Man on a Mission

So we bought Collin a walker for the house. He LOVES to be up on his feet and it is killing my back to keep holding him up and walk him around (on top of being up with him in the night:) He couldn't move too fast at first. But then another 24 hours went by. He was trying to chase Kate. Another 24 hours. He is pulling the towels off the cupboards in the kitchen, magazines off the end tables. He is so proud of himself, the look of mischief and glee is too much! Another 24 hours, he disappears and is found in our bathroom. He rammed right into Kate as she was trying to get past him - totally taking her out. Another 24 hours, he pulls the wood grid-thing off the big slider window, breaking it and knocking down a box, spilling the contents across the floor. He goes into our bedroom and moves my boots...he is currently in the laundry room and I'd better go check on him....this is getting interesting!

Mmmm..Mommy's sweater...

Here is a link to video of him in the walker...
http://youtu.be/zqm3Nt_rqss

Staycation

One of the amazing things about Dave's job up here is that he gets a crazy amount of time off. Total bonus, something we really appreciate and one of the reasons we came up here! We don't exactly get to decide when he gets that time off, though, something that is generally fine with us. It has been a little weird in the last year or so with the personnel issues they had, but basically, we are back to a rolling schedule of a week off every 4/5 weeks. Anyway, we forgot about it and all of sudden we were faced with a week off last week! Gotta love surprises like that:) We had no plans and that was just fine, there is always about a week's worth of house stuff to do, right?! 

Words can't describe how much I loved her in this:)

Happy boy!

"Mom, Mom, take our picture!!!" everyday...")

Much of the week, we were dealing with the fussiest baby we have probably ever had! Poor Collin was SO sick. Super fussy, spiking a fever, screaming and not sleeping. And here is where Dave and I win the worst parent awards...we didn't take him in to the doc. I know! He was drooling and chewing on everything (beware - he will try and bite your shoulder and he has sharp teeth:) he had a cough but wasn't doing anything with his ears. He wouldn't breastfeed very much (oh my God, I hate writing this out in black and white...) but we don't usually run to the doc at every fever, etc. He then seemed a little better and we had Kate's 4 year well-check on Monday, so we waited until then. 

Yes, that is a new (and her first) Barbie in her hand, she wanted to take her outside -
Barbie only fell into the leaves once:)

Chasing Mommy, she was the monster trying to scare me

Biking back to the house...

Our brilliant plan to rake the leaves into a pile at the bottom of the slide! I went down it too:)

Collin supervising from his swing...

Video of us in the backyard -  http://youtu.be/UZPEApS5fPU

Dave and I just alternated playing with the kids and tackling our to-do lists, we did get a lot accomplished! Yeah! We also went down to the Dells with some friends and ate at Buffalo Phils (food delivered by trains - Kate loves it). We also had dental appointments for the whole family - woo hoo.  :) It was Kate's first time and she did great. Was fine until the chair went backwards, then got scared. Collin chilled in the car seat while Daddy and Kate checked on me (in another room) and then she laid down on Daddy's lap and did fine the rest of the time. Highlights were getting a pencil and "blue sparkly toothpaste!!" She asked if she could go back next week.  

On Monday, I had to take both kiddos to Kate's doctor appointment. That morning I got a call that she couldn't get her immunizations because their fridge had failed. We went anyway, Kate has traditionally been...awful at the doctor. Won't stand on the scale, won't open her mouth, won't do anything. Oh - AND her doctor is one of our best friends of up here. She knows him and loves him! We had been working on being a big girl so I decided to go anyway and do the physical. Collin was a trooper, I took him out of the carseat and he just played on the floor, tried to eat my shoelaces. Kate was bouncing off the walls, but was perfect with Laurie, the nurse. Did everything right away - yay! Laurie and I both forgot to have her take off her shoes so her weight and height are a little inflated but she was 90% for height and 50% for weight - same as Collin! She's super healthy, developing fine. We all knew this. I had to take her (and Collin) back the next day to get the immunizations. She was cool while we waited, was talking about how the mist (flu mist) was to keep her healthy...I actually thought it wouldn't be that bad! 

