California or Bust!

Well, I guess I am writing this over a month after our big family trip to California:( Considering all that is going on, I'm going to count that as a success:) Let's see how short and sweet I can make this....hahahaha..  Here is the link to the photo album if you just want a summary in pictures:)

Friday, May 16th, we were finishing packing up, loading the car and heading to the Twin Cities to stay with my aunt and uncle, Bob and Shelley. It was a wonderfully crazy day as we had some garage door repairs being done, a landscaping quote being done and my Dad came up to actually do some electrical work for our association:) Luckily, Dave got home nice and early and we were able to make it all work! We were packed, house and dog taken care of (house/dog sitter for the week), said goodbye to Dad on the way out of the neighborhood and happily hit the interstate. 

5 minutes into the drive to the Cities:)

We made good time, stopped to eat in Woodbury:) and then got to Bob and Shelley's house. I love it there, so peaceful and so much to see. We unloaded and figured out how our sleeping arrangements would be (often a puzzle to figure out what configuration works best) and soon Kate was playing Barbies with Shell, Dave was working on getting Collin asleep and I was watching the Twins with Bob and catching up. Since we had an early flight, we hit the hay early and prayed Collin would sleep well:) (he did!) 

Bob was our chauffeur in the morning and after finally getting the car seats out of the van, we said goodbye to Bob at the curb and headed into the airport! We did great, here is what we had with us: Three large checked bags, two backpacks, Kate's rolling carry-on, one stroller, two carseats, one purse and of course Kate and Collin! I think that was all. We could get everything up to the counter because Kate could push one of the large rolling bags. Collin stayed in his car seat in the stroller as well. We flew through check-in and started heading to our gate. We were pretty proud of ourselves, and it was rather adorable seeing Kate rolling her little bag through the airport:) 

She was a pro!

Getting through security was trickier, there was just so much stuff. We had gone over everything with Kate ahead of time, so that helped, though they said she didn't need to take off her shoes. So glad I battled her with her shoe choice cuz I thought they had to come off! Our bags went through and then they grabbed our big stuff (car seats and stroller) and hand checked them off the side, and then they let us go through the regular metal detector thing, not the big one. Kate went through fine and Collin actually thought it was fun and walked through himself (Dave and I and the nice TSA workers thought it was adorable:) Of course, it took us awhile to regroup and get everything back how we needed it, but again, pretty smooth! Our gate was right there, not long treks anywhere. Dave took off to get us some coffee!! and I stayed with the kids and watched the plane at the gate. Pretty fun and we tried to let Collin run around as much as possible. One trip to the potty, one diaper change and we were boarding. I was anticipating glares from other passengers but surprisingly most were really sweet. 

Daddy splurged and got her a hot chocolate.
You can stop looking so grown up anytime, Kate. 

Learning what happens to get a plane ready

We didn't pay for a seat for Collin, he was technically a lap baby, however, Southwest allows you to bring his car seat and give him a free seat if the plane is not full and our first flight was actually quite empty! What a great way to start the trip. Car seats have to be in a window seat, so Collin was by a window, in his car seat with Dave next to him and an empty seat next to Dave. Kate was in her car seat directly behind Collin (window) with me next to her and an empty seat next to me! Plenty of space, Kate was excited about flying, Collin fell asleep. Sweet! We are amazing! Where else should we jet off to? :) 

The flight was short and sweet, soon we arrived in Kansas City. It did take us awhile to unlatch the car seats, get our bags together and get back through the aisles, but we were in no hurry. At the end of the gangway, there was Gma Bobbi! Pretty fun to run up and see her there. She helped us make our way down to our next gate. Gpa Ron was there, reinforcements! We grabbed some food, let the kids run (probably the best use of having grandparents, having a person to just follow Collin, keep him safe but let him move). It wasn't long before we were boarding again and of course, right as we are gathering our stuff to move, Collin has an epic diaper. Dave just put him down right there and changed it. Sorry people at the gate waiting to board, but seriously, you didn't want us changing that on the plane:) 

