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

Phone Update

I'm going to steal an idea from the great Beth Hoden and do a "phone update" :) She periodically goes through her phone and posts the pictures and it is probably a great way for me to do a brief post. Well....we'll see:) I kind of do this with Dave already...sometimes at night, I'll remember to show Dave a pic of something from our day. He then grabs my phone and swipes through a million pictures. I take a ton but I know he likes to catch up on our days that way:)

St. Patrick's Day is also Grandma Bobbi's (and her twin sister Becky's!) birthday, so we always have a lot to celebrate:) I dressed the kids in green and tried to get a few pictures...

Our favorite toy right now...pots and pans. I love how focused and content they are, the only drawback is the noise. No making phone calls when they are "cooking." I can usually take a pretty high decibel of noise in the house (don't have much choice most of the time!) so it doesn't bother me unless I have a headache or something. 

Collin mischief...:) He still prefers to have something in his mouth at all times...not my favorite habit!

Dave mentioned the other day that Collin hadn't crawled into our (now empty) end tables...well, Collin must have heard him! He wasn't happy, couldn't get out! He will also pull himself up on the table, both feet on the bottom shelf and hang on for dear life. If I hear him fussing, it is because he is climbing and can't get down. Oh boy. 

And he's just following in his sister's footsteps..this is Kate stuck at nine months:) PS - Dave was playing with the kids one evening and was marveling at how cute and awesome they are (must have been a good night:) and he said, "How do you not just stare at them all day?" Well, my never-ending to-do list haunts me all hours of the day, but I do spend a lot of time staring at them too:) One of my favorite ways to "waste" time is to look back at photos and videos of Kate at the age that Collin currently is.  I hate how much I see Kate as my "big girl" and helper and forget how stinking cute she was at each stage (and what she was doing and when). I know I drive some people crazy with pictures and videos, but I care much more about preserving all these moments that go by too quickly. 

On the move, starting to bridge the gap between furniture!

In the store...we needed diapers, were killing some time and so we went to the balloons, they love it:) They are both very good in stores right now, so I'm trying to enjoy it before I have a mobile monster who won't sit in the seat and will be running all over!

And the big news of our week...Collin started walking! Last night:) and we were all home, just playing and singing (to the Frozen soundtrack, pretty popular in our household right now) He had been going between furniture more and more the last week and just balancing, standing upright more as well. So, he was just standing there and started walking toward me (and some toys). I was completely surprised. And it wasn't just a step or two. He was went like four/five feet. And then back. Then he started leaning forward and trying to go faster:) and would tumble a bit. But we all got excited, started cheering and set up a little Lenninger triangle and had him go back and forth. Kate would get a little upset when he wouldn't go to her, but overall, she was super excited too. It's a whole new world!

Catching Up and Thawing Out!

Hey! We've had a glimpse of warm weather up here and I feel like we may be emerging from our winter hibernation soon! We definitely have been getting outside the last couple days and it has been so fun to dig out the stroller and push Collin in his swing on the playset. Bring it on, Spring! (okay they are still bundled up pretty well...Kate refused to wear anything less, she is certainly used to us telling her she has to wear her warm stuff this winter! It was windy and I was just paranoid that they would end up cold. I can't wait until we can wear less!)

Out for a walk on the warm day

50 degrees!

Though I do feel like we have been hibernating, we have had some fun:) My best friends came up with their families (minus one husband who had other plans) and we had one fun and crazy night over the weekend. It is SO much fun to watch our children play, I'll never get over it or how much I love those kids. The best part, we got them to bed eventually and all sat out in the sunroom (hmmm..need to get some seating out there) and had some drinks and talked until midnight! Yes, you read that right. We were super crazy and stayed up until midnight, we were all pretty proud of ourselves:) We are trying to find time to have a "mommy" getaway and just go to Decorah for day and shop or go to a spa. It is so hard to find time, but it needs to happen! Major fail of the weekend = not getting a picture of Cass, Jenny and me. Obviously, we are pretty focused on the kids, but we need to occasionally purposefully get the adults included as well! Goal for next time. 

