Back to school!

Decided to check back in on my blog and found this post that I never published. My oh my how things have changed since this post. It will likely take a while for me to catch up but I'll finally publish the post I wrote back in August!


Ok, I gave myself a one week break from blogging so I could get ready for the school year. Between Sofia's preschool orientations and my inservice and classroom move things were busy around here. It's amazing how the past few weeks we've had amazing summer weather and just yesterday you could feel a bit of crisp weather in the air. My favorite season, fall, is right around the corner. I'm happy to report our little family hit everything on our bucket list.

2013 Summer Bucket List
-Milwaukee County Zoo: We were lucky to do this almost every single week. Of course we rode the zoo train every time we were there, thank goodness the boys still ride for free.

-Bookworm Gardens: And amazing garden that is set up as a natural and free play area for children. Each area represents a different story. Words don't do this place justice, it's a hidden gem in Sheboygan.

-Pirates Hollow Pool & Area Splash Pads: This is our community pool and we debated buying a pool pass for the summer but the boys still swim for free and this is the one place I don't feel comfortable taking all three kids to by myself. So we usually went for the night swims with Tim. We had quite a few hot weather weeks this summer so we definitely took advantage of this awesome pool. I don't feel comfortable taking the kids to the pool by myself yet so when Tim wasn't around we spent a lot of time at area splash pads to cool off.

-Beach: When you live on Lake Michigan it's impossible to not enjoy the beach. We enjoy it year round with hikes but the kids love it the most in the summer when they can use sand toys. We spent a few days at North Beach in Port but our favorite is still South Beach and Harrington Beach. I took the kids to the beach a couple of times per week for day time fun with swimming and sand toys but a lot of evening picnics as well. We also enjoyed the beaches of Door County with a few camping trips there.

-Camping: We took three camping trips this summer, two to Door County (Peninsula State Park) and one to Kettle Moraine North. Camping definitely takes some work and organization but it's so worth it. The kids love living in the woods for a few days.

-Bike rides: We took a ton of family bike rides this summer. I tend to avoid driving around town as much as I can. I'd rather bike and enjoy the nice weather and get a tremendous workout pulling almost 100 pounds of kids and the bike trailer. Our favorite destination is the ice cream shop, without a doubt. I love the simultaneous ice cream cheers when the kids start to realize where we are heading on the bike.

-Summer Festivals: In the Midwest there are literally tons of festivals and activities from May-September because people are dying to enjoy the gorgeous weather before winter strikes. We took the kids to quite a few good festivals this year but sadly we missed Irish Fest because we were camping.

-Bay Beach Amusement Park- This is an old amusement park near Green Bay and every ride is a quarter. We stopped here on our way home from a camping trip with Tim's parents and his brother. The kids had a great time. Sully rode a few rides but he wasn't quite as adventurous as Sofia and Everett who rode absolutely everything they could with no fear.

We probably picked the worse "first ride" possible for Sully.

-Door County Half Iron- This was my personal highlight of the summer. I trained for this event for 9 months and the actual race was simply amazing. It consisted of a 1.2 mile swim in Lake Michigan, 56 mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run. My original goal was 7 hours but I finished in just over 6 hours! More importantly, it was a breathtaking course and it was an amazing feeling to cross the finish line.

-Summer Sounds- This is one of the many outdoor concert series in our area. We went to a couple concerts in Port as well but Summer Sounds is the closest we've come to the Levitt Shell experience we loved so much in Memphis. Granted, Summer Sounds is about 5 times the size and is perfect for families because it's surrounded by 2 huge playgrounds.

Did you put that in the blog??

Our summer has been tons of fun and as a result I haven't been very active on the family blog. When Tim and I swap stories at night and I tell him about all of the hilarious things our kids did all day he always asks me, "Aww, did you put that in the blog?" I really wish I could say yes but the unfortunate truth is I haven't really updated since May. Our original intent with this blog was to have a place to record some of the events of our family (since we lived far away when the blog started) and to have a place to record all of the funny and sweet things our kids do in baby/toddlerhood. So my new goal is to post at least once a week to share and record some of the events in our family.

Sofia is almost 3.5 years old now and is a full blown little girl. She is sweet, polite, charming, inquisitive, sensitive, and loves her brothers fiercely. She refers to them as "my boys". She generally wakes up/gets up (doesn't nap much these days) from her "rest time" and asks when we can go get her boys.  Sofia loves to dance, read, create art projects, help cook, run, participate in gymnastics, swim, bike, sing and garden. Yes, you read that correctly, she gardens. Sometimes we joke that Sofia has an old soul. She pulls out a knee pad and will sit and garden (pick off dead flowers, harvest ripe vegetables from the garden). Tim and I have noticed that she is also becoming very social with other kids. She is less interested in playing with us at the playground if there are other kids her age there.

