Happy Halloween!

The boys went trick or treating for their first time this year. Last year they rode along but didn't really participate. Tim picked their costumes and I have to say they were quite perfect. The boys just started walking about a month ago and Sully is still a bit unsteady on his feet while Ev walks pretty well but will still put his arms in funny positions for balance every now and then. So just imagine those two as C3PO and R2D2 from Star Wars. We tried talking Sofia into being Princess Leia but she was unwavering in her decision to be a butterfly. The kids got to trick or treat on Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market which was awesome because they could move from table to table pretty quickly and the city closed two of the main streets downtown so the kids could roam around. They also participated in pumpkin bowling and a hayride pulled by two Clydesdale horses. Everything was free and just reminded me what an amazing little lakeside city Tim and I stumbled upon a little over a year ago. After long afternoon naps the kids put their costumes on again and went trick or treating in our neighborhood.

Everett & Sullivan 15 months old

We're still alive! I seriously have about 3 posts waiting to be published. I just wanted to give a quick update on the boys who are about to turn 15 months old! They had their check in appointment yesterday and are both still very healthy. They sure are peanuts though compared to their sister. Everett would be more accurately described as a string bean.

It's so fun to be able to do more and more with them. I take them to Sofia's 2 year old story time which is always an adventure when we get to craft time. The boys like to steal materials and run away. During the actual story time they are both great, Everett loves to dance and clap to the songs, he also loves to go from child to child to say "hi" and smile. He is a little social butterfly. He actual got a kiss from a little girl he said hi to the other day. Sully tends to stay closer to me. Thankfully, the Port story time is in the library's community room which is enclosed. Several of my friends from the triathlon club bring their children to this story time so we all help wrangle each other's children. Sometimes the Moms who only have one child just look at me with looks of shock. The boys are now very affectionate with each other. Sully is more of a hugger and Ev is a big kisser. It's incredibly sweet to watch them hug and kiss one another. They both still love to snuggle, especially when we read books.

The boys are both fearless at the playground. We have two main playgrounds that we frequently visit. We usually have one or two play dates with friends at the playground and the boys are always trying to keep up with the kids who are Sofia's age. The boys crawl up the steps to the slide and are able to go down all by themselves and then crawl back up the steps to do it again. They like to swing but not as much as Sofia did at their age. They are huge climbers. Especially in the house. If I turn around for 30 seconds someone has usually climbed a coffee table or the kitchen table and is standing straight up squealing with delight. They are absolutely fearless and they like to help each other in their dangerous adventures. I just love seeing their bond grow and grow. I used to have problems with them napping together and now I can't have them nap apart from each other. They grumble and complain until their brother is in the room.

The Measurements:

Everett James: Height- 32.5" (91st percentile) Weight- 24lbs 1oz (67th percentile). He's so long that I have to buy him 18 month size pants but he's so skinny they are always falling off. He eats a ton but is very, very active.

-Everett started walking this month. It was so exciting! I thought the novelty would wear off with second/third children but Tim and I were just giddy with excitement. He took his first big walk at night when both of us were home so it was especially sweet. I'd share the video but he's buck naked and something tells me he won't appreciate that in 10 years.

-Still a great eater, loves his fruits and veggies.

Sullivan Jeffrey: Height- 31.25" (55th percentile) Weight- 22lbs 5oz (45th percentile). Sullivan eats more than any of our kids but he doesn't seem to gain weight, he just poops a lot (5+ times per day!) In fact, Sullivan has lost a couple of ounces since his 12 month visit.

-Two days after Everett started walking, Sullivan stood up, looked at both Tim and I and took 2 big steps and promptly sat down. It was as if he was saying, "I can walk, I just choose not to".

-Definitely the best eater out of the three.

Memorable comments from Sofia lately.... It's amazing to think that a year ago she probably only used 50-75 words. Now she speaks in complete sentences and has an expansive vocabulary. She soaks things up like a sponge.

-Olivia and Lydia have new baby sisters. I want a baby sister. (Then she counted herself, Tim and I, and her brothers and said, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, we need one more). Tim and I looked at each other in shock and just sweetly said, "No, sweetie, you have two brothers, that's enough". She keeps bringing up the topic though.

-My friend Jen picks up Sofia for Kid's Club (1.5 hour program at our Y twice per week) and apparently the song "Call Me Maybe" came on the radio. Sofia waved her arms and proclaimed, "I love this song!" and danced the entire way to the Y while her BFF Isabel looked on.

-We called Tim while we were driving home one afternoon, our van has blue tooth so his call was on the speakerphone and the kids could hear him. After I hung up Sofia started giggling, I asked her why and she said, "I'm just so excited, I can't wait to see Daddy. I'm going to hug him and give him a big kiss, I'm so excited!".

