Life at the Lamberts

Oh Christmas Tree

2011-12-04T20:27:00.000-08:00

There's nothing better than putting on some Christmas tunes, heating up some hot chocolate and putting up the ol' Christmas tree. Now, I love the smell of a real tree but not the mess (especially with little ones running around), so we use a nice fake one we inherited from my Aunt Pat. And you know you'be got an easy-to-assemble tree when even your 3-year-old can help!

After Abby helped assemble the tree, she hopped up on Daddy's shoulders to put the star on top.

When we told them earlier that day that we were going to put up the tree, Abby got really excited and asked, "Do I get to put the star on top like last year?" It kind of blew me away that she remembered doing that last year - I guess I sometimes forget they have memories of their own!

Claire also got in the action helping put the ornaments on the tree. Such a cutie! And when we were all done, this is what we got...

Let the Christmas season begin!

Little Chute, Reindeer, and Dress Up

2011-11-28T09:42:00.000-08:00

We finally took a trip to Little Chute (they are great at coming to see us, but it had probably been at least a year since we had been there) to see Grandpa Wayne & Grandma Sharon and celebrate Wayne's birthday with a surprise party (on 11/11/11). The party was in the upper room of a cool pizza/bar place and was a blast. The girls had a great time playing toys that Grandma Sharon had brought and dancing, and we had a great time chatting with Wayne and Sharon and their family and friends.

We had a nice weekend there just hanging out at their house, playing games, and taking a trek down the block to a nice little park. Uncle Scotty had come with us for the trip and even joined the girls for a little Merry-Go-Round action.

Back home the following weekend, we headed to Woodbury Lakes Open House for the first time, where there were lots of activities to kick off the holiday season.

Claire, Abby and I took a sleigh ride (and Ryan took some pictures) pulled by these guys here...

It was our first reindeer sleigh ride and it was awesome! We also saw Santa, friends Amy, Linnea and Chris Meyers, and a fantastic fireworks show. Plus we danced with this reindeer (below) and some of his snowman friends. It was a chilly but fun night!

Other than that, we've been hanging out at home quite a bit. We spent some time decorating and, of course, dressing up.

Dr. Claire (& "sweetheart")

Cinderella Abby

Oh, and making a few funny faces, too.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is enjoying the holiday season as much as we are!

Leaf Pile!

2011-11-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

The leaves on our trees are finally coming down and in one fell swoop, our yard was an ocean of orange, yellow and green leaves. The girls and I tried to get a handle on it today by doing some raking. Okay, I did the raking; the girls did the jumping into the leaf piles.

It was a gorgeous day for being outside, playing in the yard, breathing in the crisp Fall air, and hearing my daughter happily report to me, "Mommy, I went pee-pee in the leaves!" (said to me moments after this picture was taken).

Bonus points if you guess who it was! (Abby is on the left, Claire on the right)

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-03T15:16:00.000-07:00

The girls were SO excited for Halloween this year! Abby asked me almost every day, "Mommy, we go to Halloween now?"

We decorated our pumpkins about a week before Halloween. We decided to use transfers instead of carving and it worked really well! The girls were pretty proud of their creations (above: Claire, left, & Abby, right). Plus they got to put like 3 faces on each pumpkin, so that was pretty cool.

Finally, the big day arrived! Claire was Cinderella and Abby was Ariel, Little Mermaid. (A HUGE thank you to Grandma Sharon & Grandpa Wayne for being our costume suppliers yet again! You guys sure know how to hook these girls up with great costumes.)

So excited!! (Can you tell?)

The day before Halloween, we actually got dressed up and headed over to Aunt Pat's house to see Aunt Pat, Uncle Joe and Aunt Joy and get some of our first treats.

Lily/Butterfly Fairy met us there, which made it all the more exciting! Auntie Pat was leaving for a big road trip a couple of days later so it was great to say good-bye and wish her safe travels.

We also headed to Papa Mike and Grandma Maggie's house that day to say Trick or Treat to them too. (Yep, as much as Abby LOVED her costume, she wanted out of it almost right after we got to their house.)

The next day (actual Halloween), we dressed up again for some trick or treating at the Maplewood Mall, followed by more around our neighborhood. One thing I actually really like about Halloween is it's one of the few times I get to interact with my neighbors! (One of the downsides of being antisocial is you don't get to know the neighbors really well.)

After we headed home with our buckets full of sugar, the girls had some hot apple cider and helped Grandma Gwen hand out candy.

In the times between trick-or-treaters, Claire would stick her head out the window, wave a candy bar around and yell, "Candy!" to entice people to stop by. Plus side, this may indicate a strong future as a saleswoman or, down side, a carnie. Either way, it had me chuckling pretty good!

All in all, a great Halloween for these little princesses! Hope you all had very sugar-filled, fun Halloweens too.

Fall Fun

2011-10-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

During our October Cam Fam, the entire Campbell clan headed over to the Twin Cities Harvest Festival in Brooklyn Park. It's new within the last couple of years and boasts the largest corn maze in MN! Since it's in my hometown, we figured we ought to check it out.

It got a little hectic in the corn maze - Papa got a little nuts trying to find the exit - but once we made it out okay, we got to enjoy the rest of the festival.

The coolest thing, in my opinion, was the giant pit of corn kernels!

The girls jumped right in and got a big kick out of getting buried in the kernels. It was pretty awesome!

The girls also went down the giant slide with Daddy and fed some animals in the petting zoo.

Claire (above) wasn't sure what to think of these llamas and sheep all looking at her expectantly! Abby (below) loved feeding the baby goats.

We also took a hayride, played on a playground, tried (and failed) to climb a giant web thing, ran through a kid-sized hay bale maze and had a great time! Way to represent, BP.

In other October happenings, the girls got a big kick out of have a picnic in our sun room. We put a blanket on the floor and munched on appetizers (apple slices, grapes, carrots, celery, peanut butter, mini pigs in a blanket and hawaiian bread with spinach dip) while watching Surf's Up, the movie the girls picked from Red Box. They asked to have a "sun room picnic" pretty much every day since!

And finally, we are so excited for Halloween! Abby keeps asking me, "Do we get to go to Halloween now?" Claire wants to be Cinderella and Abby wants to be Little Mermaid. Today a package arrived from Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Wayne and inside was...

Thanks for our wonderful costumes, Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Wayne! We can't wait to wear them!!!

Birthdays, Festivals and Haircuts - oh my!

2011-10-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

August isn't complete without a family birthday party to celebrate my, Jill and Mama's August birthdays! We all gathered at Mama and Papa's house on Mama's birthday for the big celebration.

The three birthday girls got to go out to a movie while the boys hung out with the girls (Above, Uncle Jason with all three girls on a hammock) and started grilling us a yummy dinner.

One of the biggest attractions at Papa and Grandma's house right now that the girls love to play with are their garden statues. Somehow, they end up all over the place by the time we leave. Above, the bunnies hop over to wish Grandma Maggie a happy birthday!

Abby gives the camera a big "cheese" face.

Jump forward to September, it was so busy, I only took like 6 pictures the entire month! They were mainly from the Wild Rice Festival we took the girls to in Roseville. It was pretty interesting, and at a place we'd never been before - the Harriet Alexander Nature Center. There was lots going on but the food part was unfortunately not very well organized and SUPER slow so after checking out the festival a bit, we left and took our hungry girls elsewhere for some food.

Like most children, the girls have this very fun ability to make up games wherever they are. Even at the festival, surrounded by fun activities and interested things, they decided to create their own game out of walking across the outdoor wooden benches and going "ta da!" (Claire, above, and Abby, below)

Jumping forward even more to October, and the big excitement this month was in the girls getting their very first haircuts!

Abby (left) got a trim but Claire (right) wanted something different so she got a bob haircut. The stylists also put a cute braid in each girls hair when they were done.

We took them to Kids Hair for their first cuts because we weren't sure how they'd do but they did great! Not a peep out of either one the entire time they got their hair cut. Good thing because we probably couldn't afford to go to the very entertaining but quite pricey Kids Hair on a regular basis.

These girls love their new haircuts! They've been walking around, looking in mirrors and going, "Aren't I beautiful?" (To which I respond, "yes, you're beautiful because you're so sweet/kind/funny/helpful/generous," etc. Just trying to counter those darn Disney Princess movies they love so much!) They've also been talking a lot more about being big girls, so I think they're feeling quite grown up.

Trip to Green Bay

2011-10-15T08:47:00.000-07:00

The girls are I were thrilled to head to Green Bay to visit Amanda, Ben, Atticus and Sampson in August. Amanda had a jam-packed fun few days planned for us!

We got to check out the North East WI Zoo, where we inadvertently taunted this raccoon with our popcorn snack. Sorry guy!

We also got to feed a couple of cute giraffes (Claire above and below), which was pretty darn awesome.

We also inadvertently taunted this penguin - he kept trying to get the food we had from behind the glass!

We went out to eat at a yummy Vietnamese restaurant where Atticus wowed us with his use of chopsticks - pretty impressive!

We also checked out the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary, where Abby (above) loved running around exploring, especially the slide that slid you down into a cave.

Sampy got a kick out of this duck boat thing and Claire (below) went spelunking.

The fun didn't stop there! The Wildlife Sanctuary also has lots of outside area where you can feed ducks galore, which we happily did with bread Amanda had brought. Seriously, this place had lots of fun stuff to do!

During the nights, the kids all snuggled up together before bed and watched an episode or two of Dora, Diego, Fireman Sam or the like. If my girls were lucky, they'd even get a nice pat on the head from Sampy (Abby and Sampy below).

We visited over my birthday so Amanda and Ben very nicely got me a crazy delicious Nutter Butter ice cream cake from DQ. Peanut butter and ice cream? Crazy good!!!

We went to Sir Bounce-A-Lots that night for even more fun and excitement!

This place was crazy cool. There was a giant inflatable slide that the kids went down about a million and a half times... (Abby above and Sampy below)

...plus lots of bouncy houses. Below, Amanda and Sampy check one out!

We also had a deep-fried dinner there (seriously, other than the pizza, everything one the menu came battered and fried - even the veggies. Yikes!) complete with Icees (Abby below tries hers out and is instantly hooked).

On our last day there, the RK and Lambert clans met up with Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Sharon at Bay Beach Amusement Park for some rides. I took Atticus and Sampson on the Tilt-a-Whirl while Grandma and Grandpa took Claire and Abby on the merry go round and train ride.

