Twinkle, Twinkle

It feels like these girls have grown up so quickly these last couple months! They are very much their own little people now. This video showcases a few of our current favorite interests: wearing princess dresses, singing, eating and fighting with our sister. Enjoy!

On The Go

Life at the Lamberts has involved a lot of time in the car lately! We've been out of town the last four weekends and having a blast!!

Weekend #1: Somehow between my father-in-law Rich (a runner) and my best friend Amanda (a somewhat new runner), I was talked into running a 2 mile race called the Buckshot that Rich does ever year. I've been busy training since mid-July and have been surprisingly liking running! I'm not good or fast but I do like it. Amanda drove in to participate too so we got to run it together.

The girls came to cheer us on and also got to do some running as a part of the short kids run afterwards. They thought it was pretty fun running with Linda, Grandpa Rich and Daddy, and they loved the medals they got at the end of it too! Claire below is showing hers off.

The girls also got to do some dancing with Linda afterwards which they loved. All in all, it was a great first race!

Weekend #2: My second annual trip to Wabeno! This is a girls getaway scrapbooking weekend where I get to join Amanda and her family and pretty much the same group of about 16 women who've been going for I think 12 years now. We stay at The Crystal Bell bed and breakfast which has a ton of character and probably the best hospitality of any place I've ever been. I look forward to it every year!

Weekend #3: Sharon took me to a concert for my birthday of one of my favorite artists, Sara Groves! So it was back to Eastern Wisconsin to Green Bay for the concert and Little Chute for Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Sharon's house.

The concert was AMAZING and Sharon and I had a wonderful time. The girls loved spending time with their Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Scotty who also came along on this trip, and I loved seeing Amanda for the third weekend in a row! We got together to run a 5K in Appleton Saturday morning and then our families got to hang out for a bit during the day as well.

Mid-Week treat: On Wednesday of the next week, we got to have lots of fun visitors over! Our good friends Tim and Danielle Johnson had been in Eau Claire from Florida and came to the cities for a visit with their new baby Finley. The Shipmans also came over to play so of course, we had to take pictures! Below is Abby, Hailey Shipman, Zach Shipman, Finley Johnson and Claire.

Three two year olds and two young babies in the house plus six adults and one crazy Asterix was a little cramped but fun. We got some pizzas, had fondue dessert, and played like crazy.

Here are proud daddies Sean and Tim showing off the newest additions to their families.

Weekend #4: Hannah and Matt's wedding! We love Eau Claire weddings because it normally means all of Ryan's friends from high school get to finally get together and hang out. With Jon and Val living in Maryland and Tim and Danielle in Florida, hanging out all together is a rare treat. And of course, we were so excited to celebrate with Hannah, who made a very beautiful bride!

Claire and Abby got to sleepover at Grandpa Rich and Grandma Gwen's with cousin Alex which was an extra treat for both them and us - a night with no kids!

We also got to spend some time hanging out with the whole gang the day after the wedding. It's crazy to think that in a few short years we've gone from just two kids in the group to now eight between us all: Mason, Claire, Abby, Finley, Kendall, Hailey, Zacy and Bryn.

And here's all of us with our crazy kids!

We have had a ton of fun in September. Claire and Abby are sure to be bored next weekend when we actually stay home for once. Happy Fall everyone!

Summer Fun

Summer is here so bring on the fun! Here's Abby all dressed up for a fun time.

Ryan and I got to actually go out and have some fun sans babies, which doesn't happen as often as one would like. We went to Elsie's for a surprise 30th birthday party for this guy here:

Jason! I know it's blurry but that's cause your eyesight goes with age.

The next weekend, Ryan, Claire, Abby and I headed into Eau Claire to go to the Renaissance Festival with Grandma Gwen, Grandpa Rich, Uncle Scott and our good friend Linda. We started at the joust and even got to pet the horses afterwards (Claire below with Grandpa Rich).

We eventually strolled around to one of the "pubs." There was an Irish duo that was playing that Claire and Abby loved dancing to! There were also two beautiful doggies that we got to pet. Abby, who wore her fairy costume to the festival, thought it'd be fun to steal Grandma Gwen's hat and run around with it a bit too.