-Out of the blue one day Sofia said, "Mama, take me downtown please. I want to go shopping and buy a strawberry ice cream cone".

You know your child is growing up in Wisconsin when....

she participates in a cow chip throwing contest at age 2. I wasn't able to do this post for a while since the video was on my sweet hubby's phone. Over Labor Day weekend we traveled to Baraboo to visit with family. While we were there we went to Sauk City for what we thought was going to be an art fair. It turned out to be the Cow Chip Throwing Festival and parade. The highlights included some pretty amazing food, the petting zoo, and Sofia participating in the contest. We didn't let the boys try because the cow chips are real cow chips and I'm sure the boys would've put it straight in their mouths.

Although she was born in Tennessee she is quickly turning into a true Wisconsinite.

Family Fun

This weekend was incredibly busy. We kicked off our weekend with some of our friends and neighbors. We just happened to move onto a street that has about 8 teachers, principals, school board members and lots of families that go to our church. It's a small church too, so it's interesting that so many of us live on the same street. Anyways, after the first week of school we were all ready to kick back and relax. So we ordered pizzas and let the kids play while we all enjoyed some wine and beer. It's so nice to hang out with other families who understand the chaos involved with little kids and it's even better having friends with kids who are of a similar age. Our kids literally occupy themselves when they are all playing together. It's awesome to enjoy some adult conversation and watch your kids have a blast with other kids from the neighborhood.

Mia and Sofia with Tyson, Everett & Sully

On Saturday morning Sofia had her first ballet/tap class. I almost cried watching her class, it was just so sweet an innocent watching the girls dance around with their teacher. At the end of the class the teacher opened the double doors of the studio and Sofia walked out, stopped, opened her arms and proclaimed, "Wow Mama, I had fun!" Tim's parents had arrived that morning to hang out with the boys so I was able to run downtown with Sofia to make a trip to the bank and farmer's market. I really treasure my one on one time with each child. A simple trip to the grocery store with one baby really becomes and event for me. For the rest of the weekend our house was basically a revolving door for family. We had a ton of Tim's family over because they were all doing the Tough Mudder together on Sunday. Tim's Uncle Craig was diagnosed with lung cancer a little over a year ago and has battled it like a true warrior. He really wanted to do a Tough Mudder race so he flew into Wisconsin from Colorado to compete with other guys from the family. My parents arrived early Sunday morning to watch the kids so I could go photograph the race for the guys. I would like to participate someday but this race is one pricey little event. The Tough Mudder is basically a 12 mile obstacle course race. The obstacles are absolutely crazy, the craziest one in my mind was running through live electrical wires. The guys said when they got shocked it felt like someone was punching them in the head. The guys finished in about 3 hours and then we all raced home to watch the first Packers game of the season. We also got to sing Happy Birthday to Andy.

Jim going through the live wires.

Post race

Sofia and her Godfather/Uncle Andy

Ev relaxing with Uncle Craig

Blowing out Andy's birthday candles

I feel so incredibly happy with where Tim and I are at.  We live in a beautiful community that truly looks out for one another. Sometimes we think it'd be fun to live in the Pacific Northwest or California but I can't explain the joy my children have when they are with their extended family and grandparents. Every time Tim and I see our kids with their family we are so happy we live in Wisconsin. We live about 45 minutes from my parents and over two hours from Tim's parents, so we would love to be closer but it would be tough to leave this amazing little community that has grabbed a hold on our hearts. And there is something really neat about raising kids in the same state you grew up in, especially a state like Wisconsin that has such a rich history, hard working people, and so many fun traditions. I absolutely LOVE my job (details to come in a future post).

Checking in on Miss Sofia...

It's been a while since Sofia has had her own little update. She is now 2.5 years old! Sofia is definitely a little girl, she loves to rough house and play sports but she also loves to dance, do art projects, sing, color, and go shopping with me. She is really enjoying her morning play time at our neighbor's house during the in between time of Tim going to work and me getting home from school. Last night she saw all of the neighborhood kids outside and begged me to go out one more time. As soon as I opened the door she went running to the sidewalk waving and smiling saying, "Hi friends!".

Here are just a few random but funny stories about her from the past month...

-Sofia has four purses. She has a small collection of coins that she has gotten from family members and she saves her money in her purses. If you ask her what it's for she'll tell you that she's saving her money to feed the goats at the zoo.

-I went shopping for some new bras and brought Sofia with me. On the way to the bras Sofia found some little boy clothes and held them, smiled, and said, "Oh Mama, this would be cute on Sully Bear". Then she found another outfit and said, "This is cute for Everett (although she still pronounces his name like she's saying Edgar). Then she found an outfit for herself and for Daddy. We didn't buy any of them but it was adorable to see her pick things out for other people. She also insisted on trying on a few bras while I was trying mine on. It was hysterical, I explained to her that she wouldn't need a bra for a long, long time.