The boys are at such a fun stage. They are into anything and everything and have shown me how different raising boys can be from raising girls. Many people called me crazy for taking my kids out alone with me as much as I did in their first two years of life but boy has my risk paid off. I can now take everyone out by myself confidently. Of course we still have a melt down from one child every now and then but for the most part, it always goes really well because I know when my "windows of opportunity" are and when I need to pack it up. 

Everett is all boy all the time but is also a sweet and sensitive guy. He loves tractors, trains, trucks, balls, and jumping off of anything that is elevated. We can't go anywhere without Ev finding something to jump from. He definitely falls, but he doesn't cry much. He dusts himself off and gets ready to try again. Everett loves to experiment around the house with rolling cars off of various things. Above all, he loves trains. He spends a good hour every day setting up different sets of train tracks or categorizing his trains and cars by color and shape. Everett sings all day long and has a knack for memorizing songs rather quickly. He prefers to sing by himself though so any attempt to videotape him is usually busted when he sees us watching him. Everett isn't a huge talker but he's getting more confident every day.

Sullivan is definitely the comedian of the family. He is also the biggest talker. He talks all day long and asks me, "Mama, what's that?" at least 60 times per day, no joke. Sully is also a very affectionate little guy. He spends a lot of time hugging and kissing his siblings and Tim and I. Whenever someone leaves he always says goodbye and loves to say "Love you, Miss me!" when he means to say "Miss you". Sully can frequently be found in yoga positions or doing push ups or pull ups. Sullivan also repeats things a lot and can easily repeat new words after only hearing them once. He calls his brother Everett, Evie, Evie J, or when he's mad he says, "Everett James!"

And just for Tim, here's a story he wanted to include. Last night Sully and Sofia were under the weather so after quite a few wake ups from both children I ended up sleeping with Sully in our bedroom and Tim snuggled Sofia while Everett slept through the whole thing. When Sully woke up this morning I said good morning to him and gave him some snuggles and kisses. He said a quick "Hi" and snapped up and said "Where's Evie?". Then he quickly hopped off the bed and ran into his bedroom to check on his brother. Raising twins is definitely a lot of work but moments like these are so awesome to see. The bond these guys have at age 2 is just incredible. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have someone in your life who has been with you since conception and you've never been apart for more than an hour or two. It's amazing to watch them grow up.

Mix of emotions

As a family, four out of five of us are in a really good place right now. We absolutely adore the town we are in, our friendships with other people and families in the community are growing, I'm really enjoying my part time job, and Sofia is all set for next year (she won a lottery spot for a place in the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center preschool 2 days a week, I have wanted Sofia to attend this preschool since I first heard about it years ago). Last fall Tim took a new job due to stress with his old one, mainly from working every Saturday. This new job was supposed to relieve some of that by giving Tim every third Saturday off but after 8 months of the new job we both feel like we are even more drained than before. The Saturday thing hasn't worked out as well as we hoped and Tim has to work until 7 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening. Tim is also seeing a ton more patients than he used to and rarely gets to eat lunch. This optometry practice is also further away (30 minutes each way, one hour a day wasted in the car) which means he isn't home until 7:30 but realistically more like 7:40 most nights. Our kids used to go to bed at 7:30 but I let them stay up because they ask about him all day long and I like going through the bedtime routine as a family. But starting the bedtime routine so late (as well as the house cleaning that happens after bedtime) has led to Tim and I not able to sit down and breathe until 9 or 9:30 at night. During the week I honestly feel like a single parent. I attend all activities by myself with the kids, which can be challenging with three under three. And, I'm training for a half ironman and most of the group workouts happen around 5:30 or 6pm. I know this sounds insignificant, but working out is my stress relief and my social hour. If I have free time I'd much rather go on a run or bike ride with one of my friends than go out for a drink. I think it's really important to keep myself physically healthy. We don't have any family close enough to help out so lately I just feel really alone during the week. I'd like to spend quality time with my husband during the week but with him working so late we are both just exhausted by the time we're done with bedtime and clean up. And I get up at 5 most mornings to swim/work out and I work at 7 so I really need to go to bed at a reasonable hour whereas Tim doesn't work until 10am. All in all, I predict some kind of change on the horizon. This makes Tim and I both sad because we both realize that 4/5 of us are doing well, but we as a family really want and need Tim around more. Time will tell what God's plan is for our family.

