakes.

Mmmmmmm.....

Best breakfast ever!

Even more toothless

2011-07-15T12:03:00.001-05:00

Front tooth number 2 lost its battle this morning in the middle of the grocery store. The free kids cookie took care of it. : )

Toothless

2011-07-14T14:31:00.000-05:00

I guess the Tooth Fairy is comin' tonight!

Spring shows

2011-06-08T22:14:00.002-05:00

On Friday, both girls had their Spring Shows for gymnastics. Of course, the camera decided not to cooperate. It seems that it will still take pictures, but the screen is black so you have to guess what you're taking pictures of. Hence, the quality of these is terrible. Any suggestions for a new camera????

Anyway, Maya was first. She's only been on training team for a couple weeks so she's still getting the hang of things. You can definitely tell that she's the youngest one on the team...she's got the attention span of a gnat!

The girls did a little routine on every event. I only got a couple of them on video before the camera was out of space. : ) Then they got a medal. So cool!

Maya's team.

Mags and her medal. She's learning all her Level 4 routines for competition in the fall. She's doing great! She's memorized the beam routine, and has just one skill to master on bars. She's excited to show off her stuff in a meet!

Maggie's Level 4 team.

Maya on vault.

Maya being a monkey on the trampoline.

2011-05-27T22:23:00.004-05:00

Lake Elmo Elementary kindergarten classes had their annual Spring Sing concert last Thursday. 3 of the K classes took the stage in the morning, and the other two went in the afternoon. The songs were all either patriotic or had to do with spring. The kids were very cute. Maggie's class is the one with the flower hats and she's on the far right.

After the concert, all the kids and families went out into the courtyard for cookies and lemonade, then hit the playground!

The girls of course headed straight for the bars and Maya was not to be left out.

Climbing the giant "spider web".

Again, Maya was not to be left out.

Here's a quick snippet of the concert. The boy behind Mags is Arsh - the class clown as you will see.

The girls both LOVE doing the monkey bars which makes perfect sense, seeing as they are both part monkey. : )

Clean - or not

2011-05-22T21:47:00.007-05:00

Our front room...the bain of my existence. It is always a mess! This last week was doubly bad because of the "fort" daddy helped the girls build and then never put away.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh.......now that's more like it!

Egg carton flowers

2011-05-08T20:31:00.003-05:00

On Wednesdays, when the Z's come over, I like to have a craft ready to go. It takes up time, and the Z girlies like to be crafty. Last week we made egg carton flowers. I got this idea from one of the blogs I read, but I can't remember which one now. I think they turned out super cute.

First, cut up an empty egg carton into the individual egg cups, then cut each egg cup so that it has 4 petals.

Paint the flowers. We used glitter paint for some extra sparkle!

Then glue a pom pom into the center of each flower and glue them on a piece of paper along with a stem (we used sparkly pipe cleaners).

Lastly, cut out some leaves and add them to the flowers wherever you like!

Voila! Aren't they cute?

Easter!

2011-04-26T10:16:00.004-05:00

Easter, as usual, was a Cove event. On Saturday we held the annual Cove Easter Egg Hunt. The crowd was a little slim this year as a lot of people had plans out of the house, but it was still a blast.

The kids are, seriously, the worst egg finders ever. They couldn't find the eggs right under their noses.

But, with help, all of them were found and all the kids were thrilled with their loot.

Even Chase got in on the action this year, although he was plenty satisfied walking around aimlessly with his prized green egg.

Mags is definitely a candy lover (like her mother) and went through her eggs multiple times inspecting the contents.

We also colored eggs on Saturday. Thankfully all the dye stayed in the cups and there were no major mishaps...and the eggs turned out great.

Look what the Easter bunny brought!!! New swimsuits... as shown above on our lovely models. ; ) The Easter bunny also brought bubbles, a small bunny painting project, chocolate marshmallow bunny and a few jelly beans and chocolate eggs. The Easter bunny hid the baskets well too. It took Maggie at least 30 minutes to find hers.

I made a small ham, and our neighbors Tom and Wendy ended up providing us with a multitude of side dishes from their earlier dinner. Easy peasy for me! The weather was sunny and warm and we spent the day, after church, playing and relaxing in the sun. It was a very nice day.

Hair

2011-04-17T10:01:00.006-05:00

Maggie: "I'm a crazy girl, I'm a crazy girl, I'm a crazy girl.... (on and on and on and on and on.....) Me: Mags, can you please stop with all the repeating. It's driving me nuts and I'm gonna start pulling my hair out! Daddy: Mags, keep going...mom would look funny without any hair. Me: (to Maggie ) Ok, would you like a mommy without any hair? Maya: You mean like grandpa? : )

Hello Spring

2011-04-15T20:26:00.003-05:00

Hello spring. Nice to see you. Good bye snow...see you next year. Last week the last of the snow piles melted away and we finally had a clear view of our matted down grass and vole damage. Well, it's a better view than snow anyway! The only snow left was a little pile in the middle of the cul de sac where it had been piled up by the plows over the course of the winter. This is a picture of our next door neighbors house. Rajeev and Nisha and Abhi live here. Recently they informed us that they are going to try to sell their house. We think they're crazy, and we definitely don't want them to move. Who know what riff raff might move in. Anyway, Rajeev HATES the snow and cold weather. I mean HATES it. With a passion. Anyway, Aaron had the brilliant idea to put the rest of the snow in the cul de sac in his driveway as a joke. Hee-hee! As you can see it wasn't a ton of snow....just enough so that Rajeev would have to get out and shovel it to get his car in the garage. : )

Our across the street neighbor Mike and his son Patrick got in on the action too.

They started out by bringing our wagon down to the pile and filling it and bringing it back to dump, but soon found out that by filling Rajeev's garbage can it went much faster.

The finished pile.

He's such a good sport...and an easy target!

Nothing but love...

My other girls

2011-04-04T21:31:00.002-05:00

My "other girls" did fabulously at their meet yesterday. This crew took 3rd as a team with several individual 1st places in there and MANY personal bests! Awesome. This group took 4th place as a team. They didn't have their best meet, but this is only their first year competing and they are improving so much! Plus...aren't they cute!!! I love all these girls! They are ALL my "other girls"!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-30T20:55:00.002-05:00

Yes, that's Maya fast asleep in the pack n play. Can hardly see her under the pile of stuffed animals. : )

Random

2011-03-27T21:51:00.004-05:00

So...I haven't posted in almost a month...well maybe its been over a month now, I've lost track. The reason is simple - I haven't taken any pictures! Up until about a week ago, the camera was burried under a pile of junk and just never made it out into the open. Sorry. These pictures are random, but are our life in a nutshell. These are for you Grammy. : )

Poor Bella. She found herself one day in the baby stroller. She lasted only about 30 seconds before she was outa there!

