Sunday, August 31, 2008

The Landscape Arboretum

My parents were visiting this weekend, so we took the kids to the Landscape Arboretum. It's a beautiful place, and I'm not sure why I haven't ventured there before. It is literally 2 minutes from my house, and I drive by it numerous times a day, everyday. I'll be going back soon, as everyone enjoyed it, and there is lots more to see. Below are some pictures from our visit, along with some random pictures from the last few days.

Abby starts Kindergarden on Tuesday. Mike and I took her to "Meet and Greet" on Thursday of last week. She got her school picture taken, and she met with her teacher one more time. She's excited to start, although she warned me that she might be sad and "have tears" her first day. She tried to make a deal with me: if she doesn't cry, I buy her the new Barbie doll that is out. She's a deal maker, this one :-)

Enjoy the pics, and I'll be sure to post first day of school pictures on Tuesday.























































Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Ariel's Beginning

It came out today. Ariel's Beginning. The movie. If you had forgotten, don't worry, Abby would have reminded you at 6:30am. We were dressed and out the door by 8am to be first in line at Target. Abby was THRILLED.

The kids then had a "picnic breakfast" of donuts in the family room while watching the movie. Abby was entranced; Hannah & Griff not so much, but it did keep them out of my hair for about 1/2 hour :-)

Also....look how BIG our sunflowers are! A couple have bloomed and the rest will any day now.

Friday, August 22, 2008

A Day of Fun Eating

Things are winding down as we are getting towards the end of summer. Not as much "fun" stuff going on. We did get to spend a nice morning at Cost Co, with Griff basically screaming at the top of his lungs the last half of the trip because I wouldn't let him hold the ginormous box of strawberries I was buying. Nothing was going to make him happy unless he held those stinkin' strawberries. Really, so unlike him because he is usually so easy going, but the guy does love his fruit :-)

We did have a nice breakfast out on the deck - Abby's idea. She loves to play restaurant, and she reminded me when I called her by name, asking her if she wanted more juice, that I wouldn't know her name at a restaurant. So. She asked me to ask her again. Without using her name. Calling her "Miss. Like a waitress would at a real restaurant. Love her :-)
Everyone enjoyed push-ups after a dinner of pizza. Griff and Hannah were such a sticky mess afterwards I had to take their picture. They thoroughly enjoyed them! (I think the flash of the camera bothers their eyes!)

Thursday, August 21, 2008

And They Keep Growing

H&G had their 2 year old check-up today. And while I think there was some optimistic measuring going on, they are definitely still growing, and growing big! Below are their stats......I actually think they are about an inch shorter than they measured, according to my trusty tape measure at home, but whatever their height, they are getting tall!

Hannah
Height: 36 1/2" (97th percentile)
Weight: 28 - 4 (66th percentile)

(telling me she's TWO)



Griff:
Height: 36 1/2" (92nd percentile)
Weight: 29 - 2 (62nd percentile)

(hard at work looking at cars on the computer)






(playing night-night with dad.....why does he always get the napping games??)

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Another Visit

The tooth fairy made another visit to Abby last night. She left her a dollar, and even signed it, "Love, TF". Abby was very excited :-)

Monday, August 18, 2008

Great Fun with Great Grandma

The kids and I made the trip into St. Paul this morning to see Great Grandma Meiers. Everyone was suprisingly well behaved. We visited for a bit, had some lunch, and by then H&G were getting a bit restless, so we bid farewell.
Before we left, Abby wanted to have a little photo shoot with her American Girl Doll. Of course Hannah and Griff wanted to get into the action, too. Thanks, Grandma & Grandpa Newman for the matching pjs!



The below picture is right before we left for St. Paul this morning. Thanks to Aunt Nancy and Uncle Don for the cute matching dresses! We love them! Also, if you're wondering why Hannah has her arms in the arm in every picture...lately, the only way we can get her to cooperate at picture time is to ask her to do "ta da".....hence, the arms in the air!And lastly, I kept Mike busy Saturday painting the family room. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it's a great chocolate brown color. I was VERY nervous having him put it up, because I knew if I didn't like it I would be stuck with it for awhile! But.....it looks great and we should have done it ages ago.


Sunday, August 17, 2008

Late Summer Fun

We've had GREAT weather the last few days. We got out the pools this morning and the kids had fun splashing around. We thought about hitting the beach today, but I'm about done with all the sand - 2 months of it is about all I can take.

Abby had her 5 year old check-up last week. She had three shots, which she wasn't happy about, but a vanilla cone from McDonald's made everything better :-) Her stats:

Height: 45 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 46 pounds (83rd percentile)

H&G's 2 year appointment is later this week. Excited to see how much they've grown over the last year.


Tuesday, August 12, 2008

High School Reunion

Has it really been 20 years? It truly is hard to believe that it has been that long since I was in high school. We made the trip back to Illinois so I could go to my reunion. I'm glad I went. It was nice to catch up with people whom I haven't seen in many, many years. I didn't take the camera into the party, but I did get a picture with my best friend from high school. She lives in Reno now so we don't see each other very often. Thanks for hanging with me at the reunion, Stephanie! It was lots of fun - can't wait for our 25th :-)


We're Two!

Hannah and Griff turned two on August 10. We celebrated in LaSalle....we were in town for my 20th high school reunion (really? 20 years..that can't be right) and had their birthday party at Grandma and Grandpa Newman's. They made out like little bandits. Griff serioulsy got about 1,231 cars and trucks, all of them cooler and noisier than the next, and Hannah got lots of fun girlie toys that Abby somehow hadn't already received! It's hard to believe the little chick-a-dees are growing up.....FAST! Below are some pictures from our weekend at G&G Newman's. Enjoy :-)

Our traditional birthday picture with the kiddies......every year we take a picture with the kids on their birthday. We've been lucky each year that the pictures turn out well.....our luck this year ran out...Hannah wanted nothing to do with our tradition, and the below is the best we got with H&G :-)

Birthday fun with Grandpa......and a little sharing of the ice cream, too!

And our twirling girl, Abby.