A Big Girl Bike!

Today I had some pretty big, exciting plans, which included cleaning our toilets, picking up play areas, and dishes.  Always dishes.  Lyla's plans included taking some change we've collected to the bank, then picking out a big girl bike, and playing.  Sis seemed to mostly have planned on screaming in my face immediately she woke up at 6am.  Seriously, teething can just get lost already.

Lyla and Evie successfully crossed off all their to-do's, the overachievers, but mine did not go as well.  Buying the bike turned into building the bike, turned into "Surprise!  We gave you two left pedals!  Hahahahahahaha!!!"  So then my precious both-girls-are-napping-time-to-get-stuff-done time turned into call-and-wait-on-hold-for-customer-service time, and me trying my best to be kind and keep my patience because it just recently dawned on me that I should practice what I preach to my little girls. 

BUT, we got it figured out and Lyla got her dreamy princess bike with two correct pedals, and I got one toilet cleaned.  And the kitchen counters wiped.  What's that they say about cleaning and scrubbing waiting 'til tomorrow?  I'm pretty sure that's my newest motto.  I'm don't know how many tomorrow's it actually can wait, but I'm willing to find out.  ;)

Here's a couple pics of Lyla on her bike.  She is so proud of it, and I'm so proud of her.  :)

- K

Sis doing her "thumbs up".  She does it all the time and it's my favorite.  Lyla and her thumbs down.  I'm pretty sure she has no clue that's actually negative...

 

But now they can both do thumbs down!  Yay!

The Zoo with Goan!

We've been making the most of every warm weather day we get around here since they're still being sandwiched between freezing cold rainy days. On one of those days recently we skipped naps and headed to the zoo with Goan Goan.  Surprisingly enough, Princess Anna joined us as well.  ;)

I'm pretty sure we happened to be there right before feeding time because we had the entire monkey herd (I don't know the technical term for a group of monkeys) gather below us when "somebody" (Lyla) dropped a goldfish into their pit.  We also had a Lynx attempt to maul both girls, and a fish that thought Lyla's face was pretty appetizing.  It was probably the most entertaining trip to the zoo I've ever been a part of.

The girls had a blast, per the usual, and especially loved that Goan Goan got to come along.  At the end we played in the new playground area.  When it was time to leave, a mom with a baby strapped to her chest was having a hard time gathering her defiant little two year old, so Super Goan came to the rescue and scooped up that two year old and walked him over to his stroller.  (It was like she'd experienced that before or something...)  As she walked away with a child in her arms, both of my children just about started hyperventilating.  Lyla cried with complete bewilderment "Goan is taking care of ANOTHER kid!?!" and Evie just bawled "Gooooaaaannnnn".  I'd barely talked them off the ledge by the time she came back to us.  It's safe to say there are no separation anxiety issues going on around here.  ;)

Here are some photos from the day!

- K

Goan and the girls

My little Mowgli-Princess Anna-Merida-Cinderella

We spied Dad's fave - ring tailed lemurs!

They love taking pictures with me :)

Checking out some turtles.

This was a little bat cave.  When Evie figured out what they were she kept saying "Blah, blah, blah!"  Tell me you've watched Hotel Transylvania a million times like we have??

Eyeing the "chomp chomps"

The hungry fish.  It was hysterical!  As soon as Lyla walked up it pressed it's ugly face to the glass.  When she would do the same it would open it's mouth like this.  So funny.

The hungry lynx.  Thank God for that glass barrier!

A Farewell to Hip Dysplasia!!

Well, Wednesday was officially the end of an era - Lyla's hip dysplasia era.  No more X-rays, doctor's appointments, double and triple checking, and long trips south to the Mayo Clinic.  She passed her final appointment - 4 years old and still no sign of the shallow hip sockets she was born with!  That big ol' harness they put her in when she was teeny tiny did the trick and we're finally at the point of being able to trust that her little body won't revert back to the way it was.  PTL!

I was dreading this appointment and kept pushing it back.  There was just something about an hour and a half drive each way alone with our littles that wasn't really calling my name.  But I knew I had to get it over with just to have that final peace of mind after all the years of follow up. 

I finally made the decision to make the best of it - I thought hey, it can't be that bad.  Rochester is kind of cute, we'll make it a fun last trip.  I wish I could say it was as fun as the pictures look.  Man, I don't know if it was a full moon or what but these chicks gave me a run for my money.  All.  Day.  Long.  I think probably waking them up and strapping them right into their car seats for an hour and a half, followed by being locked in tiny patient rooms wasn't exactly conducive to their high energy levels. 