I've been having some problems with my hamstring/glute/back lately so I bought one of these foam rollers used for deep tissue massage. Maya got right to work massaging her hips!

Nothing says spring in Minnesota like this picure. The bikes had been out and then we got an ice and snow storm and now it is frozen in the wagon. : )

Maya and I made a trip to the Children's Museum last week. Her favorite part is the face painting.

Here she is "jousting" on her plastic horse.

This morning I was sorting the laundry. Maya's hamper weighed like 50 lbs and was overflowing with "stuff". This is what I found at the bottom of her hamper. We'd been wondering what in the world she had done with that toothpaste. : )

Maggie's walrus tusks.

And a chicken nugget mustache.

Calling All Princesses: A Documentary

2011-02-26T20:05:00.013-06:00

Good evening, folks! This is Sidney, Gretchen's youngest sister and I am visiting the Kelly's for a few days in the bustling metropolis of Woodbury, Minnesota. I've never been here during Winter before and I'll probably never be back in Winter ever again. While the snow is very pretty, zero degrees Farenheit makes me cranky. Also, it makes my hair frizzy.

Today we may or may not have experienced a minor bout of cabin fever:

So, we decided to engage in one of our favorite indoor past times - baking! Callie, the third 'Field' sister, introduced us to this fantastic baking blog called Baked Perfection and we decided to tap into the deliciousness that is the Sugar Cookie Cupcake. We cannot recommend these enough... with or without the princess theme.

The final product. But first, let's enjoy the process...

We had to add food coloring to the batter in order to make it princess pink, naturally.

Four different princess toppers to choose from!

Maggie was helping mom make the frosting and added a cup of powdered sugar while the mixer was mixing. Doh!

Gretchen busted out the frosting tips for the ultimate frosting experience.

The girls each got to decorate their own cupcake.

This is Maggie's.
And this is Maya's.

Aren't they beauuuuuutiful?!

As is she.

As is Bellsy.

Olympian

2011-02-15T21:11:00.002-06:00

A couple weeks ago, 2008 Olympian gymnast Alicia Sacramone visited our gym. The 2011 Visa Championships are being held in St. Paul this August and our gym sold a certain number of tickets to get her to visit. The kids were super excited for her to come.

She gave a brief little talk, answered questions and then signed autographs (or leotards in the case of many of the girls - including ours).

Maya still talks about her. Now, when she's doing routines in the living room, her name is usually changed to Alicia. : )

Vacation photos

2011-02-14T21:37:00.006-06:00

We had an awesome vacation. Grandma and grandpa met us down in Orlando. We stayed at the Loews Royal Pacific hotel which is a Universal property and was right by the parks. They even had a water taxi that took us back in forth when we didn't want to do the 5 min. walk. We sent 2 days at SeaWorld, and 3 days between Universal Studios and Universals Islands of Adventure. Fun was had by all. Check it out...

Jaws!!!!!

Shrek and Donkey

Curious George and the man with the yellow hat

This was the coolest place ever. It had all these foam balls and the whole place was filled with ball shooters, vaccum tubes, slides, etc. We had a blast there!

At the entrance to Universal Studios

SeaWorld

Hi Shamu!

Feeding the sea lions. Maya wouldn't touch the fish but Maggie tossed them right in.

Another Shamu

Woody the Woodpecker at Universal Studios.

My dad saw these two lovly ladies and just HAD to get a picture. : )

Rrrrrrroar!

New Cat in the Hat t-shirts from grandma and grandpa.

Hello from the land of Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Express!

....another....Shamu

Cool "inside the tank" viewing area.

Daddy had to get in there too!

It was an awesome trip. Can't wait to do it again.

Dishwashers

2011-01-23T18:47:00.002-06:00

Last Saturday we declared that the girls were to be on dish duty. They were thrilled and overjoyed to be able to get into the sink and wash all the dishes. They ASKED to have dish duty every Saturday night and we happily said "sure thing!" Well, we totally forgot yesterday, but Maya reminded us this afternoon that she and sissy were up for dish duty tonight!

Maya was on washing duty, Maggie loaded the dishwasher "so that it would be loaded properly". Her words, not mine.

Dad and I helped clear the table a little bit...Daddy was putting away an extra turkey burger and apparently he dropped it on the floor where our little furry garbage disposal was there lickety split and tried to inhale it in one bite.

Maya actually does a pretty good job "washing", except for the fact that we end up with a significant amount of water on the floor afterwards. (Notice the stream coming off the corner of the sponge.)

Mags did a great job loading the dishwasher "properly".

Afterwards, Maggie was actually mad that there weren't more dishes to wash and that she didn't get to do them. (We only had hamburgers tonight...not many dishes). I told her next weekend I'd make a bigger meal with lots of dishes!

Cooking 101

2011-01-19T14:53:00.004-06:00

Baby its cold outside! So you can't go outside, you bake! I've really been trying not to bake so much, because I end up eating the results and that doesn't lend itself to taking links off the chain (5 links off so far!!!) but sometimes you've just gotta do it!

Last week we made "Princess Puffs" which are basically colored merangue(sp?) with sprinkles...but oh so good and really not terribly bad for you since they're pretty much just egg whites. : ) Good for me!

Today we had a banner day. After making melon jello with canned fruit, I discovered a pie crust in the fridge that we never used at Christmas, so Maya got out the cinnamon and sugar and a snowman cookie cutter and went to town making pie crust cookies. Yummm!

Then Maya announced that she wanted to make her own thing...so we got out a bowl, spoon, measuring cup and she went to town.

Check out the finished product! Ingredients were as follows:

small piece of cookie

banana cut into pieces

water

chocolate chips

rice

Nutella

Then she made a "treat" for Bella. It was made of water, honey nut cheerios and banana. She thought it was grrrreat!

Little Girl Talk

2011-01-14T11:14:00.003-06:00

This is a part of the random coversation that took place on the way home from the gym today. Lily was coming over for lunch and a play date. Gotta love 4 year old conversations!

M: Daddy doesn't know how to play barbies. He always just says, "Hey, do you wanna be friends?"
L: Yah.
M: Boys have penises.
L: Yah, my brother has a penis.
M: Jacob has a penis too...cuz he's a boy.
L: My cousins, Tyler and Jacob have penises too.
M: My Jacob is not a baby. When he comes to Minnesota next he'll be big right mom? And he'll be able to talk right?
Me: Maybe.
L: My Jacob is not a baby. Tyler and Jacob are not babies.
M: It's not nice to say shut up.
L: I know.
M: Your sister says shut up all the time right? It's not a bad word, but its not polite right?
L: Yah. Do you wanna play mom and dad when we get to your house?
M: No. Lets just play barbies.
L: No, do you wanna play upstairs in your room or downstairs?
M: Downstairs.
L: Ok, lets just have a little alone time.
M: Yah, there's no big girls so we can just have some little girl time.
L: Yah!
M: Let's just play together.
L: Ok.

