Memorial Day Picnic & Fishing

The weather was beautiful and our plans for this Memorial Day were simply to enjoy ourselves and relax at Lagoon Park with grandma and grandpa. We spent some time at the fishing dock to start our afternoon and both girls caught a fish or two.



After fishing, we found a lovely spot on the banks of the pond for a picnic lunch and enjoyed watching the other kids swimming and all the fish jumping in the pond. The girls decided to check out the playground after lunch with mommy and grandpa while daddy and grandma relaxed by the water.

Wrestling around with daddy and grandpa along side Mill Pond. It was a beautiful afternoon for a picnic with grandma and grandpa!

The girls found a little green inch worm hanging by a thread from a tree branch and decided that he would be their new pet ... until we talked them into placing him back on the tree before we left for home.

Happy Memorial Day 2010!

Minnesota Zoo

It was a beautiful day today and mommy and daddy decided to take the girls to the Minnesota Zoo to enjoy the weather and hopefully have some fun.

The girls really enjoyed the Russian bear exhibit and the otters which are always a hit to see them swimming around and playing. Madison and Alyssa also enjoyed climbing and digging in the fossil exploring area outside of the bear exhibit ... that is until Alyssa climbed a bit too high and felt she was then stuck. After a quick rescue by mommy, we were off to find other fun!

We walked the trails around the zoo and enjoyed seeing the camels, horses and tigers. We stopped to play at one of the parks inside the zoo and then headed to the pop up fountain play area where the girls probably enjoyed themselves the most! Next time mommy will remember that swimming suits would be a good option for our zoo visits this summer!

Our family is really enjoying our season pass that Granny M gave to us at Christmas time ... what a perfect gift!!!

Preschool Year One Graduation!

Today was the BIG preschool graduation. The room was noisy with lots children as there were four graduating classes ... two moving on to their final year of preschool next year and two classes making the big move to kindergarten.

Receiving their certificates of completion from their most loved teacher, Mrs. Marijean!

Enjoying a graduation treat of cake and juice!

Here is a video daddy put together to celebrate the big achievement of the girls!!

We are looking forward to summer break and are also very pleased to know that Mrs. Marijean will once again be teaching the girls for their last year of preschool starting in September 2010. One more year and we will have official kindergarteners ... WOW!!!

Congratulations Madison & Alyssa!!! We are very proud of you both!!!

Staring Park

Today we were out running lots of errands and since the girls were being so patient with us and behaving well, we made a little pit stop at Staring Park to let them burn off some energy.

We had a wonderful time there and even hit the hiking trail for a short walk, which the mosquitos caused to be shorter than we would have liked.

We are looking forward to a return visit soon!

Last Day of Class for Creative Kids

Today was the last day of our Monday morning Creative Kids classes at ECFE. This is the class that mommy attends every week with the girls. To celebrate the end of the school year, we had a potluck brunch and an outdoor play party with spray bottles, bubbles, bikes and, of course, the much loved parachute!

After eating and playing, we had a short recognition program where each child receive their certificate of completion and got to wish their teachers an enjoyable summer break.

ECFE Field Trip to Orchestra Hall & Staring Park

On the road again with the ECFE class ... this time our destination was Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis for a tour, a brief music class and a musical reading of Jack & The Beanstalk. This was our last field trip of this school year and although that thought is a little sad ... the fact that mommy will not have to ride another school bus until the Fall of 2010 more than made up for that fact.

Upon arriving at Orchestra Hall, our group was assigned a tour guide who took a few minutes to brief the class regarding what would be happening throughout our morning and to always look for the lady with the RED sign ... she really liked her sign ...

We were escorted through the hallways to rehearsal rooms behind the scene from the main theater. The children sat in a circle and listened to our guide talk to them about rhythm, sounds and instruments.

After her talk, each child was allowed a few moments to try a snare drum, a violin and a cello. Needless to say, the room got a little loud for a short time, but the kids had fun.

We were not allowed to take pictures inside Orchestra Hall's main theater, but the children got to sit on the stage while a small orchestra ensemble introduced themselves, explain about the instrument they played as well as letting us hear a little solo. After the introductions, it was story time. There was a reading of Jack & The Beanstalk which was accompanied by the orchestra and the children absolutely loved it.