It was a very fun end to our very fun few days in Green Bay! Thanks to Amanda, Ben, Atticus and Sampy for being such great hosts and for planning such a great time for us!

August Fun with Grandmas and Grandpas

2011-10-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Wayne came to visit in mid-August for some long overdue fun together.

They brought us these cute new Dora outfits, which we love. We also celebrated Grandma Sharon's birthday, went bowling, and of course, played lots of Settlers of Catan!

Claire and Grandpa Wayne, playing Settlers (above) and bowling (below).

Abby (below) checks out the blower on the bowling ball return.

Grandma Martha Stewart, oops, I mean Sharon made very cute piggy banks with the girls from old vinegar jugs. Pretty incredible!

We also got to check out Alex's summer time dance recital in August, which was quite fun to watch. As a bonus, we got to hang out with Grandma Gwen, Grandpa Rich and the whole May family!

Welcome Cousin Logan!

2011-10-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

Claire and Abby have a new cousin!

Logan Wylie May was born on June 27th. The Mays can to visit when he was about 3 weeks old and the girls were so excited to see him. Big Sister Alex also seemed pretty proud of her new baby brother. Congrats May family!

July 4th at the Cabin

2011-10-15T07:08:00.000-07:00

We took our annual family trip to the cabin over July 4th and continued the tradition of a wacky, fun-filled week! There were bubbles...

...and riding in the car with Grandma...

...and bedtime stories...

... and fun sleeping positions with three cousins in a bed!

The week went by very quickly. Grandma Maggie, Aunt Pat, all 3 girls and I were the first ones up and almost melted to death in the 100-degree temp that first day. Everyone else arrived within the next couple of days and luckily, it cooled off for most of the rest of the week!

(pictured above: Abby on the left, Claire in the middle and Lily on the right)

On the 4th, we dressed up all patriotic (I think it was also the very first time my girls had braids in their hair - thanks Auntie Jill!) and even got our nails painted.

Then we headed to the Tagalong for their fireworks show! We got there a bit early so we spent a good chunk of time running around the golf course, getting nice and tired.

The fireworks were pretty awesome! Even with the not-so-awesome plethora of mosquitoes that night, we had a very fun time. In fact, we got quite silly. Warning: goofy family photos coming up!

Okay, that last one is more cute than goofy - and taken by one of the girls I think!

We also continued our tradition of renting a pontoon boat for a spin around Red Cedar Lake. It is always so nice and relaxing just tooling around on the water!

The girls loved helping Papa drive the boat and putting their feet in the water.

Auntie Pat and Asterix on the boat, hoping Papa Mike doesn't get them soaked!

We also learned some dance moves from Papa Mike and some card games from Grandma Maggie.

On our last night, we had our own little fireworks show, presented by Daddy and Uncle Jason. Claire (left), Abby (middle) and Lily (right) loved getting dressed up in fairy and princess outfits to enjoy the show!

We had a great time and are already excited to go back for July 4, 2012!

Oakdale Summer Fest

2011-06-27T20:20:00.000-07:00

This past Friday we found ourselves unexpectedly in town and decided to check out Oakdale Summer Fest. It was awesome! And much bigger than I had thought it'd be. There were tons of carnival games, food, a giant playground, pony rides, a Beatles tribute band and lots of booths set up in Oakdale's very nice Richard Walton Park. A good time was had by all (Claire in pink ruffle shirt, Abby in pink princesses shirt and Lily in purple Tangled shirt)!

Pushes from Daddy are the best!

Crazy dancing

All copying Claire's funny face

The running-in-circles dance

Ready for ponies!

The walk back to the car with three tired girls (Yes, I knelt in the wet grass and it's a good look, I know).

In other news, we dressed up as princesses (or divas in Claire's case, above) today and went for a Princess Parade in the backyard.

The adorable princesses (Claire in pink as Sleeping Beauty, Abby in blue as a fairy and Lily as Rapunzel)

Claire and Abby have also enjoyed taking more pictures with my camera. Abby took the nice one of Claire, above. They also enjoy taking pictures of their pretty dresses...

... their daddy...

... their Dora cup...

... their toes...

... their toys...

... their sister's hands...

... their smiling faces...

... and their scary faces!

I think they may have a future as professional photographers (or scary face makers).

Catching Up

2011-06-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

Whoa! Three months since I last posted? Pretty crazy! Here's a recap of what we've been up to these past three months:

Easter

The girls had a blast dying eggs for the first time ever this year! Ryan showed them how to do cool things, like draw on an egg with crayon before dying it, and he wrote their names on them too which the girls thought was so amazing.

Claire, above, and Abby, below, show off their eggs!

There's my cute family!

Then Ryan thought of a fun new tradition so he took the girls outside so they could each "plant" one of their decorated eggs.

The next morning, we went out in our pjs to find...

... that our planted eggs had turned into Easter baskets!

Pretty cool, right?

We also had a rip-roaring good egg hunt in the living room, and the Easter bunny brought Claire & Abby helmets for their bikes!

Grandma & Grandpa Campbell had given them the bikes for their birthdays but you can't really ride bikes in January in Minnesota, so we waited until now to assemble them. So really, it was perfect timing for the Easter bunny to get them helmets so they could actually try riding their bikes.

Which we went outside and did later that day!

While they're still not bike riding pros, Claire, above, and Abby, below, had an awesome time. I'm sure we have many more bike riding days in our future.

Alex's Dance Recital

We also got to check out Cousin Alex's dance recital this Spring with Grandma Gwen, Grandpa Rich, Uncle Andy, Aunt Steph, and Uncle Kevin. It was pretty darn cool! Claire was SO excited when she was picked by one of the dancers during the first song to dance in the aisle with her. Claire is definitely our future dancer - she is shaking her bootie every chance she gets!

Alex did such a great job and was simply adorable. Who knew nonprofessional dance recitals could be so much fun??

On a random side note, the girls' new favorite outfits are these super cute dresses they got from Ryan, who picked them up while on a vacation in Las Vegas with some guy friends from work.

Bowling!

Abby (in purple above) and Claire love it when Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Wayne come visit, especially when we do super-fun things like bowling for the first time! The girls got some help from Grandpa Wayne...

... Mommy...

... Daddy...

... and Grandma Sharon...

... and Claire even managed to beat Mommy's bowling score while Abby was only 3 points behind Mommy. They're naturals! (I guess it doesn't hurt that I'm just a really bad bowler... )

June

Then there's about a month there where lots of fun things happened, including the Fairy Tale ball on May 13th in Eau Claire (hope you saw my Facebook post of Abby on the news during the ball!); sleeping over at Cousin Alex's house; sleeping over at Grandma & Grandpa Campbell's house; celebrating Aunt Pat's 70th bday with dinner at Red Lobster; going to the cabin for a few days with our friends Amanda, Atticus & Sampson Retzak Krump; then starting to have Lily at our house a few days a week over the summer. I have been very lax at picture taking lately so yep, no picture of any of those exciting events. But don't worry, I'm starting to whip out the camera a bit more again, just in time for...

The Grand Reopening of the Highland Park Aquatic Center!

Aunt Jill & Cousin Lily joined us to check this place out. It has several pools, including a very cool one for little ones, just the right size for these three three-year-olds!

Unfortunately, it rained all day and apparently there's a rule where if it thunders, everyone has to stay out of the pool for 30 minutes. It thundered right as we walked out of the locker room in our swim suits, which means Jilly and I had to entertain our three girls for about 45 minutes before they were clear to swim. Luckily, the pool was so awesome it made up for our long wait to get in it! I have a Groupon to here and look forward to heading back this summer.

Como Zoo

I of course forgot my camera when Amanda and I took our brood of 5 children (Atticus, Sampson, Claire, Abby and Lily) to Como Zoo while they were visiting, so I made sure to take pictures when we headed these just yesterday with Uncle Scotty.

We got up close with many animals, including this tiger (Claire above and Lily below)...

... giraffes...

... a polar bear bobbing for a carrot (yes, that's Lily in the braids and pink shirt)...
... a seal...
... orangutans...
... and Uncle Scotty and Ryan!

My favorite (after Ryan, of course) was definitely this cute polar bear.

Okay, now we're all caught up! Hope you are all enjoying your start to summer. I will try to post again much sooner than 3 months from now. :) Until then, take care!

OMG - Princesses! On! Ice!

2011-03-07T12:10:00.000-08:00

It's no understatement to say my girls love princesses and while we try to expose them to many different exciting things in the world, we sometimes can't help but indulge them. I've made them a Rhapsody playlist that includes Princess songs (among other things) that I play during the day and they get SO excited every time a princess song comes on.

Last night we took the girls to what must be like 3 year old girl heaven - Disney Princesses on Ice!

We met the Woyaks (Aunt Jill, Uncle Jason and Cousin Lily) for the preshow where we got to see a number of "pretty dresses" - like Snow White's above - and be waved at by a real live Cinderella! Abby (ponytail), Claire (headband) and Lily (blue stripes) could not believe their eyes.

We found our seats - Claire above with Ryan - in a very nice, in a not too crowded spot and took in the scenery before the show began.

We saw all our favorites: Snow White and the 7 Dwarves...

Belle (albeit with no sign of the Beast, or as Claire called him, "Tiger")...

The Little Mermaid (w/ Flounder and Sebastian and all kinds of sea creatures)...

Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip...

... and Cinderella!

All the Princesses came out for the grand finale, including what might be Claire's new favorite, Jasmine.

Tinkerbell made appearances throughout the snow, along with Mickey & Minnie Mouse and Goofy, so they came out for the finale too which ended with some fireworks shooting out of the carriage. Pretty spectacular!

To end our Princess filled evening, we headed to the downtown Applebee's for a late dinner/snack where the girls practiced taking pictures with my camera.

They took these ones of Claire (above) Lily (below) and me with Abby (far below) - not bad, huh?

Then home we went to put our exhausted little Princesses to bed. And, dare I say it?, to live happily ever after.

Thanks Grandma Sharon and Papa Wayne!

2011-03-07T12:04:00.000-08:00

Claire and Abby were so excited to each receive our very own packages full of great gifts from Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Wayne. Thank you so much! We miss you and hope to see you soon!

