Over the past several months Eric has been working hard to get the new businesses (US Forestry and SP Distribution) set up and running efficiently. He's been doing such a great job and I'm so proud of all that he's learned and accomplished with this new opportunity. It's been fun to see how passionate he's become, not only about having a smoothly run company, but also about the machines and heads themselves. Today, Pioneer Equipment hosted a demonstration of the newest Rottne H21 machine, along with a brand new SP head. It was the first time that any of us, Eric included, got to see the machine "do its thing" and it was amazing. The finesse by which the harvester grabs a tree, quickly saws it, strips it of its branches, and cuts it into even, usable logs is awesome.
The kids and I were joined by our friends, Katie and Isaac. The boys got the opportunity to ride in the big machine. Isaac was fearless and excited to drive! Nolan (as expected) panicked and was too nervous to go for a ride. After a bit of coaxing, we did convince him to sit with Grandpa Steve up in the cab. He kept his ears covered the whole time because he was worried it would be too loud. He is certainly my sensitive boy!
Love those Northwoods boys!
After a hard morning of sawing down trees, the moms wanted to check out some of the plants and flowers at Hanson's. And wow, did it look like spring! So many beautiful plants and flowers to consider for this year's planting. Can't wait for the weather to warm up a bit so I can get to work on beautifying the yard!
I made cookies for the spring piano recital and left them on the counter to cool. Upon closer inspection, I realized I had a sneaky little taste-tester....This boy loves chocolate like his mama!
With the nicer spring weather, we've been spending more time outside. It is so nice to live across the street from Hodag Park. We frequently go on walks there or head over to the playground to play. It's such a pretty park with the beautiful blue lake there, freshly thawed from the winter. We're all getting anxious for boating weather!
We knew that fencing in our backyard was a must when we moved in, but every spring I'm reminded of how wonderful it is to have the kids be able to be outside without having to worry about their safety. Nolan has been playing out in the yard quite a bit and has been loving his sandbox and jungle gym. When Livi and I went out to join him the other day, he came up to me and said, "Mommy, it's a beautiful thing to be outside." Ah, the wisdom of our little ones...
Lately little Livi Lu has been pulling up on everything. And she is sooo proud when she does it, squealing and crowing to announce her accomplishment. Here is a picture of Olivia and Nolan both around the same age, pulling up on one of their favorite toys.
Olivia, 8 months
Nolan, 9 months
She really gets a kick out of Miles, so lately she's been crawling over to his gate and harassing him, pulling his hair and poking his eyes. Luckily he doesn't seem to mind, and happily accepts his fate as doggie babysitter. She is so sassy about pulling up on his gate and shakes and rattles it, squealing the whole time. Such a big personality in my little Lu Bear!
This past weekend, we had some special visitors! Ray, Abby, and Ada came to spend the weekend with us. It's always nice to see them, but this was especially fun as we just found out they are expecting their second child this November! We had fun catching up and it we enjoyed watching the kids play together. Ada was really enamored with Olivia, so I'm sure she'll be a great big sister. Eric and Ray attended the Hops and Vines event on Saturday night, which featured many unique brews from some of Wisconsin's best breweries. I think they were both in heaven. It was good to see them and we look forward to meeting the newest Mode this fall!
In the past year, my music studio has really grown and I now have eleven students! It is a really nice group of kids and it is so fun to see them grow and develop their talents. Last night, we held a recital to showcase their abilities to their families and friends. We had a great turnout and all of the kids did a wonderful job. Each time one of them gets up to perform I feel like it's my own child up there and I just want it to go perfectly for them. It's such a relief when they nail that tricky spot we've been working on or they conquer their nerves and play just beautifully. And it's so neat to mark their growth - many students in December were only playing one hand at a time, and now nearly everyone was playing with two hands together. Needless to say, I'm a proud teacher!
We FINALLY got some nice spring weather, so I took the kiddos and Miles for a "Nature Walk" in Hodag Park. Nolan had fun coming up with a list of things to look for on our walk - a bird, an acorn, a rock, a squirrel, a stick, and a feather. It was so nice to be outside and feel the sunshine again!
Nolan really wanted to walk Miles all by himself. Being that Miles is excellent on a leash, I thought it was worth a try. Nolan was so proud!
Nolan is such a sweet and sensitive guy, and he knows just how to melt his mama's heart. (He is also keenly aware of how to drive her crazy, just for the record.)
Yesterday I was sitting and snuggling with my two precious kiddos and my son leaned over to give Livi and me a hug and said, "Mommy, it's good to be in our family." Yes son, it is good to be in our family. We are beyond blessed, but it was so wonderful to hear him recognize that.
Nolan's sweet streak continued in this morning. As soon as he heard Livi was awake, he went in there to greet her as he does most mornings. She wanted her mommy and was being a little fussy, and Nolan wrapped her in a big bear hug and said, "Don't worry, Livi. I'll keep you safe." I LOVE how much my kids love each other. They have such a beautiful, inseparable bond. Olivia looks up to Nolan and beams when she sees him. Nolan loves to play with her and is very gentle and loving. It is quite possibly one of the most fulfilling moments in parenting. I'm so lucky to be a mommy of such sweet kiddos!
Today we got to spend a special day at the Children's Museum with Katie and Isaac. It was so fun to watch the boys tear from room to room to experience all the cool activities. They really got a kick of this huge bubble wand that wrapped them up in a huge bubble!
They also had fun fishing, going down the slide, playing in the glow room, and camping. They even had a real calf named Oreo in the museum this time! After a few hours of fun, we topped off the day with a DQ lunch and of course, some ice cream. We were certainly grateful to have a fun day with our friends and look forward to another trip sometime soon!