-We took a break from swimming lessons over the summer and I recently signed Sofia up for fall lessons. She brings out her swimming suit almost every day and asks me if we have class today. She must have noticed the break between sessions because she has really been asking about her music class a lot too, lately. I told her she has a class starting on Monday and she has been walking around all day saying, "Monday I start class, Monday is a fun day".

-Sofia likes to help bring in ripe vegetables from the garden. I picked one tomato that didn't look good so I tossed it into our prairie. Sofia promptly started to throw the good tomatos into the prairie until I explained to her which tomatos go and which ones we keep.

-Lately she has spent a few minutes every day just singing to herself in the mirror in our bathroom. She is one musical little kid, she frequently will break into song while talking about something ordinary. She will sing about anything and everything.

-We got to the park almost every night after dinner and Sofia loves to bring her soccer ball and practice kicking and throwing it with her brothers. Her soccer ball was a gift from her Tio who is a soccer coach for one of the elite clubs in our area, North Shore Arsenal. Sofia keeps track of most gifts she receives and she will tell you who gave her what.

-Sofia is still obsessed with reading and books. She definitely misses our summer library time, I do too. It was so nice to get one morning a week with just her and I. She frequently asks when we'll do it again.

-Sofia has figured out how to call people on my iPhone and will call most of her grandparents, aunts, and uncles every few days. Sometimes she needs help from me but she recognizes a lot of the names on my phone and can figure out how to call who she wants.

-Last story, we went to the zoo last Friday and decided to visit the special dinosaur exhibit. We went up to the first dinosaur and within seconds it kind of growled and turned it's head towards her and Sofia was terrified. We tried a few more dinosaurs but eventually my Mom just had to take her out of the special exhibit. The boys just loved the dinosaurs and laughed and giggled when the dinosaurs made noises or came close to them.

The kids on my first day of school and their first day going to our neighbor's house.

Watching Mr. Lion at the zoo.

Hanging out in the paddle boat in Pardeeville.

Transition to Fall

Whew, the last few weeks have been super busy with summer activities and me starting my new teaching position in Port. I officially started last week with the new teacher inservice and this week is inservice for all teachers. We begin with students the day after Labor Day. Since I'm only part time and Tim leaves so much later than me for work, our kids are hanging out at our neighbor's house while I'm working. There is only a little over an hour that isn't covered by Tim or I. So Tim walks the kids over to our awesome neighbor who stays home with his daughter and watches another little girl from our church so my kids have loved the arrangement so far. And I have absolutely loved being back in education. Although it's only part time, I really enjoy being able to maintain my profession and also serve our local community. This district is a dream to work for. I can't even begin to compare it to my years in Memphis. I will forever be grateful for my years of teaching in Memphis because they challenged me to become a great teacher and the district provided opportunities for me to be involved with teaching on a national level.

Two mornings a week Sofia will be at the YMCA for a 2 year old toddler's program. It's basically an hour and a half of art projects, songs, dancing, and playing on the playground. I really wanted Sofia to have her own special program and she just loves her classes at the Y so this program works perfect for our family. Tim can drop her off and I'm done teaching in time to pick her up. Sofia also will start another session of swim lessons in September. She is so excited for her new swim lessons. We are still debating whether or not to sign the boys up. It just gets a little tricky with three kids because you need an adult with each child for the lessons. And, the boys are still pretty young so at their age the lessons are mainly getting kids comfortable with the water and time to socialize with other kids. My boys are probably a little too comfortable in the pool and around water.

Sofia continues to love dancing and music. I'm debating whether or not to sign her up for a low key creative dance class at the Y or an actual dance class at the local dance academy. I just love this age, it's so much fun to see my daughter try new things and explore various interests. Tim and I try to be really careful about over scheduling our kids. I try to keep Sofia in swim lessons throughout the entire school year and then choose one activity on top of that. I can't even imagine how busy things will be when the boys are old enough to participate in their own classes and sports.