Fresh and clean, we boarded and filled up two rows, this flight was full, so Collin's car seat was checked at the gate and he was on laps. We had Ron, Bobbi, Dave and Collin in one row with Kate and I behind, and another man next to me. I had packed multiple surprises...toys, treats to bring out slowly to try and keep them occupied. They were in Kate's new rolling bag and she wasn't allowed to look inside - how cruel! Bobbi had done some as well and it worked for most of the trip! Collin did get tired again and we weren't able to get him to fall asleep and so.....yup. Meltdown. Screaming, flailing, not happy. It was pretty awful for us, we felt bad, we couldn't help him. Dave was good and just tried to hold him and keep him calm. The people didn't seem to be too agitated, though obviously this is their worst nightmare. Many were parents and understood a bit, here's a tip = always pack your headphones!!  :) Kate did have to go to the bathroom and Dave also won the chance to take her to do that. I love you, Dave.  :)

But we did finally arrive in San Diego! Aunt Becky met us at baggage claim and Laurie too! The kids once again were pretty antsy and wanted to move. Dave went off to get the rental van and eventually we headed up to Temecula in two cars. We had both kiddos and they almost immediately fell asleep. Perfect! 

Ron and Bobbi had rented an amazing house in the hills around Temecula. It was very beautiful and fun to see the avocado groves and all the citrus trees growing, but I will say that I did not enjoy the super curvy, hilly road we had to take to get there! I spent the majority of the trip in the third row of the van and...uff da:) Anyway, the house was amazing. I didn't take any pics of the house when we arrived, I was pretty excited to get our stuff inside and get things set up so we could feel at home. 

Collin and Daddy checking out the backyard

The "backyard!" Hot tub, pool...gorgeous!

It didn't take long and we had family arriving to hang out! Aunt Becky was so amazing and brought up all kinds of groceries and supplies for us throughout the whole week. I won't be able to write up all the days in detail but here is the general way things went: 

We've arrived, Laurie and the kids get to playing and catching up...

The Super Aunts with a couple kids:)

Saturday (the day we arrived) almost all the family was able to come up and hang out. Becky and the cousins had brought up some toys so we had lots of fun things for the kids to play with. David, Carolyn, Julia and Anna Willett were able to stay with us that first night, and on Sunday, even more family arrived to visit. Sunday was the nicest day and it was the only time that anyone got in the pool! And the only ones brave enough to do that were Alexander and Kate:)  and poor Tim who was elected as the responsible adult to join them:)

Oh, I'd better give the rundown on who we were visiting or who was visiting us! 

Aunt Becky (Bobbi's twin sister!) and Martin Stahl live in Temecula. Their four daughters and their families all spent time with us: Katie, Dale and Paige (2yrs) Brech live in Arizona; Carolyn, David, Julia (3yrs), and Anna (8 months) Willett live in Orange, California; Kristin, Tim, Alex (5yrs), and Thomas (15 months and born the exact same day as Collin:) Woods live in Temecula; And Kellyn Stahl whole lives in Temecula! Whew! We also saw Bobbi's uncle, Irv and her cousin Mike. 

We managed a whole family photo!

Monday we went to Disneyland!!! Ron and Bobbi agreed to stay back and watch Collin. Aunt Becky came up to the house and watched Thomas there as well. It sounds like they had a pretty great time! Thank you grandparents! It is always fun to get some special one-on-one (or I guess one-on-two) time with your kiddos and I was so excited to have this whole day for Kate. Laurie joined us to see Disneyland through her 4-year-old niece's eyes:) 

We met up with Tim, Kristin, Alex, Kellyn, Carolyn, David & Julia at Disneyland. Quite the crew! Our first stop was Space Mountain:) and then we needed to get Kate to the castle, she could see it and it was killing her not to go there right away. She loved the castle and Aurora's story (we haven't watched it yet). Aurora was also the only princess we spotted walking around the park. At the castle, Dave noticed the Bibbity Boppity Boutique, and was hooked. Honestly, Kate wasn't really sure what it was, but Dave decided his princess was going to experience being a princess! So, we bought a dress and then had her go back with her "Fairy Godmother-In-Training" to become a princess:) She was pretty apprehensive about it and wasn't sure about all the attention. She broke down a bit right at the end, the big reveal! But once we got back outside and we were headed for the teacups, she perked up. While we were riding the teacups, she lit up and we saw the magic of Disney in our child's face:) Amazing. 

