Wisconsin

We drove to Wisconsin a couple weekends ago to visit our babysitter.  The kids adore her and she adores them. It's a great combination! 

We arrived Saturday around early afternoon. The weather was a bit rainy but nothing from keeping us from running all over campus and checking out where Kayleen lives and goes to class.  

 Due to the rain we went to the Green Bay Children's Museum.  They had a Poop area.  The kids crawled into the large mouth and wound around the inside (in the dark) as though they were winding through the intestines and came out a slide into the toilet.  They loved it. We all crawled through it more than once. Miss M didn't want to leave the poop area which I find so ironic considering her own pooping issues.

 There was a fire station area.

 There was a child size Lambeau Leap with cheese head hats and all.

 Sunday proved to be a beautiful day so we loaded up the car and went apple picking at a farm close to Kayleen's school.  The kids picked about 30 lbs of apples.  I'm to the point where I never want to see an apple again.  I've sent them in lunches, for preschool snacks, made applesauce, apple crisp and I can't do it anymore.

 Riding the tram to the apple trees.

 A tiny apple picker

 The children :)

There was a petting zoo on the property also.  They had an assortment of animals spread over a large area of land. It was an interesting petting zoo. It seemed to be where the old animals go to live out the rest of their days.  The steer had no interest in eating the animal food Cater was trying to give it.

It was such a beautiful area.  We haven't spent much time in the land of Wisconsin but we'd like to go back for a long trip next time.

Busy bees

We had a playdate with A upon returning from Iowa (could have something to do with the exhaustion).  I needed the kids to burn some energy to we went to the neighbors house to crash their pizza party without warning. Whoops. 

Crashed pizza party. What could be better when you're five!

 Cater's new track suit. Kills me.

Cater being very attentive in music class.  We started a music class one day a week. It's just the two of us. It's nice to be able to do activities with her since the other two are in school.  She was very hesitant in music for the first couple weeks but now she's starting to really engage in the songs and actions.  She clearly doesn't sing but she mimics the movements. It's fun to see her change even in the last month regarding music and gymnastics class.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays a group of us run with strollers all over OP.  On Friday, generally Jessica and I take the kids running. They enjoy eating snacks and drinking juice.

 Miss M went on a trip to Iowa City with A and her family.  The girls love to go swimming.  They missed swimming lessons but made it up by playing in the hotel pool.

 Andrew and his munchkins watching the Iowa game in the kitchen.

Big Will had to leave for swimming lessons. Cater was devastated.  She cried at the door for 30 minutes before I finally tried to distract her. The kids love playing with play mobile so we got out all the pieces and set everything up.

Andrew came home from swimming lessons with new Cubs t-shirts for everyone in honor of the big game that evening. I love the shirt he picked out for Cate.  She looks adorable.

 Her usual mischievous smile.

Big Will crushing some pitches from Andrew.  He made contact with the ball on more throws than not.  I was pretty impressed.

Aunt Nessie gave Miss M dry erase writing strips.  She was practicing her homework at her new desk. I bought a used desk from someone local. I had to put it in Miss M's room b/c there's no other wall space.  I bought it with the intention of Andrew using it to work from home.

And then I find him Sunday afternoon bellied up to the kitchen island working.  Good grief.  I think he just wants to be near me!

Long weekend in Iowa

Andrew had planned to be traveling for most of the week around Columbus Day weekend.  He was traveling for work and leisure. The kids didn't have school on Columbus Day so I pulled Miss M out of school and we road tripped to Iowa for a long weekend.  

Cater pretty much refuses to get out of her pajamas all day long. It's a daily battle to get her into clothes.  She has opinions about her pajamas staying on and even bigger opinions on which clothes she will put on after she takes her pajamas off. It's truly exhausting.  She also has opinions on which shoes she wears and trying on other shoes. I took her to the store to try on some shoes for our upcoming family pictures.  The salesman brought out five or six pairs and she refused (screamed) to put them on.  We left. Empty handed. Even without a balloon. Naughty babies don't get balloons. 

But anyway. She rode to Iowa in her pajamas and her favorite Minnie Mouse hat that she received from her Mimi for her birthday. 

