Dinosaurs and More ... A Birthday Party

Today the girls and mommy were invited to attend a 4th birthday party for a school friend of ours, Jacob. His party was held at the local dance studio his mom decorated with all things dinosaurs. The dance studio hosts parties for kids and sets up entertainment for the kids. We arrived at 4:00 and the girls got busy playing with Jacob and a couple of boys in the toy area while we waited for the rest of the guests to arrive ... 14 kids total plus adults.

Once everyone arrived the dance studio hosts took over and all of the kiddos followed them to the dance studio. The instructors had the kids each introduce themselves and perform a dance move of their choice, which then the rest of the kids copied all while music was playing. The instructor's example was jumping, so naturally every other kid jumped when they did their dance move. Madison shook it up a bit by pumping a fist up into the air when it was her turn and the rest of the kids followed suit. Alyssa did a one leg stand in a ballerina pose and then jumped.

Next they directed the kids through an obstacle course by jumping into a circle, crawling through a tunnel, jumping in another circle, walking a balance beam, jumping into another circle, climbing over a small wall, jumping into another circle, up another wall and then rolling down a slanted mat back to the floor. The kids had a great time and ran through it 2-3 times each.

After the obstacle course, it was back to dancing a dance which included walking, galloping, tip toeing, running and jumping. Lastly, the instructors did a game with hula hoops where the kids ran around and when the music stopped they needed to jump into a hula hoop. Alyssa got into a tug of war over the only pink hula hoop, which she reluctantly gave up on after mommy talked to her. They brought out some extra hula hoops and there was another pink one, which Madison traded hers in for before her sister had a chance. Fun stuff!!

It was finally time to head back to the party room for pizza, cake and gift opening. Alyssa, of course, skipped the pizza and opted instead for a special peanut butter sandwich mommy brought from home.

Before it was time to head home, Jacob gave the girls each a goodie bag with lots of fun stuff inside, including a PINK flute. As mommy was getting the girls into their coats, Alyssa whispered in mommy's ear, "I love him." Who, mommy asked. "Jacob" she smiled. Then without missing a beat, Madison leaned in and whispered, "I love my pink flute." Gotta love their little minds ...

Love & Hugs -

Amy

A Visit To The Twin City Model Railroad Museum

Today mommy and daddy took the girls to visit the Twin City Model Railroad Museum in St. Paul. It really isn't a big museum but rather large room in which train club volunteers have spent countless hours building a model train replica of the Twin Cities railroads from the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's in O scale. It is really an impressive undertaking which includes many Twin Cities landmarks along the rails.

The girls especially enjoyed the trains that ran along the Mississippi River through the tunnels and over the river bridges.

There were even buttons along the viewing rails to start and stop a few of the moving trains and the girls had fun taking turns pushing the button.

At the end of our tour through the train room, we found ourselves in the souvenir area where they had two Thomas The Tank Engine train tables set up with lots of trains just waiting to be played with by the girls.

We ended our visit at the museum by purchasing a "Rosie" engine for Alyssa and a "Percy" engine for Madison along with two unpainted wooden box cars to attach to them which mommy and the girls had fun painting when we got home. Alyssa choose lavender and Madison chose light green for their hand-painted cars. We finished them off with a touch of glitter swirls and some hot glued "jewels" ... they are girls after all!!

After leaving the museum, we headed over to Minnetonka to have a late lunch at "Spasso" which is an American/Italian restaurant with lots of WINE and their own wine shop. So, after enjoying a nice meal which included handmade chocolate gelato, we of course spent some of our hard earned money in the wine shop.

We finished the day decorating our trains and watching Cinderella before heading to bed. Although the girls enjoyed the train museum, Thomas was their favorite, mommy thinks daddy enjoyed it the most, taking a second trip around while the girls played at the train tables ... but what boy doesn't like a good train??!!??

Love & Hugs -

Amy

A Taste of Summer ... Como Park Conservatory

How in the midst of one of the coldest winters I can remember, can you find a little taste of summer? The answer is simple. Brave the -4 degree temperatures and even colder wind chill factor, get in your car and drive to Como Conservatory. Once you walk through two sets of doors, your cold Minnesota body will go into complete shock when the 85 degree humidity of the conservatory smacks you in the face and makes you wonder why the heck you are wearing a turtle neck sweater with an undershirt!