Lbs

2011-01-08T20:22:00.003-06:00

Time to get back to it. The lbs have been adding up and now they're to the point that I can't take it any more and they must come back down. : ) Aaron and Maggie made me a weight loss chain. I know...it looks daunting...35 links equalling the 35 lbs I'm trying to lose. So far after 1 week, 3 links have already come off - a great start! Yeah for me! I've been working out and eating much, much healthier so...so far so good! I'm announcing it to everyone so you all can keep me accountable. I'll try to post pics every once in a while to document the shortening of the chain. I'll be back in those skinny jeans that have been collecting dust in the back of the closet in no time!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T22:09:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas everyone!!! We had a great Kelly Christmas, with Grammy and Poppy here to celebrate with us. We opened gifts (lots of them), went ice skating, had a great turkey dinner, went on a very snowy walk, and played and played and played. Couldn't ask for more.

This picture was from last weekend as the girls were ready to go to church for their Christmas program. After the program, Maggie puked all over herself...at church. : )

Gram and Pop are here! The girls love to get horsey rides on Poppy's back.

We made the trek down to the Mall of America to see Santa. It was a long wait, but the pictures turned out great!

The highlight of the trip to MOA was that Maggie got to pick out an American Girl doll as her gift from Grammy and Poppy. She was beyond thrilled!

This morning, opening the first of lots and lots of presents.

Maggie, about to open her ice skates from Grandma and Grandpa...definitely the #1 gift of the year!

Bella was not so thrilled with all the present opening. While she did receive some new nail clippers, bone ornament from Maya, and Greenies treats, she was petrified of all the commotion. She was super snuggly and calm. It was great!

The aftermath.

The girls in their skates, which were worn around for over an hour. They finally wore us down and we took them skating at a nearby park. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!!

There are no words...

2010-12-17T14:46:00.002-06:00

For the love of Bella

2010-12-11T14:32:00.002-06:00

The snow is flying, the wind is whipping, Bella's potty spot fills up continually...the things we do for the love of Bella.

Winter Blast!

2010-12-11T11:49:00.002-06:00

We love the names that the weather people give to the storms...Winter Blast...Weekend Whopper, etc. Well, this current storm is definitely living up to all the names we've heard. We're currently in the middle of a 24 snow fest. We're expected to get 14+ inches by tonight, then add in sustained winds with gusts to 30-40 mph which makes for blizzard like conditions and an extreme cold front coming on the backside of the snow. We're talking about highs below zero for the next few days. That part sucks. Work was cancelled this morning which was delightful (and it hardly EVER happens so that's saying something). We have no place to be so LET IT SNOW! The only downside is the amount of shoveling that's required. We just came in from several hours of shoveling the driveway (and a little playing on the big snow pile in the cul de sac), only to have the snow blown right back on. Bummer.

I took this picture from inside the garage. You can see how high the snow was against the garage door! Thank the Lord it is the lighter, fluffy snow and not the wet heavy stuff!

Getting started.

Daddy's goatee (sp?) was coated with snow and ice...the girls thought he looked like Santa!

Mags LOVES the snow. Maya, not so much...notice she's not in any of the pictures - she lasted about 3 minutes outside, 2 minutes of which she stood with her face to the garage door so she didn't get the wind. : )

This is our backyard...notice the retaining wall...its probably 6-7 feet tall and you can see how high the snow has blown and drifted.

This is what's left of our fire pit. It'll be totally covered soon.

This is the biggest storm we've had since we've lived in Minnesota. If it's gonna snow, let it snow! Aaron just discovered our heat isn't working so he's back out to check the vent outside to see if its covered in a drift and to do round 3 of shoveling. The girls are up in our bathtub, with swimsuits on, playing "mermaid" and "Hawaii". Bella and I are snuggling in the living room by the fire. What a great day! Stay warm everyone!!!!

Play-doh

2010-12-09T11:24:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Maya and I made play-doh. It was actually a request by Maggie's teacher for one of their centers. I think they're making "cookies" or something. Anyway, the request was for scented play-doh. I've made play-doh before so what the heck. I ended up making 3 batches...peppermint, raspberry, and chocolate.

For the first 2 (peppermint & raspberry) I used the recipe her teacher had sent out:

Combine and boil until dissolved
2 cups water
1/2 cup salt
food coloring
scented extract (vanilla, almond, peppermint, etc.) - use A LOT of extract. I thought I used a lot and the smell was very strong when it was just the boiling water and salt, but when you added everything else and it was done, almost no smell. Oh well -live and learn!

Mix in while VERY HOT
2 T. cooking oil
2 T. baking powder
2 cups flour

Knead until smooth (about 5 min.) and store in an air tight container.

Then I remembered that I'd seen a recipe for chocolate play-doh somewhere on one of the blogs I read. I swear it was "edible", but I couldn't find that one. I did find this one though from My Montessori Journey. It smells divine - like brownies, but believe me, you do NOT want to eat it. I tried a tiny bite just to see if it was, perhaps, edible. It was a no go. : )

Mix together thoroughly
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup salt
2 t. cream of tartar

Then add 1 1/2 T. cooking oil and 1 cup boiling water. Mix and knead until you have a smooth ball of dough.

Happy playing!

Bella's Birthday

2010-11-28T19:36:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday Bella! Today our little baby turns 8! Wowzers...that's 56 years old in dog years. Aaron told the girls today that she is about as old as Grammy and Poppy! Ha! : )

For her gift, we took her to PetSmart to pick out a new toy and get a treat. Aaron thought she really would "pick out" a new toy, so he unloaded the toy aisle onto the floor so she could choose. Needless to say, she didn't give a rats behind about a single one of them, so the girls picked out a cute little duck for her. We bought this toy knowing full well it probably wouldn't last the night, as her favorite thing to do is to rip out the seams and pull out all the stuffing and get to the squeaker and bite through it too. It was mission accomplished around 6:00 tonight. : )

Maya was inisitent on having a birthday party for her. We thought about inviting over the neighbor dogs, but Bella hates them and we didn't think we should torture her on her birthday, so we settled for giving her a couple of leftover tortellini's from dinner complete with a candle. We sang her Happy Birthday and she wolfed down the tortellini's without chewing. Typical.

What would we do without her though? She drives us bonkers, but she is our baby. I tell Aaron that if I didn't have my Bella baby, I might just have to have another real baby. He says she can stay. Happy Birthday Bella babe!