Excited for her friends to show up!

They are here!

Boys

and girls!

Collin is growing (just can't make him stop:) some favs of mine right now....he tries to grab the running water in the tub. This is another milestone that should be in the baby books. So cute and they are so persistent! Darn it, why can't they grab that water?! He loves pushing any button that plays a song or music and then bouncing/dancing. He just lights up and sways back and forth. So cute, we probably have another love of music on our hands:) Yay!

Still mischievous, he will shake his head "no" at us before he does something he knows he shouldn't:) We have our lovely gates on the steps, but there is one step down into the sunroom, he is very quick and can climb up that step very quickly. He still plays very, very well on his own if he is feeling well and he is quite focused on his toys. He is adorable when he concentrates so hard and of course, we believe him to be a genius with his duplo skills so far:) He loves books and anything that makes noise. We haven't been out in the stroller in SO long but in the last few days, he really zones out and almost falls asleep. No snacks or toys required, just likes watching the birds, trees and praying his sister doesn't push him into the ditch. 

Not happy Collin - feeling sick

Happier when he can chew on a hairbrush

Kate is still a great helper, is very picky with her food lately and is generally not eating much at meals. She is sleeping really well lately and since Dave is gone this week, I have been sleeping in her room and she has been coming down to our bed a bit:) It is a little dangerous, she is ALL over the place when she sleeps and often sleeps horizontally across the bed. Sometimes it is super sweet and I love it and sometimes we get clobbered. This morning, I got clobbered. Around 5 a.m. I was sound asleep when she kicked me hard with her heel, right in my nose. I was almost in tears it was so awful. Jury is out on what will happen tonight;) 

Bedtime

On Sunday, we arranged for a sitter (actually two) so Dave and I could have a date before he left town. We have been skiing a lot and I wanted to go together instead of one at a time. Kate has a wonderful dance teacher (Christine) with four kids, one of whom helps Kate with her class. They love Kate and offered to babysit. When Collin was little, I wasn't comfortable with just Rylee (15) watching both as Kate seemed to monopolize her, so Miss Chris came too. It is also nice as Rylee can't drive yet and Chris can drive her. Anyway, we get away and I feel totally comfortable about the kids - it is wonderful. Dave and I went up to Buckhorn State Park and skied. It was cloudy and not too cold, though it was quite windy out of the trees. We maintained a great pace and were pretty worn out! We did a 5K route and were ready for lunch at noon:) We went to "the Buckhorn" to eat, a great little tavern near us (and the park) and had a bloody Mary and some lunch. It was a lot of fun and I am so happy we are getting out (or at least trying to) much more than we have in ages. I am the most comfortable with the grandparents watching the kids, but we can't wait for those opportunities and often, we want to spend time all together! 

The kids and I are having a nice week at home, I would like to get out and do something fun, but more than that, I want them to get to bed consistently on time and maybe get some sleep, so that is winning out at this point:) Dave returns this weekend and we don't have plans. We may do a trip to Madison or I may take Dave up on his offer to go get a massage in the Dells:) 

Collin's First Birthday!

It happened, I allowed Collin to turn one:) I hadn't planned much as we had decided on the day to celebrate only two weeks prior and my brain can't handle much to begin with these days. So, it was kind of a low-key event, I kept thinking of awesome things I could do but then just didn't have the time/energy to complete them. Bummer. Well, there is always next year, right?!

His birthday was officially Friday (the 21st) and we started the day with Kate singing Happy Birthday to him about three seconds after she woke up:) We had pancakes for breakfast as it is one of Collin's favorites and Kate wore a party hat for the occasion. We tried to clean the house a bit and make a grocery list. Dave was on call for the whole weekend, but I think he got home at a decent time. We had planned on going out for fish fry that night and drove (in two cars, never love that) to the golf course by us, but the place was closed! So we headed to Shipwreck Bay on the lake. It was so cold out. It is always a little funny to go to these places that we sometimes walk to in our swim suits and almost barefoot:) Brrr. 

