Halloween 2010

Its Halloween!!! Hip hip hooray- my favorite day of the year hands down. I was sad that Kyra wasn’t here but I got over it seeing I was so busy. We started out by having lunch at mom and dad’s. Kaitlynn then went down for a nap and during the mean time AJ Anna and I carved pumpkins. We had little outlines to put on the pumpkins so they turned out extra cool! Olivia spent the day with her daddy and got some quality cuddle time in. I had to wake Kaitlynn up at 145 (a little early) so that we could get her bunny costume on and get on the road for trick or treating. Luxemburg was holding theirs from 2-4 and Green Bay from 4-7 so we planned to do both… I guess I planned to do both and was hoping that Kaitlynn would be able to keep up with me. She did alright- my mom had a harder time though. About an hour into it she called it quits and I don’t really blame her. #1- we had an awesome time yesterday in Appleton and #2- it was super duper cold. So Bella and I dropped her off at her house (it was on the way) and the two of us went into to town to visit Tim’s parents and do our last set of trick or treating- this is #5 by the way. When we got there Kaitlynn got changed into her last costume- a tiger (to match her temper). She went to Andy and Sharon’s front door and Nana didn’t recognize her- it was hilarious! Kaitlynn found their candy stash and decided she would be confiscating it for the afternoon. Daddy told her otherwise and the group of us were off to do our last bit of door to door begging J We honestly didn’t get far down the street before it got dark (daylight savings time you know) and along with it came the cold- YUCK. The last house actually gave Bella their whole bag of candy because they were all done giving it out. That sealed the deal- we were officially done trick or treating- harrumph. Only 364 days until next year I guess. Before we left Andy and Paula, Cassie and Kalli stopped by to visit and show us all the girl’s costumes. They were so cute- Super girl and Dorothy from the wizard of Oz- very much their personalities I think. We visited for a while, Paula got her baby fix and then my little family went out to eat with Nana and Papa at of all places- The China Buffett- Kyra would be sooo jealous. But we filled our bellies and had some great conversations while doing it… I love having such a great family!

AJ and Anna

Kaitlynn had such a good time running from house to house today. She would cruise up to the front doors and motion for Anna and Mom to “hurry up.” It was so cute to watch her run back to show us what kind of candy she got too. Olivia chilled in the wagon with Grandpa and watched her crazy sister run around. Trick or treating was from 12 to 2 and we didn’t have time to grab lunch on the drive down so candy had to cut it until we finally ate at 3… and they could have fed us anything- we were starving! After a very satisfying lunch we all headed to the Fox River mall as a group to find dress shoes for AJ and bumming around shoes for Dad. It was so fun to all go shopping together. I never thought it would be a memory maker but it totally was! After about an hour we had shoes for both our guys and went our separate ways. I had two tired little girls and AJ and Anna had some studying to get done (AJ on his masters and Anna on her PhD- yes they are smarty pants- hehehe) So we called it a day (a great one!) and headed back north to Green Bay to get ready for a big day tomorrow!

Festival Foods

Today is going to be busy- but GREAT! We started out by doing a little grocery shopping at the local Festival Foods where they were doing trick or treating- in the store! If you are keeping track this is trick or treat opportunity #2 :) So we got her dressed in her cute little flower costume and wheeled our away around the store. At first she didn't get it because all the employees were dressed up as well. She was a little weary but got the hang or it right quick. She had a blast looking for all the stations and mom and I were happy that she stayed in the cart. After about 30 mins (and 5 tootsie rolls in her belly) we were through the store with groceries and treats in hand. We were in a bit of a hurry because Anna and AJ were home from Milwaukee and offered to take Bella around for candy- YES!!! Trick or treating #3 here we come!