Everett & Sullivan at 1 year

Better late than never. I've concluded that summer is just not a good time to blog, when I have free time I'd rather be outside or doing something fun. Anyways, the boys had their one year visit this past Friday. Everett weighed in 23lbs 6oz (51st percentile) and was 31.5" tall (86th percentile). Sully weighed in at 22lbs 7.5oz (337th percentile) and was 30.25" tall (52nd percentile). Their sizes are SO different from Sofia. She never left 90s (as far as percentiles) until she was 2. I'll be really curious to see how tall they boys end up being, and if they pass their sister. The men on my side of the family all average 6 feet and up but Tim's side of the family definitely has shorter guys. The boys look like brothers but most people ask if they are twins because they definitely each have their own look, especially with the differences in their hair. Sullivan managed to avoid getting his one year vaccines because he showed up to the doctor's office with a little rash. So we decided to play it safe and bring him in later this week for his vaccines. The boys are great eaters. They absolutely love fresh fruit and vegetables. I'm so happy they do because their big sister has been very picky about her fruits and veggies so it's nice to have two kids eat them readily. The boys' favorites are about the same. They love blueberries, pancakes with bananas or blueberries, fruit leathers, asparagus, carrots, kale soup, grilled chicken, strawberries, kiwis, mango, pineapple, you name it. They are healthy little eaters. In fact, they turn their nose up to junk food. Every now and then we have fries from Culver's and Sofia loves them but the boys want absolutely nothing to do with them. In the past few months it has been so fun to see the relationship between the boys develop. They love to work on getting into things together. They definitely fight over toys but most of the time they work it out between themselves. I love listening to them baby babble back and forth when we put them to bed at night and when they wake up in the morning. Sofia is definitely a protective big sister, whenever they are upset she gives them a hug and then pats their back and says, "It's ok, honey" or "It will be ok, buddy". It melts my heart to see this. There are definitely scrums between Sofia and the boys but Tim and I are so grateful that our kids have each other to lean on.

Everett- You are such a sweet and sensitive little guy. You love to snuggle and you are definitely a Mama's boy. Everyone comments on your long dark hair with curls. You are a very busy boy, you stay very busy trying to keep up with your big sister Sofia and your dog, Frodo. When I walk all three of you to the park I typically put you in the Ergo and your siblings in the double stroller. I love the way you just lean back and stare at me with a sweet smile. And then you purse your perfect little lips to kiss me. You are a very affectionate little guy. You cruise around on all of the furniture and will occasionally use a push toy to get around. I don't think I've ever seen a baby crawl as fast as you do, sometimes you crash because your arms can't keep up with your fast little legs. You love balls and books, when I play catch with your sister you always try to join in. You are actually pretty good at throwing things for only being 12 months old. You really enjoy books with animals and you are able to point out a few different types of animals in several books. Your Dad and I always say that you will probably get your heart broken a few times because you wear your heart on your sleeve. But thankfully your brother Sully will probably give you a good slap on the back and tell you to get over it. You went horse back riding twice this month; once at the zoo and once at the County Fair. You also went tubing for the first time, you enjoyed it but it also wore you out. You and Sully took nice naps on the boat while your Dad and I went water skiing. Everett, your smile is infectious and I love the way you love life. You are a little boy with an adventurous spirit and a kind heart. I have thoroughly enjoyed the last year with you and I look forward to the years to come.

Sullivan- Sully, you are a wild, stubborn little man. Your Dad and I have had so much fun in the past few months as you have revealed more and more of your personality to us. Way back when you were a newborn your family and your doctor predicted you would be an artistic guy. I think we all nailed it on the head because you tend to view most things in life from a unique perspective. In fact, we frequently catch you in different yoga positions where you are literally looking at things from another angle. You do things the way you want and you don't really care what other people think. Although this can be a difficult trait as a child, I think it will serve you well later in life. You definitely like to get your way, if things don't go your way you let us know by doing this funny little kick. You also make some of the most interesting sounds I've ever heard. You don't always make the sounds that are on the 12 month checklist, but you have several of your own varieties. The other day Frodo was growling at the front door and a few minutes later I saw you perched at the front door growling just like Frodo. You also love exploring textures, you will try to pull your blankie or you sister's blankie out of the cribs and you literally throw yourself into your favorite blankets. You are such a handsome little guy who also loves to explore but you notice much different things than your brother. You are always paying attention to the fine details of things. Sully, you have started dancing more this past month and you make everyone in the room smile with your dancing. Like Everett, you also went horseback riding twice and enjoying going tubing on Big Cedar Lake. You also spent a fair amount of time napping on Grandma Peggy on the boat. Sully, I love your creative and unique spirit. I hope you continue to follow what interests you without worrying about what other people or society thinks. You are such a fun loving guy, I can't wait to see what year 2 brings.

The one year pictures are en route from our photographer so I'll just leave you with pictures from some of the fun things we've been up to lately.

Learning how to milk cows at the Ozaukee County Fair.

Daddy with his boys.

Trying to figure out a way to hoist each other up the pole.

My unique little Sully checking out the pool from another angle.

All 5 of us tubing on Big Cedar Lake.

Playing on the tube at the sand bar.