Cousins come to visit

2010-11-27T21:06:00.002-06:00

Meet our newest cousin, Evie Arleene. We finally got to meet her last week and the girls were ga-ga for her. She's cute as a button of course and looks like her big brother. We had a super duper time hanging out with them, along with my sister Callie and her hubby Devin.

Jacob is a very good little boy, but I totally forgot how much of little destructors they are when they're that little. I mean seriously, I think I almost had an anxiety attack just looking at the state of our house while they were here. Jakey liked to pull everything off the shelf, but of couse, being only 14 mo. old, never put anything back. It was seriously (and I'm not exaggerating) like a Toys R Us truck exlploded, then a tornado came through and stirred it all up. Yikes! We survived though and miss them tons already.

Another good thing about having visitors...we get someone to take a family picture of us! Cheese!!

Happy Birthday Maya!

2010-11-10T09:07:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to Maya...Happy Birthday to you!

She opened lots of presents from lots of people. She got a new game, sticker book, princess make up, books, a new bike helmet, and lots more. Yeah!

For the first time, Maya got to have a "friends" party. She invited the neighborhood 3's and 4's, Lily, Finley and Emma (Emma wasn't able to make it). They played, ate cake and opened presents. It was the easiest party ever. : )

Happy Birthday big 4 year old!

Halloween

2010-10-31T20:46:00.004-05:00

First off, we had a Halloween miracle. Maggie lost her 2nd tooth. I finally had to go in and give it the final yank, but it came right out and she is thrilled. The Tooth Fairy is coming tonight. : )

Halloween basically started on Friday, with Maggie's party at school. I volunteered to help and spent the morning with her class. They had several different game/craft/snack centers and then later got to watch Monsters Inc. and eat a couple of their prizes from the morning. At the end of the day as is tradition at Lake Elmo Elementary, there was a Kindergarten parade around the school. The kids were of course super cute. Mrs. Sycks was the Gingerbread Girl from the book she is holding and had earlier read to the kids.

Maggie's class all dressed up.

Saturday we had the Cove party. We decided to have the party at a neutral location this year due to the sheer volume of people we now have. We held the party at a Davanni's, a local pizza joint that had a party room. We ate pizza, the kids did crafts, the men watched football...and no one had to clean up their house afterwards. It was lots of fun.

And that brings us to actual Halloween day...today. The girls were ready ALL day to get into their costumes, paint their faces and get trick-or-treating. Bella however was not as excited to get into her pumpkin costume. The hat didn't last long. : )

Daddy and the girls worked the neighborhood to the best of their ability and came back with full buckets. Maggie wasted no time and went right to work devouring as much candy as she could before we had to cut her off. Seriously...that girl has a sweet tooth. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree huh?

We got on Skype with grandma, grandpa, Auntie Callie, Auntie Sidney, Jakey and baby Evie so they could see the girls in their costumes. Pretty much it was me talking though as they were too busy stuffing their faces to speak.

Then it was time for bed, and time to attempt to remove all the face paint. : ) All are in bed now, including Bella who is exhausted from an evening of barking at all the kids who came to the door. Until next year...

Crazy hair

2010-10-30T20:50:00.001-05:00

Whoa!!!! I guess it was crazy hair day. She got the memo the rest of us didn't. : )

Uh-oh

2010-10-21T21:11:00.002-05:00

Several days ago I came home from work to this.

Those poor, poor barbies...

Oh...and that long lock of blond hair?...

Oh...and who's that kid that suddenly now has bangs? Yeah.

Best Friends

2010-10-16T22:32:00.004-05:00

Maya and Lily are best friends. They go together like peas and carrots, like a ball and glove. They can fight like sisters, but always make up and are two of a kind again. Our girls are so lucky to have found such good friends.

The Gift of Friendship

Friendship is a precious gift

That cannot be bought or sold,

But its value is far greater

Than a mountain made of gold -

For gold is cold and lifeless,

It can neither see nor hear,

And in the time of trouble,

It is tireless to cheer -

It has no ears to listen,

No heart to understand,

It cannot bring you comfort

Or reach out a helping hand -

So when you ask God for Gifts,

Be thankful if He sends

Not diamonds, pearls or riches,

But the love of real true friends.

Helen Steiner Rice

Maggie turns 6!

2010-09-26T20:45:00.005-05:00

This time 6 years ago I was holding my hours old first child. I was absolutely pooped, but so happy that my little girl was FINALLY here! My mom and grandma were also here and were putting every ounce of their energy into jockying for position to hold tiny baby Maggie.

Today, she is a big girl. She is tall. She is smart. She is funny. She is helpful. She is reading, tying her own shoes, doing cartwheels and backwalkovers, started kindergarten and has just lost her first tooth.

How'd that happen?

How come when you're a child time passes so slowly, and when you're a parent, it flies by so fast? How come when you're a parent and you want to keep your babies babies for a long time, it seems like you blink and they're all grown up? It really makes you appreciate the time you have with them. Time that they'll let you hold their hand in public...kiss them goodbye before getting on the bus, actually wanting to hang out with YOU on their birthday.

Today Mags chose to be with me (and her friend Meghan). We spent the good part of the day at the Mall of America going on the rides at Nickelodian Universe. She didn't want Maya or daddy to come, she wanted to go with me. We lunched, we went on what seemed like a million rides, we ate cotten candy, we had a lot of fun! After an afternoon at the mall, we picked up daddy and Maya and headed out for a birthday dinner...at Applebees and had some neighbors over for cake and ice cream.

She told me tonight while we were reading that last night she wished on a star. I told her not to tell me what she wished for because her wish might not come true. She said that it had already come true. She said that she wished for a really good birthday. Enough said. Happy Birthday Mags! Mommy and daddy love you so much! Try not to grow up too fast.

Child Labor

2010-09-08T20:29:00.002-05:00

Aaron believes that the reason we have children is so that they can grow up and take over the chores we don't want to do. Teach 'em young! : )

2010-09-07T14:27:00.003-05:00

Today was Maggie's first day of Kindergarten! She had her outfit layed out, backpack packed.

She was all ready to go.

Not a word of nervousness has crossed her lips.

Only excitement and total readiness.

She had her Cove friends with her to show her the way.

Off she went.

Not a tear shed by mom or dad. Mom did actually dance a jig.

She's I'm sure doing fabulously.

I did realize however that I forgot to pack the 2 daily snacks. Oops. Hopefully that didn't completely ruin the day of Little Miss Sensitive. My bad. I'm sure however that I'll NEVER forget to pack snacks again. : )

Water

2010-09-06T19:42:00.004-05:00

This summer was a HOT one. Lots of days with 90+ degree temperatures. You definitely had to get into some water to avoid melting! Some days it was the pool, some days the sprinkler and slip n slide, some days all of the above. On this particular day, we washed the car, then the girls got a hold of the hose and went bonkers. This was after we'd already spent 3+ hours at the pool and had come home and put on dry clothes. As you can see, they didn't stay dry for long!