We didn't ride the elephants because it was SO much more expensive to do than it's been at the MN Ren Fest in the past, but the girls were fine just sitting and watching the elephants give rides to the suckers who did shell out the big bucks.

We had some good festival food and watched this amazing juggler man named Tuey. The girls had a blast and lasted much longer past naptime than I expected. It was a great day!

Then this week Grandma Gwen and Grandpa Rich came camping very near our house at Lake Elmo. This is a great park with a very nice beach and many good playgrounds, so of course, we thought we should visit!

We started by swimming and playing in the sand (Claire above) - what a blast! I've been watching Lily three days a week for the summer so she was with us too and all three girls had a great time splashing and digging on the beach.

Grandpa Rich (below with Abby) and Grandma Gwen were very nice to let us come and play with them!

Now this weekend we're off to Lake Mills, WI to visit some extended family. Then next week it's off to the cabin near Birchwood, WI for a week and a half with the Campbell Family. This summer is flying by with all the fun we're having, but we're enjoying every moment!

These Girls They Are A Changing

I don't always realize how much my girls are changing from day to day until I come across something that reminds me of how different they used to be. This is a picture of Abby from July 2009:

And here she is in the same dress in May 2010!

Thank goodness she finally got hair, hm?? Also, it's hard to tell in the recent pic, but the dress that was below her knees now only falls to her mid to upper thigh. Let me tell you, these girls are tall and skinny! It's pretty nuts. I hope they enjoy it now, though, because if they're anything like their parents, they'll be tall and chubby by the time they're preteens. Don't you just love genetics?

Speaking of Abby, here she is helping me make some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. Where is Claire, you're wondering? Well, my very dutiful daughter Claire was napping, but Abby just wasn't feeling it. After hearing Abby goof around in their room for about 45 minutes, I gave up on her napping and opened the door to find her like this:

Note: she did not have the headband in when I put her to bed. Claire was fast asleep in her bed with two baby doll car seats next to her {her sister's doing I believe}.

As for Claire, she'll really been enjoying applesauce lately. That's her above licking her plate clean of it. Yum!

She also thoroughly enjoyed the drive in movie we went to this past weekend! Uncle Jason, Aunt Jill, Uncle Greg, and of course Cousin Lily were all there too. The girls got to run around in their pjs before the movie started, then actually did quite good during the first movie {Shrek Forever After}. Then we laid them down in pack and plays in the van and they went right to sleep, so Ryan, Greg and I could enjoy the second movie {Iron Man 2}.

And the drive in is just one exciting thing we're enjoying with this summer weather. We also got to run through the sprinkler today!

Claire {above} stuck to mostly just running around screaming while Abby {below} preferred going right up to the sprinkler and sticking her head in it.

It was quite a good way to spend the hot afternoon!

Hope you are all having as much fun as we are! Stay cool...

Big Girl Beds!

So a couple of weeks ago, I begin hearing massive amounts of giggling at the end of the girls' nap time. I went into their room to find Abby in Claire's crib. The climbing had begun! The girls, very impressed with their new skill, took turns showing me how they could climb over their adjoining crib side into the other one's crib. Sure it made me slightly nervous but I figured they weren't doing anything too dangerous yet.

The next day, about 20 minutes into their nap, I heard very sad crying coming from the room. Abby had climbed into Claire's crib and woken her up and Claire was not happy about it. So Ryan and I decided it was time for Big Girl Beds, and here they are!

The girls now sleep across from each other in the room. This is Abby's bed above and Claire's below.

The girls were pretty excited about it! And so far it's gone very well. They each fell out of bed a couple of times but all in all, no major upsets. They still go to bed very well and stay in bed fairly well too. I'm sorry to all you mothers with kids who don't sleep well! I honestly don't know how you survive. Nap/Bed time is the only thing that keeps me sane!

Here's Big Girl Abby trying out her new cozy bed. Don't let the nonchalant look on her face fool you - she's happy as a clam.

You Know Your Child Is Tired When...

...she falls asleep on the couch - sitting up!

Poor Abby was pretty exhausted after a day filled with swimming lessons, playing with Uncle Scott and no nap. She slept this way for about 45 minutes!

