Baby Shower and Birthday

On Saturday I attended a baby shower for Sarah and Greg.  They are due with their 1st baby just after Thanksgiving.  (Brian stayed home to rest and take care of Jadon and Leah.)  I was able to see some of my good friends and meet a lot of the Gunderson's friends.  It was neat because most of them have new babies and go to the same church.  It seems like they have a great community in Madison.  

Charity, Sarah, me, and Julie.  I love those girls!

Here is me with some Sterling friends out celebrating Jen's birthday.  Claire, Sarealia, Jen, Krista, me, and Anita went out for Thai food and then to the Chrystal Cork in Dixon.

1st Days of School

Jadon heads out for his 1st day of school.  He is in Mrs. Ebersole's 1st grade class at Jefferson.

Here is Leah at Open House, exploring her pre-k classroom.

Leah on her actual 1st day.  She gave us a full report when she came home.  She read "The Kissing Hand", learned the Bubble Gum Song, and had a fun snack.  She has Mrs. Kukowski, the same teacher Jadon had when he was 4, and will go 5 days a week from 8:30-11:00.  I'm going to try to do some substitute teaching this year.  We're off to a good start!

More Fun with Kittens

We hosted a playdate before the kids headed back to school.  Brecken, Leah, Jadon, Sawyer, and Dale enjoyed going over to our neighbor's house to see the kittens.

The cat family lived in our yard for a few days again.  Here they are eating their breakfast.  Since then, they have moved to another neighbor's.

Minocqua 2012

Aug. 4-11th we took our 4th annual trip up north, to Minocqua, WI, and stayed at a cabin on Mercer Lake.  We have had a very hot summer, but our week up north was a little on the cool side.  We really enjoy fires in our little cabin, lots of family time, playing at the beach, swimming, and fun outdoor activities.  

 This year we brought up a bunch of puzzles and a lego cabin set.  We also gave Jadon this Skylanders book, a video game guidebook which he studied all week.  It was nice to have a week of no electronics.

 Jadon enjoyed making nature collections and arrangements.  This is a nest for a chipmunk.

 This was one of my sand sculptures from the week.

 We are watching a ski show, the Minocqua-bats.

 Leah is showing a little frog she has captured in these nature tongs.

 The kids played at the beach a lot, catching frogs, playing with frogs, and making sandcastles.  We also took lots of kayak and canoe rides from this beach.

 Jadon and Leah love hanging out with their vacation friends, Ava and Greta.

 One morning we went out for a lumberjack breakfast at Paul Bunyans.  Then we went for a family bike ride along a nice trail.

 Brian had gone on a 2 hour bike ride the day before and then we did this shorter one as a family.  It was beautiful and definately one of the highlights of the week.  Below is one of the views from a bridge coming into town.

 Once again, the kids enjoyed the adventure of swimming out to this slide, climbing up, and either jumping off or sliding down.  Here, Jadon is about to jump off and below, Leah is sliding off the slide.

 There were 2 days during the week where it rained.  The first day we went to this Children's Museum and played.  Brian and I had a little too much fun in the dress-up room.

 On the next rainy day, we squeezed in pony rides before the downpour.  Leah rode Dora and Jadon rode Burdock.  Brian got Burdock galloping along the trails for Jadon.  That was a sight to behold.

 One night we had a fry fest and made these cheese curds.  Yum!

 On the last day, we took the kids for their first mini golf.  They did really well and we had fun.
We also went go-karting.

 We buried Jadon and turned him into a Mer-man.  Leah, Dane, Ava, and Abby all helped before going into the lake for our last swim.

 On our last evening we went to Black Bear with the Schasslers for some good pizza.  We got to sit outside, which is perfect so the kids can play when they're not eating.

All in all, it was a great family vacation.  We just wish it had been a little warmer.

Great America with the Sacketts

On Friday morning, I drove the 4 kids into Gurnee and we met up with Flint and Stephanie.  The 7 of us spent the day at Great America.  It was a busy day in the park and there were long lines, but the kids didn't seem to mind and we all had fun.  Steph and I even got to ride X Flight and Superman.  Claire, Jadon, and Rachel rode on the Demon for the first time.

 We even met up with my cousin Brett and his wife Krystal for while.

Jadon got to play his first Great America game and won this squid hat.

Kitten Kaboodle Fan Club

On Wednesday, August 1st, when we were getting ready for the Sackett girls to arrive for a 2 day stay in Sterling, Brian noticed a cat family in our front yard.  It was a momma stray cat and her 4 baby kittens.  Jadon and Leah were super excited and played with the kittens all morning long.  Then their cousins Claire and Rachel joined in the fun, playing with the kittens on and off for the next few days.  They made a home under our front porch.

 Here's Leah holding the runt of the litter, "Cardboard".  He is the friendliest, least shy, and most laid back of the 4 kittens.

 We named the mom "Bonita" because she's so bony.

 Bonita is nursing Cocoa, Cardboard, and Reeses right in our front yard.  What a beautiful sight!

 Dylan and Kylie came on Thursday and joined in the fun.

 A rare moment, all 4 kittens caught and cuddled at once.

 In addition to playing with the kittens, the kids had fun swimming in the pool.

We got treats from the ice cream truck.