We spent LOTS of time at the pool this summer, more than any other summer. We now have two swimmers! It was so nice not having to be in the water with them all the time. Maya picked the swimming up really fast. She also jumps in the deep end, dives to the bottom of 5 feet to do handstands or get dive sticks, does forward and backward rolls and tries to dive in. She's definitely not afraid of the water. Their favorite time though, is when daddy comes in. They LOVE to be thrown and flipped!!

But, the pool closes tomorrow and we haven't been in it since the middle of last week due to cooler weather. Mags starts school tomorrow and can hardly stand herself she is so excited. I can't believe she's actually sleeping right now. I can't believe she's going off to school, but I can't wait! She's SOOOOO ready. She's never expressed any kind of being scared or nervous, only confidence and excitement! I'm ready for a peaceful day without arguing!!!!!!! Ahhhhhh...

Woodbury Days

2010-08-29T20:11:00.006-05:00

Today was a big day. The girls got to be in their very first parade! It was Woodbury Days this weekend and the gym had a spot in the parade. Maya sneeked in at the last minute and was by far the youngest and smallest one there. It was HOT and all the poor girls were red in the face and sweating the entire parade route. They had the time of their life however. : )

After the parade, Pavel and Elena (the gym owners) had all the gymnasts over to their house for swimming and snacks.

They even had a diving board!!!

Tooth Fairy

2010-08-29T20:04:00.003-05:00

Last night at 3 am, it FINALLY happened! Maggie lost her first tooth!

This is what she wrote on the envelope she put her tooth in for the tooth fairy. : )

Storm watching

2010-08-08T19:11:00.002-05:00

This is what's going on as we speak...or as I type I guess you'd have to say. Mags and I were out on the deck watching a thunderstorm roll in just to the north of us. It was very nice out and we were talking about lightening and clouds and all kinds of interesting stuff.

We were watching lightening far away and listening to distant rumbles of thunder.

Then suddenly the clouds started to look like this.

I'm telling you...it was SO COOL!

Slightly scary because it was coming our way...but still SO COOL!

If the world does some day come to an end...this is what I'm sure it will look like.

Awesome.

Oh...by the way...we're all fine...no tornados...it blew over with nothing but some wind. : )

Scooter girls

2010-07-31T21:01:00.003-05:00

Maya finally got herself a scooter. Maggie's had one for a while, well, since her last birthday I guess, but anyway, they are a most popular item on our street, and if you don't have your own scooter, you are out of luck and not part of "the gang". Aaron made Maya a deal that if she could learn to proficiently brush her teeth, she could earn a scooter. Well, the day came a few weeks ago when we finally deemed her "proficient", so off it was to get that long awaited scooter.

Maya's has bigger wheels than Maggie's last years model. I was at work, but apparently when they brought the scooter home, Maggie saw that the wheels on Maya's new one were bigger than hers and promptly decided that Maya's was faster and threw a big, fat, fit. Aaron tried everything to try to convince her otherwise. He raced her down the street and let hers win, got neighbors to tell her that big wheels spun slower because they were bigger...everything. To no avail. But now time has passed and all is well. Thank goodness.

You should see these kids on their scooters. They are fast...they turn on a dime...they scoot up and down driveways like they are "one" with the scooter. It's pretty amazing.

Camping

2010-07-28T21:39:00.006-05:00

After a 3 year absence, we finally returned to camping at our favorite place, Tettagouche State Park up on Lake Superior. We reserved our favorite spot, space 24. Maya had never been camping and we decided she was old enough to try it now.

We went hiking up on the bluff out to Shovel Point. We brought the backpack, thinking Maya would totally weinie out on the walking. She rode on the way out, but actually walked the whole way back!

Views along the way.

Daddy and Maya at Shovel Point.

A cool breeze coming off the lake on a beautiful, warm summer day.

All the girls!

This is a cool place where climbers repel down the cliff. There were none there the day we went, but we've seen them go over the edge before.

Our campfire. Waiting for daddy's favorite meal...fire cooked hotdogs and beans. Mmmmmm!

One day we went down to where the Baptism river empties into Lake Superior. There is a little rocky beach. The girls threw rocks, waded around, and even did a little swimming. Lake Superior is FREEZING!!!!! The river is much warmer. It's kinda weird. It was a great day.

A tired monkey taking a little rest on the beach.

This is about how far out you can go in the lake without losing your toes to frost bite. : )

Playing on the beach.

This is on the river side. SO much warmer.

Daddy and the girls in the river.

Even Bella got in on the swimming action, much to her dismay. She HATES swimming and we've only made her do it once before. She's pretty good though!

Proof that the girls actually did swim in Lake Superior!

Pool Party

2010-07-18T22:18:00.002-05:00

Last weekend we were invited to a pool party by Rae, one of Maggie's little friends from gymnastics. Her grandparents had an awesome pool and hot tub. Three of her friends from class, Courtney, Jordyn, and Rae were there. They had a great time in the pool until a thunderstorm came through - but they didn't lose a beat and just jumped into the hot tub!

We are so lucky that she has made such great friends in gymnastics. Their parents are awesome as well! Good thing since we spend so much time together. : )

Random

2010-07-02T22:05:00.005-05:00

We're all packed up and ready to hit the airport tomorrow morning. Seattle here we come! But first I had to dump all the pictures off the camera. Here's a random sampling of what was on it.

New swimsuits...so excited to be twinsies!

I've seen this in several blogs that I follow as Muffin Tin Monday. Well, it wasn't a Monday, but you get the idea. I think I need some smaller muffin tins though. It was hard to fill all 12 holes! The girls thought it was fabulous though. : )

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Posing for the camera! She's cute and she knows it!

Playin' in the rain.

Our neighbors were digging holes in their backyard for new trees. Worms were a plenty.

I suggested they make a house for their worms. I found a box, they filled it with dirt, and decorated the box with markers. It was a GREAT time filler!!!! The worms were evicted after 2 days and now reside in the field at the end of the cul de sac. : )

On a different note, Happy Birthday to my littlest sissy Sidney. She's the big 30! How can that be??? And today also marks my mothers final day as a working woman. Happy Retirement Mom!!!! Just in time for us to come and invade the house. : )

An update on me

2010-06-24T21:41:00.002-05:00

Since my little "episode", all has been well, but a few of you have let me know that you'd like to know the results of all my tests. So.... my heart echo and holter monitor results were normal. My heart is good to go. My bloodwork showed that some of my thyroid levels are a little off - low I think. Anyway, I have to have that re-tested in a couple months to see if it's still low. I have no idea what happens if it still is. My MRI did show something. I guess there is a 7 mm lesion in my brain somewhere. It looks like it is a hemangioma - basically a bulging blood vessel. I have a meeting with a neurologist next Friday to go over things, but from the little we know, this is not terribly dangerous. It seems to be nearer to the venous system, rather than the arterial side, which means the pressure is not great and if it were to burst it wouldn't cause major damage. My doctor said that most likely I'll have to have periodic MRI's to make sure it isn't growing or changing. We'll know more next week after we meet with the neurologist. So, that's that. Don't worry about me.