We had a nice little birthday fish fry and then headed home to greet Mom and Dad and Andrew and Kylie when they arrived. Though all were tired, we stayed up late and played games, watched the Olympics, etc. A nice, relaxing time! 

Mom, Kylie and I had a lovely (long and ridiculous) trip to the grocery store and carwash Saturday morning while the guys watched the kids. We then got word that Plamann's couldn't come as Clara was sick. So, our party was a little smaller than originally planned, but that was alright. We had lunch, made some food and hung out. Snopek's arrived around 3 p.m. and we played for a bit before opening gifts. Dave struggled a little with how "helpful" Kate wanted to be....I was totally expecting it. They did great and (both!) received awesome gifts. More playing while supper was finished (white chicken chili and tomato basil parmesan soup) a special thank you to Dave and Mom for working so hard in the kitchen! 

Our kids love balloons:)

Ready to open gifts, Gma!

As I did on Tony's birthdays, Kate got some presents!

I'm one, Kylie!

Opening gifts

Eating boxes...

Playing with Nolan

Ready for some cake:)

Closest we came to having his hat on:)

He liked it!

And the plate...

My baby!

After supper, we watched Collin smash a piece of cake and then joined him in the sugar fun:) We timed that all just right and he was ready for bed, straight up to the bath and then to sleep. That night was a bit rough as Kate was having nightmares and crying and kicking, brought her into our bed and thus we didn't sleep. Dave got called in in the middle of the night and then since Kate was in our bed thrashing when he got home, I sent him to the couch. We had meant to get up and go out for breakfast Sunday morning, but we were all pretty tired! 

We played some more and then hit up the Buckhorn Cafe for lunch (pierogies!) and then Mom and I peeled off and went to Buckhorn State Park to cross country ski. I had wanted to take Mom somewhere with groomed trails and the Buckhorn is close to us, just across the lake. It was cold, but we are super tough:) so we went for it. After some fun skidding around on the ice and figuring out where to start, we had a beautiful ski together in the sunshine. Loved it. 

The view from Buckhorn across the lake to our beach - VERY windy here!

Awww..love you, Mom!

Mom taking on the snowdrift

Some of the awesome clothing and shoes he received

Some more of his gifts...thank you to everyone!

Blurry, but I love this little coy smile he has:)

Whoa, both kids looking at the camera and smiling! Jackpot!

Our happy little big guy

Collin had his 12 month well check yesterday and he now weighs just over 22 lbs and is 30.25 inches tall, he is still pretty tall and average weight. He is wearing 18 month clothing (maybe a few lingering 12 month?) is wearing a size 4 shoe and will not keep hat and mittens on:) 

He is a very happy boy with a great laugh and a very mischievous and coy nature sometimes! He seems to study people a bit more than Kate and is less of a "ham" than she was. In many ways, he shows us how easy Kate was when it comes to eating and sleeping (believe it or not!). He is great at the doctors office (a far cry from Kate - yay!) tolerates his car seat pretty well, LOVES his sister unless she is smothering him or picking him up and moving him. He already likes things with wheels, loud things, banging things together, destroying towers or whatever toys we have built up, likes to put his feet in the grass (seems like a long time ago!), is pretty fearless so far, loves his baby swing (on the playset outside), still looks like both of us (though I see my brothers in him very often:) and likes to roar!

The first year is so amazing with obvious growth and development, I definitely miss my little (not so little) newborn at times but love interacting with him at this age. Dave and I are both so excited for the next year - one to two is SO much fun, or at least it was with Kate. I love hearing the beginnings of his little voice and am looking forward to hearing what he has to say. More words, first steps, so much in store!

It was a really wonderful weekend. Thank you for making it special!! Oh, you know I took too many photos.... click here:)