Two Birthdays To Remember

Typically Richard and Marshall's birthdays completely wear me out because they are one right after the other.  This year was completely different though, thanks to BYU football.  :)  

On the morning of Richard's birthday we all slept in, both boys opened presents, and then we had waffles for breakfast.    The pictures below are all somewhat similar, but I just love Marshall's expressions.  He was so excited!

After breakfast, Marshall got a bit of playtime in with his new toys before hitting the road for Nebraska.  He and Richard made the eight hour drive to Omaha that day.  I talked to Marshall on the phone that night and he told me it had been the best day of his life.  Fast-forward a few hours and Marshall ended up getting sick at 3:00 am in the hotel room.  Poor Marshall.  Poor Richard.  

Luckily, Marshall rallied that next morning, just in time for his 7th birthday.  They had breakfast at the hotel, and then drove the one hour to Lincoln.  They met up with Richard's parents at the BYU tailgate and then went to the stadium.  

Unfortunately, the day was super hot, Marshall was his worried self, and things were not going well.  Just before kick-off Marshall declared he was done for the day and wanted out of the stadium.  On their way out of the stadium they watched the kick-off on a tv, and after a few minutes Marshall decided he would like to go back to his seat.  Thanks to Richard and his parents, Marshall made it through the rest of the game.  

In the last second of the game, both birthday boys got the best present ever.  A last second win.  When I talked to Richard that night he told me that one play made up for the terrible day he had had!  The pictures clearly demonstrate their joy!

That night they just drove a few hours to Des Moines.  The next day they had a relaxing morning in the hotel, and then finished the drive and got home just before dinner.  

The next night we had some cinnamon rolls, lit some candles, and sang happy birthday to the seven year old.  He was delighted.

Two birthdays to remember!  Love these boys of mine.  

Feeling Old

I will be 32 in three weeks.  My husband just turned 35 and my oldest child just turned 7.  I have a thing with numbers and ages.  I hate turning even numbers, this all started when I turned 20, and here I am just weeks away from 32.  Now, don't get me wrong, I have really, really loved my 30's.  But, aside from all the numbers, I have had two experiences lately that have made me realize I am certainly not getting any younger, and it is bizarre!

Experience 1:

About a month ago we had dinner with the Hassells and our dear friends the Wolthuises who moved away four years ago.  I got to dinner late, so I quickly hugged Nikki and Braden and sat down by Braden to start eating dinner.  After a few minutes I looked over at Braden, who has dark hair, and noticed that he has gray hair coming in on the sides, just like Richard does.  I mentioned this to Richard later that night and he said, "Yep, Braden and I have gray hair coming in and Tim is losing his hair-that's what happens."  Geez.  Theses are my friends now!  We are all in our 30s and getting old.

Experience 2:

Marshall is on a soccer team for the first time this year.  I volunteered at the coaches meeting a few weeks back.  It was held in the high school auditorium at 6:00.  As I sat manning my post of handing out team rosters, I got to do a lot of people watching.  I watched coaches, mostly dads, heading into the auditorium, dressed in suits, coming straight from work.  I looked around and suddenly realized I now belong to the group of parents who have school aged kids who play on sports teams.  I vividly remember going to my brothers' soccer games and now here I am going to my own son's soccer game.  Seriously, where does time go?!

Well, bring on 32, may it be just as good as 31, which sounds years younger in my head.  

First Day Of School

I am currently loving life.  I mean, I usually do, but with Marshall in full day school and Bridget in afternoon junior kindergarten, and Rachel still napping, my afternoons are the BEST!!!

But enough of me, these cute kids are doing great.

First Grade:  Mrs. Roethe.  I heard great things about her, and two weeks in, I am completely impressed and so grateful.

Keeping up the smiley face tradition.  This sweet boy.  

Junior Kindergarten:  Afternoon:  Ms. Schmit.

I am SO glad Max and Bridget get one year in the same class.  

Marshall has been doing well with school, but he has also been very emotional these last two weeks.  Chalk it up to a new class, end of summer, my mom here, Richard gone...life has not been so stable for him, which is hard.  Hopefully he will start to settle down soon.  

Bridget is loving it.  She has already made new friends, which once again, are mostly boys.  

This year should be a great one!  So proud of these two!

Oh yes, I must note, for my memory, that I did cry that morning when I dropped Marshall off.  I wasn't expecting to, because he did full-day school last year too.  There is just something about my little boy walking away that gets me every single year.  

Visit From Grandma Laura

We were lucky enough to have my mom come and visit for a week.  About a month ago I knew that that week was going to shape up to be very stressful.  Richard was going to be gone on three interviews, the kids were starting school, Marshall was starting soccer, and both Richard and Marshall had birthdays.  My mom was kind enough to rearrange a trip with my dad and grandpa so that she could come stay with us for an entire week.  It was nothing short of wonderful.  