Outdoor February Fun

2011-02-22T08:11:00.000-08:00

Our biggest event for February was the Hot Air Affair held in Hudson, WI. It's the second year we've gone and although we're not really hot air balloon enthusiasts, we really enjoy it!

The fun starts with a fiery parade on Friday night. The balloonists (is that what they're called??) glide down the street, showing off their baskets and fire blowers (I'm sure that's their technical term in the hot air balloon community).

For the girls, this normally means sitting on someone's shoulders (Claire on Grandpa Rich's shoulders, above) and staring in wonderment (Abby, below).

The girls also got to swim in the pool at the hotel Grandma Gwen and Grandpa Rich were staying in, and spend the night there Friday night. Swimming is quite possibly their favorite thing in the world so the girls were in heaven.

On Saturday, we all met up again to cheer on Grandpa Rich as he ran a 5K. Then we headed to the balloon launch that afternoon. This again meant more time on shoulders for Claire (above on Mama's shoulders) and Abby (below with Daddy).

Because it was a pretty cloudy day, the balloons weren't able to launch but they did blow them up. It was pretty cool watching these huge balloons come to life. It's quite the process and takes a lot of people to help control the balloon.

There was also a snowy playground to play on, an arts and crafts fair to check out (inside, thank goodness) and lots of fair type food to be eaten. That night was one of my favorite parts of the event, the Moonglow. It's where the balloons all get blown up on the field and float into the air all lit up. Both years we've gone, it's been too poor conditions for them to go up, but the balloons stay on the field and light up for what turns out to be a pretty cool sight. It's also pretty fun to run around on the field between all these huge glowing orbs.

By this point, the girls were beyond tired and getting crabby so we decided to just to a slow drive by of the field. The above picture was taken through the car window so it doesn't quite give it justice, but you get the general idea. You can kind of see the orange and white balloon (second from left) which is actually shaped like Nemo. That was of course the girls' favorite one!

We'd had so much fun in Hudson that the next weekend we decided to get out and try more outdoor events. (I mean, what's more fun in MN that hanging outside in the snow for hours on end in the middle of February?) We headed to the Lake Hiawatha Heartwarmer in Minneapolis and luckily it was so fun we forgot about the cold.

There was a dj playing music by the skating pond, a bonfire, free hot dogs, cookies and cider, another snowy playground, a snowman building contest and free horse drawn hay rides (Abby, below, having a blast on the hay ride)! It was a great Saturday afternoon.

Hope you're also out enjoying the rest of our snowy wonderland! Spring will be here before we know it.

Eagles Nest Pics

2011-01-31T11:40:00.000-08:00

Jumping...

... and sliding! Abby above and Claire below.

Snippets of January

2011-01-31T10:47:00.001-08:00

January has been quite the exciting month! We started it off with a trip to the MN History Center. It was the History of Chocolate exhibit that we went for, but once we got there, I was reminded how incredibly much there is for kids there. Abby loved driving the classic Greyhound bus...

... and Claire had a blast in the Grainland play area.

Grandma Sharon and Granpda Wayne came for a visit the first weekend in January and we had our Christmas celebration with them. Abby and Claire were spoiled with there very own recliner chairs! Here's Abby testing hers out...

... and Claire snuggling in hers!

Thanks Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Wayne!

Two weekends later we had more visitors from Wisconsin - Amanda, Atticus and Sampson! Amanda's dogs came along too so we had 4 dogs, 4 kids (age 3 and under) and 3 adults in our small house. A little chaotic but so so so so much fun!

One highlight was a trip to the Transportation Museum in St Paul. They had model trains running plus a bunch of train tables for kids to play with (Atticus, above). We got to walk through trains that were over 100 years old and take a short ride on a more recent model.

All aboard!

Other than that we just played and played and had lots of fun - so much fun in fact that Abby fell asleep on the couch watching Toy Story.

That Sunday, the 23rd, was another exciting event - a 3rd Birthday Party with all our family for Claire...

Abby...

and Lily...

...complete with princess decorations and...

...a princess cake!

The spoiling continued with lots of very nice gifts for the three bday girls. I almost died when I saw one of the gifts my sister got my girls - a dress up Barbie lab coat! So perfect, considering my last post. Abby put hers on immediately and jumped up and down with excitement.

All three girls also got these cute dolls from Aunt Pat. The dolls have their names on them AND came with clothes homemade by Aunt Pat. So nice! Add to that the clothes, toys, personalized bags, robes, puzzles, and BIKES (from Papa Mike & Grandma Maggie) that they got from everyone, these were 3 very lucky princesses.

On our actual birthday this past Friday, the girls were treated to a bday lunch at Fridays, complete with singing and ice cream sundaes! Abby fluctuated between happy...

... and confused...

... while Claire just enjoyed the ice cream!

(We also went to the Eagle's Ridge indoor playground in the morning, but the pictures aren't posting right. I'll try a new post with them.)

With all this running around, I think we are all ready for a spa vacation. I mean, come one, we already have the robes for it and everything.

Hope your 2011 has also been so far full of fun!

Barbie 1, Feminism 0

2011-01-13T07:10:00.001-08:00

Happy 2011 everyone! We had a GREAT new years celebration with both of our cousins (Lily and Alex) over to celebrate at the same time. Talk about fun! We even got to do a 9:00 New Years toast with sparkling grape juice where we ran around clinking plastic glasses and saying "Happy Ew Ear!" (My girls version of Happy New Year).

So, as most of you know, my girls absolutely love "pretty dresses." Every day I hear, "Mama, I wear pretty dress?" When they do get to wear a pretty dress, they start twirling around and showing it off the instant their arms are through the sleeves. See how happy they are in pretty dresses?? (Oh, and for those of you who didn't know, backpacks with pretty dresses are the latest in thing. So stylish!)

Also, they love Barbies. They got some for Christmas (mostly the ones that are like Disney Princesses, such as the Tangled doll below). They usually pretend the Barbies are talking to one another and more often than not the first question out of Barbie's mouth is "You like my pretty dress?"

Now, even though I'm a little concerned about the ideal Barbie portrays, it's not that I think Barbie is pure evil. Plus, the girls like to play with them which means I get some quiet time - that alone makes me love Barbie all the more. But I do want them, even at 2 1/2, to realize that there's more to life than pretty dresses. So when I am playing Barbie with them, I like to answer the pretty dress question with things like, "Yes, it's a very pretty dress, Barbie, but will anyone even see it under your lab coat?" or "I bet the judge liked your lawyering skills even more than that pretty dress!"

I can't tell yet if I'm having any impact with this yet, but if these two grow up to be doctors or lawyers, I think we'll know who to thank.

Twinkle, Twinkle

2010-11-14T19:58:00.000-08:00

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

2010-09-26T19:31:00.001-07:00

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

2010-06-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-27T21:18:00.001-07:00

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...

2010-04-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

...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

2010-04-05T16:27:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-03-04T20:51:00.001-08:00

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

2010-02-27T08:18:00.000-08:00

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!

Party, Party, Party, Party, Achoo, Party

2010-01-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

Let the fiestas begin! First up, Cousin Lily's second bday party on December 13th. Man, those two years have flown by! Lily is such a big girl and can talk like nobody's business. (Maybe it has something to do with her favorite show, Word World - notice the Word World cake!) Such a cutie!

The next weekend, we got all gussied up for the annual Christmas party at Lisa's Aunt Joy and Uncle Joe's house. It was the girls first time going and they ran all over the place, playing with everything in sight. One of Lisa's favorite things, though, was the Tom & Jerry made with Aunt Pat's homemade Tom & Jerry batter - yum!

A few days later was Christmas Eve and we spent the entire day at the Campbell's house (and actually also the night before in an attempt to avoid travelling through the snow).

We got to hang out in the newly renovated family room, complete with a game area (below).

It was very nice, fun and relaxing, and I enjoyed spending an extended time with my family. The girls also enjoyed the family time, but even more so, the presents! We got Lily this horse shaped bag (below), but all three girls took turns trying to ride it - silly girls!

Christmas morning brought more fun and more presents! For the first time, we spent Christmas morning alone at our house. The girls got some fun gifts from Santa. Abby was quite excited about this Cookie Monster doll!

They also opened some bigger gifts from Grandma Gwen and Grandpa Rich, like these strollers. The strollers are actually for the Cabbage Patch dolls they got from Grandma Maggie and Grandpa Mike, but the girls thought it'd be best if they tried them out first...

On Christmas afternoon, we headed over to Steph and Andy's also newly remodeled house (they added an entire second story!) for a celebration with Grandpa Rich, Grandma Gwen, friend Linda, Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Andy and Cousin Alex. Their furniture wasn't in yet, which actually ended up perfect because the girls could run around like crazy fools, which they enjoy!

Alex's new room was all set up, though, and the girls got to play with her and her train set. Actually, it was more like Alex watched in horror as the girls kept knocking apart the tracks and sending trains flying everywhere. Oops! Guess we're not quite old enough for train sets. Alex was a great sport, though, and all three girls had a great time playing together.

Another weekend - another party!! We headed to Eau Claire, WI to hang out with our friends and to celebrate New Years. On our way there, I turned around to peek at the girls and saw this adorable sight:

Hooray for holding hands! Ryan and I both just melted. Unfortunately, the girls spent most of their time in Eau Claire sick, but they did get lots of good snuggles with Grandma Gwen and Grandpa Rich while Ryan and I ran around the town. It was nice to have such a break!

The next weekend was another party - this time a birthday party!! Grandma Maggie threw a party to celebrate Claire, Abby, Lily and Uncle Greg's birthdays (all in Dec/Jan). We got lots of great gifts, like name plaques from Great Aunt Pat, snuggly clothes from Great Aunt Joy and Great Uncle Joe, books from Cousins Kim, Larry, Kirsten and Jenna, and lots of things with our favorite characters - Elmo and the Wiggles - from Uncle Great, Aunt Jill, Uncle Jason and Cousin Lily.

We even got a swing set from Grandma Maggie and Grandpa Mike! We were so excited, we started climbing all over the box. We can't wait to have Lily over this spring to play on it!

Then came another highlight of birthday parties, cake! Here's Claire digging in...

...and Abby, too!

Uncle Great and Cousin Lily agree...

It was a great bday party! Thanks Grandma Maggie and Grandpa Mike!

Sledding!

2009-12-22T18:42:00.000-08:00

We took the girls sledding for the second time ever today (the first time was on Sunday) and man, did we have fun!

