College Roomies 2008

Yesterday, I had a wonderful visit with my college roomies in Sun Prairie, WI. We had to take advantage of this opportunity while Jen was in town from Florida. The last time we were all together was at Tracy's wedding, in 2006! Unfortunately, Tracy and her new baby boy, Sean, could not be with us because they live in Colorado :(

We got to Carrie's around noon, and Carrie had a wonderful lunch waiting for us. It's crazy to think that we're all moms. It was amazing to see each other in "mommy" mode. Carrie has two girls - 4 year old Olivia and 2 month old Avery. Steph is mom to 2 year old Jack and 5 month old Nora. Misty has a 14 month old son, Keinin. The girls and Livi played together like they had known each other since birth! The kids played in the pool, sprinkler, and playhouse while we mostly talked about babies. We filled Jen in on the things we wished someone would have told us before having kids. Jen is 20 weeks pregnant, and expecting twin girls in December! Hopefully we didn't shock her too much! I forgot to mention our BEST girlfriend, Mike (Steph's husband) was there. He was on lifeguard duty! We knew he was good for something...Afterall, he is a hot fireman from Milwaukee :) Anyway - we managed to catch up between pop spills, breast feeding, and preventing the little ones from choking on bouncy balls. It was nice to be together, even if it was only for an afternoon. These girls are the best friends I've ever had! It's unfortunate that the six of us live hundreds of miles from each other in Wisconsin, Florida, and Colorado. Our kids left yesterday with new friendships (pen pals) and we left knowing that we're always welcome at each other's homes, and we're only a call or email away.Keinin and Delaney

Harper and Livi

Delaney, Harper, Ava, and Livi

Avery Elizabeth

Olivia loves her baby sister

Misty, Steph, Carrie, Rochelle, Jen

Steph, Nora, and Jack - Carrie, Avery, and Olivia - Me and girls - Misty and Keinin - Jen 20 weeks pg with twin girls

Steph and Nora

Nora and Avery

Kids in the pool

5 Going on 30!

The girls' new favorite movie is 13 Going on 30. They LOVE all of the 80's songs, like they are today's greatest hits. The artists on the soundtrack include Rick Springfield, Belinda Carlisle, The Go-Go's, Talking Heads, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Vanilla Ice, Billy Joel, and my all time favorite - Pat Benatar. Harper and Ava love singing Hit Me With Your Best Shot...and now Love is a Battlefield. Harper WAS doing good, until Ava started laughing at her.

I'm not quite sure about Ava's moves in the second video...She's obviously not watching MY moves :) Talk about possessed Ice Ice Baby...Scary! Harper is, of course, shakin' it in the background. Enjoy!

Girls day out...

Jamie had to work Saturday, so we decided to attempt a movie - WITH Delaney. It was her nap time, so I figured she'd sleep if I brought her nuk and blankie...WRONG! We went to Wall-E, and good thing it wasn't opening weekend because there was one other mom and child there. Delaney wouldn't sit still...She was up and down the steps, running around, and saying "HI" to the other people. Not even root beer and licorice would make her stay in my lap. We decided to leave half way through the movie...just as it was starting to pick up. We decided to visit the puppies at the pet store. Note to self: Girls day out = visit pet store = save money.

The Countess

Their jacked up teeth are probably the only thing Count Cameron and Countess Delaney will get from the Rydberg side. What is up with these two cousins? And for those of you who didn't know that the Count had a woman...

Countess von Dahling and Countess von Backwards were Count von Count's 'lady friends'. As stated on muppetwikia.com, "In keeping with his numbers obsession, and as the only Sesame Street Muppet with an active love life, the Count has been involved with multiple countesses. In an episode, the couple count the number of times he's asked her to marry him.

An unnamed Countess also appears in the song "Transylvania Love Call." She is "A Great and Good Friend," suggestive of both their romantic relationship, but perhaps also the Count's desire to keep her identity a secret, to avoid arousing jealousy from whichever Countess happens to be the current incumbent."

WHO KNEW???

Poor Harper...

No, our living room doesn't usually have an air mattress in it...We were checking the mattress before we went camping. We figured the best way was to have the girls jump around on it :) They WERE having fun, until they started wrestling. Poor Harper...She should have had Delaney on her tag team...She could've taken Ava!