One of our favorite moments.
Would have been a little better if Dave wasn't spinning it so fast. In my opinion:)

We rode the teacups (twice), the carousel, Dumbo and Casey Jr. train. It was a Monday and the lines weren't too bad, but there were a lot of school buses and what looked like end of the year school trips there. Another highlight was meeting up with David, Carolyn and Julia (and the Woods') at a little restaurant place near the kid rides. They happened to be sitting at a table that was right next to the exit for the Anna and Elsa meet and greet. Oh. My. God. We could wait in a four hour line to meet them (and hope she would do it and not panic or get too shy. And I think they actually closed the line cuz it was too long) or we could sit comfortably and see them when the curtain was pulled back as someone exited. What Kate spotted them, she lit up again! I was very careful not to make it so blatant that we were trying to see them (I didn't want to get in trouble or have them adjust it so we couldn't see) but amazingly, the curtain was held back extra long once or twice and Anna and Elsa looked over and saw Kate and Julia standing/sitting there and they smiled/waved/said hello to them! The Disney worker guy was even smiling and seemed like they thought it was cute. Oh my gosh, what an unexpected treat:) I was thrilled. Then another mother noticed and brought her kid over, practically blocked the exit and was blatantly trying to have her kid do the same. She got in trouble:) 

Teacups!

Kate did really well during the whole day, we actually didn't purchase anything while we were there - food or souvenir, besides the princess stuff at the beginning! We stuck around for the parade and it was totally worth it. Kate was up on Dave's shoulders and she was able to see all the princesses, Mickey and Minnie...so fun to see her smile and scream out the character's name she was seeing next. After the parade, we left to find some very late supper. The Willett's decided to join us and we went to a Mexican place on the way home. Kate and I passed out on the ride back to Temecula:) A wonderful day and a lifelong memory!

ps - this dress was a glitter bomb. We are still finding glitter everywhere. 

On Tuesday, Katie, Dale and Paige came up to visit since Paige had been sick and missed the days before. It was a wonderful, relaxing day with good conversation and some fun out picking oranges from the trees in the front yard. Bobbi had picked some grapefruit earlier in the week and made fresh grapefruit juice, Laurie and I had hiked around and picked some oranges another morning, but this morning we went down at got some oranges and some Cuties! Yes, they had a Cutie tree. So fun. 

Kate and Gpa with quite the harvest!

On Wednesday,  Ron, Bobbi, Dave, Collin, Kate and I went down to Temecula for some breakfast and strolling around Old Town. After that, we met up with Woods' and Brech's for some time at a park. We split up and Ron, Bobbi and Laurie hit some wineries while Dave and I and the kids did a maintenance stop at Target:)  We grabbed some frozen yogurt and then drove out to Temecula's wine country and visited Miramonte Winery - a favorite of Tony, Tara and Mom and Dad's. After coming back home and dropping the kids, Dave and I had a date that night!  

On Thursday, Laurie, Dave and I finally got our butts up to the Santa Rosa Plateau and started on a hike. Well, we didn't make it far before Dave hurt his ankle. There was a loop in the trail and he took off running, we heard him fall/yell/swear and ran back to find him. Sprawled on the trail and very much hurt. The rest of that day Dave, Ron and I spent in the new and very nice Temecula Valley Hospital:) That evening Kristin hosted us all (everyone!) at her lovely house. A yummy meal and fun time playing outside for the kids.   

We visited the beautiful Temecula E.R., don't miss it on your next stop in California!

Katie entertaining the kids at Kristin's

Friday was beach day!! (And my birthday:) we loaded up and headed down to Camp Pendleton near San Diego.  Del Mar Beach is this wonderful place for members of the military and their families (Martin is a retired Navy chaplain). I was excited to go for many reasons, one of which was this was where Tony worked prior to Okinawa and I hadn't been able to visit him there. 

My "big kids" at the beach:)

It turned out to be a really nice day out there (I was a bit cold, but I always am) we had rented some cabanas and so that was really nice, especially with all the kiddos and my handicapped husband (on crutches). We were also close to bathrooms and our cars! We had a great time and it was topped off with very special homemade cupcakes for my birthday made by pastry chef extraordinaire Kristin. Yummy.....

The drive home from the beach was....an adventure. But we finally made it:) and we had to pack up. Since Dave was lame:) I had to tackle it all myself. Well, that might have happened anyway;) It took me quite awhile to pack up, but Kristin popped in to talk while I was holed up in the bedrooms packing, thanks Cousin!