We went up and down the hill with Mommy and Daddy (Abby in blue/yellow coat and Claire in pink coat)...And even a couple times by ourselves!

Abby kept waving and saying, "Hi!" which I think was her way of saying, "Look at me go!" What fun! Thanks to Grandma Gwen for coming with and taking such cute pictures!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

A Lambert Christmas

2009-12-07T15:51:00.000-08:00

Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Wayne came to visit this weekend...

and they brought presents!

They always bring us such fun things, like this dancing musical Snoopy.

(Abby is the one singing along so loudly in the first video.)

Sharon made the adorable jingle bell hats that the girls are having a blast with. She also made Ryan and I some amazing wool mittens. She's such a good seamstress!

Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa! We hope you come visit again soon!

Zoom! There goes November!

2009-11-27T11:27:00.000-08:00

Well, hello there! We've had quite a fun (and busy!) November. It started with a trip to Eau Claire, WI the first weekend of November. Ryan and I go back there every year to help at the CTV annual auction. It's takes up the whole weekend, but is a lot of fun. The girls got to spend lots of time with Grandma Gwen and Grandpa Rich. They really loved playing at their house. That's Abby above pretending she's a monkey. They also came to visit us at CTV, where Claire found something that reminded her of Daddy...And Abby had fun running under an easel!The following weekend, we got together withSteph, Andy and Alex, as well as a couple of folks from Ryan's work, and went to 5 Guys Burgers and Chuck E. Cheese.The girls mostly stuck to the cars that rock back and forth, particularly the one above with Chuck E. Cheese himself (next to Claire), the CLifford one below (Abby driving)...And this school bus one (Cousin Alex at the wheel). The Chuck E. Cheese mascot came out eventually, too, and the girls were beside themselves with excitement. So cute!Daddy also built us a fort in the sun room, which we've gotten to play in a lot on these warm November days. Cousin Alex came over to play, too, which Steph, Andy and Ryan did some painting on the Mays' renovated house. (They added a whole second story! Check out their blog at http://andystephhouse.blogspot.com/ if you want to see the changes - it's pretty amazing!) Alex especially loved the fort and kept the girls entertained in there for a good hour. I loved having Alex over to entertain the girls for that long! I'm starting to seriously see the value (for me!) in having playdates.We got to spend Thanksgiving with our other cousin, Lily! Isn's she cute in her pink dress and new bob haircut? All three girls are sick (Claire has a cold, Abby a cold and an ear infection, and Lily a cold with a bad cough), but that didn't stop them from running around and laughing hysterically, especially when second cousin Blake crawled around them in cirlces.

That's been the Life at the Lamberts this November, and off we go towards December and Christmas! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

5 Things

2009-11-24T22:47:00.000-08:00

My friend Amy answered these questions on her blog and "tagged" me in it, meaning it's my turn! So here I go...

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago, I was a Junior at UW-Eau Claire! I was living off campus with my friends Amanda, Kelley, and Deantichrist. I was waitressing at Shoney's and enjoying my English classes. It was an interesting and very fun year!

2. What five things are on your to-do list today?
1. Take care of my two crazy babies, who are getting over colds. This will probably involve some Elmo watching to ease us back to health and maybe a trip to my parents! We'll see...
2. Go to Target (of course. I'm always going to Target.)
3. Do dishes and otherwise pick up my house, but especially mop the kitchen floor.
4. Make spaghetti for dinner (this was on Amy's list, too!! Crazy!)
5. Approve timecards while the babies are napping.

3. Snacks you enjoy
In general, I just love snacking! Coffee drinks, if they can be considered a snack, are my absolute favorite. Other than that, I dig good ol' cheese and crackers lately, peanuts, and anything sweet! For a road trip, I absolutely must have Pizzeria Pretzel Combos, though.

4. Places you have lived
Brooklyn Park, MN; Eau Claire, WI; St Louis Park, MN; Bloomington, MN; New Brighton, MN; Woodbury, MN; and now, St Paul, MN!

5. What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?
1. Pay off all of our debt, including our house...
2. Then sell our house and buy a new one.
3. Finally get a car that is newer than 10 years old!
4. Pay for a big trip for family and friends
5. Give some away to family, friends and charity, but save enough to live off of the interest!
(I've thought about this alot, so this questons was easy! Ha!)

Okay, the three people I'm tagging are Jill, Mama and Papa because there the only ones who I think read this on a regular basis! Anyone reading should feel free to post a comment and answer the questions, though. I'd love to hear what your answers are!

Trick or Treat

2009-11-01T07:39:00.001-08:00

What a perfect Halloween! It was Ryan and my first time taking the girls out trick or treating and we had a blast! Before we got to that part, though, we had lots of people to visit.
We had spent Friday night at Cousin Lily's house and had a great time playing with her. On Saturday, our first stop was to visit Great Aunts Pat and Joy. We weren't quite sure how we felt about wearing costumes yet, but we put them on to show them off (Claire above, Lily and Abby below).

Grandma Sharon made all three adorable Lamb costumes - amazing! They definitely needed to be shown off to more people, so we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Campbell's house next. There's Abby, Claire and Lily below posing for pics.
After all our photo shoots, Claire...

... and Abby had to rehydrate.

After a quick stop at my coworker Sarah Kurachek's house, where we also met up with our third coworker JV and her son Demetrius, dressed wonderfully as Mr. T, we headed home for some neighborhood trick or treating!

Claire (above) and Abby (below) got really excited about the whole thing. They loved wearing their costumes, carrying their Winnie-the-Pooh buckets, going up to neighbors' houses, seeing everyone else out in cute costumes...

...And of course, they loved the candy! They had a little bit more sugar than usual, which I think may have led to the in running around in circles in the living room once we got home. You can still see a Kit Kat bar in Claire's hand - caught in the act!

After we got that out of our system, we stayed up a bit longer playing with toys (Claire)...
Reading (Abby)...
And helping Daddy hand out candy.

It was really a perfect Halloween! Hope yours was good, too!

Fall Fun (snow included)

2009-10-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

While I'm sure most people did not enjoy it, the girls had a blast playing in the snow yesterday! They weren't quite sure what this crazy white stuff covering their little car was, but eventually got the jist of it and were running around squealing and saying, "Snow!"

Another recent discovery the girls enjoy that most people don't: washing dishes! We pull some chairs up to the sink, add warm soapy water, a few plastic dishes and they have a blast for a good 20 minutes. The girls love playing with the water (and the spray hose) and I love anything that holds their attention for that long.

I've also discovered that Claire is NOT a morning person. Lately, when she wakes up, she has to gather up everything in her crib before she'll let me take her out of it. This is how we ended up with Elmo, gorilla, puppy, and two blankets in our high chair the other morning.
We've also been having fun on little trips. A few weekends ago, we took a trip to Emma Krumbee's (about an hour away), where we looked at scarecrows, walked a rope maze, jumped in hay, rode tricycles, took a hay ride, and went down the big green slide. Here's Abby and I post-slide. Lots of fun!

Ryan and I also took a trip without the girls to Mt Horeb, WI, Troll Capital of the World! It was the weekend of their annual fall festival, so there were food and craft vendors all over. We also got to check out their famous mustard museum. Who knew mustard was so darn exciting?
It's been a blast running around and getting all our energy out before winter hibernation set in. Wake me when it stops snowing!!

September Softball and Scrappin'

2009-09-14T19:54:00.000-07:00

We are trying to squeeze as much fun as we can into these last few remaining summer days! Ryan is on a softball team now (that's him catching above), so we began the fun by going to one of his games. Luckily, Ryan happens to be on this team with Grandpa Rich and Uncle Andy, so we got to see them play, too, AND hang out with Grandma Gwen, Cousin Matilda, Aunt Stephanie, and Cousin Alex during the game.
Grandma Gwen brought us some delicious raspberries from her yard - yum! We also loved running in the empty soccer field with Alex. So adorable!
We then took yet another trip to the MN Zoo (we are trying to use our membership as much as humanly possible). The girls rode the monorail for the first time ever and had a great time seeing the animals from this new perspective. And this past weekend was my personal favorite September event: Scrapbooking in Wabeno! I joined my friend Amanda, her mom Lynn, her sister Teri, and about 14 other wonderful women for a girls weekend away. We stayed at The Crystal Bell Inn & Spa in Wabeno and had a marvelous time relaxing, pampering, and of course, scrapbooking. I mean, seriously,

look at how much fun we're having! It was awesome and a great break from taking care of the girls (poor Ryan had them all weekend, but don't worry - he survived). I even made a scrapbook of the girls' first year, which I'm glad to finally have. Only 361 more days until Wabeno 2010 - I can't wait!

Summer Fun, Happened So Fast

2009-08-30T06:39:00.000-07:00

Why hello there! Hope you have all been having a great summer. We sure have! Here's a bit of what we've been up to since my last post:

For a week over July 4th, the Campbell Family headed to my aunt's cabin near Birchwood, WI. It was SO much fun! We got to hang out, read, play, boat, swim, and all kinds of fun stuff. My sister's blog has a great post about it, but here are also a couple of pics.

We loved spending so much time with Grandpa, Grandma, Great Aunt Pat (above with Claire), Aunt Jill, Uncle Jason, Uncle Greg and especially Cousin Lily! Here Lily is below on the pontoon boat......and with Grandpa, watching Ryan and Greg set off fireworks for us. It was a great time, and hopefully the first of many annual family trips to the cabin together!

Next, we went to National Night Out in the beginning of August in these cute dresses our neighbors Jon and Katie got us. They have twins, too, AND a 1-year-old, so they are busy people.
Also in August, we got to go to two big celebrations in one weekend. First, my Aunt Joy and Uncle Joe celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary! That's them below at their wedding, 50 years ago.