Getting her blood pressure checked...

Silly me. We went back to the room, she was holding Laurie's hand. Got quiet and sat on my lap and did fine with the nasal spray. I hadn't been sure where she would need to get her shots (was hoping shoulder as that is where Kate was expecting it) but of course, it had to be her thighs:(  She would not do it. She was almost hiding behind the furniture in the room. I didn't know what to do. Laurie was good but then finally said that I'll have to hold her. So we got her up on the table, and I was hugging/holding her and then I had to lay her down. It was awful!!! She screamed and wouldn't stop crying. Laurie gave her some fruit snacks and I had a little dum dum sucker for her. Laurie stayed until all her tears were dry and we left. She was fine by the time we got out front - distracted by pushing the handicap button thing for the doors. She said her leg was sore later that night, but obviously she is fine now. Collin is due for his round of shots next week...

When we got home from dance last night, she let me take a picture of her in her new tutu...so I ran with it and did a mini photo shoot (about 50 photos on the camera:) Dave laughed when he got home. I told him that I had to go to the bathroom so bad after running around town with both kids for a couple hours, but was going to run with it if she was cooperating! When you are pregnant, you keep going to the bathroom and once the baby is here you don't have time to go anymore. Gotta love it!

New tutu from Samantha!

Trying to convince me to eat her snack in her dance outfit. Sorry sweetie...

Oh, I forgot to mention...so as I was chatting with Dr. Ryan about really important things like if Dave is hunting this year and when we are going out for pierogis again...:) He checked Collin's ears since I said he had been so fussy last week. Ear infection. Both ears. Yup. Felt pretty awesome right about then. He prescribed antibiotics and asked me again when his last fever was....ugh. So, Collin is currently taking amoxicillin (silly me, I mean he is currently spitting amoxicillin out on Dave and I) and we get his ears rechecked next week, coincidentally on his nine month "bday." So, I'll have a nice little recap of his stats next week! He is doing much better now:) Sleeping a bit better (by his standards, not most babies:) and is much happier. Here's hoping for a week in the Lenninger household where none of us are sick!!!....yeah, I'm not holding my breath:) 

Peace! 

Catching Up!

Whoa! It's been way too long since I last posted! So much has happened in the last few weeks, as always. I'll have to be brief and catch up to November!

We put in a new kitchen back splash! It was kind of on the fly, my parents were able to come up and we put in a new back splash in the kitchen and the laundry room. Dave and I generally agree on plenty of decisions like this, we have the same taste, but we ended up wanting two different tiles for this project. We compromised in doing the second option (my first choice) in the laundry room:) The worst part of this project was running around Madison with Collin trying to get enough of the tile - not fun. I was skeptical of the tile at first, I have a hard time picturing things sometimes! Of course, Dave was right, I love the tile. It took another week or so before Dave could get the under-cabinet lighting up and it looks SO good. I love the lighting more than I thought I would too:) We had some of the tile that I wanted (a thin glass tile) and so we just needed a couple sheets to do the small laundry room, so we did it. I need a photo.... 

Love it!

We hosted the Swoboda's/Peterson's again recently!! My best girl friends/sisters from college:) we have been "family" for 13 years now and I cannot spend enough time with them.  I am so thrilled that we continue to make the effort to spend time together. It is admittedly harder now with five kiddos between the three families! Friday night, Peterson's were up for attending a Harvest Party that was being held at the church that does Kate's preschool. The kids dressed up and played games, won prizes, ate, it was a lot of fun and was indoors:) The highlight for me was maybe trying to the get the group picture with them in their costumes...what were we thinking?! 