Sweet Street

I can not tell you how excited I am for Halloween this year. Kaitlynn is definitely at the right age to start all the festivities. Today we went to the expo center here in Green Bay to trial trick or treating with Kaitlynn before we venture outdoors. And let me tell you... she's got it! As soon as we got there we headed into the "haunted path" so that she could practice "trick or treating" It was so cute because at first she would muster out The trick and the treat but by the end she was just saying "treat please." I don't mean to brag but this little two year old is one bright cookie... we will see how it goes the rest of the weekend though. Bella got to play with other little ones at the event too. I think we are going to try and enroll her in something where she can play with other kids. She had a tendancy to take over whatever she wanted to (trains in this case) with no reguard to the other children... Whoops- thats my fault I think :) Unfortunately for me Kyra has chosen to spend this Halloween with her mom, Will and her soon to be stepbrothers. I was disappointed for sure because she has always been such fun, but I guess I am going to have to share sometime. From now on we will just let her decide if she is going with mom or dad- but what a year to miss it. If everything goes as planned we will be trick or treating a total of five times- ambitious I know- but its HALLOWEEN!!!

Wild Air

So Kyra has a few days off of school this week for the teachers convention. We get to have a half of that time so we wanted to do something really special. Seeing mom was off of school too we took the girls down to Wild Air in Appleton. Kyra has been begging us to go for months and we finally have the time and the weather (its cold out there) to go to the indoor inflatables park. I really had no idea what it was all about but we made the 45 min drive down there anyway. The wind these last few days has been horrible. They say its the strongest winds in over a dozen years. Tim and I were not taking any chances either- we packed up the Halloween decorations from the front yard and hunkered down. I didn't know just how strong they were until mom and I were driving down to Appleton on the highway- I always have the best timing! So we got to the jump around place and got the girls all signed up. Kyra was on the big kids side and Kaitlynn was on the kiddy side. Kyra was good about helping Kaitlynn on her toy but she really just wanted to play on the big kid stuff- which I don't blame her at all- it was way cooler. If I had to do it again I would bring one or the other but not both. It was too hard to go between the two sides and keep the girls happy. Especially since Kaitlynn is such a little motorer now... she is fast. There were no bouncy houses either- it was all slides, which was disappointing. But now I know. Kaitlynn had fun with the other toys though and precious little Olivia just chilled in her car seat- I hope she stays this laid back :)

This is a video of Kaitlynn discovering the water fountain (bubbler) at Wild Air. She enjoyed the water but never really understood the premise. Kyra comes in at the end and you can just see how worn out she is from playing- its cute!

Golden Crown

Today was Kaitlynn's first crown experience at Burger King (as far as I know). She loved it! She would take it off and put it back on over and over and over- it never got old (to her at least). I just laughed the whole time because really...? We were out running errands all over town so we stopped to get a bite before we bit each others heads off. Three angry Bronanders are no good. Little Olivia of course was her cute little self and just smiled at us... it was refreshing to say the least!

Cookies with Karla

Today the girls made cookies with Auntie Karla. It was Kaitlynn's first time actually getting up by the table and rolling out the dough and decorating the cookies. She had a total blast. It took her a while to figure out how to use the cut outs but I think she got the hang of it eventually! She kept wanting to rub the dough on her belly and was there flour... oh so much flour :) Kyra didn't get too frustrated with her either which was surprising. She just did her own thing and assisted Bella when she needed help. Karla must be a saint though because there is no way that I would be able to tolerate all the little mishaps. There was frosting and jimmies all over the place. I cant wait until we have a two year old, a four year old and a twelve year old... should be interesting. We had a great little lunch and Tim made his awesome tuna salad (yum!). Andy, Sharon and Jeremy popped over for a visit around noon and stayed on for lunch. I have realized that my house is too small for that many people at one time- especially since it was raining.Kyra was invited to a Halloween party at one of her friends houses from 3-5 (a boy by the way). She was so excited to dress up and wear makeup- a lot of it. We dropped her off with a bag of candy to share while Karla stayed at our house to rock the baby. Kaitlynn came along in hopes of taking a nap and fell asleep a few miles down the road. (Thank gosh). Kyra had a fun time at the party and came home with lots of good stories. After we got home we go her all cleaned up and then she was off to a sleep over at Tim's parents house. Whew- what a busy day :)

Apples and Pumpkins Oh My!