Friday night I attempted to put Cate to bed at a reasonable time.  I didn't rock her to sleep rather I put her in her pack n' play and left the room.  It wasn't five minutes later when she crawled out of her pack n' play to come party in the kitchen with us.  She was so tired from waking up early and not napping.  She wasn't showing signs of slowing down though which is her usual song and dance. Her and Grandpa Wayne were buddies giggling and tickling. She kept coming back for more.

Miss M woke up in the middle of the night Friday and asked me to come sleep with her. I willingly left one bed with a crazy sleeper to move to another bed with a crazy sleeper.  I laid with her for about an hour and a half before I got freaked out that she was wheezing.  She had a wheezing issue which ended up keeping her in the hospital after Cater was born and we have an inhaler for her but I didn't bring the inhaler to Iowa.  Lesson learned.  Don't leave home without it. I woke up Janan around 2:30am to determine if I should let her sleep or take her somewhere. I was conflicted b/c in small town Iowa where does one go in the middle of the night.  She was sleeping soundly enough that I ended up not waking her. I noticed the next morning she was still wheezing and not getting enough oxygen so we found an urgent care facility.  They helped by prescribing another (expensive) inhaler and some allergy pills.  They gave her a breathing treatment before we left which helped clear up most of the wheezing.  Mimi met us at urgent care and helped Miss M get through her breathing treatment. It wasn't long but it didn't stop the dramatics.

The kids and I went to visit Mimi at her new home. Miss M told me she wants to go back to Mimi's hotel.  Mom told me she usually has deer come out to eat across the street from her house around dinner time.  The kids were so quiet (even Catherine) and watched them patiently.

 Miss M was the most obsessed with them.  She was very intrigued by the deer.

 Miss M ended up spending the night at Mimi's house.  I think there was a lot of television watched. Everyone had fun and I think she would have stayed forever.  Their nighttime selfie.

The next morning we loaded up and went to the pumpkin patch with Aunt Janany.  The kids helped her pick out her pumpkins for her porch. They each got to pick out a little pumpkin to take home.  The pumpkin patch had a kids play area with all sorts of fun stuff. There was a bouncy pillow, a corn box, slides, scooters, play house structures, water duck races and a few other things.  The kids had fun and didn't want to leave but all good things must come to an end.  The end comes faster when I'm overdressed and sweating too much.

At some point in the weekend, we went to mom's friends house to see her and her dogs.  The kids were thrilled to see the dogs.

It was a good weekend. It was a busy weekend.  It was the second weekend in a row we had traveled and I was exhausted. I don't travel as well as I once did.  The stresses of life wear on me a little more these days. It could have to do with the fact that there are three kids now or it could be that I'm more of a homebody than I care to admit.

Family trip to the Zoo

Awhile back we took a family trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We took Miss M's best friend, A, with us. She's essentially an extension of our family.  The kids love and fight like siblings!

Roaring like lions while sitting on a lion statue.  I measured the kids the other day (all four of them) and A is 6 inches taller (48 in) than Miss M (42 in). Miss M is three inches taller than Big Will (39in). And Big Will is 4 inches taller than Cater (35 in).  

 Acting like chickens in the Zoo's new chicken coup.

A double stroller turned into a stroller made for four.  The big two are so much lazier than the little two. Andrew tried to keep the girls out of the stroller but eventually it wasn't worth the effort. Pushing 150 lbs of kids is no easy task.

 Break for lunch!

The hippo was active while we were there.  We stayed here longer than we stayed anywhere (with the exception of the children's areas). The kids were enthralled with the animal. It was awesome.

 I love the quote above the kids.  Every time I see it I smile.

The love and joy of children is amazing.

 Best of friends.

Aunt Nessie introduced Miss M and Big Will to a hidden children's area with a huge climbing structure.  The kids wanted Aunt Nessie (who joined us mid way through our zoo tour) to show everyone else their secret.  They crawled around for almost an hour before we drug them out to head home b/c we were already running late for Family Dinner at A's house.  We try to do Family Dinner once a week with A and her family.   It's difficult for everyone to wait all week to see each other since we spent almost everyday during the summer together.