Kindergarten Graduate!!

What an exciting year! Teagan had a wonderful first year of school. She loved her teacher, Mrs. Ruth Klukow and made so many amazing friends. She's grown quite a bit this year - here's her picture on the last day of kindergarten!

It was a very bitter sweet day for us as a Kindergarten graduation is a sure sign that our little girl is growing up. I teared up during the ceremony but she was so excited!

After all the pomp and circumstance there was a Kindergarten picnic where Teagan spent time playing with her BFF Emily Rosin! She's going to miss Emily next year as they will be at different elementary schools. 

Congratulations to our little graduate!!!

Nolan is Four!

Ok, so he's only four months but still - it's a pretty big milestone for this little guy! Today we had Nolan's four month shots and even though he seems to be having a great time he was in pain from all the shots to the legs!

Little Mommy Teagan

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts Teagan adores her little brother and takes her responsibilities as the Big Sister very seriously. The crying and the screaming are starting to wear her down though too as the other day she turns and says to me "Mommy, he's starting to annoy me!"

What could I say - I had to agree but I also had to remind her that she did the exact same thing when she was a baby. She doesn't believe me. Now I have a mission to find the video of her screaming at the top of her lungs - seeing is believing!!

Even with the screaming I've been able to capture some special moments between these two.

Nolan is 5 weeks old and this is his very first bottle! She looks like a pro and he seems to enjoy it! Mommy enjoyed her FREEDOM too!! 

I just love the way Nolan is looking at her while she is feeding him and the look on his face when she snuggles with him is just priceless! 

"Let's Get Crazy" - Skating Diva

It's that time of the year again - time for the annual Brooklyn Park Ice Show. It what makes all these Monday night skate practices worth the running around. Teagan is very excited about the ice show this year because she is no longer in Snow Plow Sam - she's in the Skating School performance! She couldn't be happier with the music she gets to skate to - Let's Get Crazy by Hannah Montana!!

She's also very excited that one of her good friends is in the ice show with her. Here are some shots of Teagan and her friend Summer from Ice Show Picture Day:

She's also very excited to have a "big girl costume" this year. The ice show is the last weekend in March so more to come for sure!!

And Baby Makes Four!

So, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth - I've only spent the past 9 months incubating a new little human to occupy it! I am proud to announce that Nolan Ryan Stupsky (named after Daddy not the ballplayer) was born Thursday, February 4 at 12:04 PM weighing in at 7 pounds 10 ounces and a full head of hear (a mullet if you ask his Auntie Odie [littlebabylehtinen.blogspot.com])! We were supposed to be induced on February 5 but I guess Nolan had other plans and wanted to arrive on his own terms.

This new little man has totally changed the dynamic of our family where parents once outnumbered the child(ren) 2 to 1. Now we're dealing with one-on-one and the effects can be felt daily. We used to be able to tag team Teagan and household chores - "easy, peasy pumpkin squeezy" as Teagan would say but now we're each assigned a child. Yup, you guessed it - that means that the household chores have gone to hell in a hand basket. Granted we're not quite a month into our life-long foray with two children and I know that we'll eventually find balance but until then I need to learn to ignore the less than perfect surroundings.

Now, back to the little man! He's adorable and has quite the set of lungs just like his sister did when she was born. I was told, many times over, that no one has had more than one colicky child so I think we should win some sort of colicky child-bearing award.

Speaking of Teagan she LOVES, LOVES, LOVES being a big sister and puts her hands and lips all over Nolan whenever she has the opportunity. She's writing stories about him almost daily at school and according to her teacher some of her friends/classmates are also writing stories about Teagan's "babe brvr" <---- That's how Teagan spells Baby Brother.

Here are some pictures of the newest little Stupsky and the big sister:

She's already a pro and wants to be the only one to hold him.

Which one is the baby and which one is Nolan!??!  Teagan thought it was really cool that he was the same size as her Itty Bitty Baby.

Big Sister earned herself a field trip to American Girl at Mall of American. She chose to get the full-size Lanie doll. Lanie is the 2010 doll of the year and also happens to be the name of one of her "bestest friends"!

Teagan Loves Frogs

This story is so good - it warrants it's own post. Ryan was mowing the lawn tonight when he called out to Teagan - Teagan headed for home and suddenly she was squealing and jumping up and down - something exciting was going on. But what?!??!

Next thing I know Teagan is running back across the street, where her friends were still playing and she was carrying her Frog habitat (thank you Uncle Jon and Auntie Heather for that wonderful habitat - insert only a little bit of sarcasm here). All the way she was yelling "I have a frog and it's bigger than Chub Chub!!" Keep in mind Chub Chub once held the record for the biggest frog she ever found. That record only lasted two days - sorry Chub Chub!

We could not believe the size of this frog - and I was in shock that it was living in my flower bed!! Teagan took the frog out of the habitat so we could all see how big it was (ok, it was Kari who prompted her to take it out) and when she set it on the ground it took ONE big leap - all the kids ran after it but it quickly took another GIANT leap so they kept running. On the third giant leap the frog landed right on the sewer grate and fell down into the sewer. There was a collective gasp from all the aduts and a scream of sadness from most of the kids. It's gone - forever. Or so we thought.



Next thing you know Chris and Ryan are removing the cover to the sewer and Ryan tried to use a net to 'rescue' the elusive creature. No luck; Michigan J. Frog took refuge under the street. But wait - there's more!!! Before we know it the cover is off the sewer directly across the street - if he keeps going he'll head right into our trap!!! Didn't work that way either - he decided to sit right in the middle - under the street. With Chris on one side and Ryan on the other we tried to scare it - but our bangs and screams didn't phase him; then out came the garden hose. Yup, let's push him out with water.

Trust me when I tell you this is Ryan.

And on this side of the street is Chris.

After 15 minutes, and many visions of Stephen King's clowns in the sewer, Michigan J. Frog was in captivity once again.

The laughter was unbelievable - Chris on one side of the street and Ryan's feet sticking out of the other (yes, he was head first in the sewer hole) many a car slowed to see - but none were brave enough to stop and ask.


It was a successful night - lots of laughter and happy kids to end the evening. Where is the frog right now you ask - it's in my garage plotting to find a way out of Teagan's habitat.

Teagan's First Day of Kindergarten

What a big girl we have now! She woke up very excited and did a great job getting ready for her first day! As we dropped her off in her classroom we could tell she was trying to hold back her tears - thankfully there were a lot of new toys to keep her attention off the fact we were leaving.





At the end of the day we arrived to pick her up and all she could say was "Ahhhhh - I wanted to play longer!" I think we could call it a very successful first day of Kindergarten!!