I have been a little nervous since the last two boys were born (2 months apart) about our available space in the house, but honestly - it was fine! We had enough space and the kids played great together. We were able to catch up, play with and hold each other's kids, and celebrate Kate (4) and Aniyah's (2) upcoming birthdays! I tried to take lots of pictures, we should do more video, though, given the difficulty of getting group pictures and to capture their little conversations and interactions. Too cute. The ages of the kids are Kate (almost 4), Waylon (3), Aniyah (almost 2), Collin (8 months) and Lawson (6 months). :)  Fun times!! Our night with everyone there was rough, all the kids were up at some point...tired parents the next day! We also had a little sickness roll through...after cupcakes for the birthdays, Waylon felt sick and ended up throwing up and Dave later that day:(  Waylon was a trooper (Dave too:) and we continued to have a great weekend.

Kate and Waylon playing outside

The little boys:)

The crew!

These two are too funny...

After spending the beginning of the week thoroughly cleaning and sanitizing the house:) we were gearing up for Kate's birthday (Oct. 30) and Halloween! Kate was definitely more aware of the holiday and trick or treating...she would go around the house and say "trick or treating!" with her bag:) It took me awhile to convince her it is just "trick or treat." 

For Kate's birthday, I was prepared to make her pancakes for breakfast, but she refused and just wanted an apple. They were allowed to dress up at school and were celebrating Halloween/Harvest for two days..I let her dress up as a princess on her birthday and we brought treats - chocolate covered strawberries with sprinkles! I picked her up and we had to go straight to dance class, she wore a new tutu that we had bought for her (ordered from Sam Aceto - a friend of T&T that we met at the wedding!) She handed out treats to her friends there and then we went home. Unfortunately, Dave was on call and was getting stuck at the hospital. We were maybe going to take her out to a restaurant, but since he was still working, we just went home. Just a normal supper and no dessert - I figured there were enough sweets between the weekend and Halloween....We watched a movie and waited to see if Daddy would make it home...turns out he wasn't going to make it and he said to let her open gifts. So, Collin and I were there for her:) I recorded it so he could watch later. She was thrilled with her gifts and was super sweet. We waited up a bit, but ended up going to bed before Daddy got home:( He did go up and give her a kiss later, but I don't think she realized it. Some of her gifts this year: tutu, lots of books, flashlight, two puppets, some slippers, a Boo doll and book (Monsters, Inc) and a superhero costume:)

Her new tutu!

SuperKate!

On Halloween, she headed off to school with her fire chief costume. She was very happy when I dropped her off, I went home and was going about our day when I got a call from the school (first time ever) and her teacher said she wasn't feeling well, was crying...:( Of course, Collin was sleeping, but I got some things together, woke Collin up and went to get her. When I got there, she was in the bathroom after having gotten sick. Her teacher was so sweet, Kate was crying and covered in....sick. Poor baby!!! We had to gather up all her things (of course, there was her fireman costume, candy and treats, her bag, coat, etc. and then her sleeping bag and pillow which were also covered...)  Goodness. Mrs. Homan came out to the car with me and helped me get everything settled. We came home, took a bath, and she went right to sleep. Dave did make it home at a decent time that day and she cuddled with Daddy when she woke up. She got sick one more time after trying to drink some Gatorade :( but after a few more hours laying low, she finally started to perk up. Asking for food. Getting loud again. That is always a good sign! 

We were supposed to go to a friends house and trick or treat, but we obviously stayed home. Kate didn't really realize it and was fine. Dave and I felt terrible as our friend had gone ALL out and done a total themed dinner and made extra food. But what can you do?! I had been talking about how great Kate's immune system was, when the rest of the house got a horrible cold/flu, she escaped, she really doesn't get sick at all! I totally jinxed it:(

After waiting a bit to see if she was truly better and the rest of us weren't going to be sick, we made a quick trip down to  Burr Oak to get in some time harvesting corn with Andy and celebrate Kate's birthday with Mom and Dad and Andrew and Kylie. It was cloudy and rainy when we left Saturday afternoon, but in Burr Oak it was gorgeous! So awesome to be out in the fields at sunset. Dave and the kids rode with Uncle Andy, while Mom, Dad and I took some pictures. I was joking about what Andy thought of all the terrible paparazzi:) We went back to Mom and Dads, Facetimed with T&T in Japan! had supper and eventually let Kate open her gifts (princess dolls, puzzles, sketch book, pen, tennis Barbie that she named Kylie, fleece, movie) It was awesome, she loved the gifts and we learned a valuable lesson. Don't have your 4 year old open gifts late at night and then tell her she needs to go to bed and can't play with anything she just opened! Oops. 