Uncle Terry and Aunt Lori joined us for the fun and it seemed to also satisfy their need for a little bit of warmth and colorful scenery in the midst of our cold and very white winter.

The girls were happy to walk along the paths and see all the GREEN trees, plants and it also happened to be the annual orchid show, so we got the extra added bonus of seeing hundreds of beautiful orchids.

While stopping to check out the coy fish pond, Alyssa managed to drop her pink princess star ring into the pond and, as any lady of 3 years of age would do, proceeded to announce how upset she was and she wanted her ring back. Mommy desperately searched the greenery around the pond but came up empty handed. She finally resolved herself to the idea that the ring had indeed fallen into the pond and then was eaten by one of the coy fish. Although she was a bit upset that a fish had eaten her ring, she managed to identify the culprit and mommy snapped his picture. We all heard about that darn fish constantly for the 20 minutes, until her attentions were finally diverted elsewhere.

We continued exploring the different gardens and admiring the orchids until we not only saw all the garden areas, but were now sweating from the 85 degree climate we have been enjoying.

The girls were hungry and so it was back to the -4 degree, very dry air outside and then we were off to enjoy lunch at Firelake restaurant in Minneapolis. We all had some very good drinks and some okay food and then headed back to our house to watch Kung Fu Panda. Lori and Terry played with the girls after the movie ended and Alyssa especially enjoyed catalog shopping with Lori!

We had a great day and evening with Terry and Lori and the girls were already missing them as mommy and daddy were tucking them into bed ... mommy just hopes Lori remembers the tea set on their next visit ... ;)

Love & Hugs-

Amy

Just For Fun ... #2

Madison: I love you mommy.
Mommy: I love you too sweetie.
Madison: Will you marry me?
Alyssa: Will you marry me too mommy?


Madison: Mommy, are we still twins (referring to Alyssa)?


Mrs. Buthe (Alyssa's speech teacher): Alyssa please do not run in the hall.
Alyssa: But my mommy wants me to run.


Mrs. Buthe (working on "f" sound): You need to put her teeth on your lip.
Alyssa: My mommy doesn't want me to, I might get hurt.


Madison: Do we have that movie?
Mommy: No, it has not come out yet.
Madison: Oh, coming soon on Blu-Ray DVD?
Alyssa: Yeah, Blu-Ray DVD!!

Goodnight Moon

Mommy and daddy took the girls to their very first theater experience today at Stages Theater to see their adaptation of "Goodnight Moon". We had GREAT seats which were front row center stage and since the theater gears their productions to children, they also had little booster seats available which worked great to help Madison keep her seat from "eating" her!

Mommy and daddy were not sure how they were going stretch this classic children's book out enough to be a full play, but they did a wonderful job. The set was an exact reproduction of the room in the book and they did excellent bringing so many elements of the book to life. All the parts were played by children of varying ages except for the "old lady who whispered hush" who was an adult.

The girls were terrific during the show and really seemed to enjoy the entire thing although wanted to rest their heads towards to the end. They were adorable clapping after each individual performance and song. Alyssa's favorite character was "mouse" and Madison's favorite was the "old lady who whispered hush" whom she was concerned about through the entire performance as she thought the old lady would be upset if the baby bunny didn't go to bed pretty soon ... too cute!!

After the performance and while daddy went to get the car, mommy and the girls got to met the actors and get some signatures on their "books" aka programs. They were thrilled to get to met the "old lady" and "mouse".

We all went out to a fun dinner at Axel's Bonfire following dinner and enjoyed good food and fun build your own sundaes.

We had a great day of fun with our first theater experience with the girls and we are already looking into what our next play will be!!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Road Trip to Granny B's!!

Well, Thursday after Alyssa's speech therapy, mommy and daddy packed our stuff in the car and we all headed to visit Granny B for a couple of days. However, on the way there, mommy realized she had forgotten her camera ... so we have no pictures from our latest visit.