We all got together at their daughter Kim and her husband Larry's beautiful house to celebrate. There was delicious food to eat, pictures to look at, many people to talk to, and polish golf for Claire, Abby, and Lily to play.
The girls and I then headed to the Woyaks for a sleepover playdate. There wasn't much playing for the little ones when we got there because they all went to bed, but the growups got to play! The girls got some play time in the next morning and then we all headed to Uncle Greg's new apartment in the afternoon to celebrate the Campbell women birthdays: Mama's is the 14th, Jill's was that day (the 16th) and mine is the 23rd.Abby really liked the video game area of Greg's new apartment - she's just like her daddy that way! - and all the girls loved going swimming in the outdoor pool. Sadly, there was one casualty as Greg accidentally left his phone in his pocket when he jumped in the pool, but we managed to get past that and still have a wild and crazy time! And of course, it's not a birthday without presents! There were tons of good ones opened that day: gift certificates for me (exactly what I wanted), a Wii fit for Jillo, and pictures of the granddaughters for Mama. Hooray for birthdays!We also got a couple of visits from Grandma and Grandpa Lambert this summer. They came first at the end of June (above) - over their wedding anniversay no less! - and then again in August. It's always so fun when they come visit (lots of Settlers of Catan after the girls are in bed) and I love when the girls get to spend time with them. Of course, it just isn't a visit from Grandma and Grandpa without a trip to a chinese buffet - yum! Claire and Abby especially loved the jello. One of the main reasons for Grandma and Grandpa's August visit was the girls' baptism, which took place on August 23rd (my birthday!). Yes, most people don't wait until their children at 18 months old to have them baptized, but what's the fun in doing things the normal way??First Lutheran Church in Columbia Heights is a church my extended family has gone to for a long time, and since Ryan and I don't yet have our own home church, we went there for the Baptism. It was a very nice service and the church was so nice to us. The men of the church carved these very nice chests for Claire and Abby to each have to put in momentos of their faith journey, and the women made cozy blankets for each girl. Here Jill and I are with Lily, Claire and Abby in front of a door in the church that bears our Grandma and Grandpa Stinson's names.After the Baptism, Aunt Pat hosted a lovely little party so the family could get together and celebrate. We don't get all sides of our family together too often, so it was nice for everyone to be able to see each other and catch up. It was really a very nice day! By now, you're probably thinking, "Wow! How could you possibly squeeze any more excitement into your summer?" Well, it's just not summer without a trip to the MN State Fair! This year was extra exciting because our friend Val and her adorable daughter, Kendall (above), came all the way from Maryland to join us! Her husband (and our good friend) Jon couldn't join them on the trip because he's too busy learning to be a doctor. Whatever, Jon!Sean, Kari and Zach Shipman were there (above, on left) and so were Bob, Michelle and Jenny Dettmer. That's Jenny below, trying to look like she doesn't know the crazy woman next to her. Ha ha! Just kidding, Val! Val tried her first ever corn dog at the fair, which would make anyone giddy with excitment.We tried out the Reptile House, Dinosaur World, and the Butterfly House. Okay, well, I actually didn't go into any of those places, but the people who did thought they were pretty cool!

All in all, it's been a great busy summer! That about covers the main events. In between each event, we've stayed busy by running through the house with blankets...... playing in the bathroom sink......and talking about Daddy! Seriously, he's our new favorite topic. The girls love him so much! And who can blame them? Here's Claire expressing her undying devotion to a picture of Daddy.

Enjoy the last few days of summer, everyone!

A Zoorific Father's Day

2009-06-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

For Father's Day, we celebrated with a trip to the MN Zoo with my sister Jill, her husband Jason, and their adorable daughter Lily! The weather, although sprinkly, was actually perfect because it didn't get too hot and the rain held off until after we'd see all the outdoor things. We had a great time! The girls loved one animal in particular. Watch this video to find out which animal they're giggling at.

Aren't prairie dogs cute?

We also got to see the new Africa exhibit, which included feeding a giraffe! Ryan showed Abby how it was done. Both girls weren't sure they quite liked having a giraffe so close, but he grew on them quickly.
We also checked out the Splash Pad the zoo has going now. Lily, who is used to the water park by her house, got right into it, running through the water and sticking her face in the spouts. (my sister also took a cute video of Lily playing in the water. Check her blog for the post - coming soon!)
Claire and Abby weren't so sure what to think of the water and generally cried anytime we took them near it. They did okay on this wagon ride through the water that Ryan took them on (aren't daddies great?), but still weren't convinced. Guess we'll have to visit Cousin Lily and play in their water park more often to get the hang of it!

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there!

Bubble Beard

2009-06-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

Claire finds out what happens when you try to eat bubbles. (Trust me, it was much bigger but lost a lot of it's bulk in the time it took me to grab the camera.)

Catching Up

2009-06-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've been a horrible blogger and not posted for over a month. Sorry! Things have been busy around here! Let me catch you up...
My second Mother's Day was very fun! We celebrated with a grill out at my parents with my whole family. Abby, Lily, and Claire (above) had tons of fun playing outside and even tried a little Bocce Ball (below). Ryan and the girls got me Season Four of "The Office," which I love but haven't had time to watch much of yet. Maybe when the girls are teenagers... Dare I dream?
Next up, we all headed to Green Bay and I got to spend some time with Amanda before her Baby #2 arrived (which he did just a few days later! Welcome, Sampson Donald!) Here she is with her mom, Lynn, and son, Atticus, in her parents new and amazingly awesome house.
It was so great to relax and just hang out with Amanda again! Ryan took the girls, which was very nice.
Don't worry, though, he had plenty of help as he was staying with Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Sharon. Luckily, I also got to hang out with them a bit, too, and we all had a great time! See how happy Abby is about it?
The next weekend, we were still in travel mode, so we headed to Lark Toy Store, about an hour and a half away, in Kellogg, MN. It was a really cool place! There was carved trolls and such on the walls...

... and a carousel to ride!

Daddy helped Abby ride the goldfish, but Claire didn't want anything to do with it. I tried to get her to ride the loon but ended up in the bench behind it when she made it clear she wanted nothing to do with the loon!
There was lots more to do at Lark Toy Store! We then amused ourselves by making the girls try on hats from their large unusual hats selection.
Abby made a very cute Viking girl, and Claire can't wait to grow up to be a cowgirl! Next up was the June 7th Cam Fam, where we celebrated Father's Day and Jason's Birthday. Jason was pretty excited about the Wii he got from wife Jill and daughter Lily. Hey, Jason, when can we come over and test it out for you??
Papa also loved the picture holder he got from his grandgirls. Hey, Grandpa, the bib goes on the babies! Oh, well.
The celebrations didn't stop there! This past Saturday, we met Uncle Scott and Aunt Emma at Como Zoo to help celebrate Emma's birthday.
It was so great for the girls to see them! We had a very great day at the zoo and even got another chance to ride a carousel.
This time, I rode on a horse with Claire and she did much better. Abby, however, did not seem to enjoy herself quite as much, so Ryan ended up holding her for most of the ride. Even Scott and Emma got in on the carousel action!Claire (below) and Abby also got a chance to ride this little bucking car, next to a monkey, elephant and giraffe. They both weren't sure what to think at first, but then got pretty happy about it.
After all that excitement, I was about as exhaused as this here lion!
What a treat then to go get my very first pedicure that night! My colleague Sarah Kurachek and boss lady Jennifer Valley joined me in the pampering.
Here's the finished product! I'm the one in the blue flip flop with Blushingham Palace nails. JV is in the red with brown, sparkly toes, and Sarah got the dark red toes. Very nice!

JV and Sarah headed off to a wedding reception afterwards, while Ryan and I took the girls and JV's adorable son Demetrius to the drive in. We saw Up and Night At The Museum, which were both good -- I think. It's kind of hard to focus on the movies with two 16 months old and 1 seven-year-old in the back seats, but reagardless, we had a good time!

Finally, my two favorite things about it finally being summer are: 1 - the girls can walk themselves to the car (more a developmental thing than a summer thing, I guess, but I'm sure this would be harder to do in Winter), and 2 - it's warm enough that we don't have to bundle up to eat our breakfast in the sunroom (no, we did not do this in Winter, of course! But it was cold enough on those May mornings to need a hat and jacket).
Whew - I think we're all caught up now! Thanks for hanging in there!

AmeriCorps Week Stories of Service

2009-05-08T19:22:00.001-07:00

AmeriCorps Week Stories of Servicegreat free widgetsWidgetbox

MS Walk

2009-05-03T17:07:00.000-07:00

We walked the MS Walk in Minneapolis this morning! Thanks to everyone who supported and thought of us - we appreciate it! We were pretty excited to start out (above), but got pretty tuckered out by the end. We stayed motivated by our good reason for walking, though:
(In case you can't read it, it says "I walk because... Grandma and Aunt Jill deserve to be healthy! We love you!")
Also thanks to the Reykdals for inviting us to join their team and getting us excited to walk! Oh, and for letting our girls torture your poor dog Oliver, too. They certainly enjoyed it!
Okay, the girls are sleeping, so Ryan and I are off for our first soak this season in the hot tub. I may never get out...

Attack of the 32" Twin Sister

2009-04-29T18:57:00.000-07:00

Abby REALLY wanted to give Claire a kiss in the tub tonight, and she just wouldn't take no for an answer! Can you tell who the more aggressive twin is? At least Claire's a good sport...
We've had lots of fun celebrating with loved ones lately! First, my family went out to Pittsburgh Blue (really good steak place) to celebrate my brother's long-time-coming graduation. He already had a Bachelor's, but now he has a teaching license. With the new work bag we got him, doesn't this guy look ready to teach kids math?
Then, this past weekend, us Lamberts headed to Eau Claire to celebrate with some friends. This pretty lady below just got engaged to a wonderful man, Matt. They just happened to be throwing a BBQ this past weekend so we got to see the ring and hear the proposal story. Ah, love - so sweet!
Congratulations, Hannah and Matt! We're thrilled for you and can't wait for the wedding! Since we were in Eau Claire, we also got to spend some time with Grandma Gwen and Grandpa Rich. Claire loved getting an airplane ride from Grandma!
We also headed to Irvine Park with some friends. Attempting such an outing with 4 young babies, 1 pre-teen, and 3 dogs may sound crazy, but it actually went very well! Kayla helped push a baby...

and Erik helped keep Asterix under control (a tough job, but he did it well) while also watching his much more well behaved dog, Archie.
Ryan hoisted a baby around most of the park...

...but Zach shared his stroller whenever Ryan's arms got tired.

It was a really nice day, but bitter sweet because it was the last time we got to see Jon, Val, Kendall and Harley before they made the big trip back to Maryland. Hopefully they will get to visit again soon!
Monday seemed pretty boring in comparison to our action-packed weekend, so we headed to the park for some quality time on the swings (Claire below).
Have I mentioned how much we love, love, love the nicer weather?? Happy almost May everyone!