Awesome family pic:)

Pretty

Hehehe...:)

Who's having more fun??? :)

We stuck around on Sunday to relax and so Dave and I could go out on a date (gasp! what is that?!) We went down to Old Armory BBQ and then to the Tap Room for drinks. Better planning would warrant a non-Sunday night date so more places would be open:) But it was so fun and refreshing! Collin was pretty good, but a stinker at the end. Though he has been for us too, he has another cold and is endlessly teething...blah. We are seriously talking about crying it out again too, I am getting less and less sleep, how can it be going in that direction?! I can't do it!

Fun in the leaves!

Our cuties

Our four year old!

It's exhausting being cute:)

Dave is off this week and we are enjoying just being home, catching up on house stuff, shopping for Christmas!! and cuddling up. Maybe we'll have our first fire of the season in the fireplace! Maybe I'll get outside for a walk by myself! Maybe I'll take a nap!! I'm so excited. 

Witches Night Out!

Well, I am so glad I decided to go out for this Witches Night Out event with a friend the other night. I wasn't feeling great, but I think it wasn't too obvious that I was under the weather. I coughed a little and had kind of a raspier voice, though that probably just added to my costume:)

The day before, we went to Kmart to get something for a costume. Some of you know, I do not like scary things - Halloween is not my favorite holiday and I am not someone who invests in lots of Halloween apparel or decor. However, as my children grow, I am starting to get into a bit more:) We found plenty of witch apparel/costumes and even though everything was 30% off, I just couldn't bring myself to spend that much money on a witch costume. Thank goodness there were some choices beyond scantily-clad costumes! I picked out two hats (in case my gals didn't have any) some crazy eyelashes, a broom and a wig! I thought this would be the most versatile and hoped I could just wear black from my closet. 

Of course, I started getting ready too late and was rushing. I think I could have done better with my makeup, but I ended up in a black maternity/nursing dress (that I never ended up wearing last time, but I really liked!) a black jacket from my days working in offices, old black heels, tights and then my getup from the store. The wig was...interesting. Fun to look different, obviously not a high quality wig! The eyelashes required Dave's help - yes, my husband happily applied the adhesive and stuck them on my eyelids! I had to go without my glasses as the lashes were that long. They were kind of annoying at first, but I did actually become accustomed to them by the end of the night. 

Lord help me as I drove into town, I kept wondering what everyone who passed me was thinking:) I met my friend at The Red Geranium, a business in Mauston in a large, log model home that has home decor/framing, etc. There were door prizes, a scavenger hunt, treats, costume contest, nail art, photo booth, tarot card reading....I had been in earlier in the week and knew some items I wanted to purchase, there was a 13% discount, so I definitely took advantage of that! My friend and I had fun gabbing and doing the scavenger hunt and we signed up for the tarot card reading but had the last spots of the night and had to wait around. We were there forever! I think we should have received a prize for being there the longest:) We did the photo booth and while Lindsey had her tarot reading, I got some nail art done and then vice versa. 

My costume for the night!

My nails - black french tip and a cobweb and bat:)

Have you ever had a tarot card reading?! I had never had anything of the sort and was nervous and excited. Well, it was VERY interesting! I felt a little silly, each of us sitting across a desk from each other with our enormous witch hats on;) There are tons of cards and as she flipped them up (after I shuffled them to get "my energy in them") into three piles, she would make statements. I wasn't sure how much to say...yes, no...more details? She asked if there was a new man in my life! :) I said, well, I had a son:) I wish I had recorded the session, here is the jist of what she said - keep in mind, I told her NOTHING and mostly only said yes or no:

I need to find more balance, I struggle with balance
My husband works hard and a lot 
My husband is dealing with some very nasty people at work
I feel bitter towards my husband sometimes
I do so much at home for our family and my husband lets me do it, because he feels like I do it better, but I feel like I do EVERYTHING
If I am planning a trip soon, I need to not over think it, just relax and let go
My son can feel my unease and need for balance
My son is not sleeping well
There is something with his belly or my belly that is making it hard to sleep
Are we planning on more children? Soon? Like really soon?
Do twins run in the family?
I need to get out of the house more often, maybe get a part-time job

Umm....it was all so spot on, I was almost shaking at the end! It's hard to describe, she would ask a question and I would nod or say something, she would shoot me a look and flip more cards or say more. I could NOT believe when she started talking about the trouble at Dave's work, it was so accurate. It was very...sad almost, but true to hear her talk about my feelings of bitterness and balance. Lately, I have been feeling like I am home all the time, taking care of so much and Dave works and then has fun socially without me. My extreme fatigue from Collin not sleeping does not help! I have been working and praying hard about this and trying to be more at ease, make more time for myself, etc. If nothing else, this reading just helped me to realize that I need to feel less jealous of Dave, realize his hard work, make time for myself and ask for help when I need it. 

It made me so sad to hear that Collin might feel stress I've been feeling. I mean, you can believe that or not, but I would tend to believe it. I am a little confused on the bellyache, she asked about his formula, I said he is breastfed and she said it could be something that I am eating that is making his belly hurt, that he has a lot of gas (yes, he does!). So, not sure if I'll try cutting anything out again. 

When it came to the future babies....she was giving me some really interesting looks. Let's just say, when I got home I took a pregnancy test!! She made it sound like we will be conceiving very soon and that it could be twins. Good Lord! For the record, I am NOT currently pregnant:) 

Anyway...it was a fun night, good to get out of the house. When I got home, Dave said the night went great for him the kids, which is exactly what I wanted to hear:) Dave was so genuinely happy that I got out and had fun. And I think he kind of liked the whole witch getup:) 

Me and my friend Lindsey - a great night!

Sidenote: Kate has an obsession with anything Christmas. She always picks Christmas books at bedtime, watches Frosty the Snowman on long car rides..I don't know why. So, this morning, she was singing, "Frosty, the snowman...was a jolly roger soul...with a corncob pipe..."   :)!!!! Her love of Frosty and pirates has merged in a very cute way. 

Collin cut his third tooth yesterday! Finally. And last night he slept like a champ! I am giddy on sleep right now:) He is coughing and snotty, but seems to handle the cold better than the teething. Very happy the tooth just came through, not happy about the grinding that he is doing...ewww, like nails on a chalkboard!

Let the Fall Fun Begin!

Don't you just love when you sit down to the computer and then as soon as you are ready to type, you hear your babe start crying....it's as awesome (and predictable) as when I go to bed each night. Doesn't matter when I go to bed, Little Man C will inevitably decide he needs something...

(24 hours later..) Well, the main story of our household this time is - sickness:( We have had a lot of fun over the past week, but the soundtrack of that fun is cough, cough, sneeze, moan...not fun at all. Collin successfully beat his virus last week and was better by the time we were in Sheboygan, thank the Lord! He slept the whole way over there and was really very good. Dave and I on the other hand, the misery started to increase as we headed east. I felt so bad knowing that Ron and Bobbi were going to be in close quarters with us for the next five days - they didn't have a chance! 

We arrived Friday evening at Blue Harbor Resort and even though it was foggy and getting dark, it looked very nice and the lake was amazing! I kept calling it the ocean the whole weekend as that is what it looked like:) We rented a four-bedroom villa for the weekend and it was a great place for us to land. It was two stories (2nd and 3rd floors) and had a huge bay window overlooking the ocean. I mean lake. A balcony, kitchen, plenty of bathrooms and four bedrooms - perfect! Our realization with traveling with kiddos (just two!) is that the more space, the better. As I have previously stated, our children are not champion sleepers and so we require a bit more in that department. 