This weekend was not our scheduled time to have Kyra but Andy and Sharon were able to get her for a few hours. That was because we were off to do the annual apple picking and pumpkin patching. This is the first year that I was able to go because usually I have to work when they are off- but not this year! WE dropped Olivia off by my parents on the way (the first time alone mind you) and headed to Luxemburg Wi to find he orchard. I thought I knew where it was but I was wrong so we had to call for directions and were late- which is nothing new for me ;) Andy, Sharon and Kyra were already there waiting for us but we caught up qucik and headed out to the pumpkin patch. Kyra was an old pro but this was Kaitlynn's first time and it took a bit to get used to walking in the vines and such. She got the hang of it though and started motoring around picking up pumpkins and saying "Yuck!" (It was a little mushy out there). After finding a few keepers we drove into the apple orchard to pick some apples. Now I personally don't eat apples that much but Tim, Kyra and Bella had a blast. Kaitlynn didn't really like the taste at first but eventually found them to be quite delicious. After getting the cars all loaded up (Thank You again Sharon and Andy) we went on a tractor ride around the property. Kaitlynn LOVED it. She kept saying "tractor tractor." It was nice and warm too so the weather helped alot. We went up to my favorite little bistro in Algoma Wi for lunch and then we took them to see the flying pig (awesome and inspirational garden shop) because it was right up the road. I had fun looking around with Sharon and seeing what we thought we could make... I am not as skilled as her but it was fun none the less. The girls hung out in the giant sand box of course and Tim walked around the grounds with his dad. We headed back to Green Bay and picked up the bambino from mom and dads. Mom's famous words (now) are that "she was good hours 1 through 4... but that hour 5 was a tough one." I have to say thank you for watching her because it would have been really hard having her in the orchard but at the same time I missed my little peanut... I forgot about this part with Bella. I have a month and half to practice I guess :)

Bath Time

Little Olivia really likes to take a bath. I know what you are say... "A baby likes to be wet?" I don't know what it is about bath time but this little one totally digs it! We were really afraid to give Kaitlynn baths when she was a new born but we are getting it all figures out with "Via." (that's what Katie calls her). She just sits in her little tub and splashes (not on purpose I am sure but its pretty cute). She is always looking around to see what she can and it i hilarious when she focuses because her eyes get enormous and her mouth opens like a little birdie. Tim has been a great help with both the girls- I call him the diaper master because he can change each of the girls with no muss and just a little fuss ;) Its funny because while Olivia is in the tub he stands by with a towel ready to whisk her off and dry her, diaper her and dress her. He even helps me get her ready for bed at night. I know he is also a parent and should help with the children but he is even better than I expected he would be. It will be an adjustment for me when he goes back to work!

Geared up for Halloween

This weekend was busy busy busy. Mom and I got some things together for a consignment sale down at the church in hopes that we could clear out some bigger furniture. This past summer she picked up some awesome chairs at a retired designers home and so now she had the old set from the entry to get rid of. We didn't really want to just give them away but at the same time she really didn't want to keep them. There was also another pair of chairs in the basement that we used for watching movies but that too may have been a little too much seating. So we packed up the trailer with many treasures in hopes that we may be able to pass them along to another owner and make a buck or two in the mean time. It turns out that the people setting up the sale let you take a sneak peak at all the items before the ale opened on Saturday to see if there was anything you wanted to buy. Well, mom and I were a little out of our league here. The things we brought were very nice but I guess we didn't price them high enough compared to all the other things there. I hope that means we would make more because someone would snatch them right up. We did really well, but there were not that many people at the sale. We sold one pair of chairs and most of the other items. Dad's dress shirts that were too big did not sell though and a few of the toys I brought didn't either- are they nuts? No... just not the right crowd I guess. We all know there will be a rummage sale in the spring though right? :) After running around to set up and then pick up our items sat morning we spent the rest of the weekend getting ready for Halloween- YIPEE- Its my favorite! It took a few hour to get all the decorations out for the yard but when we were finished it was awesome! Kyra had fun unpacking all the bins and Bella kept raking things out and trying them. For example- she was wearing a Jason mask and carrying around a fake axe... that's my girl! On Saturday afternoon we went down to bay beach to sign the highest post of the new roller coaster. I guess it was one of Elvis' favorite rides and now the city of Green bay bought the rites to it. It wasn't ready to ride (silly me) but we got to sign all of our names and look forward to looking for them next summer when the ride is up and running! Sunday was spent helping "Grammy (Gee)" and "Big AL (BaBa)" get things done around their house. Kyra had fun making apple crisp and Bella explored all the Halloween/ fall decorations mom had put out. We took a quick drive to go see the neighbor up the road that does an awesome display for Halloween. We always love to check it out and see if they put out anything new that year. Here are some pictures of our dayThis is a shot of the neighbors lawn- I couldn't get it all in but I can assure you it is AWESOME!
Girls playing dress up on our little car ride. We found these pumpkins down the road for sale- 18 bucks which is definitely not bad... but how would we move them- maybe next year!
Bella is very creative- a fairly costume, pumpkin wand and a winter hat- when we tried to take the hat she had a breakdown- hat it is I guess!
Olivia took it easy in the bassinet that dad had bought for Kaitlynn. I have a feeling based on how much he paid (a benefit auction) all the grad kids are going to get a turn ;)