It was a cold drive there, but Granny 's apartment was warm and toasty when we arrived. Because the weather was so cold for the two days we were there, we really just stayed in the apartment and visited with Granny. It was a nice opportunity to catch up and the girls did a really good job playing in the space available.

We had a couple short visits with mommy's Aunt Debbie and her fiance Mike and mommy's Uncle Gayle and his girlfriend Kathy.

We are hoping our next visit will be in better weather so that we can get Granny out and about a bit. We had a rough drive home with snow and blowing snow. There were large drifts over many of the roads we were driving on and I90 between LaCrosse and Rochester was basically a ice skating rink ... but we made it just fine with daddy's expert driving.

We are already looking forward to our next visit with Granny B!!

We love you!!

It is the little things that mean the most ...

Conversation with the girls first thing this morning ...

Mom: (Opens their door and walks in to get them up).
Madison: Good Morning!
Alyssa: Good Morning!
Mom: Good Morning girls.
Alyssa: Mom, I want to tell you something.
Mom: What do you want to tell me?
Alyssa: (Walks over and gives me a big hug and kiss while saying ...) Thank you mom to everything.
Mom: Wow, you are very welcome sweetie.
Madison: (Running over to copycat ... big hug and kiss ... ). Thank you to everything mom!
Mom: You are welcome girls, that was such a nice thing to say and do to mommy this morning.

It has got to be a good day today ...

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Edinborough Adventure Park

Today the girls and I met Aunt Tammy and Christian (Baby Heath got to spend the morning with his daddy) at Edinborough Adventure Park. Edinborough is a one acre INDOOR play park in Edina, Minnesota. Edinborough includes the "Peak" which is a 44-by-44-by-37 foot high climbing, low crawling, slip sliding Northwoods adventure complete with a 30-foot tall oak tree which you climb up the inside as well as four giant tube slides and a triple wave slide. As if that wasn't enough for $6 per child and unlimited time ... there is also a room called the Great Hall which is a 60-by-90 foot multipurpose space for kids to play with balls, shoot baskets and use other park-provided gym activities like seated scooters and hand pedal vehicles. Normally there is also a large bounce house in this area, but that was not operational today.

Another thing that makes this park unique is that not only is it entirely indoors but there are real trees, flowers, plants and a running stream with stone stairs and walking path with a picnic area. During our Minnesota winters, this is like a brief taste of what we have to look forward to in a few months when the warm weather will eventually return to us.

We got there at 9:00 a.m. just as the park was opening and that was a great plan for us. It was not busy immediately and we went straight for The Peak to let the kids enjoy climbing, crawling and sliding before more kids started arriving for the day. The climbing area is amazing. The kids LOVED the triple wave slide and took several turns sliding down it. We also worked our way over to try a few of the other slides and play in the various play zones found in the climbing tower.

After landing at the bottom of one slide, we found ourselves in a great play corner that had rock climbing walls and the girls, especially Madison, loved that area.

Another hit of the day was the mini-bounce house in the middle of the climbing zone.

The girls discovered that it was really difficult to climb up the inside of the 30 foot oak tree, but after many tries and much struggling, Alyssa managed to shimmy her way onto the first perch and then was out of energy to try going any further.

After an hour of hard playing, even mommy and Aunt Tammy headed up in the play park with the kids, we took a potty break, had a snack, a drink of water and then headed over to the Great Hall for some serious get your wiggles out time running around the gym. After another hour in the gym and a few bonus minutes back at the Peak, the park was filling up fast with lots of kids and parents.

We decided it was time for lunch and we hit the stone path trails until we located a picnic area up above the action. We had a very nice lunch and the kids had more fun exploring.

Before heading back home, we took a walk on the stone path and explored a little waterfall and the kids had fun running circles around a big tree and screaming ... loudly ... what the heck, better there than in the house!!

It was a GREAT morning and we had so much fun playing with Christian!! We can't wait for our next trip to Adventure Park!!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

In The Jungle, The Mighty Jungle, The Lion Got Sick Tonight

Okay, so not really the "traditional" lyrics to this classic song, but for Miss Madison and daddy they are oh so unfortunately speaking the truth ...