The view when we arrived!

Our lakeside villa!

Dave and Ron headed out to some functions for the anesthesia meeting and Bobbi and I got set up in the villa. We then decided to go somewhere and get some supper. I have been chuckling to myself lately, when we are with others (grandparents) and heading out somewhere, they will make a comment about finally being ready to go or taking forever to actually get out to the car and moving. I am usually thinking - wow, that went fast! or that went smoothly! :) We ended up exploring the main building and ordering some food to go. The bummer was the food was not good! How disappointing! The good news was, the kids went to bed super easy that night! They stayed in the same room, Kate on these cute little bunk beds and Collin in his pack and play. I mean, they went to bed SUPER easy. It was amazing. Though I was waiting for the waking to come, I poured a glass of wine and sat out in the nice living room with Bobbi and caught up. The kids just stayed sleeping! We had a lovely evening and the guys got back and we ordered a pizza:) Yummy pizza, good company, nice location, it was awesome. Of course, Collin did get up in the night, but I was able to handle it pretty well and get some rest. 

The next day, the boys headed to the meeting and Bobbi and I and the kids took it very slowly, went out to find some coffee and ran to the grocery store then made our way over to the big indoor waterpark. It was VERY foggy on Saturday, like dangerous foggy, sad foggy as you couldn't even see the lake - right in front of you. It would kind of come in and out later, but basically it was a gloomy, foggy day. Thankfully, it wasn't too cold. We played in the waterpark for awhile, Kate was still too scared of the slides to go down, she did like the lazy river with Mommy:) Collin loved it all - looking around, the noise, playing in the water. Kate seemed to make a friend in a little 2 year old girl and her grandmother. She followed them around and played catch. She didn't seem to want much to do with Bobbi or I, just these new people! Ugh, I didn't love that, although she was playing very well and was having fun:) Maybe the thing that I don't love the most about water parks is the noise level, it is just so loud and I have trouble hearing in those situations. Just hard to make yourself heard to your almost four year old, especially when you are sick and don't have much of a voice. 

Ugh, only putting this picture up to show how much Collin loved it...

She didn't want to leave, of course, but we bribed her with playing games in the arcade:) For part of her birthday present, Bobbi bought her the resort's V(ery) I(mportant) K(id) package, which included many things: coupons for meals, ice cream, arcade tokens, a backpack, build a bear type animal, snacks, etc. So, we played some games and she made a unicorn - her first time with that sort of thing, she loved it! Her name is Sally. :) Then we needed to go back to the villa to clean up and get ready for a dinner out. Well...it had started raining and we walked there. Good thing we were all still wet from the water park and it wasn't too cold out! It was a fun adventure and we were giggling the whole time. Especially when we ducked in to what we thought was our "front porch" of our villa and were getting frustrated when the key didn't work. Oops. Wrong building! (they all look the same!) 

We got cleaned up and warmed up and after Daddy and Grandpa rejoined us, we headed out to a Mexican joint in Sheboygan. It was a very yummy and though we forgot the diaper bag (good grief! I never forget that!) it was a total success. I have to say thank you to all the Gmas and Gpas out there...thank you for taking the kiddos and helping them stay happy while we parents eat our supper in peace. It is SO appreciated:) Collin was very good, but getting very "grabby" and he occasionally would get upset when he bit on a toy wrong (we think there is a tooth coming up on the left side that is making it quite tender). I promise you, Kate and Collin, I will come and do the same for you when you are parents! A round of margaritas and the night was definitely a success!

The second night went a little less ideally, with Collin not settling down in his pack and play, he ended up in bed with Dave and I. This is a last resort that I have done a lot lately in my sick and tired stupor of the middle of the night. It is not a desired situation, but it is also not something that we are completely opposed to (obviously). I will say, it was a bit harder in a queen bed, though! 