Saturday was for packing, cleaning and goodbyes. Kristin came up and picked up Laurie earlier in the morning and the rest of us went down to Becky's for a quick visit/goodbyes/some doughnuts:) 

Let's just say it was a very, very, very, very long travel day back to Wisconsin. I didn't feel well, Dave was on crutches, we had Ron and Bobbi's help as far as Denver, and we got home around 1:30 am. Another thank you to my Uncle Bob for picking us up at the airport late on a Saturday!  That was a huge help. It was so nice to be back in our van:) Collin did NOT sleep much in that ride back ?!?!? and had a rough night adjusting back (thus I did too:) but the next night he figured it out. 

Thank goodness we had Memorial Day weekend to help us slowly transition back to reality, we definitely needed it! It was also a happy surprise that spring/summer had arrived in Wisconsin while we were gone. It was warm! A slight bummer was departing the Midwest which was pretty consistently stuck in the 50/60's, California was cool for us (high 60's, low 70s) and back home it was in the 80's! Oh well, that wasn't the true purpose of the trip:) and it has stayed warm ever since we got back.


A week of memories and quality time with family - what a treat! For many more additional photos....click HERE! There are actually even more, I need to get some off of Dave's phone and I haven't yet downloaded pics from Ron's camera....good grief! I think we took about 500 photos during the week between us all:) 

So Much to Say....

Okay. Dang. It has been way too long since I posted, too much has happened...ahh!! My brain is a little crazy right now and so, in an effort to help, I am going to just post some pics (from June) with brief descriptions in hopes of catching up a bit. I still owe a post on our California trip! And some fun activities I came away without photo documentation (what?!!! I know!) Anyway, here goes. Our life in pictures....

Kate playing with Grace (didn't get any other good pics of all the kiddos) when we were down in Decorah briefly to do a Face Time baby shower with our loved ones in Okinawa! Kate asked if we could take our boat to the ocean (which we had just seen) and drive over to see Tony and Tara:) So sweet. We told her that they were on the other side of the ocean when we were in Cali. 

Checking out Andy & Kylie's new (to-them) camper!! I didn't snap pics until they kids were fully worn out. They giggled and wrestled around in there forever. We can't wait to go camping with them!

Attitude. And soon after, she nose-planted off the bed. First good scar of the summer...check.

On a Sunday late morning/early afternoon we took the boat out for our first family ride of the season!! Had lunch at The Dirty Turtle. It was awesome.

We were getting a snack, apples with peanut butter. I left to do something for a sec and came back to this. "Mom, the apple is stuck!" She has her father's patience:)

Mr. Independent prefers to eat all by himself lately. With as many utensils as possible. And yes, that is cottage cheese above his eye. 

Our last day of soccer! One sweet little girl brought me flowers:) So cute. Collin is twisting the medal and slowly choking me...

Last game! Kate did great and scored a goal immediately!

My peeps!

Hopefully, I will soon sit down and knock out the California post and whatever else I am missing! I guess it is a good thing that so many fun and crazy things are happening to have the time to put down for posterity. Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful weather, we are!

One Crazy Week!

Well, I titled this post, One Crazy Week, but I think it will end up one crazy month:) It all started around Mom's birthday...

I took the kids down to Burr Oak the weekend of Mom's birthday (April 27) to celebrate and do some planning/snooping for a party to be mentioned later. Dave was on call, so he had to hang back. We had a nice weekend of playing outside, learning that both kids love sticks more than any toy they have received (take note! don't spend money on them!) and having a lovely brunch up in Peace Dining Room at Luther! And what do you do after you get filled up at a brunch? Come home and bake some brownies to have brownie sundae's as a birthday treat! 

We even got to stop by Wellington and see Grandma, which is always a highlight for me. Seeing my kids interact with her is just...precious to me. And my FAVORITE thing by far is that Grandma said that she wished we lived closer. Maybe she could watch the kids for me sometime:) Ummm....THANK YOU Grandma for wanting to, but I'm not sure that would work out so well! And...a certain almost-sister-in-law and myself had just a little time to chat regarding a substantial anniversary that was looming for my folks....

Sticks!!

I love it when they play with this stuff - she is so creative

We walked down to the creek...she now thinks every creek we see is this one:)

Learning so much....

Playing with her Mommy's and uncle's toys:) 

Visiting Great Grandma! Showing her his new skillz...

So, on top of getting ready for the anniversary, the week back in Wisconsin was full of fun and not-so fun moments: I left something on in the van after returning home from Iowa (Collin was screaming for the last half hour, I bolted with him from the van when we got home and never looked back:), luckily, it started after getting jumped by the suburban and luckily Dave was home to do so! We then had a car-seat mix up that resulted in Kate staying home from school one day because I had no car seat for Collin. We were trapped at home!