Rewind to about 6:30 p.m. tonight, just after the Vikings efforts in the playoffs came up short again, daddy re-appeared upstairs and decided to get the girls a little wound up by being the Lion King. The girls were loving their daddy roaring and growling at them; chasing them and pouncing at them through the living room; picking them up and spinning them and swinging them around ... okay you might see where this is going by now ...

Miss Alyssa was excited and asked daddy to hold her upside down, so he did and made big sweeping movements from the ground to the sky and pretending to swing her across the room onto mommy's lap, good fun for a 3-year-old right??!! Seeing that her sister survived and it looked like lots of fun, Miss Madison got into position for her turn ... upside down she went, from the floor to the sky and then came the swings upside down to mommy who was shouting at daddy, "Stop!!! She is puking!!" He heard stop, but apparently not the she is puking part and continued to look at me like a deer stuck in the headlights of a car all while continuing to hold her upside down over mommy. Mommy continued shouting at him to put her down as her nose and mouth was completely full of what was most likely the fish sticks, tater tots and pickles she had just enjoyed an hour earlier and after dropping a few choice words, he got the message and flipped her right side up.

We cleaned up the poor girl, mommy changed her clothes and daddy started spot cleaning the carpeting and wiping down the leather furniture ... nice huh??

Madison: "I am sick." "I threw up." "I sick mommy."

Mommy: "You are not sick honey, daddy just shook your tummy too much."

Alyssa: "Daddy you made Maddie Moo threw up, you made her sick daddy."

Madison: "Daddy made me sick."

Alyssa: "Aww, it is okay daddy, you can't be Lion King anymore."

Madison: "I threw up. I am sick. No Lion King daddy."

Alyssa: "I sick too."

Mommy: "Nobody is sick, now lets get ready for bed ... please ..."

Bet you wish you could have played Lion King with us tonight ...

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Just for Fun ...

Courtesy of Miss Madison:

*Look mommy, him is a hornacorn!! (Showing me a little unicorn toy).
*Blank you!! (Thank you ... we used to say this correctly, but not anymore).
*Mommy, something is coming out of my bum!! (I have to poop).
* I need riracy. (I am pooping and would like you to leave the bathroom).
* Mommy, you look beautiful, like a princess. (Mommy standing there in her fat pants with bed head and racoon eyes because she didn't remove her mascara the night before).
* Can we watch Poo Foo Panda? (Can we watch Kung Fu Panda).

Courtesy of Miss Alyssa:

* KLEENEX!!! (I have a runny nose).
* Nayah ... I do. (Yes, I like it).
* I want this on my Christmas list. (Despite it is over 300 days away now).
* Pretty soon it will be Halloween and I will be Sleeping Beauty.
* Daddy, you look like a prince because you have short hair.
* I need privacy ... (I am pooping, please leave).

2009 ... The Year of the Ladybug or Dragon??!!

My how things have changed over the years as far as celebrating the New Year. Mommy and daddy used to enjoyed a five course dinner and an evening of jazz music at The Dakota every year, we didn't even miss the year that our trigger shot for whatever number IUI/injectable cycle we were in the middle of ended up being needed at 10:00 p.m. on New Years Eve. Now, after being blessed with our little girls, we have resigned ourselves to a family friendly and much calmer (sort of) celebration.

We opted for an early dinner out at one of our favorite Italian restaurants. We arrived there at 4:00 p.m. and I believe we were almost the only ones there at that hour, but it was nice and we didn't need to over worry about the girls behavior, although they are remarkably polite and controlled in restaurant settings. Mommy and daddy enjoyed a nice dinner and a couple of drinks and after the girls finished their dishes of chocolate ice cream, we decided to walk into the mall and let the kids burn some enjoy off in the soft play area.

We were back home from our big night out by 7:00 p.m., just in time to get the kids ready for bed, read a book and sing our nightly list of songs. Daddy and I retreated to the basement and watched the movie "Mr. Brooks" ... upon midnight arriving, we kissed, did some math and realized this was out 10th New Year's together ... not the fanciest but definitely enjoyed and this New Year arrived completely hangover free ...

Happy New 2009 Everyone!!

Love & Hugs -

Amy