Vranicar Family: Party of 5

I finally got a (short) video of what happens if Cooper ever gets a time-out. I should note that this rarely happens- he really is such a good kid, but when it does Parker always follows him, sits down across from him, looks at him and then goes over to hug him. Sweetest-thing-ever.

A few weeks ago my friend Carisa invited me to be part of the filming of Kristi Youngdahl's Inspired Fitness online program . I jumped at the chance! I am SO interested in health, wellness, exercise, food, etc that this was right up my alley. I had not met Kristi before, but felt like I already knew her after hearing so many great things about her from Carisa. When we met, she was exactly as I had heard, warm, cheerful, welcoming and so darn inshape and beautiful! (Not to mention an Oxygen Magazine fitness model??) It was a fun afternoon or me trying not to look foolish doing the exercises, it is surprisingly difficult to do a lunge with one foot balancing on a chair while demonstrating good form! We had to shoot that one a few times...sorry Kristi! Please check out her website , it's FULL of information on living a healthy life and how to acheive your fitness goals.

Recently I had an extra, unexpected half day with my boys. We decided we should spend it at the Mall of America's Nickelodeon Universe. Cooper is tall enough to go on many of the rides by himself, just in case Cooper is too little to enjoy some of them- so we headed out to see how much fun we could have. I really can't out into words how wonderful that morning was, everyone was happy, content and for the most part, everything went off without a hitch. I took several videos of Cooper riding the rides so we could share them with Kevin, but this one is my favorite.. wait until the end- that's the best part. A few more highlights... First ride- the Ferris Wheel...they weren't quite sure if they liked it.... Next ride, Carosel- LOVED it Finally, it was time for lunch and Cooper requested a cheese quesadilla so off to Chipotle we went. Because there were not any open tables in the restaurant and because we have a very large stroller an...

Actually, it was more of a "trim" than an actual cut. He wasn't going to sit long enough for anything more than what we did.

This time of year has me glued to my computer screen as I look for photos, updates, Tweets and admittedly, voy board gossip as the new class of Miss America contestants converge on the Las Vegas strip to rehearse and compete for 10 days for the opportunity of a lifetime- becoming Miss America. Until last spring, I had spent the past decade VERY involved with the Miss Minnesota/Miss America Organizations and attended several Miss America pageants in Vegas. I had wondered how I would feel when Miss Minnesota left for Miss America and I essentially had nothing to do with her going. In previous years I had spent hours every week helping prep our titleholder to compete for this title and now- nothing. I can safely say how I am feeling is pretty much what I expected, like I'm missing out on something, like my best friend is accomplishing something great and I cannot share in her excitement. It is a strange thing to feel and I'm working my through it, finding where I fit in this ne...

Better late than never with this... Parker had his one-year well check earlier this month and as we have come to expect, he's above average.. at least in terms of growth :) Weight: 32lbs Height: 33" If you don't have another one year-old to "compare" this too and get an idea of how big this little boy is, when you look at a growth chart of babies, Parker's height and weight are above the 100%, way above. Which means he is bigger than more than 100% of babies his age. :-) He has two teeth on the bottom, right in the middle and is working on one on top, on his right side.  He is signing a handful of things and can say "mama", "dada", and "ut oh". He really is a smart boy- he understands most of what we say to him and seems to be frustrated that he cannot yet use words to answer us. He is primarily walking everywhere and tries to run away from us on occassion. This is usually accompanied by lots of laughter and ...

Oh how I wish those words applied to parents too! Yesterday morning I woke up at 3:15AM, not on purpose. I'm not sure what initially woke me up, but once my eyes were open, I noticed Kevin wasn't there. So I did that courteous thing and walked out to the living room to tell him to stop sleeping on the couch with all the lights on and come to bed. Apparently, that short walk from our room tom the couch was too much excitement for me because once I got back to my nice warm bed, I was wide awake. I tried to lay there for awhile and just let myself fall asleep..... that didn't work. Next I decided I'd check my email on my phone to distract myself and become tired again....nope. In fact, that did the opposite- I had a work email that was now bugging me so I finally got out my laptop and sent the reply I had already written in my head. As I as composing this email I decided I might as well make a pot of coffee since I had two free hands and would need it eventually anyway. Th...