Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween!  With our new super family-friendly neighborhood, we decided to get on the Halloween fun, and go door to door trick-or-treating for the first time.   The high for the day was 30 degrees so I spent a good share of time trying to figure out how to keep everybody warm on our neighborhood walk.  Livi rebelled against her adorable furry tiger costume at the last minute and ended up going as a princess.  But it didn't really matter, as the winter gear covered up any semblance of a costume.  We went with the Lindners and the Wilsons and the kids had a great time running form house to house.  Lot of the houses even gave our full sized candy bars!!

Miles got to go with us too, and he loved every minute of it.  He didn't even mind wearing his shark costume.  He just loved having fun with his kids.

We stopped by Grandma Ruby's for a quick visit and  then headed on to Grandpa Steve and Grandma Patti's house, where Grandma was decked out in her super awesome/creepy Batman mask.  We enjoyed some pizza together and had a wonderful Halloween!

Auntie Brigid visits

Auntie Brigid wasn't able to attend Nolan's birthday party this year, so she came the following weekend instead.  The kids always love it so much when she visits.  (And I do, too!) We got our first dusting of snow while we was here, so being the great auntie that she is, she offered to take the kids outside to play in it for a while.  We also carved our Halloween pumpkins and roasted pumpkin seeds.  I was happy to have the chance to sneak away with my friend for a few hours for some great conversation, a yummy lunch, and some shopping.  Even a few hours out with a friend can be so rejuvenating in this stage of life, when everything feels like it revolves around the kids.  It's so wonderful to be with someone who knows you so well and has been there for so many different chapters of life.  I just wish she lived closer!  We're grateful for our visit from Auntie Brig and can't wait til the next one!

soooo sleepy

When you play too hard and won't take a nap at naptime, sometimes you fall asleep on the floor.

Superhero Birthday Party!

We celebrated Nolan turning five with a Superhero themed party that he has been planning for months.  He invited many of his friends and family, but also pretty much everyone we see - including the Aldi cashier and a lady at the Dollar Tree.  

We played Superhero games outside with an obstacle course, Hulk Smash, and Pin the Star on Captain America's shield.  The kids each got to decorate their own superhero mask and cape.  We ate pizza and cake, and Nolan got so many awesome gifts. He had an absolutely amazing time and I could tell he felt so very loved.  Happy Birthday, buddy!

Five

Dear Nolan,

Happy 5th Birthday!  You have grown and changed so much in the last year.  Your Daddy and I couldn't possibly be more proud of you!  

Your charismatic, charming, hilarious personality continues to draw people to you.  You are on a first name basis with several of the Aldi cashiers and have invited about half of the population of Rhinelander to your birthday party.  Sometimes your introverted parents don't know what to do with all the attention you attract, but we know that you have the gift of making people feel happy when they're with you, and that, my son, is a very precious gift.

You started school this year, which we predicted would be a hard transition for you.  We feared that your anxiety may get the best of you and that it would be difficult to manage all of your emotions away from Mommy and Daddy's help.  But over the past year, you have grown so much and become independent and so very brave.  You have learned that bravery is not the absence of fear, but persevering in spite of being afraid.  And the Nolan that was paralyzed by the what-if scenario a year ago, is not conquering things left and right.  

You still love snuggles from Mom and Dad and talk from sun-up to sun-down, asking a billion questions a day.  Because of your intense curiosity, you are excelling at school.  You were reading by age 4 and are now doing the math of a first grader. You also know ridiculous facts about hundreds of subjects, like space, superheroes, animals, dinosaurs, the United States, and anything else you can soak up. We know your future is so very bright.

Nolan, you are one of my life's greatest blessings.  Your Daddy and I feel so honored to be your parents.  Sometimes you tell me that "Of all of the mommies in the world, I'm glad I picked you."  Son, we're so glad your ours.  Happy Birthday, sweet boy!

Nolan can read!

The other day, Nolan asked me if I could teach him how to read one of his sight word books.  We haven't practiced any of this stuff for a while, so I thought we would work on the first page.  Well, he figured out all of the words on the first page within about 2 minutes, so we moved to the second page...and pretty soon he had read three entire books, simply by sounding out the letters. I am so unbelievably proud of him!  We talked to his teacher this week, and she said he's the first kid in 4K to start reading and that she'll send some supplemental books home with him to practice.  We're so proud of you, buddy!  Way to go!

Autumn Leaves

Friday was leaf raking day at the Ory house.  We're lucky that most of the trees in our yard are pine trees, so we don't have too much to rake...just the right amount to make a perfect leaf jumping pile.  The kids were good about helping with the raking and had a blast rolling around, somersaulting into, and hiding in the leaves.

