vaca recap continues:: liz and kate reunited.

liz and kate:

your mom and i hope you are always the best of friends.
because we know the importance of having someone to talk, laugh, cry and be stupid with.
thanks for being good to each other.

and liz, thanks for teaching kate how to properly hold her pencil.
[something that she's struggled with for a long time. peer pressure works!]

vaca recap continues:: playing at nana and papa's awesome hotel. complete with water park!

utah about killed me with it's cold temps and awful inversion.

[but made up for it all with a few beautiful snowstorms]

thank goodness the hotel we stayed at had an indoor water park.

and double thank goodness the water was warm!

i love my family.

let the vaca recap begin:: a few snapshots from our first day with [my sister] bb's family

allen's:

flying alone with two kids was not the most fun i've ever had [although it went pretty well].

but flying to utah a few days early to spend time with the family was worth it.

thanks for letting us destroy your house-

5 kids under 4 tends to get a wee bit crazy :)

love you all.

 

ps.

that first picture is of the art that liz made for nana and papa's hotel room.

i may be biased [of course i am!] 

but i think lizamagoos is one talented artist. 

she did those pages entirely by herself- and she's only 3!! [almost 4]

oh how i miss that girl.

love you magoos.

i've never seen so many pumpkins in my life. the white ones were my favorite.

minnesota weather-

i thought i missed you.
turns out i don't really miss being cold all the time.
50 degrees sounds nice when i'm sweating it out in yuma,
but in reality it just makes me shiver.

like the other morning when dad thought it would be ok not to turn the heat on
and it was 60 degrees in the house when i woke up at 7 am.
yikes.
maybe i turned the fireplace on and made myself hot cocoa.
maybe my family made fun of me.
whatever.

even though i've been complaining about the cold,
i can appreciate that it's made me ready for autumn.
[but i won't lie, i'm excited to head home to the warmth]

we spent an hour at a 'farm' yesterday.
we saw animals and pumpkins.
kate and liz rode the rides [thanks papa for the quarters]
and harry posed for a ridiculous amount of pictures [cuz he's just so smiling and cute]
it's awesome how everything is more fun through the eyes of a child.
kids really do make life better.

 

today was a good day.

Jank-

as i'm typing this our baby girl is kicking and dancing up a storm.
she misses hearing your voice almost as much as i miss holding your hand.

i took some pictures of my day to share with you:

our favorite view from the house. trees, trees and more trees. MN sure is pretty.

miss kate rearranging my mom's front porch. she kept picking up the pumpkin and fake biting it

[complete with chomping/eating sound effects. thanks for teaching her that]

the girls discovered quickly how much fun a piano brings.

of course they make great duets- kate bangs on the keys and liz creates songs.

i'll have to video it tomorrow for you.

mom pulled out the old race track from my childhood.

the girls loved playing with papa

and they only fought over who got what car/driver once every second.

other events that weren't captured on film include:

kate ruining her lunch AND her dinner by purposely dumping her drink on the table.

all the baby shower planing and decorating taking place [no photos allowed of these activities since kerrianne reads this here silly blog and it's all supposed to be a surprise for her]

the mass amount of leann chin we consumed for lunch. sooooo good.

i decided kate will be minnie mouse for halloween and i bought her mouse ears.

hope you're enjoying all the peace and quiet.

we miss you.

maybe we can skype tomorrow morning?

love,

bug

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found some 4th of july pics hiding on my camera...

to the entire allen family-

thanks again for a great 4th of july!
we will certainly miss seeing you all every summer.
in our absence maybe you'll play some extra noodle ball for jank
and eat some extra candy for me?
we'll see you all in a few years.


thanks,
the jancers

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don't be jealous of my glamorous life

jordan landing shopping center,

yesterday it was 90 degrees.
rain fell at random times but never lasting for more than 5 minutes.
and the wind was blowing hard enough to knock down my 24 pound child.

all this lead me in desperation to you.
lizamagoos, katers and i stopped by chick-fil-a, pet-smart and walmart.
[told ya my life is glamorous]

pet-smart was definitely the highlight.
sloooooowly kate is getting over her fear of dogs.
slowly.
it only took her 5 minutes to realize the dogs couldn't get through the glass.
and then it was a free-for-all of toddlers running into the glass and dogs barking.
good times.


ps. dear kate, you don't always have to be so worried when we visit a new play-land. you should try playing instead of standing in one spot and watching the other kids play. i bet it would be a lot more fun for you. [but still, i love your scaredy-cat ways]


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welcome june.

hey there summertime, thanks for finally showing up.

they held hands for most of the walk. kids are the coolest.

yesterday i took the girls on a walk around bb's neighborhood.

[although it feels like it was a month ago-- today was a long day]

we stopped to play at three different playgrounds/parks.

i pushed them on the swings for at least 15 minutes [that's a loooong time in toddler world]

they were silent and slumped over and completely mesmerized by the world around them.

i just stared at their faces wondering what they were thinking.

such beautiful girls.

so glad it's finally warm enough to wear shorts and play outside for long periods of time.

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surviving the rain

liz:

we love when you come to play.
especially when it's rainy outside [which it has been for the past 5 billion years]
the day is full of excitement and toddler squabbles.
we invariably will make a pillow pile to jump into.
this activity lasts for a loooong time- it's a crowd pleaser for sure.

that belt has become a favorite. if kate's not wearing it, her stuffed rabbit is.

and when i've finally worn you two out,
we will snuggle with treats [twizzlers this time] and watch a movie.

lizamagoos, we love you!


ps, bb-- this is only a small [very small, tiny even] part of the day. the rest of it we spent eating fruits and vegetables and practicing letters, numbers and colors all while listening to classical music...... are you buying any of this???

we're getting cranky over here

warm weather please come back.

we miss you.

kate is smiling on the inside

this is a conversation kate and i had yesterday-

kate: 'sliiiide? mama? outsiiiide?'
me: 'sorry sweets, it's raining. no slide today.'
kate: 'it's waining. no sliiiiiide.'
me: 'that's right, no slide. do you want to watch tangled for the 5 billionth time?'

[repeat above conversation seven times]

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