2010-06-20T21:46:00.002-05:00

It had been a while since we'd done a "project". A learning project that is. So last week when it was rainy and cloudy out we got to work. Maggie had to find something in the house (or think of a word) that started with every letter of the alphabet and write it down. She did awesome with this. She got almost all of them and did her best to spell them by sounding out the words.

For Maya I set out all these letter cards I had all over the room. (we're still working on letter recognition) Then in a bowl I gave her these little chips with each letter on them. She was supposed to match the letter on the chip to the letter on the card. She started out with a bang.

Then peetered out after about 4 letters. Oh well. She still has the attention span of a gnat.

Then I thought it would be fun for them to create their names out of popcicle sticks. Maya has really been working on writing her name lately and has finally succeeded!!! (that Y was a tricky one!) So anyway, they made the letters and I helped them glue them together, then they got out the paints and went to work.

Mags wanted to add a "K" onto her name. "Just like it is on her mailbox" (at the gym).

After they were painted we added some ribbon and they became names on their bedroom doors. Another successful project!

I've fallen and I can't get up!!

2010-06-11T20:33:00.002-05:00

All joking aside, I did fall and couldn't get up. Most of you already know this, but Monday night at 3 a.m. I woke up feeling nauseas. I got up to go to the bathroom to throw up, turned on the bathroom light, bent over the toilet and apparently collapsed and passed out. Aaron had happened to wake up as I turned on the light and saw me hit the bathroom floor. He freaked of course and immediately called 911. I woke up about a minute later or so lying spread out on the bathroom floor. I was dizzy, nauseas, unable to really move or think clearly. The paramedics came and checked me out not finding anything wrong. They let me sit up and when I did that the nausea came right back and I went right back to the toilet to throw up. The paramedics left and I continued to throw up every 20-30 minutes for the rest of the night. It was not fun. Aaron saw a life of single fatherhood flash before his eyes. Other than being completely exhausted I felt fine by morning. Aaron made me an appointment to see the doctor that afternoon. The doc couldn't pinpoint a cause either, but is putting me through all kinds of heart testing to make sure that isn't the cause. I'm sure it isn't. Right now I'm hooked up to a portable heart monitor for 3 days. Earlier today I had an echocardiogram (ultrasound of my heart) which was kinda cool to see, and next Tuesday I am having a brain MRI and ultrasound of my corrotoid artery. I'm positive all these things will be normal, but we just want to rule them out. I'm guessing I'll have all the results in a week or two and will let you all know. Meanwhile I am the talk of the neighborhood!

2010-06-05T17:17:00.002-05:00

Maya had her little gymnastics the other day for her "Tumblers" class. She of course was in seventh heaven and thought she was the queen bee. She got a medal just like sissy did too.

This was the little floor routine they did. I missed the very beginning. The papers on the side of the mats are pictures of the skills the were supposed to do. Pretty cute!

Here's Maya goofing around on the trampoline.

Now I've got her signed up for "Super Tumblers" this summer. She's super excited!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-02T21:11:00.002-05:00

Maggie's Preschool Graduation

2010-05-28T20:55:00.004-05:00

On Thursday Maggie officially graduated from Ready, Set, Grow! preschool. They had a graduation ceremony complete with caps and gowns and the receiving of a preschool diploma.

Her class sang a few songs about their time in preschool. (Mags is back row center)

We took pictures of her class and teachers.

They walked out hand in hand. Aaron and I both got choked up a bit.

We took pictures outside.

And then shortly after this she had a meltdown about having to take more pictures with someone else. Nothing a little lemonade and a cookie couldn't fix, though. Each of her three teachers had very nice things to say about her and that was wonderful to hear.

After the festivities at school we met up with the O'Loughlins (their son Daniel, aka. Doobie is in her class) and had a special lunch out. I guess she is officially a kindergartner now. Scary. We are so proud of our not-so-little-anymore Maggie. She's smart and respectful and funny and kind. Just the kind of kid all parents ask for. Most of the time that is. : )

Maggie's Gymnastics Show

2010-05-21T21:36:00.003-05:00

Maggie's little team had a show today. It was sooooo cute! They showed off "routines" that they'd been working on. Her coach, Emily, served as the judge that they had to salute before and after as well. She did a couple of goofy things that she doesn't normally do, but overall she did great. We are so proud of her and all her hard work!

In the splits stretching before the show began.

A final salute after they were all done.

Coach Emily giving Mags her medal.

The proud gymnast!

Rising Stars Gymnastics Academy, Training Team 2.

Coach Emily, Courtney, Maggie, Erika

Meghan, Anna, Rae

Next are videos of each of the 4 events, Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor. I was sitting upstairs in the viewing area so the quality isn't that great. At times I had the video camera in one hand and the camera taking video in the other hand. A couple times I missed the very beginning. Oh well. You'll get the jist. : )

A day at the beach 5/21/10 at OneTrueMedia.com

2010-05-21T15:15:00.003-05:00

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Mag-pie

2010-05-19T09:15:00.004-05:00

Not to be outdone her little sister, here's some video of Maggie in the yard. : )

Maya madness

2010-05-15T20:50:00.002-05:00

These were taken yesterday. The girls were out in the backyard while we were getting dinner ready. Enjoy!

Many things

2010-05-10T22:10:00.006-05:00

The camera finally ran out of memory space, so it forced me to download pictures and do a new post. This could possibly be the most random one yet. Sorry.

Maggie's class took a "trip" to outer space and made jet packs (as you can see). Pretty cute!

Our neighbor Becky has a new baby and is breastfeeding on a regular basis. This has not been lost on Maya. She is now breastfeeding her own babies.

Chillin' outside on a windy day.

I taught Maggie how to count by 5's the other day by doing this project. We counted by 5's by counting hands.

Maya still needs to learn number recognition, so we counted fingers.

We had our first game of T-ball in the backyard today. Cones for bases and a hula hoop for home plate. As you can see, they had fun, even if it wasn't quite technically correct T-ball form. Oh well! :) Needless to say, those pink tights bit the dust - or the grass really I guess. They're gonners.

Daddy took Maya's training wheels off her bike last week. She was really timid at first, but now she's good to go, even riding around our "race track". She still needs help getting going, but I think she's doing great!

