Maddi Tries Cereal!

Maddi tried cereal for the first time this past Wednesday:)
She especially enjoyed sitting in the big girl chair at the table and wearing a big girl bib.
The cereal, not so much.

Owen also enjoyed moving to the other side of the table for a new special seat!

This week Owen began a science mini-camp at school.
Day 1 they learned about vibrations. Cool! The lesson was about the sense of hearing.
Day 2 was the sense of taste. As you can imagine, Owen was not real into this one. He did taste the blue vinegar and that was pretty much the end of tasting anything.
He wore his cool science shirt that I found. Just like Daddy!
I think we've reached the end of taking cute pictures, and have moved into silly pictures or no pictures at all. Boo.

Welcome Back Summer!

Not only was it warm this weekend, it was down right hot!!!! Apple picking and 86 degrees don't usually go hand in hand but I'll take it.

On Sunday we went to Apple Holler in Wisconsin. So, the heat could have played a role, but overall it wasn't quite the day I had expected. This place was super crowded, expensive and there were about 10 apples for a1000 people. I realize they probably can't control the apple crop, but they should at least be upfront with people.

Nonetheless, we still had fun as a family and there were a lot of activities.

We started with a hayride around the orchard which of course Owen enjoyed immensely. The leaves were changing so it was really pretty against the bright blue sky.
Finally found some apples!
Most of the apples remaining were really low which was advantageous for Owen.

Picking his first appleApple Picking

Lots of room for a little boy to run!

Had to get this shot of Owen eating canned peaces at an apple orchard. Nice.
Maddi got in on the action too. (Don't worry, she doesn't have teeth yet.)Here are some highlights of the activity section:

Beehive (Owen was obsessed)

Golden Goat Bridge

GoatsTrain Ride x 2

Pony Ride (that we waited in line for 45 minutes to do)

Owen deciding he was done with picture taking and threw a fit. We left after this was taken. Pretty funny to me though.
Sunday night we went to visit Andy, Jill and Baby Lily. We hadn't seen them since Lily was 2 days old (she is now 4 weeks) so it was fun to hang out. It was also to celebrate Jill and Brett's birthdays on October 11! Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!

Owen had fun playing "hospital" on their couch. You had to sit under the pillows to get fixed. Quite the imagination.

Owen admiring baby Lily

Jill and Lily

Saturday was spent running errands and catching up on life but we relaxed and had fun as a family too.

Maddi playing on her quilt from Nonna Barbara

Daddy and Maddi playing

One of my favorite pics!Brett and the kiddos

Owen making Maddi laugh

Owen playing with sissy in the morning

Not sure what Penny was doing here. Maybe she was looking for food. Maybe she thought the frogs were food.

All in all a good weekend.

Winter Weekend

OK, so maybe I'm being a bit dramatic, but it was cold this weekend and I didn't like it. I'm not ready for winter. I'll never be ready really, but it's way too early to be thinking about pulling out the coat (which I refuse to do until I absolutely have to.)

Due to the inclement weather and 3 1/2 of the family members being sick (the half being me since I'm fighting it and haven't really come down with a full blown cold) we took a weekend to relax and really do nothing. This hasn't happened since before Maddi was born so it was really quite nice!

We played in the tent on Sunday. I tried to teach Owen to play Go Fish but wasn't real successful. We'll keep working on it:)

Owen also got a kick out of playing with sissy's bumbo. He is such a ham. And before any of you criticize him not being in clothes (Dad...), he took them off himself and quite frankly he's old enough to determine when he's cold or not. He had on fleece footy pjs and said he was roasting. Who am I to judge?

Maddi and Daddy also got in on the silly action.

Brett and I are trying to have "Date Night" on Saturday nights based on Project 52: Date Nights from simplymodernmom.com. The basic premise is great. You set aside some time each week (there is even a contract to fill out) for you and your spouse to spend time together. The goal is to find something that a) does not require you to leave the house and b) costs relatively little or no money. I love this idea because it encourages us to put some excitement into our relationship without having to pay a babysitter.

Here is our pledge (not totally finalized but you get the idea)
This weekend was our third attempt and the first successful one!
Try #1: Watching our wedding video. I began my stomach flu half way through watching which abruptly ended the evening.
Try #2: Watching our wedding video take 2. Unfortunately, due to our crazy schedules and being sick for weeks, I went to bed at 9pm (on a Saturday, I know.)
Try #3: Smores!!! Saw a recipe for making these on the grill and thought, hey, we can do that in the toaster oven. I LOVE smores so I was super excited for this date night. And determined to make it work.

The Goods

Marshmallow attempt #1 (my way)Marshmallow attempt #2 (Brett's way, much better)

Getting Ready with the chocolate!

Oh, it's gonna be good...

Finished Product. YUMMY!

What a fun project together. And now I'm hooked on them.

Another weekend project was creating Owen's birthday invitation. I haven't done a lot (or really anything) in photoshop yet so it took a little while but I think it turned out really cute!!!! His party is Dinosaur themed with the Dinosaur Train family (his favorite show) making a spotlight appearance.
Hoping for better weather next weekend so we can go apple picking.