Everything's Coming Up Roseola

2009-04-15T08:56:00.001-07:00

So... where to begin?

The last few weeks have been quite the adventure! After our trip to the zoo on Sunday, March 29th (see my sister's blog at http://woyak.com/ for some cute pics), Claire developed a high fever. It got so high that very late on Monday, she had a seizure. Trust me, Ryan and I have never been so scared in our lives! The 911 operator calmly told us that it is actually quite common for babies to have seizures with high fevers, but we should bring her to the ER and have her checked out anyway. So we did, and the lovely people at the ER got her fever down and diagnosed her with an ear infection. After a quick stop at Walgreen's to pick up Claire's amoxicillan prescription, we were home and in bed by 4 a.m. Quite the night!

By Wednesday night, Claire had developed a rash over her entire body. Assuming this was an allergic reaction to the amoxicillan, I slept in our armchair with her to make sure she didn't stop breathing (yes, a bit of an overreaction, I know, but I was running on little sleep and high adrenaline, people!). We took her in Thursday morning where she was then diagnosed with Roseola, plus her ear infection. Oh, and just to not be left out completely, Abby was also diagnosed with an ear infection.

Things were smooth sailing over the weekend, and I left for a work retreat on Monday morning. On Tuesday morning, Ryan woke up with the girls and found Claire covered head to toe in a rash even worse than before!

Poor girl! Ryan took her in to Urgent Care, and they determined that she was allergic to amoxicillan. Her regular pediatrician still isn't completely convinced this was an allergic reaction, though, so we'll just have to wait and see! I kept trying to tell people she just wanted to be speckled for Easter, but no one really seemed to give my theory much merit.

Anyway, we are doing MUCH better now! Good thing because we had many fun plans for this past weekend! First, we went to Eau Claire, WI to hang out with our friends Jon and Val (in town from Maryland), Sean and Kari, Erik and Katie, and Jake and Kelli. The girls got to play with Jon...... and Val, and meet their beautiful baby Kendall! And their dog Harley, who is too small to be photographed, I believe.
We also got to meet Erik and Katie's very sweet dog, Archie...

... and play with our boyfriend, Zach!

Thanks to Jake and Kelli for having the "stampede" (as their daughter Brinn puts it) over!

For Easter the next day, we dressed up in our Sunday best and went to church with Grandpa Rich.
We then headed back to the cities to celebrate with my side of the family. My Aunt Pat, whose house we were going to gather in, continued the trend of sickness by ending up in the hospital the night before with a bad infection of some kind, so we impromptu met at my Aunt Joy and Uncle J0e's house, conveniently right next door.
There were many fun things to play with, including our cousin Lily (above), bunny ears, bunny and chick sippy cups, little bunny and chick books, and a coffee table at just the right height for climbing!
Claire's rash seemed to be bothering her a bit, so we took her dress off and she seemed content just cuddling with Daddy. Abby, who started walking sometime in the chaos of the last few weeks, was thrilled to run around and play with all her cousins and aunts and uncles.

We are back to normal today, and hopefully we'll stay rash-free for a while! Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Playtime!

2009-03-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

We have had so many fun playdates lately! A couple of weeks ago, we got to go to Aunt Jill, Uncle Jason, and Cousin Lily's house to play. We also took a nice walk to the park where we rode on bouncies (Claire below)...
Climbed through the jungle gym (Abby below, assisted by Auntie Jill)...
And went down the slide a ton (Lily demonstrates the landing, below)!
It was lots of fun and so nice to finally play outside. Check out my sister's blog for more cute pictures and a video of Lily and Abby dancing.
My friends Amanda and Ben and their cute little boy, Atticus, were in town visiting, so we also got to play with them a bit last weekend. Of course, I forgot my camera so there are no pictures of that! Sorry! But, I did have my camera on hand when Zach, Sean and Kari Shipman came over to visit this past week. Zach is well on his way to being a major heartbeaker and I think both my girls are now madly in love with him. Watch as he steals Abby's heart with kiss after kiss!

We also got to hang out with the Shipmans, our friends Hannah and Matt, and Sean's friends from school, Tim and Carla, yesterday for a grill out. (Yes, we know it's still cold out. We're going to just go ahead and pretend it's Spring no matter what the weather is doing!) The girls were a bit shy at first, but eventually managed to corner Zachy and demand he give them more kisses.
Later, they all three snuggled on the couch with Hannah and Kari and watched "Wonder Pets." The girls hadn't seen it much before, but they loved it! Maybe it's time for Ryan and I to invest in cable... March 23rd was Grandma Gwen's birthday, and the night before we all met at Applebee's in Hudson for dinner to celebrate. It was quite the crowd with Grandma Gwen, Grandpa Rich, Uncle Scott and Aunt Emma all coming from Eau Claire, and Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Andy and Counsin Alex coming up from Richfield. By the end of the night, and past the three girls bedtimes, they were getting a little punchy. Claire has always seemed to me to be the quieter of my two girls, but she was not that night! Check out Claire and Alex goofing off and having a ball (btw, I know it's pretty dark, but have you ever seen a more beautiful brown-eyed little girl than Alex?? She is gorgeous, just like her mommy!)

Off to the zoo today! The fun continues...

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2009-03-15T19:20:00.000-07:00

Claire and Abby here. We gave Mommy the night off so we could tell you all about our favorite guy in the whole world, Daddy! It's his birthday today. He is 28 years old, which is WAAAAAY old. But even though he's old, he still does so much for us. Like build us playrooms...

And play with us in them! And he keeps us from getting bored by bringing us a new toy every week or so from the thrift store (even though Mommy tells him we have no where to put it all).

He also gets really excited to take us fun places like the MN Zoo and the Science Museum.
We always have a blast, especially when he lets us sit up on his shoulders.

And in those times when we really, really, really don't want to go to sleep, there's nothing better than cuddly with Daddy. It puts us right to sleep.

We couldn't ask for a better Daddy.
Thanks for all you do for us, Da Da! We love you!

Science Museum Excitiment

2009-03-05T13:03:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday, this Lambert family decided to make a spontaneous trip to the Science Museum of MN. Grandpa Rich, Uncle Greg, Aunt Jill, Uncle Jason, and Cousin Lily all decided to come along for the fun!
Grandpa Rich was very excited to spend some time with his granddaughters, Claire (with him above) and Abby. Cousin Lily was super excited to practice saying "duck" to a real life in person rubber ducky.

Uncle Greg, strangely enough, was excited about the math exhibit.

Claire (below) was excited to practice her new favorite thing, pointing.

And I mean really excited. She did it a lot.

Abby, however, was NOT excited about what Claire was pointing at...

THIS GIANT SCARY BEAR!!
And our friend Erik, had he been there, would have been incredibly excited about this Chupacabbra exhibit. He went all the way to Mexico to look for Chupacabbra. Little did he know, he need only travel to St Paul, MN!
All in all, it was a great day! Oh, except for the part when Lily gotten eaten by a Tiger (see shadow below). Apparently, she would not survive long in the wild. Although Lily didn't seem to mind it, I think we'll keep her nice and safe in the Twin Cities where tiger attacks are not currently an issue.

Who knew science was so exciting???

Whistlin' Claire

2009-03-01T16:26:00.000-08:00

Bounce and Spin.... and Dance!

2009-02-19T14:27:00.000-08:00

The girls got a Bounce and Spin pony recently, which hooks up to your TV, then changes pictures and plays music when the baby bounces on the pony. While the girls seem to like it, I'm not sure they quite get what they're supposed to do on it. They do a little bouncing and a little spinning, but mostly they like to 1) dance to the music, and 2) pound at the pictures on the TV screen. They're dancing is pretty cute, though! I especially like Claire's hand movements. Check out this little video and judge for yourself. (Abby started on the pony, but eventually climbed off and starting reading books. You might see her shake it a little, though.) Are they ready for "So, You Think You Can Dance" or what??

Claire was really, really thirsty today

2009-02-12T13:05:00.001-08:00

The Many Sleeping Positions of Claire and Abby

2009-02-09T15:52:00.001-08:00

Best Birthday Ever!!

2009-01-26T18:03:00.000-08:00

Man, oh man, did we ever have a good first birthday party!!

Claire (aka Thing 1) and Abby (aka Thing 2) celebrated in style with a pizza party at Davanni's. We started the festivities by playing with all our family and friends that came to help us celebrate, including Cousins Lily (below left) and Alex (below middle) and future boyfriend, Zach Shipman (below right).

We also got to eat lots of delicious Davanni's pizza (the first of many exciting foods we ate that day). Claire, below, thought it was finger-lickin' good. (Oh wait, that's something else...)

Claire and Abby got SOOOO many wonderful gifts!! They got some very adorable clothes, wonderful books (which they can't seem to get enough of), a rug for their room, abaci (thank you math teacher, Uncle Greg!), Big Bird and Snuffalufagus stuffed animals, Little People Ride-on Princess Cars, new shoes, personalized piggy banks, diapers (yippee!), and these incredible benches (see below) that my sister and her husband MADE! Can you believe it?!?!

Then it was time for cake! I got a tip early on that Byerly's does free smash cakes for a baby's first birthday. You never know what you'll get when something's free, but these were adorable and HUGE, I thought, for being smash cakes!
The girls jumped right in, proving once and for all that they are in fact my daughters by devouring their cakes. They were in sugar heaven! Abby tried to shove huge handfuls of cake into her mouth all at once...

... While Claire smiled, clapped, and flung cake everywhere. It was hilarious!

It was a GREAT first birthday! Abby (left), Claire (right), Ryan and I thank all our family and friends who helped us celebrate and sent us birthday wishes. You made our day!!

Owies

2009-01-25T21:59:00.000-08:00

Well, we've had our first injury. About 7 p.m. last Sunday night, Abby was standing in the kitchen, opening a cupboard door, when she somehow fell and smacked her eye on something. Ryan and I didn't think much of this as the girls have been falling a lot lately (I think they inherited my klutzy genes). Ryan picked Abby up and I suddenly noticed a gash by her eye!
Of course, I stated freaking out and wondering if we should truck on over to the ER. Instead we put some ice on it (note to self: Abby does NOT like cold towels being held on her face) and tried to calm our little girl down. The cut wasn't bleeding much, and eventually Abby calmed down and fell asleep. She did end up with a puffy eye and a nice-looking scratch (see above), but overall, she was completely fine. Of course, not to be outdone, the very next night, Claire fell and gave herself a bloody lip. Yep, they definitely got my klutzy genes!

