Good boy, Miles

Miles has been such a good boy since we've moved.  He loves it here and has adapted quickly to the many changes thrown his way.  He is now fully trained on his underground fence, and though it was expensive, I'm so glad we did it.  He has the full run of the backyard and the garage and spends so much time playing out there with the kids and chasing chipmunks and bunnies.  We also installed a wire in the kitchen, so after almost 4 years we are now finally doggie gate free!  The quiet yard without the constant traffic and baseball commotion has proved to help him with his anxiety and he has just been such a good boy. 

Back to School Party

Moving to our new neighborhood has been one of the best things we could ever have done for our family.  Our lives feel rich with the support and fun of our friends and neighbors, and I couldn't be happier that our kids have the joy of growing up with neighborhood friends.  It has been the best part of the summer watching the kids race their bikes, play "Odd Squad School," and be superheroes.  To celebrate to end of the summer, we decided to throw them a Back to School party. 

Katie made them adorable party hats, I pulled out some party decorations, and we all had a nice time making our own tasty pizzas. 

We also had each kid make their own ice cream sundae.  My son got everybody screaming with "I scream for ice cream!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!" (Thanks for teaching him that one, Grandpa Jim.) Zeekie said, "This ice cream is so good it's taking me right up to heaven" and he stood up on his chair.  Clearly, the ice cream treats were a hit.  We had one tuckered out boy by the end of the party, but I'm so glad for the opportunities that come along to make memories with dear friends. 

Big Girl Bed!

For the past several nights, Little Miss Independent has been having a fit when it's time for bed.  She keeps pointing at Nolan's bed and says, "Livi's bed" and then points to her crib and says, "baby bed."  So, despite her small size and that fact that Mama wasn't quite ready, we decided to take the plunge into Livi's very own big girl bed.  We decided to move Nolan into a full bed we had in storage and give Livi Nolan's old twin bed.  Grandma Patti had given Olivia an ice cream cone comforter and sheets for Christmas, and Livi was so excited about the ice cream cone pillow.  She kept trying to take a big bite out of it. 

When she climbed into bed for the first time, she grabbed all her stuffed animals and moved them to the foot of her bed; the same place they were kept in her crib.  As bedtime approached, her enthusiasm waned and after 4 hours of trying to get her to go to bed, I ended up crawling into bed with her for the night.  After a groggy morning, I fully expected naptime was going to be a disaster.  I put her back in her bed, read her books, gave her a kiss and left.  She cried for about 2 minutes and then put herself to sleep for a nice two hour nap.  We did the same routine at bedtime and she did the same - cried for a minute or two and then went to sleep.  It's so hard to believe that my baby really isn't a baby anymore! Time goes so fast.

Legos!

Nolan was lucky enough to get to pick out a new Lego set on our recent shopping trip to Wausau with Grandma Patti.  It's amazing to me how patient he can be when he follows the lengthy step by step instructions.  This time he picked out a Captain America fighter jet and he and Daddy spent Sunday afternoon putting it together.

4K Open House

This boy is starting school soon!  His 4K open house was the other night and he wanted to dress fancy, so he found his favorite clip-on tie and baseball hat.  We got to meet his teacher, Mrs. Powell, and see his new classroom.  He did really well, but was a little shy (as expected) with the other kids.  It will be an adjustment for all of us.  I'm feeling a little sad and anxious too, but am trying to be Miss Positivity for his sake.  I know he will be fine and that he will love it, but leaving him with someone else while he's feeling sad and anxious breaks my heart.  We've been talking a lot about being brave and beating the fears.  (These pep talks are as much for Mama as for Nolan...)  Look out Pelican Elementary, here he comes!

Storytime

I just had to share this cute picture of Nolan at our library's Storytime.  We're finally back to going more regularly, after the chaos of the move.  We love our library!

Bedtime Goblin

How my daughter feels about bedtime lately...