We followed up our morning at Orchestra Hall with a short bus ride to Staring Park where we enjoyed a picnic lunch and some play time at the park. The long slides from the top of the park to the playground were a big hit with the girls!

Alyssa spent a lot of her time riding on the gondola which was powered by other children with a hand crank. It was a popular area with the kids and they all took turns riding and working the hand crank to move others across the equipment.

Madison very much enjoyed the swings and blowing dandelions in the wind. She also spent a fair amount of time running up and down a large hill ... that child has more energy than any one person should ever possess.

The End of Dance Class & The BIG Show!!

Tonight was the last dance class with Miss Lori as we are now on summer break. We all arrived and the girls had their regular dance session and then we were invited down for their big dance recital to show off all that they had learned during their classes.

Miss Lori had set up a little stage for the girls and she helped them get dressed up by using some of her old dance recital outfits. The girls looked adorable in the over sized outfits. The program started with a synchronized dance with all the girls, although Miss Madison apparently was dancing an entirely different program in her cute little head.

After the group performance each girl took a turn dancing a free style solo. They were all so cute and so very proud of themselves.

Here is a video of the group performance and the girls solos:

We had planned ahead of time to stay at The Bangerts' home later that night to enjoy some food, drink and good friends. The girls were all very excited to hang out together and piled in the bedroom to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks ... The Squeakquel.

It was a wonderful evening with great friends and we can't wait for Miss Lori to start a new session later this year, unless we scared her away ... ;-)

ECFE Mother's Day Tea

Today was a special day at preschool for the girls and mommy ... after weeks of preparations, it was finally the big day for the Mother's Day Tea.

The girls have been practicing their mom songs for days now by asking mommy to cover her ears while they proceed to shout the song out two feet away from me ... or in the car ... or while they are using the restroom ... or anywhere else that the thought happens to tickle their fancy.

Mommy arrived at the school and patiently waited with all the other mom's in the lobby. The party officially started with our children parading out to us holding flowers and then escorting us to our seats in the activity room. Most children promptly took their mothers to the appropriate table settings, but my girls just excitedly ran around room forgetting where our seats were. Mommy started reading all the place mats and was not having much luck finding our spot when one of the other mom's tipped us off to the table were our place setting was waiting for us. As I approached the table, I realized that it was completely silly of me to be reading all the place mats which were created lovingly by our children for their mom's ... when in reality all I had to do was take a scan of the room and find the seat with TWO place mats, TWO gift bags and THREE cups of juice ... yes ... it never occurred to me that having twins would mean my setting would be a bit more obvious than the others, this bit of information will make next years party much easier when it comes to finding our seats.

We got to share a table with two of the girls' good friends from school, Evy and Cameron. All the girls were excited to be sitting together, do the smiles give that one away???

We were treated to juice and cookies and presented with handmade gift bags from each child which contained a copy of a DVD the class had made for us to watch and a small bottle of hand lotion. There were also special teapot cards with a bag of tea attached for mommies to enjoy later.

After our snack, we watched the video which included a musical photo montage of all the children and then a short interview of each child about their mom. Sooo ... sweet. The video was followed by a musical program during which the children all sang songs about moms.

It was a lovely morning spent with my amazing daughters and although I tend to forget about everything we went through in order to finally be blessed with our girls, it is times like this that brings all that back. I am reminded of all the Mother's Days that I was still not pregnant or still not a "mom" and how I had to tell myself next year will be the year ... no, maybe the next year ... no, for sure next year ... makes me truly feel blessed in every way for these miracles that found their way into our lives ... Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Yes it is Cinco De Mayo ... but more importantly, it is daddy's birthday!!!


We celebrated the morning by waking daddy up with a rousing version of "Happy Birthday" and presenting him with the coveted Scandinavian Strawberry Torte which we promptly ate for breakfast!!!

The plan for the day was to go pick up a couple of fillets to grill but due to the extreme wind and cold that day, we opted for lunch with Margs in honor of Cinco De Mayo!! Not quite fillets, but fajitas and margs are a close second!!