Friday, February 24, 2012

Could it be?


Could it be? Snow?
Yup. Seems winter is not quite gone yet even though the weather has been very mild. Earlier this week we spent a day at the zoo and today the girls played in the snow!
While Daddy grilled dinner the girls helped build a snow man - the first we've made in our yard this year.

So here's our snowman, named "Booty" if you ask the girls!


Thursday, February 23, 2012

Forts

Serious FORT Building


Little girls LOVE fort building...
with sheets and flashlights
and DADDY!















While Mommy had an evening out,
L & S had some serious tent building with Dad.
And this is one of the best birthday ideas
and gifts the girls got from their Mormor!

EZ-FORT can be found on line
and in multiple package options.
We got the multi-colored without a sheet
as we have TONS of sheets in our house.
And it has been so fun to play with
and create tents & tunnels.


Because...



The cutest exchange between L & S today...

Signe: "I don't want to play with Nea"
Linnea: You have to, your my best friend!"

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Sweet Sisters


These sweet sisters,
can be found cuddling,

on long lazy mornings!
Aren't they adorable?

Monday, February 20, 2012

Brookfield Zoo: PART 1 the dolphins



Theres a first time for everything... and we FINALLY used our member passes
to attend the Dolphin show at Brookfield Zoo!


When they say the splash zone is the first 6 rows... they mean it!
It was a blast, even if they asked to leave after being splashed -
lesson learned... sit at least in row 7!


Linnea keeps talking about the dolphin hitting the red ball!

And Signe just LOVED the dolphins.

We even managed a semi-smiling picture of these two girlies!



Saturday, February 18, 2012

Birthday Party



Hard to believe that these crazy kids are ours and that they just turned 4 years old! Where did the time go? Well when you're having fun the time just flies by!

And with some family (Uncle Mike & Mormor)...
and some friends...

We celebrated the girls turning 4...
had some fun...
opened some gifts...
and got in some grins and giggles!
And mommy even had fun taking pictures! :)

Monday, February 13, 2012

Happy Happy Birthday Little Ladies!






Happy Birthday Linnea & Signe!
We love you!

Here's a picture post of the girls birthday! A more accurate picture would be of a slice of toast with a candle in front of gatorade - as the days leading up to their birthday were spent with the stomach flu! None the less, we took the girls out to Build-a-Bear to choose a new outfit for their Bunnies and a had a small family celebration at home. Linnea & Signe can NOT WAIT until their party next weekend when Mormor, Uncle Mike and their good friends join them to celebrate!




(daddy & linnea)

(mommy & signe)





Sunday, February 12, 2012

Happy Birthday 4 year olds!




















Happy 4th Birthday to Linnea & Signe!

It has been an amazing 4 years with our little ladies! About a week before the girls turned 4 I was struck by just how old they are beginning to feel. Feels like yesterday that the girls were coming home from the hospital, learning to eat solid foods, saying first words, walking, laughing and running, playing, pretend play, singing the ABC's, counting to 10 and NOW.. Linnea & Signe you are in your first year of preschool! Keeping us on our toes every day with new phrases, new ideas, and wowing us by your love to learn new things!

Linnea: 37.5lbs (65%), 41inches (75%)
Signe: 36lbs (50%), 40inches (70%)

You are healthy happy girls!
The last 6 months have brought many new challenges in parenting you... as you have both learned to be very stubborn, to enjoy challenging what we say, and learning to think for yourselves.
You love picking out your clothes - which often are very cute and I never change what you choose. It's fun to see how you think! Signe you usually put a skirt with whatever else you choose! And Linnea you are very good at layering shirts with different colors!
We've begun learning to make our beds, clear our place at the table, put on our own shoes, and are always continuing to learn how to pick up our toys!

Linnea your favorite stuffed animal is your Build-a-Bear BUNNY, named Floppy that you made last year for your birthday! Your favorite animals are zebras!
You love to eat lollipops, broccoli & celery, fruit leathers, apples, ... and so much more!