Anyways, it was a long day, but we were so happy to have it over with!  Her hips look good, and this whole thing is officially behind us.  I still remember when they detected the click in her hips at 2 weeks.  And then the flurry of appointments and ultrasounds and finally a harness being put on my tiny baby.  Getting an 8 week sentence of this contraption which only allowed for sponge baths at first could have been a death sentence in my brand-new-mommy-brain.  It was longer than she'd even been out of my tummy and I couldn't comprehend anything being wrong with her, even as slight as it ended up being.  I remember the doctor saying that it seemed so overwhelming now but at a year when she's running around without any concerns it would feel like a blip in history.  And that is more true than I could have known.  I still have one of her harnesses around, and it is so crazy to look at.  I barely remember that thing being on her at this point.  With her ability to turn almost anything into an obstacle course which requires running, jumping and climbing...I'm pretty sure her hips can't remember the whole ordeal either.  ;)

Here are some photos of my tiny Lyla and a couple of hooligans I found running around in Rochester. 

- K

Immediately after putting her harness on.  Believe me, I was crying too.

 



Harness baby with Grandma Kay

 



With Grammy.  Oh man, what happened to that cute tiny baby?!

 





 

Milk drunk with Auntie Kate.

 

With Uncle Joe.

 



We started our hip dysplasia adventure at the Children's Hospital in Colorado.  When we moved to Minnesota our doctor recommended a friend of theirs at the Mayo Clinic.  Within a week of moving we had our first visit there, which Autnie Jo got to come along for.  This is at the hotel the morning of her first appointment.

 



Heading out to our very last appointment!

 



Lyla in her super cute X-ray shorts.  :)

 



This was right before they started climbing around the room like wild animals.

 



She thought it was pretty cool that she got to see her bones.  Hips looked great!

 



 

The view from the 16th floor Children's Orthopedic Center.

We found a fountain to run around before I had to endure another hour and a half ride with them.

 



 

Rochester really is a cute little town.

Then we headed to the play area at the local library.

 



 

I was thankful they slept the whole way home.  :)

Grandma Kay and Mother's Day!

My mom came into town last Thursday night for Mother's Day and we had the best long weekend.  It was the first time she's been in town that I wasn't trying to work and have her watch my kids, which never really went well.  The last time she was in town we happened to find our house posting so she got to tour it with us, but has never been back since we bought it.  It was fun to give her the tour again, and the girls were so excited to spend some time with Grandma Kay, which eventually just became Kay Kay by the end of the trip.  :)

She flew in the night of Cinco de Mayo, but we didn't really get to celebrate so we did homemade guac, steak tacos and Mexican beers to celebrate Seis de Mayo instead.  On Saturday Ryan volunteered to take the girls all day so we could have a fun, leisurely girl's day.  We saw Mother's Day, had sushi for lunch and did some shopping.  When we got home the girls had helped Ryan pick out and plant flowers for the house - which naturally turned into running through the sprinklers when they got to the whole watering part.

On Sunday we went to church, then came back home for homemade eggs benedict and mimosas.  I realized that the last time I'd had homemade eggs benedict was when my mom made them for me on my wedding morning.  :)  After naps we made an impromptu decision to go to Lake Calhoun for ice cream.  A decision approximately every other Minnesotan made, considering we waited in line for almost two hours to order our food - which had turned into dinner AND ice cream by the time we got to the window.  But the weather was glorious and the food was amazing.  I'd even venture to say it was the best Mother's Day yet.

Can't wait til our next Kay Kay visit!

- K

Our Seis de Mayo fare

Sis prefers "nakey" over anything these days.  :)

Dancing with Grandma Kay

Evie loved that Grandma had blue eyes like her.  :)

Sushi date!

Getting soaked :)

I'm not into bragging or anything, but I totally nailed those poached eggs  ;)

Post church uniforms :)

My pretty mama

Yes, we're totally (still) those neighbors with naked babies running around :)

Before I could even think about getting pictures these girls tore off their church dresses and got comfy.  They were so cooperative about taking pictures (for once!) I didn't dare mess with their outfits.

Love him



Lake Calhoun

Paddle boating with Dad while my mom and I waited in line...forever

Ice cream, finally!

It was the prettiest sunset.  And past Evie's bedtime.  ;)