A beach party in January?!?! Absolutely!

The thought of a beach party in January in Minnesota is enough to give anyone the chills! Not at Sunny Days though...they do them right! They crank up the heat and let the kids wear swimsuits, shorts, t-shirts, tank tops, capri's, etc.! It is a fun day for the kids...one they look forward to for weeks before!

Thursday night Presley was excited to pick out what she was going to wear. She remembered what she wore last year to the beach party and didn't want to wear the same thing again (that would be a fashion police no no!) She picked out one of her favorites from last summer...her watermelon shirt and shorts. Flip flops were easy to pick out too...she only has a couple pairs that still fit her! She also wanted to bring sunglasses and her beach purse. We found a Hawaiian necklace for her to wear too! She was set! Oh...we can't forget the beach towel...she chose a Dora one this year!

I managed to leave work for an hour to join in on the festivities. It's fun to see all the towels layed out and the kids anxiously awaiting the morning!

They had fun getting ready to go to the beach...putting on sunscreen, swimming, and making sandcastles (all for pretend of course!) They sang songs about fish and turned into crabs!

Presley was the cutest beach babe there!

Here she is with one of her good friends, Lauren!

Then it was time to make an aquarium! Very cute project!

Time for me to go back to work. I would say the morning was a success and all the kids had a lot of fun!

Auntie comes to visit!

We had a great time last week when Auntie came to visit! She was going to come on Monday, but didn't make it until Tues. with the weather. She stayed at our house until Friday night! Can anyone say wedding crafts?!?! We had lots of fun 2 of the nights making these great bouquets for us bridesmaids to carry during the rehearsal! We thought they turned out great! It involved a lot of straws, tissue paper, and hot glue! This is just a taste of all the creative things Amber and Kevin have planned for their special day...only 7 months to go!

Thanks Auntie for coming home and spending time with us! See you soon!

Presley's toothless grin!

It was an exciting night at our house last week Wednesday! Presley told me casually that she had a loose tooth. She came over and I wiggled it...indeed, it was loose. Jason told her to come over so he could see. Then he said "Holly, she has a tooth coming in behind it already!" So, I took a look. We exchanged glances both wondering if it was good or bad that it wasn't coming under the loose tooth...but actually behind it. So, what did I do? Googled it! I found that this was quite common...called Shark's teeth. I also found out that kids usually start loosing teeth between ages 6-7 but that girls commonly loose them sooner. Presley will be 5 1/2 in early Feb. It also said to contact your dentist to find out what to do next.

Thursday a.m. I contacted a local dentist who also confirmed that this was very common. We set-up an appt. for that afternoon to have it looked at. Jason met Presley and I there late afternoon. We had 2 options...to work with it until it came out or to have the dentist remove it. Because Presley would hardly even let us look at it, we chose option 2. They gave her a little "happy gas" to calm her nerves (Jason asked if they had extra for parents!) and within 10 minutes, it was out! She did so great! She even said to me after that she would like all her teeth taken out like that!

That night, the tooth fairy came and gave her a $2 bill. She was very excited! One tooth down...20+ to go!

The BIG 3-0!

Yes, it's true...I have hit the 30's! On January 8th, it was my turn for a big birthday! It was a great day full of fun surprises!

Jason took the day off for it! I ended up working just a couple hours in the afternoon due to even more winter weather we had gotten on Jan. 6 and 7. My birthday was mentioned on both radio stations in the a.m. (one of which went on and on and on about it!). I managed to hit the paper in the birthday section too! A great friend of mine, Angie Meyer, sent me 29 black balloons and 1 mylar balloon to work! I got off a little early for a nail appt. to have even more balloons delivered to the nail place from my mom and Paul! I met up with Jason and the girls around 4. We ran a few errands and visited my grandma. At 6, we met up with our families at the Travelodge for supper! One of the best surprises of the night was the LIMO that was there waiting to take us to supper!!! It was awesome! Presley and Madison had a blast in the limo! I had been in a limo a long time ago...but it was nothing compared to that one! Our families joined us and we rode up to Kinbrae for supper. We came back and drove around Worthington for about an hour. Then, around 9:30, we headed back to the Travelodge for a couple after dinner drinks and even more surprises! 15-20 friends were there waiting for me! We stayed out until 1:30 a.m. that night! It was a great day!

Thank you so much to my wonderful husband who planned such a great day and to our family members who came to celebrate with me! Plus, a big thanks to the friends that joined up with us for drinks! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

30 isn't bad...so far!!!

Madison's 2nd Birthday party!

The Christmas blizzard also affected the 2nd birthday party we had planned for Madison Jay on Dec. 26th. So, we moved it to the evening of Jan. 2. Thank you to all our family who came to her party...even after having to switch the date and the cold weather! We enjoyed a meal together, opened more presents, sang Happy Birthday to her (which she didn't care for being the center of attention and having everyone stare at her during the song), ate cake, and visited! Her theme this year was Dora! Jason's mom made 2 great cakes to go along with the theme! It was a great party! Here are some more pictures from the evening!

On another note...we had her in for her 2 year check-up on Dec. 21st. She is doing very well! She weighs 25 lbs and is 35 inches tall. She is in the 75th percentile for height and the 25th for weight. She eats great...her favorite food is any kind-of noodles! She got 3 of her 4, 2 year molar teeth in December. She is not potty trained yet...we have worked on it a little bit off and on for a few months...but nothing too serious. We will work more on it in the next few months. She is a very active, healthy, 2 year old. She talks better then most 2 year olds (ok, maybe I'm a little biased!). She loves to play babies, read books, play a Dora game on the computer, and do pretty much anything her big sister is doing! She is a great kid!

Christmas with Dad

We celebrated Christmas with my dad on Jan. 2nd. He had to work that morning in Mankato so we did a smaller celebration with him at 2 p.m. that day at our house. We enjoyed snacks and presents together. Here are a few pic's!

Yes, Amber and Kevin, Eric and Jackie, and us all bought him the same movie...obviously we did not call each other ahead of time! Too funny!

Thanks Dad for coming down 2 weekends in a row...it was fun spending time with you!

The Christmas celebrations continue...

The Christmas blizzard affected our Christmas celebrations with my mom and Paul and my dad! So, instead of celebrating with them at Christmas, we started the new year with them!

New Year's Day we all met at my mom and Paul's house and spent the afternoon and evening together! It was a lot of fun. We started with snacks in the afternoon, played playdoh, had a great supper, and then opened presents! We even managed to get in a few family photo's and pic's of the girls in their Christmas dresses.

Towards the end of the night, Jason and Eric were honored to be asked by Kevin to be a part of Amber and Kevin's wedding party as Groomsman! Very exciting! Our whole family will be a part of their very special day!

Here are a few more great pic's from the festivities!

My mom and her friend Kathy made these great vests for all their grand-daugthers!

The girls enjoying fruit snacks!

Amber and I with Grandma Norma

Presley with her Auntie and Kevin!

Madison is always trying to pick up her cousin Mersaydes who is actually

3 months younger and 2-3 pounds bigger then her!

The kids had fun pushing Uncle Eric down on the couch!

This ended up being one of Presley's favorite gifts...

which after only 2 days of practice, she is so good at!

Jackie and Mersaydes were cheering on the hula hoopers!!