Little Livi Lu is eight months old and is OBSESSED with crawling over to the shoe pile and playing/gnawing on any of them she can find. Can a shoe addiction start this young? I know Grandma Marcia would sure be proud!
Lately she has just been getting into everything, but she is so funny when she gets into something she's not supposed to because she squeals excitedly and LOUDLY. With Nolan, it's quiet that makes me nervous. With Livi, it's those noisy squeals that are unnerving. But no doubt about it, she's sure cute - even when she's getting into trouble!
Calling a pile of junk you want moved a "special delivery" will cause your 3 year old to carry it to any room in the house, thereby allowing you to sit on your duff and watch the miracle unfold #heputallthelaundryaway #feelinglikeagoddess #parentinglikeaboss
Me: "Nolan, you'll have to have regular syrup on your pancake today because we're out of chocolate syrup."
Nolan: "Noooooo....I want chocolate syrup...!!!"
Me: "It's all gone. Do you want regular syrup or none?" Nolan: "Chocolate syrup!" Me: "Regular syrup or none" Nolan: "None." Nolan: Takes one bite..."This is the bestest pancake I ever had"...Stares into space Me: "Nolan, eat up your pancake." Nolan: "No.....it doesn't have syrup on it...
This year we were lucky enough to get to go on two getaways to the Wisconsin Dells, just a few weeks apart. After going to Christmas Mountain Village with Steve and Patti in March, we were invited to join the Lindners and the Khans for a 2 night stay at the Wilderness Resort, complete with 3 HUGE waterparks. We left on a blizzardy Friday morning and it was hard to even think about swimming with all the snow blowing all over! We arrived in the Dells about 3 hours later and got check into our very nice, spacious condo. We had 9 kids under the age of 11 plus the 6 adults and it accommodated all of us nicely. Each family had their own bedroom and bathroom, with a spacious living area and kitchen to share.
It didn't take us long to get our swimming gear on and head out to the waterparks. A shuttle bus came to pick us up (Nolan LOVED this) and took us to our first stop - the wave pool complete with a great kid's play area and a few water slides. Our trip to the Dells a few weeks before really boosted Nolan's confidence in the water. He was so brave - eagerly going on all the slides and enjoying floating around in the wave pool. Livi liked the water, too and it was cute watching her splash her little hands and feet in it.
After a while, it was time to head to the next waterpark. This one had a much larger kids playground with lots to entertain the little ones. Nolan loved climbing all over and quickly found the big purple water slide that he wanted to go down. I nearly had a heart attack watching his little body propel down that slide the first time. I think mainly because he does not have much experience in the water and I wasn't sure what he reaction was going to be and I didn't want him to get scared. He loved it and went down it over and over. (By about the 5th time, I was no longer in a panic...) Livi and I floated around in the lazy river for a while and pretty soon it was time to head back to the condo for dinner. We enjoyed some BLTs and got the little ones tucked in for the night, so the adults could chat, relax, and play a few games. By about midnight it was time to turn in to get some rest for plenty of swimming the next day!
After a yummy breakfast of breakfast pizza, we trekked off to the third waterpark. This one also had a huge play area for kids, plus several waterslides including a family waterslide. Since we were there right as it opened, there were no lines so I thought it would be a good time to take Nolan down the big waterslide with Eric and me. It was a big slide in a fully enclosed tube, so it was completely pitch black inside. I had no idea how Nolan would respond, but thought it was worth a try based on how much he loved the other slides. He did not like the "big dark slide" but didn't panic and didn't cry. I kept cheering as we went down to make it seem more fun and to keep him from losing it. He said he didn't want to go on it again, but quickly recovered and found some other fun things to keep himself busy.
Livi was pretty sleepy as most of this was during her nap time, so she curled up on my chest and went right to sleep. She was such a good girl for this whole trip and I don't think she even cried one time while in the waterparks.
After spending several hours splashing and playing around, we decided it was time to head back to the condo for lunch. So we waited for the shuttle...and waited...and waited...and waited. Several frustrated calls later to the front desk, and after watching the shuttle drive past us countless times, one finally came to pick us up to bring us back to our condo. We relaxed for a while and several of the kids (and grown-ups) took a nap.
After a while, we decided to take the kids to the arcade. Because of the shuttle debacle earlier that day, we decided to drive our own vehicle and thirteen of us poured into our van. (I LOVE my minivan!) We were pretty Beverly Hillbilly-ish, but we didn't have to wait with nine antsy kids in the lobby this time!
All the kids enjoyed playing games - Nolan didn't seem to care if there was money in the machine or not, but we let him play a few games and he earned enough tickets to buy a pinwheel that he thought was pretty cool.
Once we got back to our condo, it was time for lasagna and bathtime. Nolan had an extreme bubble bath in our hot tub and thought that was pretty fun. The kids all enjoyed playing with their arcade trinkets and pretty soon it was time for bed. The adults were tired, too and so after chatting for a while, we all headed to bed for our last day.
After waking up and packing our vans, we headed back to the Wild West Waterpark for one last bit of fun. I could not believe the difference in Nolan's confidence level from the first to the last day - he really was getting independent, going on several of the different slides by himself and loving it all. Throughout the entire weekend, the kids all behaved so well and really had a good time playing together. It was so fun to have the opportunity to make some memories with our friends and I'm so glad we were able to go!
Look at this great bunch of kids! Back: Jack, Meela, Cassidy, Lucy, Olivia Front: Isaac, Deakon, Kamryn, Nolan