Camping...

Last weekend, the Olson family (minus Ron, Trish, Delaney, and Olivia) went camping at KOA in Hayward. We arrived around 1:00 on Friday afternoon. The first thing we did, after setting up our tent, was visit downtown Hayward with Chad and Kristin. The girls begged to get something in EVERY store, but we settled on candy - caramels, taffy, rock suckers, jolly ranchers, bit-o-honey, tootsie rolls, and gummies galore - from the local candy store! We went back to the campground and waited for the Annis's and Lundquists to arrive. After Chad and Kristin's delicious spaghetti and meatball sandwich dinner, the guys enjoyed bean bags while we sat around the fire. THEN, the wind picked up and the sky darkened...AND we all scurried to tie Mandi and Isaac's GIGANTIC tarp (and I mean GIGANTIC!) overhead to the trees. I took cover in the tent, watching a movie, with my girls. Ava ended up sleeping in Chad and Kristin's camper that night while Harper and I snuggled on one mattress, TRYING to stay warm and dry. We (Jamie) failed to seal the seams on the tent prior to our trip. Our 15 year old tent was a hurtin' unit! During the night, I soaked up some of the water with our sheets and some towels. We managed to stay dry, but there were puddles EVERYWHERE. Check out the pic of Jamie soaking up a puddle with his shirt :) The guys managed to stay up til 3 A.M. playing cards that night! I was wondering how Mandi was going to get Isaac up to make their pancake breakfast?!? :)

Isaac was able to get up and the pancakes were wonderful! After hanging everything out to dry and airing out our tent, we headed to swim at the pool, jump on the giant pillow, and play mini golf. It was our turn to make dinner, so Jamie and I grilled homemade pizza over the fire- yummy! Who eats like this camping??? Hope everyone else enjoyed their hot dogs :) That night we played the name game. It was hilarious! Everyone writes down a name, and then we have to guess who wrote each name. You really had to be there, but some of the names included Shaggy, Dicky Lilly, Olivia, Smell E. Gibson, Ruth Schaefer, Uee Fritchey, Rose E. Ola, Supercharge...among others - I couldn't remember the names then, so why would I now??? And then the wind picked up and it began to sprinkle...Phewww - it did NOT rain Saturday night!

Sunday morning, Sara and Sean made a great french toast breakfast. Then we packed up and headed south. It was a long, but wonderful weekend with family. We're looking forward to another...ok, we won't go there, yet...

We slept great in our own DRY, WARM, CAMPFIRE SMOKE-FREE beds Sunday night :)

Delaney motoring around at the lake!

SISTERS

Fun in the Sun

Delaney Rose

Delaney and Dane

Cameron and Delaney loungin'

Mama and Daddy

4th of July at the beach

4th of July!

Photo shoot :)

Ava, Harper, and Delaney posing for the camera after the pancake breakfast at the firehall, and 4th of July festivities at the beach.

Grandpa Rich is a fireman for the Cumberland Fire Dept. Each year they put on a pancake breakfast...AND each year Sparky, (aka a fireman dressed up in a dog costume - wonder how they decide that one?!?), makes the girls cry. Last year it was Ava. This year, Harper watched every move Sparky made. He started getting close, she tensed up, and let out a big cry. Ava was sitting next to her and began to cry, also. Delaney was a brave girl...She is learning the animal sounds, so just started panting like a dog :) I'm sure next year she'll catch on :)

The girls had fun playing games at the beach. It was amazing..."The ville" style games in Cumberland...Throwing the rings around pop bottles, knocking down the milk bottles, throwing balls into a toilet, good ol' traditional limbo AND limbo with a twist - jumping OVER the limbo stick, and candy walk. I almost forgot to mention the two 4th of July visitors (you know, the ones who wear their swimsuits ALL DAY at the beach - sun up to sun down - and then again the next day) who were raking in the money painting tattoos on the kids. I just kept telling myself that the the poor girls were doing this to raise money for "tooth"brushes! The 4th of July in Cumberland brings out all kinds. Next year I may just bring my video camera!