Tuesday brought soccer again and because of rain, we were forced inside - boo! The kids were not feeling any real drills, so we mostly just chased each other around and played follow the leader (I told the parents it was a conditioning day:) and then at the end we had our soccer pictures. Well, I have to brag for one moment about my awesome Team Tangerine! They were quiet and listened and very obedient during the picture session, the photographers and soccer board members were impressed (woo hoo!) and they were all adorable in their two-sizes-too-big tangerine shirts. The lowlight of soccer pictures turned out to be my very own daughter, who wouldn't really smile, just sort of half look up to the camera with a weird, crazy, no teeth smile on her face. I tried to get her to smile, but she said she was. Oh well, I told the photographer that it was fine, to which he said, "Really? Okay." Awesome, can't wait to get those back!

On Friday, May 2 my siblings, their significant others and Dave and I hosted/pulled off a surprise party for my parent's 35th wedding anniversary! Yup. Did it. First off, let me say. I'm not sure I can do a surprise party again. Okay, I didn't even have to keep this secret long but it was killing me! I am not built for this. I talk. A little. I honestly do try to think about what I say before I say it (surprised?:) but I had crazy anxiety being around Mom and Dad or talking on the phone. I have no idea how Andrew and Kylie did it, think of their proximity! 

Okay, I can't take credit for coming up with....well anything regarding the party - props to Andrew and Kylie for all of that! But here's what happened...I had to convince Mom and Dad not to come up Friday night (for Kate's recital the next day), Pat Huinker then invited the 'rents out to dinner. Simple. Nice. I came down with the kids, Dave in a separate car later (ugh, hate that) and we did "behind the scenes things" and then waited for Pat and Roger to show up at Mom and Dad's in a limo (surprise!) with Geoff and Mary Kruse (surprise!). We could have left it all alone right there. Killer night, those guys always have a blast. But no.....

They still don't know that Geoff and Mary are in the limo:)

They went out to dinner at Quarter/Quarter (is that the name?) in Harmony, MN and then with some impressive help/lying from the limo driver/Andrew & Kylie friend, Tyler, they bopped down to Decorah and stopped at The Stone Hearth. Still not suspecting a thing, they came down through the basement steps and BAM! a room full of their coworkers and loved ones ready to celebrate their anniversary:) 

Check out the poster-sized print of the happy couple!

People having fun and waiting...

They. were. surprised. I mean, I haven't been to a lot of these, but I think it was one of the best reactions. Mom started crying as she realized who all was there. :) I mainly felt relieved that the hard part was done! And it was a success:) We had people there from TriTech (Dad's work), Sunflower (Mom's work), my aunt and uncle (Bob and Shelley) from the Twin Cities, aunts/uncles/cousins from Iowa, we got Grandma there!! ...it was great. 

Unfortunately, we didn't take more pictures with other people! What were we thinking?!

We had decorated the basement (which was pretty retro, all on its own) with lots of pictures and mementos from their wedding, food, desserts, a GIANT wedding photo:) and lots of pics from throughout the 35 years. We had a blast, it was a lot of fun to be a part of it. I think the only thing missing was Tony and Tara. :(  I really wish they could have been there. 

Luckily, we didn't make the night too long, we headed back to Mom and Dad's and got some rest and headed back up to our place bright and (not too)early the next day. Kate had her recital at 3 p.m.! So we drove our little caravan up and over and arrived in time to unload the van, get Kate dressed and head to Mauston High School for the recital. 

Ready to go, Mom! (her first outfit, the second one had a grass skirt:)

Like last year, I helped her get ready, did final touches and dropped her off with her class in the band room of the school. We then killed a lot of time (learned our lesson to get there early to get better seats) with a 14 month old....yeah, that went well. Praise the Lord for Mom and Dad coming up, they got to see Kate but they also allowed Dave and I to sit for most of the recital and not miss anything while Collin toddled around in the back or lobby. 

