Wiggles and Giggles

Brynn, Cara, and I attend a Wiggles and Giggles class every Tuesday morning in Eagan. Jenny Paul and Claire Bear are also signed up for the class. Each class starts with open play, an art activity, then ends with signing and dancing. Initially Brynn was so shy and did not want to participate so I was regretting signing up. After a few sessions she has really opened up and is so independent. She loves the teachers for the class and most often will be found doing her art activity with one of them or chatting their ear off. Although the class is very repetitive in what we do we really look forward to seeing Claire and Jen every Tuesday.

Sweet Claire

As most of you know Cara is most often velcroed to my side and will often tell you (in not so many words) if you invade her personal space. For some reason she did great with this grandpa that was here with his wife and their granddaughter. He was so cute with her and spent more time with Cara than he did with his own granddaughter...and for some reason she didn't mind. Needless to say it was pretty cute!

There's Somethin' in the Water...

...in Buffalo! Brynn, Cara and I spent a night babysitting cousin Nolan in June. We were lucky enough to also get to spend time with my cousin Kristen and her two kids Ella and Logan...and her husband Graham. The only picture I took the whole time was of Logan and Cara just to compare the size difference. Cara was born in June and Logan was born 4 months later in October. I'm not sure what is in the water, but they sure grow them big in Buffalo! Maybe it's the Buffalo Bison?!?! At any rate he is absolutely adorable and such a good little boy. We had so much fun we'll come back and do it any time!! Thanks for a good time Danielsons and Nolan!

ADORABLE

Just another day in the life of Brynn Tressa. She adores the dress up clothes that Uncle Dylan, Aunt Angie, and cousin No-No gave her for Christmas and again for her birthday. It is so much fun to see her imagination at work. Most often she gets dressed up, sets her "little" baby and "heavy" baby on the two steps leading into our dining/kitchen area, drives to church (apparently the step is her car...and we attend church often), then to a hotel. What would we do without our constant source of entertainment?

Little Picasos

Brynn loves her easel and will often beg to bring it up from the basement. This is something that I honestly try to avoid because it makes a big mess and requires a lot of clean up--and quite frankly during the school year I didn't have the energy (thanks for the lack of sleep for your first 11 months Cara Bean) to want to do any additional cleaning. This night I finally gave in as I felt guilty about continuing to deny her requests. After a bit Cara thought it looked like fun and joined in on the action. Brynn was having a heart attack as she has been taught that the paint is ONLY for the paper and Cara was certainly not following the rules. I love what a rule follower Brynn is!

Man, we have a couple of CUTE kids!

Brynn's First Day of "School"

Brynn had a first day of "school" on June 7th. We signed her up for a rhyming class every Monday from 9-11:30 through community education. This rhyming class was nothing like we thought it would be. Brynn had A LOT of free play time and then at the very end of class we all sat in a circle sang one song and read part of a book. Needless to say it was quite disappointing to Darren and me, but Brynn loved it. We did get a few good books out of the deal so I guess it wasn't a total wash!

Cara's Walking!

It would be a HUGE understatement to say that I am a little behind on my posting. The school year is hectic and exhausting...and summer has proven to be too enjoyable to sit at the computer and try to get caught up. But, every now and then I decide tonight's the night so here I am on a beautiful Saturday night giving it a good attempt! This video was taken on May 29th. Cara spent about a month prior to this video insisting we use one finger and one finger only walking around with her. The video is terrible and she was able to do much better than this, but apparently it is the best I was able to get.

Brynn Welcomes Rain

Auntie Key and Uncle Tommy gave Brynn rain boots and a rain coat for her 3rd birthday. She insists on wearing them any time the sky looks as if it could possibly rain. Her dream finally came true on My 30th when we finally had a rain worth boots, a rain coat and an umbrella.

Cara couldn't quite figure out what Brynn was doing out there, but had to sit by the window and watch her until she came back in.

These "friends" Brynn talks about are her invisible friends. She has several that come and go, but one tends to hang around a lot. His name is Link and, "He is 3 like me but he is really, really tiny, but he is big like me too." The said Link started to hang around our house in late April to early May...it is now mid July and Link is still present most days of the week. Should I be worried about this?

Carpet = Comfy

Apparently our carpet is really comfortable because this is how we find Brynnie most nights of the week when we check on her before we go to bed. Fortunately, she doesn't wake up when we transfer her back into her bed nor do we find her on the floor again in the morning. We are very lucky that she has never made a fuss about going to bed. We read her two books, kiss her goodnight, give "secrets" to each other, and turn out the lights. Most nights of the week she quietly plays for up to 45 minutes before she decides she is ready for bed, but we don't hear a peep from her. She is SUCH a good girl! How were we chosen to be her parents?!? We thank our lucky stars for her every day!

Labor Day

The Eckhoffs invited us out on their boat on Labor Day. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day! We were out on the beach by 10 and didn't leave until almost 3. We all had a fabulous time! The kids, even the babies, did better than expected.

Cara wasn't so sure about the boat ride out to the beach-it could be due to the straight jacket she had to wear.
What a sweet picture!

Landon didn't say a peep the entire day-what a good boy he is!

Future couple...

Cara's first picnic with big sister Brynn.

She is such a water bug!

Two little peas in a pod. Brynn and Peyton didn't get out of the water until we told them it was time to leave. They are such good buddies and playmates.

Curls

Since birth Cara's hair has been curly when it is wet. Just recently-late May, especially if it is humid out, it has turned curly even when her hair is dry. SO adorable! I have always wished Brynn had curly hair, I guess she can have it all! Cara Bean is awfully cute in her curls!

POOL!

May 24th proved to be the perfect day day to get the pool out. With a little help from a couple of warm buckets of water from the house the girls enjoyed their first dip in the pool of the summer.

Do I see CURLS on the right side of Cara's hair?!?!

Brynn spent the entire time in the pool watering everything in and around the pool that could be watered. She sure does love her watering can.

Cara thought she was so cool crawling in and out of the pool. I think she crawled out 15 times before she was tired of it. Silly girl!

Giggles

Rub A Dub Dub

Three cuties in the tub!

Perfect Day

May 16th proved to be the perfect spring day. The girls were able to play in the water table (not pictured) have a snack on the deck, and then have dinner around the bon fire . It made us really excited for summer!