Random Ramblings

2010-04-28T22:17:00.003-05:00

A quick sneak peak at our week...

Dirty kids in the tub with LOTS of bubbles...

First campfire of the year, complete with roasted hotdogs and GIANT marshmallows!...

A trip to the Como Zoo with Becky and Lily for some much needed "little girl time". Sparky the seal got right up on the ledge and looked right at us...

Pictures with a penguin statue...

Watching the sea lions swimming...

My first attempt at a diaper cake for a baby shower this weekend. Pretty good if I do say so myself! : )

Off to Hawaii!

2010-04-24T21:10:00.005-05:00

Recently, Maggie's class took a "trip" to Hawaii. This whole year they have been learning about different places in the world, but this trip took the cake. It literally was the coolest thing ever!

I took a few quick pics of her classroom all set up.

So, when we arrived at the "airport", her teacher, aka, the ticket agent, was there to take her ticket and get her checked in with her seat assignment.

Getting all the passengers boarded and situated on the plane. Even Maya wanted to go!

Mrs. Ringrose the flight attendant reading the passengers the flight rules and regulations.

All ready for take off!

It was a long flight!

Getting off the plane in Hawaii!

Arriving at the "hotel", getting changed into their beach gear.

Here are all the girls...

and the boys.

All the kids made lei's the week before and were "lei'd" as they came out of the hotel.

They had a super fun day. This is all I stayed for. They had sand in the classroom and even had a luau for lunch. So fun!!! I wish I could have gone. : )

Easter

2010-04-22T22:01:00.002-05:00

Ok, ok, so Easter was like a month ago already, but here are some pictures anyways. : )

The Saturday before Easter we had our annual Cove egg hunt. The first one was for the 3 and under crowd. (Mags was "helping") The eggs were hidden in plain sight and they still couldn't find them. Seriously, they are the worst lookers EVER!

Next came the big hunt for the 4 and over crowd. This one spanned 3 yards front and back with actual "hidden" eggs. Finally - we actually had some old enough that we had to hide them!

Maggie wasting no time breaking into the candy. (And I take NO credit for her lovely outfit).

This is Easter morning. The baskets were found and unloaded.

This bunny was severly grumpy because Maya received the Princess and the Frog DVD...she only got a music CD (we were in desperate need of new car music). Boo hoo.

Sunday after church was when we finally got around to dyeing eggs. Grandma gave the girls this really cool egg decorating kit complete with stickers and the whole bit.

We also had an added bonus...not spilled dye!!! I made Maya dye eggs as a nudie for nothing! It was a good day!

2010-04-19T21:22:00.002-05:00

Ok, I've been a delinquent (sp?) blogger, but I have a good excuse. Our desktop computer bit the dust...complete with HUNDREDS of pictures of the girls. In fact, every picture we've ever taken of the girls. Aaron took it to the Geek Squad guys at Best Buy to see if they could do anything with it, but it was a no go. So now we're on to plan B...giving it to a wife of a friend who does data retrieval for a living. Sounds like $$$$$ to me, but losing all those pictures is just something we can't stand to bear. So, now we're down to just the laptop, which actually makes this blogging thing easier since I can do it in front of the TV!!! There just might be more frequent posts...we'll see!

There have been a lot of things happening since I blogged last - Grammy and Poppy came to visit, Easter came and went and spring has sprung. We'll start with Grammy and Poppy's visit, which included a new big girl bed for Maya!

The crib had to go (into the garage sale next month). Thank you to Sam's Club for a reasonably priced matress and boxspring, and to Maggie's closet for the gently used bedspread. I still need to find a headboard and night stand, but haven't done anything about it yet.

Poppy read Maya her first book in her new bed. She thought she was the queen bee!

All ready for nighty-night!

Not to be out done...Maggie has been doing a really great job of reading. She gets a sticker every night after she reads and earns a dollar after 10 stickers. She's now moved from some emergent readers I found online, to easy readers like Frog and Toad. She needs help on some of the larger words, but is really doing fabulously for only being 5.

On one of the not-so-nice days we took a trip to the Mall of America and let the girls go on the rides. This one, Swiper's Sweeper (from Dora the Explorer) was their favorite. I've been on it before too and it's actually pretty fun!

Poppy got Hot Air Balloon duty.

Daddy rode the carousel.

This is the girls' new favorite...bumper cars. Maya was JUST tall enough - by the hair of her chinny chin chin - and had absolutely the best time! They went several times and Maya even went by herself one of the times.

This is all I can muster right now. More - while the computer died - pictures are on the way. : )

Kids at Play

2010-03-26T13:56:00.002-05:00

Our spring has been unreal. Usually over 10 inches of snow...not a flake. Average highs in the 20s and 30s...ours have been in the 40s, and we've had several 60+ degree days. Couldn't ask for more! With that, we've already hit several nearby parks for some much needed outside exercise and fun in the sun!

Even Bella thought it was warm enough to venture out for a walk!!! That's when you really know spring is here! : )

The Luck of the Irish

2010-03-17T22:37:00.003-05:00

Happy St. Patty's Day everyone! We definitely had the "green" theme going today (we are the KELLY's afterall)! I suprised the girls this morning by making them green eggs and green pancakes. Maggie declared "the green eggs taste just the same as the yellow ones!". They thought the green was pretty cool.

Just before lunchtime we packed up and headed out with Paula and the kids (the O'Loughlin's) to the St. Patty's Day parade in downtown St. Paul. The kids sported green hats and beads, since it was a little chilly and we had to cover up the green shirts under coats and sweatshirts.

Really it was like nothing I've ever seen. There was green everywhere. The people watching was really great!

The parade got underway with of course Irish bagpipes. Overall the parade was pretty boring. Most of it consisted of groups of Irish families holding a big family name sign and a bunch of people walking behind it. Once in a while a piece of candy or a string beads flew our way. There were some interesting people though...

(This guy was one of my favorites. Very distinguished looking older guy...black cordoroy pants with green shamrocks all over them!)

(Yup, green dogs too!)

Lots of Irish Wolf Hounds. They were HUGE!

The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

And last but not least, the bouncing leprechaun!!!!

Spring has Sprung!

2010-03-14T19:07:00.002-05:00

Spring is here! I think that is. It could very well be a teaser and we could have a giant snow storm by the end of the week, but we'll take it while we have it. : ) The weather has been in the 40s and 50s, the snow is melting and the kids have been able to play outside...in mid-March! I know, that is a shocker around here, but it has been SOOOOO nice!

Yesterday afternoon Maggie and I went out for a little exercise. I ran and she biked around Markgrafs lake. It was about 2.5 miles or so and there was a little complaining towards the end, but Mags made it all the way without having to take a break. It felt great to get off the treadmill and get outside. While Mags and I were out, Aaron and Maya went down to the basement and created this masterpiece!