Richard hopped on a plane on Saturday morning and my mom flew in just hours later.  She got us through a rough Sunday, because Sundays are always rough.  And more importantly, she was here during a crucial 48 hours while Richard and I were waiting for fellowship stuff to pan out.  I was a wreck!  Speaking of wrecks, Marshall was also a wreck because of school.  Needless to say, I am SO glad my mom came.  She was a lifesaver.

We also packed in a whole lot of fun.  We love Grandma Laura!

We went hiking at Schlitz Audobon.  Some of us had more fun than others.  

I ended up with a pesky eye infection.  Hence the glasses.  :)

The night before school started I whisked Marshall away on an impromptu date and left my mom with the girls.  He and I chatted over Chick-Fil-A and got out all our feelings.  Love this little man.  

We ate at Holey Moley donuts.  Too bad they were out of the vanilla cream donut, but still delicious.  

Next up was a morning at the zoo.  

And Kopps!  Red Raspberry.  Yum.

My mom's last full day here was a girls' day.  Richard and Marshall were on their way to Nebraska and I didn't take Bridget to school.  Instead, we drove up to Sheboygan to go to Bookworm Gardens.  It was delightful, picturesque, and charming.  My favorite day of her visit!

We wrapped up our night with "Cinderella", more donuts, and mani/pedis.  It was so fun!  I see many more girls' nights in our future.  

Hooray for grandparents!!!

Summer Bucket List

We just wrapped up what I would declare the best summer of our lives to date.  Back in the spring I started to think about all the things I wanted to do with my kids this summer, especially since it was our last summer in Wisconsin.  I brainstormed a bunch of things, whittled it down, created this masterpiece and hung it on our door the last day of school.

As you can see, it was full of fun things, but also had some "not-fun" things I wanted us to do for our bodies and brains.  As a family, I wanted us to read 1,000 pages, walk/bike/run 150 miles, and Marshall and Bridget each had to cook three meals with me.  Surprisingly, we completed 1,000 pages in the first five days of summer!  Who knew?!  Obviously, those were mostly childrens' books, but still!  We wrapped up our mileage goal with about three days to spare.  And the cooking was so much fun.  It was so nice to have a little helper in the kitchen.

I also asked Marshall and Bridget to each pick a goal for the summer.  Marshall initially declared he wanted to learn Chinese, but I talked him into Spanish.  He learned quite a few colors, numbers to 12, and foods in Spanish.  He has Spanish twice a week this year in school and is loving it.  Bridget wanted to learn how to write 10 words.  She didn't make it to 10, but she can write her name, mom, dad, I , and hi.  Not bad for a four year old.  :)  

Here's our chart at the end of the summer.

The only big activities we didn't get to were a weekend in Madison and two trips to Chicago for museums.  Those are good cold weather activities though, so I am fine with it.  We still have nine months to squeeze those in, and we will!

Really, this summer was dreamy, and for multiple reasons:

*Having done a school year with Marshall in full-day school, I was really looking forward to having all three kids home.

*My kids were at the perfect ages this summer:  6, 4, and 2.  Only Rachel in diapers, she is flexible with her nap, and Marshall and Bridget are getting more and more independent.

*This was our last Wisconsin summer so I really had a drive to do a lot and try new things that we hadn't done before.

*I really limited our summer classes.  Marshall only did tee-ball, which was once a week in the evenings.  Bridget only did a gymnastics class which ran for four weeks.  I wanted our time to be more free and open with less commitment, so glad I did this!

*Last, but not least, the sweet friendship that Marshall and Bridget built.  When we were home, those two spent most of their time playing together.  Almost every morning after breakfast one of them would say to the other, "Do you want to go play?"  They would then run into their room, shut the door, and play until I dragged them out of the house.  It was so fun to observe this blossoming relationship.  Sure, they still fight and sometimes I had to intervene, but for the most part, these two have become good little buddies.  

On a different note, we also did tons of things that were not on my summer list.  Because I have had so many people talk to me about my "Summer Bucket List" I am writing it all down here.

*Favorite beaches:  Port Washington, Atwater, Fox Brook.

*Old World Wisconsin.  I would say this was my favorite summer day.  I thought my kids would last five hours max.  I dragged them out of there after six hours and only because we had people coming for dinner.  

*Sunrise over Lake Michigan.  Beautiful and amazing.  I plan to do this one more time, in the winter, bundled up.  :)

*Schlitz Audobon Nature Center.  Discovered this place in May, and we've been three times.  If we weren't moving I would definitely get a membership.

*Bay Beach Amusement Park.  A summer must for us.

*Milwaukee Trolley Loop.

*Bookworm Gardens.  

Good-bye summer.  Thanks for being so good to us this year.