The scene of the near-fatal accident:
Claire, pre bloody-lip, wonders what all the fuss is about:

It's a little late, but...

2009-01-11T19:53:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Flurry

2008-12-26T12:37:00.000-08:00

It has been a flurry of activity lately!

December has felt pretty chaotic, and we've had both really fun and really sad things going on. First for the fun stuff! Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Sharon came for a visit in early December. They got to spend lots of time with their two nutso granddaughters (I have a hilarious video of Sharon trying to feed them breakfast, but it won't upload. I'll keep trying!) They left a singing snowman thing that the girls love to dance to:

The girls also got to meet Santa in early December. I was a little worried about how they'd do sitting on a hairy stranger's lap, but they must have already sensed that Santa was a good guy because they did just fine!On December 13th, Claire and Abby's cousin Lily turned 1! I can't believe its already been a year since she was born. Lily had a great party at Grandma and Grandpa's house with her family and friends.

Lily got tons of great presents, but I'm sure she loved this spinning Elmo chair from her Aunt Lisa, Uncle Ryan, and cousins Claire and Abby the best. :) You can see more pictures soon at my sister's blog: www.woyak.com.

Chryst Family Christmas

As soon as Lily's party ended, us Lamberts hopped in the car and drove to Eau Claire for a housewarming party for Ryan's brother, Scott, and his wife, Emma, who just moved into their new house. We also had part one of our family Christmases and the girls' first ever Christmas celebration. We partied it up with Grandma Gwen, Grandpa Rich, Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Andy, Cousin Alex (2, pictured above with her parents), Uncle Scott and Aunt Emma.

The girls (Claire, left, and Abby, above) got cute mouse ears from Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Andy, as well as these cool puzzles with their names on them. They also got a turtle that projects stars and moons on the wall around their room from Uncle Scott and Aunt Emma. Alex seemed to like the Tinkerbell book and Thomas duplos we got her, too. We all got great gifts from Grandma and Grandpa, too, including story book pillows, new sleepers, snowman magnets, and more!

Campbell Family Christmas

And the Christmas fun continues! We spent Christmas Eve at Grandma Maggie and Grandpa Mike's house with Aunt Jill, Uncle Jason, Cousin Lily, Uncle Greg, and Great-Aunt Pat. We discovered a new food we love: green marshmallow jello salad. Yum!

The girls wore these beautiful dresses that Grandma Sharon made for them (can you believe she made them?!?!). Abby, in green, and Claire, in red, looked so adorable! I would have loved to get a picture of them in their dresses WITHOUT pacifiers in their mouths, but they've been teething pretty badly lately and scream any time they're without them. It's made for a fun few days with the girls!

There were also many more wonderful gifts at the Campbell Christmas! The girls got a Radio Flyer wagon -- complete with seat belts, cup holders, and a canopy -- from Grandma and Grandpa. They also got a Little People musical ride-on toy, which they are loving, and a book rack from Aunt Jill and Uncle Jason. And of course, Santa brought them lots of toys and treats! It was a wonderful first Christmas! (I was also incredibly excited and surprised when Ryan and I got a camcorder from Jill and Papa! Woo hoo! I'll put it to good use and you can expect more videos from me in the future, I'm sure)

Good-bye Grandma Great

By far, the biggest (and saddest) thing that happened this December was the loss of the girls' "Grandma Great" (my grandma and my mom's mom) Dorothy Stinson. Grandma Stinson lived a wonderfully long 93-years, and was very healthy for most of those years. However, a very bad gall bladder infection left her with no other choice but to go through surgery, and the recovery became too hard for her. She passed away the afternoon of December 14th, surrounded by her three children and others who loved her.

When I think of my Grandma Stinson, I am sad that my girls won't ever get to hold her soft hands, or play with her beautiful snow white hair, or eat the delicious food that only she could make, but I am so very grateful that she got to meet my girls and spend at least a little time with them. Her family brought such delight to her, as she told us often, and I know each one of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren had a special place in her heart, as she did in ours. She was an incredible woman with a great sense of humor (even at 93!), and she will be missed very much.

My brother and I visited our grandma in the hospital the night before her surgery. I told her that she was in every single one of my big memories from childhood, and it's true! My roommates in college used to refer to my family as "the herd" because we went everywhere together. I realize now how lucky I was to have that. What kid gets not only their immediate family, but also both their grandmas and their aunt, for every birthday and holiday celebration and every trip to the cabin? She has left me a legacy of wonderful memories, and a family whose strength and warmth grew from her own. When it comes down to it, and especially at Christmas, it's the best gift I have ever been given.

Having A Ball

2008-12-04T13:49:00.000-08:00

Claire and Abby have been having such a blast together lately!

The girls LOVE hats. They giggle hysterically whenever they and/or their sister is wearing one. A week ago, they received new knit hats from our friend Erik's mom. They loved them! They also enjoy trying to take hats off of their sister. Crazy babies!

Also, Grandma Gwen clued me into another little thing the girls like - kicking each other! (Can't you feel the love?) We strap them into their swing (which they haven't been in for about 4 months), and they get really excited when their sister gets into prime kicking position. Check out the video below and notice how happy Claire gets when Abby gets closer.

Did you notice Abby standing? She's pulling up on whatever she can now. She's just not sure what to do with herself once she gets up. She's also doing plenty of crawling, which I think is just so adorable. Watch her go!

Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Sharon are coming to visit this weekend, so I'm sure I'll have plenty more pics after that. That is, if I can stop running after babies long enough to grab the camera!

Social Butterflies

2008-11-23T07:16:00.000-08:00

Hallelujah, I have found my digital camera! I feel much better because our couch had eaten it, so really, one can hardly blame that on me. Here is Zach Shipman doing an impression of our hungry couch:
Zach was also the cause of one of our many recent social outings. He turned one on Oct. 10th, so we headed to Prescott, WI to help him and his family celebrate. That's Claire in the top picture with our friend Hannah, who was also there. Hannah is awesome with babies, and you can tell Claire is having a blast with her. Isn't Zach an adorable 1-year-old?We also went to my sister-in-law Stephanie's house to visit with her, her husband Andy, and daughter Alex (below) for a family barbecue. Rich and Gwen also joined in on the fun. Alex loved running around the yard and playing with balloons. Hanging out with Alex always gets me excited for when the girls are a bit older and can play more.
The beginning of November has included an annual event for Ryan and I for the past 9 years - The CTV Auction! We headed to Eau Claire to volunteer in the phone room for another fun and exciting auction event. Rich and Gwen watched the girls, and brought them to CTV to meet everyone, which was a lot of fun. We can't walk away from the auction without buying something, and this year it was this huge stuffed bear. Seriously, it's huge!

This past Tuesday, Nov. 18th, the girls and I went to Target to visit Ryan at work. We've been a few times now, but everyone was amazed by how big the girls are getting. I was pleasantly surprised that the girls stayed happy and smiling the whole time. Nice job, ladies!

Even with all this running around, we made sure to fulfill our civic duty on Nov. 4th. The girls came with me for their very first presidential election (Ryan headed to the polls after work but we went during the day for fear that it would be uber-busy in the evening). Because of this early exposure to the excitement of politics, I'm certain we now have a future President in our mists. Who will it be - Claire or Abby? Only time will tell. . .

I'm sure the socializing will continue as we head into the Holiday Season. Stay tuned for more updates from Life at the Lamberts!

A Bear, A Duck, and Girls on the Move

2008-11-05T07:42:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the very long lapse since my last post! Things have been a bit hectic around here, plus I seem to have lost my camera again (!) so I'm a bit lacking in pictures. But I do have some cute Halloween ones courtesy of Aunt Jill. (Yea for Aunt Jill!)

My sister Jill, niece Lily, my parents, Ryan, the girls and I headed over to Grandma and Aunt Pat's house on the afternoon of Halloween to show off our costumes: Abby Duck, Lily Ladybug and Claire Bear. We had a nice little photo shoot, and Abby got so excited she kept almost falling off the couch.

I started thinking that maybe we should wear costumes every day if they're this happy about it. It was adorable! Then, Ryan and I said good-bye to our girls as we headed out for a date while they headed off to spend the night with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Maggie. The rest of the group (minus Grandma and Pat) went to Jill's neighborhood in Robbinsdale to trick or treat (minus the tricks and the treats) and meet some of Jill's fun neighbors. All in all, a pretty eventful first Halloween!!
BREAKING NEWS: Forget about the Presidential Election, this is what you really want to know! Last night, the girls started crawling!! They were playing in the room next to the kitchen when I saw Abby moving forward out of the corner of my eye. I had to do a double take to make sure she was actually crawling, and she was! Not wanting to be outdone, Claire did a tiny bit of crawling soon after. I got some video on my cell, but it's not very good. I will try to find the camera and take some better video so I can post it for you all to see. I know all babies do it, but I was so excited and proud! It's great that they're crawling but after watching my sister and girl-on-the-move Lily, I'm not looking forward to everything they're going to get into. Stay tuned!

Grandma and Grandpa Lambert Visit

2008-10-07T16:20:00.000-07:00

And Grandma Sharon taught us an exciting new thing!

Lately. . .(Part Two)

2008-10-02T07:23:00.000-07:00

Claire has been prone to random fits of hysterical laughter (and drooling - oh, the drool! Maybe Abby has been shaking her head at her crazy sister). Watch this video close and you'll even see a sister kiss - feel the love!

Lately. . . (Part One)

2008-10-01T07:42:00.000-07:00

Abby has started shaking her head. Is she saying no? Is she dancing? Does she like being dizzy? Who knows, but it's pretty darn cute!

Pictures Galore

2008-09-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

So I finally figured out how to get the pictures from my cell phone onto the computer - hooray! Bring on the pics!

From September 20 08
Claire was super happy to play with Zach Shipman when we went to visit Sean, Kari and Zach in Prescott on September 4th. I mean, who wouldn't fall in love with this adorable guy?