Isn't that awesome! And yes, thats a swimsuit she's wearing. The girls talked me into new suits the other day while we were at Target. It was now or later for the suits so it was ok. When we got back we all headed outside. It was cloudy, but warm for us. Maggie got out the chalk and got right to work.

Maya jump roping.

Maya riding her bike.

Maggie on her scooter.

Hopscotch.

This picture is from yesterday. All the snow was gone except for the last little bit right out by the bottom of the driveway.

Today the last of it melted! It was 61 degrees here today!!!!! We played outside for 5 hours and it was warm, warm, warm! Coats were tucked inside and one of the neighbor kids got really ahead of herself and had on shorts and a tank top! Only in Minnesota. : ) Maggie rolled up her pants and managed to sneak out some flip flops. This is so unusual for this time of year. March is usually one of our snowiest months, but not this one (knock on wood). We're supposed to be in the 50s for about the rest of the week too. Can't wait!

My little Picasso's

2010-03-03T18:29:00.003-06:00

The other day was an inside kind of day and we were in desperate need of a project. Sooooo, that meant painting. I made the girls strip down to pants only so to limit the need for an immediate load of laundry. They had a big piece of paper and lots of colors (in keeping with the rainbow theme) and went to town.

The masterpieces!!!

Sunshine, Rainbows and Lincoln Logs

2010-02-24T19:00:00.004-06:00

A few days ago the sun came out, and the temperature rose...to about freezing...but it really felt like spring. The girls asked to get out their bikes, which we of course did, and then all the rest of the spring and summer play stuff came out too. Some outside play time and fresh air does a body good!

Sunbathing????

Maya came downstairs and asked me for a "back pony", which I did, and then wanted ALL these clips in her hair. I tried to talk her down to 2 or 3 of them, but to no avail. : ) I think we actually made a trip to WalMart with this hair-do also.

The letter of the week is R. R is for rainbows. Maya decorated her letter R with rainbow colored pieces of tissue paper and it went up on our letter wall. I found lots of other rainbow inspired ideas here.

Rainbow rice has been the suprise hit of the week. I colored plain white rice with food coloring and a little rubbing alcohol and mixed the colors all up for rainbow rice. The girls and the neighbor kids that have been over have spent a LOT of time scooping and pouring in this tub of rainbow fun!

Today, with a house full of kids, we did another rainbow craft - this time with colored marshmallows. First they sorted the whole bag into bowls according to color, then the idea was to make rainbows (go figure!) by glueing the marshmallows on in lines to look like a rainbow, but only 1 of the 5 pictures turned out actually looking anything like a rainbow. Oh well. They had fun anyway.

Can you tell who's picture came out as a rainbow? I'll give you a hint..it was NOT Maya's!

Some of you reading this have heard about the disasterous lincoln log disaster that happened the other day. Maya decided it would be fun to sit in the bin and throw all the lincoln logs all over the living room. Of course she decided to do this while I was in the shower so I couldn't stop her progress. Well, she had fun getting them out of the bin but wasn't thrilled (to say the least) about having to put them all back in! This video was taken several HOURS into the "cleaning up" ordeal. : )

In a nutshell

2010-02-16T12:58:00.004-06:00

This is our life in a nutshell.

Dress up.

Maggie made this sign the other day. Translation: "Maya Brynn's Giant Mess".

This was the mess.

On account of such "mess", the moonsand is now in the garbage and will never be making another appearance if I have anything to do with it.

Daniel was over and we made homemade crayons. You know, when you take the nubs in the crayon box and melt them in muffin tins to make "new" crayons. They were fascinated with the melting. (Yes, Maya is wearing a swimming suit in the middle of February. Why not?)

Fun in the snow. We've got a lot of it. We still have what came down in the first snow of the year back in November. Warmer days are predicted for this week so maybe a little will melt and the huge piles lining everyone's driveway will go down so I can back the car out and not worry about hitting anyone driving down the street.

Snow angel!

Hi mom!

Maya's been staying dry at nighttime and has been collecting stickers on her potty chart. She stayed dry 3 days in a row to earn a new princess dress!!! She picked out this one, but put it on and wasn't happy because her "boob" was showing. It now has safety pins in the shoulders. Actually she made it 8 days in a row I think. Now she's working on a whole week with no accidents and then she gets to go to open gym - the prize of all prizes!!!!! Good bye pull-ups!

Maya got up on Saturday morning and made her and daddy breakfast. This is what daddy's bowl looked like. I think there were some Mini Wheats in there somewhere! : )

Mmmmmmm.

Our little dare devil.

I've been trying to upload another video, but haven't had success. I don't know what the deal is, but the girls have invented a new game. It's called Run, Jump, Straddle. It involves, running, jumping on couch cushions, and straddle handstands. You get the picture. I'll try to get another video. : )

Cousin time

2010-02-03T21:40:00.005-06:00

My sister Callie, her husband Devin, and their 5 month old son Jacob just left after staying with us for a whole week. We hadn't seen Jakey since he was only a couple weeks old, so having them come out was awesome. The cousins got some major bonding time, and Maggie and Maya got right to work smothering their baby Jakey with loves and kisses.

Maya thought she was the queen bee when she was allowed to hold Jacob. Her holding skills weren't superb, but what can you expect from a 3 year old. Jacob didn't seem to mind.

Auntie Callie got suckered into playing Princess Yahtzee more than a few times. This has been her favorite game ever since Christmas.

Auntie Callie with all the cousins.

Maya doing her best to entertain Jacob. I thought she did a great job!

Maggie definitely loved having a baby in the house. (Ok, I did too), but it was nice to give him back at the end of the day. I'm still waiting for our neighbor Becky to have her new little one. I'd really like to be borrowing one on a regular basis!

Maggie's chillin' with Uncle Devin, Auntie Callie and Jakey.

Finally the time came for a cousin bath! The girls were super excited and I think Jacob had a pretty good time too.

Is he not the cutest?????

All clean and ready for bed.

Goodnight kisses.

Before they left today we did an impromptu photo session with Jacob in the cutest ever sweater vest that we forgot yesterday when we had an actual real photo session with the three of them. Look at that cute boy workin' the camera!

We had such a great time with them. I wished they lived closer so we could seem them more often. They hated the cold weather so I don't think they'll be moving here any time soon. Bummer.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-02-03T21:38:00.001-06:00

Maya Montage 0-3 years

2010-01-17T18:13:00.002-06:00

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My friend Becky did a little picture montage of her son Charlie, the other day so I thought I'd give it a whirl as well. I decided to Maya's life up till now. I have to warn you though that I got a little carried away with the pictures so it is 9 minutes long. But...if you love my little baby as much as I do, you will sit through it and love every minute of it!! : )