Kate did great last year and I knew she was doing well this year but I still was CRAZY nervous for her! It's almost agony waiting for her to come out on the big stage. But sure enough, her song came up and I was wiggling around and super ansy in my seat. They didn't come out at first and I was worried, but then out comes the little 4-year-olds in a little congo line with Kate in the lead! She looked great (little hula, island costumes) and did great! It was so fun watching her, I was so proud. We were all beaming:) and then we had to sit through many more songs...they were good, obviously the littlest ones are the best/cutest and stole the show. Then her second song came on and she did just as awesome! Yeah! The recital went a little longer than last year and it was WAY too hot in there. We were very happy to go retrieve Kate and get outside. We celebrated by going out to Portofino for supper and crashing early for some extra rest:) 

Kate's 1st Dance - Hot, Hot, Hot! (she is on the far right)

Kate's 2nd Dance - Kokomo (she is the third from the right)

What a week! More pics from April...click here!

Easter!

Dave had a week off in mid-April and Ron had the same week off down in Missouri and so they made the trip up to Wisconsin to see us  - yay!! The week ended with Easter and I was so happy to have some family around for us to celebrate with. 

The last time Ron and Bobbi came up, Bobbi took the wonderful parting gift of a nasty cold that lasted forever. So, of course, the kids started sneezing/runny noses, etc. right when they arrived this time as well:( Collin marked us with love smears....you know what I'm talking about. Gross. The interesting part was his nose was only terrible when we were in our house. When we ventured out, it almost stopped completely. Hmm....we're looking into it. 

When they arrived, we had snow on the ground! But, it did melt and we ended up getting outside when it was nice. We only got in a couple walks, but we ended up on the trail for awhile, so that was a nice hike and we could see how the lake/river is filling back up. We also went out to the gazebo and saw a bunch of fish in there! They still don't like the food we throw in, so hopefully we can figure out what they like this summer:) 

On Friday, we ventured down to the House on the Rock near Spring Green, WI. It was a beautiful day and what can I say...quite the experience! It is hard to describe, the house is just bizarre and amazing. The collections of things this guy had is mind-boggling. We spent hours and hours there and will be back with others, I'm sure. 

Family photo in the Infinity Room

Taking in the view from up top!

The carousel....there are no words....

On Saturday night, we went to a local supper club that we had never been to before. It was your classic Wisconsin supper club and we all got the prime rib buffet:) When we came home, we turned on the TV and watched a PBS segment on the history of Juneau County! Dave and I love that stuff, was fun to learn more about where we live. 

Other fun things we did that week...Bobbi and I knocked out a puzzle in probably our world record time:) Ron helped Dave outside and garage was cleaned out and our yard cleaned up. Thank you!!! Gma and Gpa watched Frozen for the first time!

We are still church homeless (I know, we are ridiculous) and we tried a new church in Necedah on Easter Sunday. It was fine, we sang classic Easter songs which I loved, it wasn't too long, but....we won't be joining that church. After we entered the church, it started raining and came down much of the day. We came back home and Ron and Bobbi started cooking in the kitchen. I know it was my home and maybe someday, Dave and I will take the reigns completely, but they just do such a lovely meal, it is hard to insist otherwise! We enjoyed a simply delicious Easter meal and relaxed all day. Oh! We had a fire in the fireplace! It was a cool, wet day and we thought that would be nice (and weird!). I hope we don't need a fire next Easter! 

Collin playing trumpet on Easter!

Easter egg hunt in the house

Collin found the basket:)

Ron and Bobbi left on Monday, so it was also nice to not have to say goodbye on Easter Sunday. A wonderful visit and joyous holiday! 

Click here to see many more pictures of the crazy House on the Rock and some from our Easter. 

April (Snow) Showers?...Catching Up!

Whoa! I need to catch up in a big way and I think the only way to do it is to post some photos and direct you to our photo album. 

Some notes on the kids before the pics...
Collin cut his ninth tooth two nights ago! I think there may be another once coming (he usually cuts them in twos) We again had some screaming/awful nights and then we see the little tooth cut through, so it is nice to know that is what was bothering him but man, this guy takes teething pretty hard! 

He is not saying a lot of "words" but he jabbers all the time and recently started doing a much larger variety of sounds/consonants. He kind of says, "Ah Ra" which is basically what both my brothers called me when they were little, so we find that kind of funny. He better not be calling me Erin already! He does a LOT of "Da Da" and it isn't always Dave, but when he sees him, it is a very happy, "Da Da!!" Yesterday morning, he watched Dave drive out of the garage to work and spent the morning saying, "Da Da, (v)room, (v)room" (his car sound). 

Kate told me in the car one day that she was going to marry Kaden. I overheard other kids talking about so-and-so marrying so-and-so, I guess they were figuring that all out that day:) She told me in the car that her and Kaden both start with K, so at least the relationship has a strong base. She also literally had a boy pulling her pigtails at soccer practice. Bobbi and I were dying watching it happen. Jase (?) was chasing her around and came up and pulled her braids. She was laughing but we are now slightly wary of Jase....