Mom's Birthday weekend

August is clearly a month of celebration for our family, so when my Mom's Birthday rolled around on the 20th, we headed to Eau Claire for the weekend.  The time went so fast, as it always does, but we were able to pack in lots of fun things in our two days there.  One of my favorite places to go on Saturdays in the summer is the Eau Claire Downtown Farmer's Market.  When I was a kid, downtown EC had nothing much to offer, but in the last decade or so, revitalization efforts have really given it a boost and it has become a fun family-friendly place to check out.  The Farmer's Market is absolutely packed with people with their eyes on the delicious produce all grown from local farmers.  There are artists, live music, and even the "Balloon Guy" who made Nolan an alligator and Livi a horsie.  We all had a nice time.

We spent some time with the horsies, both plastic and real, while we were there.  Both of the kids are gaining confidence which is really fun to see.  I love being able to share my love for animals with them. 

Sunday was spent celebrating this wonderful mom and grandma as she turned 56.  We had a fish fry and a homemade French silk pie for dessert - yummy!  Happy Birthday, Mom! We love you!

Goddaughter time

Earlier this spring I received a letter in the mail from my goddaughter, Vera.  She wrote about how much she likes pets and that she wants to be a vet someday, so I sent her a letter back inviting her (and her family) to meet our horses in Eau Claire.  We were finally able to meet up over Mom's birthday weekend and all four of the girls had a blast meeting Elliot and taking him for a spin.  I was thrilled to get to spend some time with my sweet goddaughter!  With all of the big life events we've had going on in the past few years, it has been hard to find time to get down to Winona to see her.  I'm glad we had the opportunity to reconnect and to see what an amazing young lady she is. 

love day cards

The other day, Nolan had quite a tantrum.  A charging-at-his-parents, screaming, throwing-himself-violently-against-the-door for over an hour, epic kind of tantrum.  I believe it stemmed from me finally having enough of being called "Stupid Mommy" a thousand times that day.  Regardless of the cause of it, it was not fun for any of us.  The next day, Nolan decided that he needed to work on a project: love day cards.  He got the idea from watching the Love Day episode of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  He spent a good share of the afternoon writing the sweet love day cards to Daddy, Olivia, and me.  I think he must have felt bad about the day before.  He asked me to make him one, too. Once he had finishing carefully writing all his letters, and given them to Olivia and me, he went outside to wait for Daddy to get home.  He waited outside on his little blue car for over an hour with Daddy's love day card.  He is such a thoughtful and tenderhearted little guy. 

Happy Birthday, Eric

After celebrating our anniversary, my birthday, Livi's birthday (including a birthday party), I must confess I was a little "birthday-ed out" by the time Eric's rolled around. But I really wanted to make him an awesome birthday cake.  And awesome it was...I made the most crazy delicious Peanut Butter Chocolate birthday cake.  It was probably the best cake I've ever eaten: rich, moist chocolate cake topped with peanut butter cream cheese frosting and finished off with a decadent chocolate peanut butter ganache.  The recipe is a keeper for sure.  We celebrated Eric's 35 years with homemade pizzas at Steve and Patti's house.  Grateful for this wonderful guy and the many ways he blesses us each day.  Happy Birthday, Eric. 

Livi Lu Who is Turning 2!

We've always thought our little Livi Lu has born a passing resemble to Cindy Lou Who from the Dr. Seuss classic, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," so when her second birthday rolled around, I decided to do a Livi Lu Who is Turning Two Dr Seuss bash!  I found the most adorable little Dr Seuss dress on clearance at Target this spring and the planning fell into place after that.  Of course, we had to have green eggs and ham for the party.  And the grandmas showed up all decked out in their Cat in the Hat gear. 

Livi had a great time at her whole party, but it was clear that her very favorite thing was her chocolate cupcake.  She had red frosting smeared everywhere.  It was even up her nose so deep that Grandpa Steve thought she had a bloody nose after the party!

We were so happy that so many friends and family members came to celebrate with us!  Auntie Brigid came up from Madison for the weekend and Uncle Luke and Aunt Annalyse made it to their first ever Ory birthday party, now that they moved back from California.  It was a perfect day to show our Livi Lu just how loved she is as we celebrate another year with our baby girl.  Happy Birthday, sweetheart!