From Septe mber 2008

Things have been calming down for me on the work front, which means I actually get to enjoy my new work schedule of only going into the office two days a week (Tuesdays and Fridays, if you're curious). I'm loving spending my days off with the girls. They seem to get cuter and more fun every day!
From September 2008
One of the games we like to play is Peek-a-boo. I throw a burp rag over their heads and yell "Peek a boo!" at them when they pull it off. Yes, sounds thrilling, I know, but they love it! Here I caught a pic of them right when they pulled the rags. Just look at the excitement on their faces!

From September 2008
Here we are playing in the kitchen with some of our favorite toys, Alphabet Pal and Octopus. Claire also got to try on my sunglasses. I think I may have a future diva on my hands. . .
From September 2008

On those days when I do actually have to go earn my paycheck, the girls get to play with Grandma Gwen (who drives all the way in from Eau Claire, WI to hang out with her grandgirls - what a saint!) or Grandpa Mike. I love how much time they get to spend with their grandparents (and not paying for daycare ain't too bad, either).
From September 2008

Here are the pics of the girls giving each other "kisses." As you can tell, Claire's not too sure what to think about all this affection, but I think it's darn cute!

From September 2008

And here's proof of "30 Things" #1 - My sister and I went to get haircuts together on September 5th. I like mine a lot, but I'll keep you in suspence a while longer until I actually take a picture of myself (maybe when the girls turn 18). And my sister's new haircut is awesome! Here she is, post haircut, looking fabulous!
From September 2008

From September 2008

Even though we've been busy, I want the girls know the importance of beauty sleep. So no matter how busy we may get, I make sure to work in plenty of time for napping into our schedule to keep us all (especially me!) happy. Oh, what a rough life!

Has It Been Three Weeks Already?

2008-09-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, sorry! I suck at blog life. I blame my cell phone. Ever since I got my NEW cell phone that actually has a CAMERA on it, I've stopped taking pictures with my ACTUAL camera and have only been using my cell phone camera. FURTHERLY unfortunate, I don't know how to get the pics off my cell phone camera and onto the computer. BUT I am learning, so for the two or three of you out there that actually read this blog, hold on! More pics are a-comin'!!

To entertain you until then, I am using LOTS of CAPS, the key phrase "a-comin'," AND I will tell you why I spent most of this past weekend in tears.

#1 - I was reading "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. Every time - EVERY TIME - I read a chapter from the mom's point of view, I was reduced to a sniffling mess. Hey, you try putting yourself in the perspective of a mom whose daughter is dying of cancer while your two PERFECTLY HEALTHY baby girls are napping in the next room and just try to stop the flood from a-comin'.

#2 - Just when I thought there was absolutely nothing better than the girls attacking me with kisses and snuggles, this weekend they went and did it on each other. Now, I'm not always entirely sure if they're trying to KISS their sister or BITE her, but I'm pretty sure it was kissing and it was gosh-darn adorable. The fun just keeps a-comin' with these two! And I got it on [cell phone] camera, so with any luck, the pictures will be a-comin' shortly, too. Until then, feel free to check out the blogs of people who actually know what they're doing, like my sister!

Oh, and here's a video of Claire splashing in the tub. [If you have dogs nearby, watch out. My high-pitched voice may cause them to spin wildly in circles.]

Abby's Funny Face

2008-08-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

If you keep watching this video to the end (it's only 43 seconds, people! You can do it!), you'll get a small taste of the funny face Abby has been making lately. It cracks me up!

(Sorry for once again making you look at your computer screen sideways.)

The List

2008-08-27T07:49:00.001-07:00

Here it is! My "30 Things To Do To Celebrate Turning 30" (Bolded items have yet to be done, unbolded ones are already accomplished - yippee!)

Get a haircut.
Give myself a reward (buy a treat, take a bubble bath, read a good book, etc) every day for 30 days (or longer! :) )
Make a list of 30 things you like about yourself
Make a vow to do something for myself EVERY DAY!----take a few minutes to meditate, reflect, count your blessings, smell the summer breeze and the freshly mowed grass--just enjoy all the sights and sounds and smells of life!
Watch 30 episodes of Gilmore Girls
Get a manicure and/or pedicure
Make a photo diary of the day. Take a photo every 48 minutes.
30 shots (of beer) – aka get drunk!
Fly a Kite
Movie Marathon!
Hang out with my sister, since she knows my pain!
Food Fight!
Work out
Get a massage and/or a facial and/or some other girly beauty ritual
Join Facebook
Spend a whole day playing with my girls
Family bar-b-que
Jump on the bed
Go on a date alone
Do an anonymous kind act
Take a Community Education class
Be taken out to dinner
Send someone a gift
Dr. Mario tournament!
Rid my closet of all things that scream, "I'm in my 20s!" Replenish, as necessary, with things that scream, "30 and Fabulous!"
Reread my journals
Meditate for one hour
Beautiy my surroundings
Plan a trip
Smile, then pat myself on the back and reassure myself I’m a great mother and a great person and I am just the place GOD has chosen for me to be! Thank him! (aka take time to recognize my blessings and be thankful)

I want to thank everyone for their suggestions! Some didn't make the cut, but not because they weren't good suggestions. They just weren't things I'd actually probably do. For instance, I'd love to win $10 million by building an unmanned rocket capable of reaching orbit, but rocket building just isn't my thing. Tragedy!

Faceoff

2008-08-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

Just a typical day in our house! Yes, I realize I sound like an idiot - Jumpin', jumpin'!

This Too

2008-08-14T21:03:00.000-07:00

The phrase that has most been in my mind these last couple of weeks is, "This too shall pass." But, before you start to thinking things must really be going badly, let me explain.
People always say their babies grow up fast, but you really don't understand how fast until it's your babies doing the growing. One minute they can't do something and the next, very suddenly, they can. It's remarkable! Literally, each day they are at least a little different from who they were and what they could do the day before.
Especially now. Six months is such a fun age to watch. The girls are interacting more with us and with their environment. Each day is full of surprises and new discoveries for them. I love watching to see what they will do next. (Lately, it's grabbing something -- their food bowl is a favorite -- picking it up and throwing it back down. Messy but entertaining.)
So, when I say to myself, "this too shall pass," it's not to help get me through the crazy busy episodes that come with having new babies, but to remind me to enjoy them. Even when the girls are crabby and crying, I remind myself to enjoy the fact that I can hold and comfort them. They won't always let me do that.
Rest assured, Ryan and I are having tons of fun with our girls! Moments with them go by faster than I ever imagined they could, and I plan on enjoying each and every magnificent minute.

P.S. Sorry the video is sideways! I can't figure out how to turn it...

P.P.S. I love, love, love that Abby is now sleeping on her side. It is so adorable! I didn't have a clue that babies even did this until I saw my niece Lily sleeping on her side. Is there any other totally adorable things I should be aware of???

30 Things

2008-08-07T06:59:00.001-07:00

As many of you know, I'm turning 30 this summer. I considered going into hibernation this dreaded event had passed, but that sounded too boring.
Instead, in an effort to embrace this new milestone, I've decided to make a list of 30 Things to Do to Celebrate Turning 30, and I need your help! I'm looking for your suggestions on things I should do to help celebrate (not run screaming from) my passage into this new decade. Your ideas will motivate me to go from this...

...to this!

So email me, post a comment, give me a call, hire a skywriter -- however you prefer to let me know what YOU think I should do to ring in my 30s. Keep in mind, Ryan and I are not related to the Hiltons, so as fun as backpacking through Europe or buying a convertible would be, it ain't going to happen. Bonus points will be given to those with super cheap, fun ideas!

Thank you in advance for helping me celebrate!

6 Months Old!

2008-07-28T14:30:00.000-07:00

I can hardly belive it, but Abby (above) and Claire (below) are six months old today! Before you think they're too advanced, Abby's not really waving yet. I just happened to catch her hand mid-hat grab. So cute!We were in Green Bay, Wisconsin this past weekend and I was talking to Teri, mom of Emma (below) and sister to my good friend Amanda. Teri told me that Emma turned one year old recently, and I thought to myself, "I cannot imagine what life will be like when the girls are 1. That's so far away!" Then I realized that it is, in fact, not so far away. They're halfway there already! Holy cow!
We were in Green Bay for Atticus's dedication. That's Atticus below. (He's the adorable son of the aforementioned Amanda and her husband Ben.)
It was great to see Amanda and her family, especially since it was only the second time I'd met cute little Atticus!
It was also nice to have people around who didn't mind holding a baby, like Ben's sister Lanae (below, holding Claire), and her husband Shawn. Their two boys, Theo and Blake, were also really interested in all the babies and were great helpers. We all ate at Curly's Pub in Lambeau Field on Saturday (first time I'd been there). It was great, except for the huge protest outside (aka one guy with a sign reading, "Trade Thompson, Not Favre"). Go Packers! Ryan's dad Wayne and his wife Sharon live about 20 minutes away from Green Bay in Little Chute, so we stayed at their house for the weekend. They loved spending some time with their grandbabies (espcially during those crabby nap times, right guys??).

Sharon and I brought the babies into her work so she could show them off (above) while the boys kept themselves busy doing what they like to do best: playing games (below).
And as if that wasn't enough excitement for one weekend, we stopped in Marshfield on the way home to visit Ryan's grandparents, Del and Alma. They hadn't met the girls yet, so they were very excited to have us stop by. 3 Days + 3 groups of people to visit = just your typical Wisconsin Weekend! Amanda also let us borrow her Bumbo chair, since my girls have apparently decided to be the last to learn to sit on their own. It's awesome! I put this mini-piano in front of them and they just go to town. Had I know how useful these were, I would have just bit the bullet and spent the $40 on one. Oh well, now I get to borrow one for free! Even better!!

In addition to our exciting new Bumbo, the girls also have an exciting new sleeping arrangement. Now that they're six months old, they're in separate cribs. The hardest part was figuring out how to fit Crib #2 in their teeny, tiny nursery, but we managed! And not a moment too soon: last night, Abby was facing a different direction every time I went in to check on them.

I think they're adjusting nicely, but today we did have a 90-minute scream fest instead of nap time, so you never know! Right now, I'm enjoying a big ol' glass of wine to reward myself for surviving. You haven't truly experienced a 90-minute scream fest until you've experienced one in stereo. Hopefully, the girls get better soon or I may turn in to a raving alcoholic. Here's hoping AA provides free childcare at their meetings!

Claire is sucking on the side of her exersaucer, so I think it's time for a bottle. Happy almost August, everyone!