Okay, I don't have time to ramble about the four of us right now...here are some pictures!

We've tried to do a lot of yard work on the nice days, clearing it out more and more...

Can you tell? :)  We have had alternating warm days and snow days this April

Out for a walk:) Practicing wearing a hat...

Our warmest day! We were outside the whole day...

We transplanted some seedlings

Our first soccer game was awesome!

And our first bike ride

Click here to see more pictures of our April activities (both winter and spring!)

Springing Into Some New Experiences!

In honor of Collin cutting his first tooth in FOREVER, I'll do a little post:) How long have I been saying, "I think a tooth is coming??" Four months? Longer? He cut six right away at six months old and then totally stopped, though drooled like a tooth was imminent! Our family had a terrible cold in February and the kids got it again last week! Cough, runny nose, sneezing, congestion, etc. Not fun. Luckily, this time Dave and I avoided it and Kate only had two bad nights. Collin seems to have the worst of it and so we've had some very rough nights. So bad two nights ago that I didn't think it could just be a cold. Last night he slept! And today I found the tooth:) Such hard work sometimes for those chompers. 

Other Collin "news"...when he is tired, we'll put our head to the side on our hands and say "nigh-night?" and he just giggles. Almost every time. Even if he is super tired and a little cranky. So cute. He has also become very attached to his blue blankie. He wasn't initially but now, he loves to grab it and sort of attacks it. He buries his head in it and laughs. He squeals when he sees it. Again, so cute, but with his cold and love of bringing it downstairs now, I'm entering the "how in the world do I keep this remotely clean and still have it available for his two naps and nightime?" zone. Moms have to be so sneaky! 

He is definitely our climber! Still trying to climb and darn it if he isn't growing and getting smarter so that he is actually succeeding now! In the sunroom, he'll move or turn over a toy to step up on it and reach something higher. He's trying to climb up on the couch, climbed up on Kate's purple chair and my step stool in the kitchen. I am so scared of if/when he climbs out of his crib! Kate never did that. and don't they just fall? Ahh! 

The big news with Kate is that we have 4-year old Kindergarten registration tomorrow at New Lisbon Elementary. She has been attending a preschool/daycare in a church in New Lisbon for three days a week and in the fall, she will go to the "big kid" school about the same amount of time. Right now, she is excited and honestly, so am I (okay, I'm a little emotional too:) Being somewhat new to the area and not being plugged into any school district, I feel out of the loop about so many things! It is fun to do all these new things with Kate - but she certainly is our "learner" baby/child:) 

One of her favorite things these days...beltin' out the songs of Frozen! (I need to get some video) Oh yeah. She knows them. All of them. If you ask her...she likes Elsa cuz she has snow powers. She likes Olaf, obviously. Okay. I'll be honest here. We all like the movie. We all belt out the songs:)  We just bought the movie, so I'm sure we have a lot of movie watching in the future. Might be nice on all these cold days we are having instead of a normal spring! When we have had a little snow lately, she says she likes it but she'll also say, "Oh no....Daddy will be so sad. He wants to drive the boat."  :)  Yup. 

So...owning a home is awesome. Yep, most of the time. I had been smelling a yuck smell for about a day and I checked the normal culprits...Abby's bed, the diaper pails, etc. I didn't find anything and Dave was thinking I was crazy. Then yesterday, Dave smelled it too. It was driving me more crazy and finally after we had the kids in bed, we started walking the house to try and figure it out. We noticed it was worse near the vents, so Dave opened up our crawl-space hatch....oh.shit. Literally. Sewer backup. Why? Why?! Ugh, of course it was 10 p.m. at night. Dave called a plumber we have used before and he agreed to try and fit us in the next day. We called ServPro to come clean it up. We surveyed the damage - not bad at all considering the potential. We couldn't use water, flush, etc. which is always so fun. 

