Little Girl play

Today I had the pleasure of watching my friend Katy's two precious girls, who are the same ages as Natalie and Elaine. We had all morning and it was a joy to watch the girls play.

At first, Sammy wasn't too sure about Elaine hiding in the couch.

The two little ones learned how to share and have a good time
with a book of animals.
(I personally love this photo)

The two divas played upstairs most of the time and came down for an appearance after a princess make-over.

And these characters, Finn and Sydney, had their own fun and kept each other company. They were good troopers in letting the girls chase them too.


I think we'll all sleep tight tonight (especially Mommy)!

Elaine's big girl bed

Elaine moved out of the toddler crib/bed to a twin sized "big girl" bed. We bought her bed from IKEA (love the MALM series). It was an easy 30 minutes to assemble and the bedding (I admit) I purchase months ago. It was a super deal from Target and perfect for Elaine.

And she loves it!

Character Counts - Hawkeye day at Regina

This week at Regina, they are celebrating Character Counts week. Every day, they have something special for the Regina Pillars of Character the kids are learning:

Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility,
Fairness, Caring, Citizenship, and Faith.

I was able to attend Monday's assembly, which was Hawkeye day with some surprise Hawkeye visitors. First, for Peter, it was a surprise for him that I showed up! He was so excited that he got to sit with me in the bleachers and chose to sit all the way at the top!

We got to see some Iowa Dance team members, Iowa kicker Daniel Murray (who - as a side note - is currently a student in one of Sam's classes) and defensive lineman Adrian Clayborn, and Herky. All the kids were so excited to see them, sang the Hawkeye fight song and were eager to give high fives to Herky.

Herky does look pretty cool.

At the end, most of the kids crowded the players, dance members, and Herky for pictures. Mrs. Poss' class were so good, lined up, and walked back to their classroom. Peter didn't seem to care for a photo opp with Herky. I could see he was just content that I was there. (heart melting)

Before I left, I seized a photo opp with Herky!

I felt pretty cool!
(Wait, am I - the Georgia Bulldogs girl - becoming a Hawkeyes fan?)

Lego build and the Mall of America

This past weekend the Mall of America Lego Store hosted a Lego Build event. It was a mural of thousands of 6 x 6 squares put together by the kids (and adults) who came to the event. I saw it as quite the opportunity as this mural will be displayed in their newly remodeled Lego store for years to come. So, with a little help from our friend "uncle" Tanner to watch Sydney and awesome Priceline to get us a 3 star hotel for $40, we hit the road north for the event.

By the time we got there, many squares had been filled and put in place, but there were plenty more to be done.


To my pleasant surprise, it was a calm atmosphere and not crazy busy. Natalie and Elaine were not as excited to participate, so they walked around with Daddy. Peter and I got our squares (his #725 and mine #22) and started to build.

My square was a little boring to build consisting of only one color but still crucial to the big picture!

After we finished our squares, we handed them to the mural builders who located the spot and tapped them into place.
The whole event took us about 15 minutes. Initially, my thoughts were "We just drove 5 hours to do 15 minutes of an event?!" but the smiles from Peter's face was worth it. Better yet, the day had just begun for all the kids.

As luck would have it, the Lego event was located adjacent to Nickelodeon Universe, the indoor amusement park. Honestly, the kids were way more excited about the rides than the Lego thing. Mommy might have been the only one excited about the Lego mural.

Kids were greeted by a shark (apparently, an escapee from the Mall of America aquarium downstairs). Priceless photo!

Next was the rides. Peter and Natalie's first choice was the Wonder Pets Flyboat. It was sort of a free fall ride for kiddies. It was still pretty high, and both Daddy and I weren't sure how Natalie would like it. Once the ride started, the looks on their faces told you exactly how they liked it.

Pure smiles from everyone, including Elaine patiently waiting on the outside.

Lucky for Elaine, there were rides that she could go on with one of us. First of the day for her was Blues Skidoo.

She had a great time going round and round, up and down.
Mommy does not do round and round rides very well but it was worth seeing her smiles. At the end of the ride, she stood back to look at it and said,
"Blues Clues FUN!"

Peter had quite the big boy moment: his first time in bumper cars. The mom in me wasn't too thrilled, but Daddy had no problems with it. So, off they went together. After seeing them together on the bumper track, I realized that Peter was definitely a big boy (and maybe Daddy was still young at heart).

I can't even tell who's having more fun!

Last ride for the girls was a Diego Rescue van ride...yet another circular motion ride. Mommy sat out with Peter while the girls rode with Daddy.

All of the kids were thrilled about the rides. Elaine had a super good time...it was sort of her first amusement park experience and she conquered it perfectly!

We did a little shopping at the mall, then headed to the hotel for the night. The next day was the IKEA and Trader Joes run before hitting the road back to Iowa.
This final scene is very reminiscent of the final scenes of the ride home from our last trip to Minneapolis.

What a fun weekend we had!

Princess Pudding Party!

Eating pudding in our finest with good friends!

What's so funny?

Oh!

Season in transition

Yes, my kids are in sweat pants and various levels of warmth in shirts and shoes (or lack thereof). Sure signs of the cooler weather in the air. But not too cold for an ice pop treat!

Regina's Back to School night 2010

Every year, the elementary and preschool have a Back to School night where students get to bring the parents to their classrooms and show off their art works. It's also a good time for us parents to meet teachers and talk a little. Every year, the school halls are crowded with excited kids and eager parents. I admit, I'm one of those moms who want to see and know everything my kids do in school. So, this night was made for me!

Natalie's classroom highlights:
The Bear preschool room is a very familiar one for the Burer family. This will be the 3rd year in a row for us having someone (if not two) in that class. We will have two more years with Elaine starting next year! We love the Bear room and its teachers, Ms. Connie, Ms. Sarah, and Ms. Julie. Main difference we're seeing in Natalie this year is that she's smiling more for pictures. It's wonderful to see her opening up, like a little flower blooming! :)

A few Natalie facts:

Natalie was so excited to show us her art work of herself. She admitted to cutting her hair off of the drawing of her head. I just hope that she never cuts her hair off in real life!

Peter's kindergarten room highlights:
Mrs. Poss is such a wonderful teacher, kind and sweet. Peter loves Mrs. Poss and his classmates! It's become a busy year for Peter, being at school full days and getting to each lunch at school (he's really wanted to do that for a long time). Even though his curriculum has expanded to include areas like music, art, physical education, math, reading, and other areas, Peter continues to claim that lunch (then recess) is his favorite part of the day.

Peter fact to be known:

Reading Blvd is probably one of Peter's favorite spots in his classroom. He often plops on a bean bag and read a book. He learns so much from that corner, like the largest volcano in the world is in Hawaii. I actually had to Google that to make sure he was right. Sure enough.

It was a really fun night for the kids. We got a whirlwind view of our kids days at school. We just realized on the way home how next year, we'll have three classrooms to visit. Elaine is so eager to start...believe me, she's working on it!