Sorry for the boring complaint post, I just needed to vent.

Quick update

I didn't mean to neglect my blog. Here's my attempt at a quick update. Almost every day when one of the kids says something cute Tim asks me if I put it in the blog, to which my response is usually "No, but I will!"

Since I've last updated here are some of the major events of our family....

-Sofia turned 3! I simply cannot believe she is 3, the time flew by and she is such an amazing little girl. Three does come with some challenges as she is increasingly independent and sometimes a bit stubborn (no idea where that comes from ;)). Overall though, I'm just in awe of this little human in our lives. She is so well spoken and has such a kind and generous heart. She loves to take care of everyone. Her other interests include reading, riding her new bike, swimming, art projects, baking with Mom or one of her Grandmas, gardening, and singing. She is an excellent reader and we frequently find her reading on her own or reading a book out loud to her brothers or stuffed animals. Sofia loves her preschool program and she will be sad to see it end in a few weeks. Sofia also broke her arm this month. It happened at a local playground when she was riding a spinning circle (that's the best description I can give). I was actually on it with her but I wasn't holding her. Tim came over and spun it a little too fast, she got scared and tried to get off but landed awkwardly on her arm. Sofia was such a trooper with her x-rays and cast and hopefully will be back to normal in about 3-4 weeks.

The six layer cake that Sofia and I baked together.

-We drove (23 hours each way) to Florida with the kids for a spring break trip. We stopped in Tennessee on the way down and way back to give the kids a break and visit with old friends in Knoxville and Nashville. The trip was just awesome, the kids did so well during the drive and they just loved the beach.

Sofia got a special day trip with Tim and I to a wildlife park while the boys spent the day with Uncle Russ & Aunt Peg.

Sofia the kite master!

Sullivan refuses to ever be a part of a sibling picture.

The kids even got to hang out with second cousins Ryker and Slade.

-Everett & Sully are two months away from their 2nd birthday! Their lives seem to be going by twice as fast as Sofia's. They are at such a fun yet challenging age. They are really starting to develop some strong interests and personalities. The main thing that is challenging about their age isn't really their age but the fact that there are two of them. They aren't interested in riding in the stroller unless we are running. And I can't run with them and leave Sofia alone on her bike. So I hunted around for weeks on Craigslist and found an amazing double bike for the boys that I can strap them into (so they can't run into the street) so we can bike to the parks in our area.

Sofia before her first soccer practice.

At the Kalahari in the Dells.

Sully bear!

Evie!

An attempt at a group picture.

Wave pool!

Shaving cream cars (a desperate attempt for entertainment on a cold winter/spring day)

The boys favorite part, the car wash.

Betty Brinn Children's Museum

Sullivan shopping at the Sendiks inside the museum

Sofia in action at soccer practice.

Small yet memorable moments
-Reading books three or four times in a row to my Everett who seems to love reading as much as his big sister.
-Listening to Sofia sing all three verses of our "Our Father" song that we sing to the kids every night at bedtime. We usually sing it while Tim and I rub the boys' backs. Sofia stands in the middle of us and sneaks her arm through the crib and rubs one of her brothers' backs and sings. The love she has for her family and brothers is so pure, innocent and beautiful.
-Watching the boys race back and forth down the board walk in Florida.
-Sullivan is starting to talk a lot more now. His voice is simply adorable and he is very curious about body parts. He spends a lot of time pointing at various things saying, "What's that?"
-Dance parties with the kids. Our kids are exposed to a lot of different types of music, we definitely play a lot of children's music but we also throw in a strong dose of dance music, classic rock, oldies, indie etc. It is so much fun to dance with the kids.
-The boys are so adventurous and daring, they literally jump off of everything. Thankfully they give us a bit of a warning so we can catch them but they jump off of steps, curbs, couches, chairs without a thought.
-Sullivan's night time "talk down". He's at the phase where he repeats things he's heard during the day before he goes to sleep. I'm usually rocking Everett when he does this. The other night he said "Night night" to everyone in our family and then he started saying the most bizarre things. He said, "Hi Dada, Dada no!". Then he started growling like a lion for 20 seconds before laughing hysterically. Then I looked up and he was staring at me from his crib standing and sliding back and forth chewing on the crib rail like it was corn on the cob. I tried not to laugh but he heard me and then started jumping up in down. Out of nowhere he stopped, laid down and was silent. He seriously does some version of this every night. Everett usually sleeps through it or I'm rocking him.