Cabin with Grandpa

Last Sunday, Grandpa Steve took Nolan out to the cabin for the day.  It was the first time that he and Nolan had spent the whole day together and they had a blast.  They checked out all the trail cameras, visited the deer stands, and watched a bit of the Packer game.  Nolan reportedly was an amazing helper and they both had a great time.  We loved it too, because with the quiet(er) house, we were able to get the whole kitchen painted on Sunday afternoon!  We're so glad that our kids have grandparents who are so devoted to spending time with them!

School Successes!

Nolan has been loving school, and has been excelling at it in nearly every way.  We're so proud of him.  We had our first parent teacher conference last week, and we were glad (and not surprised) to hear that he is far ahead in all areas.  He was supposed to count to ten, and he counted to forty nine, before she stopped him. He is supposed to recognize some letters, and he is writing all of them.  He is supposed to understand the basic outline of a book (title, beginning, end) and he is reading books.  We asked his teacher to see if she can provide some enrichment for him, and she recently started sending him a new book home every day.  He is reading it beautifully, with very little help sounding out the words. We recently attended the 4K Outreach event called Apple Day, and he did such a good job writing the names of all of the people in his family.  His printing is getting clearer and clearer.

As proud of him as we are for all of these academic successes, we are most proud of the kind, mature, and brave boy his is in his classroom.  We received this note in the mail from the special education teacher at his school, congratulating him for being kind to one of his classmates. 

He loves attending school, and hasn't missed a day yet.  We hope his love for school and learning never stops and that he continues to show his teachers and classmates his kindness.  Nolan, we are so proud of you!

Eau Claire visit

A few weeks ago, we headed to Eau Claire for the weekend to visit and to celebrate Annalyse's sister, Jenna's wedding.  We left right after lunch on Friday, and little buddy was absolutely exhausted after a busy morning at school.  He napped a good share of the way.  The wedding was nice, but long for the little ones and even with leaving early, it was still almost 10 before we got them tucked into bed at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  

The next morning was pretty cold and rainy, but Grandpa Jim braved the elements to take the kids to pick out a few pumpkins for their front porch.  Mom and I stayed back and attempted a few new recipes for Grandma Edie to try, since she is on a soft food diet.  When the kids went down for their naps, Mom, Dad, Luke, and I headed down to Durand to pay a visit to the grandparents.  We stopped to see Grandpa Ralph first.  He wasn't having quite as good of a day as the last time I saw him, but was still joking around and had some good one-liners.  We knew he wasn't feeling like himself when he turned down a game of cards.  After Dad helped him get cleaned up, he was ready to lay down for a while, so we weren't able to stay real long.  It was good to see him holding his own though.

The visit I wasn't really prepared for was our trip to Grandma Edie's house.  When I had visited the week before, she was very sick, but for the most part she still looked and acted like the same plucky Grandma.  This time was quite a shock as she had gotten so weak from not eating, that she was barely able to get to the front door with a walker.  It was very hard to see her struggling like that.  We had some sweet and tender moments together when she held my hand and we talked about our Europe trip last summer and how crazy things are now and how we wish things were different.  The doctors have been all over the board and have really not given us much detail on what to expect and what the treatment plan will be.  For now, it's just one day at a time.

We left the kids at home because they were both fighting colds and we didn't want to pass on any germs, but I think Nolan was picking up on the emotional atmosphere and was having a really hard time with us being gone for the afternoon.  When we got back, Nolan really enjoyed the time with Luke and Annalyse and Mom and Dad before it was time for bed.  It felt good to be all together.

The next morning we did some fun things outside with the kids.  We rode horse - which both of my kids love and excitedly request.  And Nolan got to drive Grandpa's new tractor and even operate the scoop. He thought it was so cool and "super easy." 

This visit was certainly more exhausting than usual and by Sunday afternoon I was absolutely drained.  I think the intensity of the emotions around me was really weighing on me.  It's hard to see people that I love struggling - both the sick and the caregivers!  But, the best part of our trip was getting to be together and make more precious memories with our family.

Swingset

Earlier this summer, Uncle Buster offered us Paige and Claire's old swingset for our new house.  We finally were able to get it a few weeks ago, and the kids have had a blast playing on it.  I was a little worried about Livi being able to get up to the clubhouse with the only way up being a ladder, but by day two she had it figured out and was going down the slide all on her own.  Both kids love swinging and riding the glider.  And, the neighbor kids have loved playing on it, too.  It's so fun to see our kids enjoy playing in our yard.