Easter Egg Excitement

We hope you had a happy Easter!

Full of hidden treasures...

And time with ones you love.

God bless!

Guess Who Got Their Bangs Cut?

It's Claire!

And Abby!

Daddy did the honors for our first ever haircut. Pretty momentous, even if it was just the bangs. Oh, and guess who also learned how to say cheese and smile for the camera?

It's Claire and Abby!

Oh, we're adorable.

Terrifically Two

Okay, for some reason I can't get the pictures to move around so we'll just have to go in the random order that I uploaded them, okay?

Since I've posted last (it's been a while - sorry!) we've been doing lots of fun things! One of them was going to the Hot Air Affair in Hudson with Grandma Gwen, Grandpa Rich and Cousin Alex. (BTW, if you want to google this event, don't forget to type the "air" in the title like I accidentally did. You will get some very different results!)

It was so cool to watch these giant balloons - probably 20 or so on one big field - get blown up and take off. They are so huge when you are standing next to them!

Ryan and I also went to the "Moon Glow" that night where they all get blown up on the field and lit up. I felt a bit like I was in War of the Worlds with all these huge balloon things around me (we were literally in the middle of all of them at one point) but it was pretty awesome looking!

There's Grandma Gwen and Alex cuddling up while the balloons were getting blown up. We went inside to warm up with some hot chocolate and look at the craft fair right afterwards.

The first night of the event there was a parade where all of the baskets from the balloons came down the road lighting up their fires. It was amazing how huge of flames there were! Even standing on the sidewalk, we could feel the warmth of the flame as the baskets passed.

When we weren't looking at balloons and such, we got to swim in the pool at the hotel where Rich and Gwen were staying. We had a great time and I think this event may even become an annual tradition for us.

Another weekend, another fun adventure with grandparents! These pictures are from last weekend when we went to Little Chute, WI to visit Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Sharon. They took us to Appleton's Building for Kids which the girls loved!

Their favorite part was the water room where the kids get to put on little raincoats and play with all kinds of water things. The girls especially loves this water slide thing. They would put a rubber ducky at the top, watch the water carry it around, and then they screamed with delight when the duck plopped off the end of the slide.

I mean, just look at our excited faces!! That's Abby in the very first picture above and the ones directly above and below this are of Claire.

We also climbed in giant pumpkins (Claire below), went down the slide, looked at frogs...

... and played in Clifford's dog bowl (Claire below)! It was a great time.

During our visit, we also discovered that putting Daddy's hoodie on the girls makes them look an awful lot like Obi Wan Kenobi.

I also got to see my incredible friend Amanda during our trip as she lives way over on that side of Wisconsin, too. It was great to have a couple of hours to just chat with her without babies and whatnot to distract us. Hooray for grown up time! She sent a belated bday gift for the girls - the games Elefun and Gator Golf. For any of you with young ones, I highly recommend them! The girls LOVE LOVE LOVE playing them.

Speaking of playing, we got to have a couple of playdates with another friend of mine, Kira, and her daugher Zania. I hadn't seen Kira in about five years so I was very excited when she told me she' d be in town helping a friend who was having a baby and I would finally get to meet the adorable Zania. Despite Abby's reluctance to share some of our toys, the three girls seemed to have a good time and I really enjoyed seeing Kira again!

On a random note, Grandpa Mike recently got back from a golf trip to Laughlin, Nevada and brought back these Tinkerbell shirts that Abby is modeling above. They are our new favorite shirts. Thank you, Grandpa!

The girls (Abby in stripes and Claire in red) were great helps packing for our big trip to Little Chute!! They have been quite adorable and snuggling lately. Since we're two now, we've given up having pacifiers during the day and when we don't have our fingers in our mouths, we are talking much more. I love hearing what they have to say!

Speaking of turning two, you may have noticed there's a post missing about that. Well, we had a very low key celebration at Chuck E Cheese on the girls' actual birthday and of course, I forgot my camera. Luckily Grandma Gwen and Grandpa Rich took lots of pics, so before you call Child Protection, factor in that the girls have three sets of wonderful grandparents who help take good care of them. :)

Happy almost spring, everybody!