I have pictures. I won't post them.   :) 

This morning Dave was able to stay home and coordinate some of the clean up/repair, then he had to go in to the hospital, so I was here when the workers were here. First ServPro and boy was I impressed! Amazing and the crawl-space is like new. As soon as they left, the plumbers showed up and they set to work on figuring out what happened, the guess was a blockage from something that went down the drain. Turned out that the grinder pump had so much grease that the floats had adhered to the pump and therefore stopped working. Good news - not replacing the grinder pump! Bad news, they told me to not put as much grease down the drain. I don't put grease down the drain! How is this happening. Honestly, we don't eat salads for every meal, but we eat pretty well and I don't use margarine (the guy mentioned it) make bacon, etc. very often. When I do spoon off grease or whatever, I dispose of in the trash after it cools. How am I supposed to make sure it doesn't happen again? The grinder pump is only one year old, this happened in one year.  Grr. Oh well, we are very happy to have it all fixed, it all clean. And here's the takeaway: don't take flushing and washing for granted! And make sure you have water backup coverage under your homeowners insurance:( 

We had a similar situation 13 months ago (yes, Collin was 10 days old) It was worse in that we had to replace the grinder pump ($$$$) but better because the alarm sounded and we didn't have water and such backed up into the crawl-space. 

Oh my gosh, I almost forgot! In exciting and frustrating news:) I am Kate's soccer coach for the next two months! I was very excited about her trying a team sport. The local soccer league is pretty big and just once a week, so we were going to try it. They had a pretty extensive web site which I was happy about, however, when I tried to get her signed up , it was super confusing and I ended up needing to email the administrator, blah, blah, blah. I spoke with someone and got Kate signed up. They have posted everywhere that they need parents to pitch in and volunteer. I told them I'd be happy to help out in some way. I received some emails from some board members saying they would really like it if I could coach.

Well, I went to the big meeting and of course, they are still in need of coaches. I check the roster and of course Kate's team is the only one in her 3/4 age group that still needs one. A couple days later, I get a call from Mary on the Board and she convinces me to become a coach. 

I am actually really excited about it. I have wanted to coach youth sports and know that I would eventually do this. I am quite passionate about it and almost wrote my senior paper on youth sports and the crazy parents (ended up writing it on childhood obesity). However, I never thought I would coach soccer! I have never played and know nothing about it! Luckily, it is a 4-year old team:) I also don't like doing things at the last minute. Our first practice is Tuesday. Nice. Nothing like being prepared. And, I am new to the area and the soccer club. If we had done a year already or something and knew anything, that would help, but I didn't even know what equipment they needed, where the fields were or how long the season was! So...though it is not exactly as I imagined it, I am happy to start coaching! 

Playing soccer last summer...:)

The season runs from mid-April through May (they are trying to fill me in), so it is not a very long season and I expect we'll have a lot of trouble from the weather. But, it will be fun to go out there and get muddy with the kids:) Oh - the other main excuseI was using....what do I do with Collin? Sometimes, Dave would be available, but the way his work goes, I have to assume he wouldn't be available and if on call, he really can't watch him. So, I need to line up a sitter and the Board members are going to try and help me too (they are so desperate!) If all else fails, he will be bundled up and in a backpack and coaching with me!

Oops, looking back at some pics, looks like I forgot some things...

Dressed up for church

She was sick this day, but found the the energy to pick out her outfit and find some glasses (not sunglasses, she says)

Favorite spot - gate open and just hanging on. He'll chatter pretty loudly right there, telling us how it is:) 

She is WAY faster on the bike this year, she kept telling me to run and hurry up!

She likes climbing walls, so fun!

First time trying the rope ladder and got all the way to the top!

Coming down the slide...

She was too scared to do this slide last year, each year we conquer new things!

Oh! We also had a wonderful day down in Madison recently - highlight was going to the botanical gardens, my favorite place in Madtown! We also were so thrilled to be asked to join the Huinker/Hoden clan down in the Dells when they came over for a little vacation. Our new extended family is just too fun and we very much appreciated being invited down for the day. The kids played, we had an adult dinner (how often does that happen?!) and we got to see the kids, once again, grow a foot taller and a lot sillier/smarter since we last saw them. I also have to say how much I appreciate talking with Beth and Amanda - I love commiserating with other moms that GET IT. Pat and Roger are like additional awesome parents, a special thank you to holding and watching Collin while we ate:) Dave was able to do laser tag with the guys and I know he had fun. Favorite part of laser tag for me was watching Max chomp on carrots to improve his vision right before he left. And ask Tony via FaceTime for some advice! (be very, very quiet). Love 'em all! 

Here is the link to our pictures from March...

  https://plus.google.com/photos/101621614710195723652/albums/5989368630693154657?authkey=CNuRn_OsoeGMbQ