Keeping me on my Toes

Kaitlynn has been such a good girl with the addition of her little sister. She really has no intrest in her necessarily but she is always aware of her. She cant say Olivia yet so she calls her "Via"- I kinda like it! who knows, maybe it will be one of the many nickname I have for her. While we were visiting at my parents Kailtynn decided (being the independant girl that she is) that she was going to take off her diaper... and then play us a tune. What a goof ball. I have to say that she is getting ready to potty train but I didnt know that she would be thi proactive- ah Tim and Trina genes debate again... When we got home she found a pair of my heels in the closet and decided to take them for a spin. How cute huh? All I heard was clipity clopity all over the house. Lucky for me she did not try to go up or down the stairs with them- thank you to whoever invented doorway gates! Olivia RoseMarie is such a joy to have- I am glad she is finally here. All those times I complained were totally worth it- just don ask me to ever do it again. Well, actually I cant bcause the Friday after she was born Tim headed off the doctor to be "fixed." I guess he's done too ;) But honestly I couldnt ask for a better baby. She sleeps for hours at a time and if we keep her well fed and swaddled she is as happy as a clam. Stinky but cute!

Walking

So we have decided that we are going to try and get out and about more as a family this fall. I was lucky enough to be a little lighter after delivering Olivia than I was before I got pregnant so I am trying to keep that weight off and lose a little more if possible. My cousin Jennifer is getting married this March in Austin, Texas and has asked me to stand up in the wedding. I am super excited about it but want to lose a few inches before I get measured for the dress in an effort to not look like "the fat girl." Which I am telling you is inevitable but a little less around the middle is always better, especially going into the holidays! So we are taking advantage of the great weather and walking around the neighborhood. In a few weeks here the rummage sales will be over (sad Trina) and mom and I are gearing up to start our water aerobics again at the YMCA. Tim is planning on starting a membership there as well. Check back in a few months and I will let you know how our "plans" are going ;)

Elmo and Spongebob

Kaitlynn is totally in love with Elmo and Sponge bob. She gets so excited and squeely when they come on the TV and she even asks for them now- Whoops. We went to Toys R Us today to look for a swaddler for Olivia and Bella found a huge Sponge bob and an Elmo chair- she was in heaven. The hard part though was trying to find a way to get out of the store without bringing them home with us- tricky tricky tricky. Luckily she is still little enough that she got distracted with riding the flying dumbo (50 cents better than 50 bucks) and we were on our way. And yes, we did get what we originally went to the store for. Olivia will now be swaddled with the best of them- and I will sleep more at night- whats not to like?

Fall Visit

The past few days my Grandma Herrman and my Aunt Barb came to visit for a few days. We spent alot of time talking and catching up on all the goings on both here in Green Bay and also over in the Sparta area. I always like it when they visit because we get to hang out and it is always relaxing. On Friday we went for a drive up to Sister Bay to go have cherry french toast at the White Gull Inn and let me tell you, they were scrumptious (sorry Larry, I know you hate that word). Kaitlynn had fun running around the gardens ans smelling/picking flowers (sassy pants). But the drive up- OMG. The trees were already starting to turn colors and they were absolutely beautiful. We all had fun going through the little shops up there, especially the candy store where dad bought Bella an obscene amount of candy- just whats she needs- thanks dad! But really it wasn't all the bad and she loved opening the wrappers and seeing what the candy looked like. Trick or treating here we come!!!