Signe your favorite stuffed animal is your Build-a-Bear BUNNY, named Fluffy that you made for your birthday last year! Your favorite animals are giraffes!
You love to eat lollipops, carrots, fruit leathers, bananas, ... and so much more!

We love how much you LOVE one another! Often we find you both hugging each other or saying "Your the best sister!"

Playing outside is probably the thing you'd both choose to do if given a choice, whether its the park or riding bikes or taking a discovery walk!

When we ask you who loves you, you both answer "Mommy, Daddy, Jesus"
And if asked where Jesus lives, you'll both tell us "Jesus lives in my heart" or "Jesus lives in my belly"
If we ask you what your name is, Signe will answer "Signe Warren"
If we ask you what your name is, Linnea will answer "Nea"
Both of you know your last name and the first names of mommy, daddy and mormor.

Your favorite birthday presents so far have been a remote controlled car, new puzzles, new outfits for your bunnies (the special trip we took on your birthday as we're all recovering from the flu)... and you can not WAIT for your birthday party in one week! Thankfully we planned it for the weekend after your real birthday as you've both had the stomach flu in the days leading up to your birthday!

Signe your favorite color is still purple and Linnea your's is still pink! Assuming we caused that as we've always assigned the colors that way when we've dressed you since birth.

Linnea you are very sweet and kind, and you're very good at sharing! Linnea you give the best hugs - squeezing tight every time.
Signe you are very sweet and silly, and you're very creative! Signe you love to give kisses!

Both of you LOVE LOVE LOVE having your back scratched any time of day.

Each night we sing 'Jesus Tender Shepherd" together and you are beginning to learn the words... night time is my favorite time to peek in on your both snuggled in with every single one of your blankets and your favorite 3 stuffed animals (bunny, pillow pet, and the animal of the evening).

We love you so much, pray for you all the time, and look forward to what another year will bring! The adventures to come will sure be fun with Linnea & Signe leading the charge!


Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Just sharing...

Here's an awesome blog of recipes that I came across recently...

http://www.tasteandtellblog.com/

Just made her Red Velvet Gooey Butter Cookies (to me they look like Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies)... and they were AMAZING!

Yes, there is cocoa in these cookies - so this is the first time since October 25th that I've had any amount of chocolate. And I have to say I didn't crave more. I ate my serving and they were FABULOUSLY delicious... but I was able to stop there.
The next day all I could think about was those cookies. I didn't eat them for breakfast but I wrapped them up and brought them to my MOPS group. All 90 cookies gone and out of my house! I find I do better eating well when the temptation isn't around.
Each year I make something for my MOPS group. 2 years in a row I dipped over 120 strawberries - but after a major snow storm the second time around that resulted in my driving chocolate covered strawberries to every person I could get too I decided to try something simplier.

The recipe from this blog for Red Velvet Gooey Butter Cookies was perfect! Its a little messy to make when rolling, but I just took breaks (made a double batch and made the cookies half the size so got around 50 per batch instead of 24) and let my dough chill really well before rolling out another batch for the oven!

So if you need some Valentine's day inspiration these cookies were DIVINE~ plus she did a WHOLE WEEK of Red Velvet recipes so there are plenty of other yummy ideas!

Enjoy! And have fun preparing for Valentine's day.

We have another big day coming up...

Thursday, February 2, 2012

BROOKFIELD ZOO: Part 2


We LOVE our Brookfield Zoo Memberships... probably our best purchase of last year! And each visit I ask the girls to climb in the Kangaroo Pouch and take a photo. THIS is the first time - most likely the only time - the cooperated and gave me some grins! More to do with Mormor being with us than anything I'm sure!


Signe has a TRUE LOVE for giraffes! We couldn't get a picture with Linnea and the Zebras super close up... but we did get these cute pics. One of Signe posing with the giraffe and one of Linnea riding the giraffe and Signe kissing it!