Sunday brought the guys more meetings/lectures and an even slower morning for Bobbi and I and the kids:) I was lucky to be able to get out and exercise, taking a walk on the trail along the lake. I really enjoyed it, the fog had finally cleared and the only regret was not bringing my money to stop and bring coffee back to Bobbi and I. Next time. The guys got back early (yeah!) and we started packing up. Of course, as we were leaving, the skies started to clear and it became gorgeous. Bright blue sky, which made the white resort, green grass and blue lake look even prettier. Dave and I decided this is definitely a place we would like to return to. It feels like a real getaway, even though we only drove three hours and the resort has enough to keep everyone happy, who wants to go with us next time?!! 

Morning walk....awesome.

Finally, some sunshine as we were getting ready to leave:(

Unfortunately, the skies clouded up again as we drove home. Dave and I were in the car coughing up our lungs and the kids happily babbled to each other and slept through it all. We made an impromptu stop just outside Mauston to pick up some pumpkins but ended up staying and doing some "fall fun" at Red Ridge Ranch. We did the little petting zoo (luckily 3 year olds are super happy, even if they are just looking at a couple ducks, two goats, a llama and a calf. Seriously.), did the indoor hay maze, started teaching Kate some croquet and then hopped up on the hay ride to the pumpkin patch. Or so we thought. There were two other families on board and we took off on a trail (nice wagon pulled by a tractor) and we just kept going, and going, and going. And going. And going. Pretty soon, we became friendly with the other families, commenting on if we thought we would make it back to the stables. We thought we were going to pick pumpkins and we finally saw the pumpkin patch. But we kept going and going. Okay, guess not. We finally came back to the stables and got off. Alright! Guess that was just a hayride! :) Kate went in the bouncy house (empty besides her - perfect scenario) and to a chorus of "Mom, Dad, look at me!!!" Gma, Gpa, look, look at me!" we picked out some pumpkins and loaded them into our already full vehicles. I then pushed our luck further, wanting some of the pretty pumpkins out front (cream, green colors...). I like decorating with pumpkins, so easy! and I would love to cover the front porch in them, but our cars truly couldn't hold much more, so we went home. 

Learning a new game....

As Dave and I continued to be sick as dogs, we had lazy days at home. Dave worked Monday but had the rest of the week off - so nice! The kids got to have a lot of great Gma and Gpa time. Collin really was back to his old, happy self and though Kate has been a bit challenging with her behavior, she pulled it together enough to still make it all fun:) We went for walks, did a lot of cooking, Collin did a lot of bouncing and on Tuesday we went down to the Dells and did one of the Duck tours and got some ice cream! Lots of fun, I'm so glad the weather was gorgeous and we were able to have the time together. 

Waiting to get started...

We're on the ducks!

The rocks are so cool

Pretty Wisconsin River..

Dave and I are still struggling with this cold/flu. I admit, I get very little sleep and it is hard to get better without rest. We had originally said we were going to do some sleep training with Collin starting Wednesday to try and nip this craziness in the bud. But with both parents sick and the kids just starting to show their runny noses and little coughs, we can't do it now! If anyone is willing to come on up and take care of this little night owl for me, I will pay you with whatever you want! Actually, I am just waiting for my full health back and then will be setting aside some time to work on this sleep thing. We also need to work on a better daily routine for Collin and that is where we fail so often, we never have two days alike and really fly by the seat of our pants more than you would think. I need to crack down a bit and though it might be a little hard to adjust, I think it must be super helpful. Help me stay motivated!

Even though I am a bit under the weather, I am going to a Witches Night Out with a friend this evening at a local business. I think I can pull it together for a few hours with some shots of Dayquil, so we are dressing up as witches and going there for fun and shopping. I will post pics hopefully of what we end of looking like:) It is during supper and bedtime, so wish Dave luck. He hardly ever is home alone with the kids and I am realizing that I very much need some time away and so even though I am nervous (why?! that is so crazy, it will be fine) and I am not feeling 100%, I am going for it. My dream would be to get into a routine of getting out of the house with a friend (or for Zumba) once a week. Dave usually has social time with friends on top of being away for work, so I need to try too. Plus, we really need to work on Collin eating without me! So, here we go....