BABY it's cold outside!!

I guess it comes as no surprise that in January it's below zero. One would think that after 28 years of living in Wisconsin that the cold wouldn't surprise us anymore. Well, it does!

Jack had the day off of school yesterday, so I took him and his buddy Kaden to an indoor amusement park. They had a blast! I was also lucky to spend the day with my good friend Liz! We had a relaxing morning while the boys played and then had fun watching the boys play lots of games and get excited over how many tickets they were winning. I don't have any pictures of the day, but we sure had fun.

Last weekend we were able to get outside and play for a bit. It was a heat wave compared to the frigid temperatures this weekend. We pulled Jack and Maddie around the yard in a sled and chased each other around the yard. Jack loves getting pulled in the sled and Maddie, not so much. She screams...a lot. It was the first time we'd been able to play in our new yard.

Maddie hanging on for dear life.
A quick picture before we had to head back inside.

Maddie and Daddy...two cuties :)

Welcome to 2011...a little late!

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!


Yes, it's been since October since I've last blogged. Wow! Where does the time go? Let me tell you where our time has gone:

As many of you know, we put our house up for sale in July. After a long and stressful process our house sold and we moved into our dream house. Yippee!! We love it here. The kids moved in with no issues. Not even an, "I miss our old house" out of Jack. We were very impressed. Both of the kids did great in their new bedrooms and surroundings. They are loving all of the extra space. We are enjoying cooking in our new big kitchen and love our gas stove. We have lots of room for visitors, so come on over.

We had a fun and busy holiday season. We traveled to Milwaukee and Stevens Point. It was great seeing all of our family and spending extra time with them. The kids had a blast opening their presents and playing with their new treasures.

Jack and Maddie spent a few extra days in Stevens Point with Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Anne. They even got outside to build a snow fort.

Nathan and I were able to spend some time exploring some new restaurants and an old favorite as well. We even enjoyed a night out with our dear friends Tom, Val, Jeff and Liz!

We hope to get outside and play in the fluffy white stuff that's decorating our yard. How pretty!!

Making Christmas cookies for the first time in our new house.

Jack and Maddie in front of our Christmas tree.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Maddie. Such a beautiful girl. Thanks, Grandpa Dave for capturing this moment for us.

Jack playing with snow blocks that he received for Christmas.

Auntie Anne and Maddie playing in the snow.

In front of Grandpa Dave and Grandma Debbie's Christmas Tree. I think this was right before we were leaving to go home. If I remember correctly Debbie had to stand on the sofa with a blanket to block the light so Dave could take a picture...funny!

Sofia (our niece), Maddie and Jack in front of Grandpa and Nana's Christmas tree.

Jack being a goof ball and trying to put a stocking on his head. This was at Grandpa Kyle and Nana's and was our 4th Christmas celebration.

A perfect Saturday in October

On Saturday, we enjoyed another beautiful hike at "Dells of the Eau Claire State Natural Area". This park is breathtakingly beautiful. The hiking trails are full of interesting trees, rocks and a series of beautiful waterfalls. Thanks to Grandpa Dave for taking so many great pictures. He truly captured the beauty of the day. Here's Jack before going on our hike. He was excited to see all the rocks and waterfalls.

Jenny and Sofia looking over the cliff down at the river. This is right at the beginning of our hike and we were all still in aww over the view.

Grandpa Dave and Grandma Debbie. One of the few pictures that Dave was actually in. He was quite the photographer that day!

Jack and Sofia going under a fallen tree.

Dave spotted this great photo op! Jack was happy to be able to walk out onto the rocks.

Another great shot of Sofia, Nana and Auntie Jenny.

Look at the SIZE of this leaf! Jack and Sofie both found one of these huge leaves and they were both very excited.

Jack and Sofie crawling in the roots of a tree that were washed out by the recent flooding. Such fun things you can find on a hike.

Grandma Debbie at the end of our hike, holding the kids HUGE leaves.

One big pile of leaves and we all had to jump in.

Such a cute picture of Nana and Maddie.

Maddie and Daddy sharing a chocolate chip cookie.

After our hike we enjoyed a picnic and watched the kids play in the leaves. The weather was perfect and the kids were all happy. Who could ask for more?

Pewit's Nest - October 2010

Last weekend we enjoyed another hike at the beautiful "Pewit's Nest" in Baraboo. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was amazing. We started down a long path that turned into many and we weren't really sure which path to choose. We found this huge, old oak tree. We tried to put our arms around it, but it was too large for our hands to touch.

This is one of the smaller waterfalls that we found. It was amazing how loud the water sounded and then when we got up close, it turned out to be rather small.

This fallen tree was along the path. It looks like it either fell over in a storm or finally collapsed with old age.

This is a view from the top of a cliff looking down the river. It was very pretty and peaceful.

A perfect picture with a perfect waterfall in the background. My family is so cute :)

The long trail led to the water clearing and being able to see one last waterfall. It was such a pretty hike. It's amazing that we've lived here for 4 years and haven't heard of this secret treasure until a couple of weeks ago.

This weekend, Grandpa Kyle and Nana are going camping and we're planning on taking them to see this beautiful spot.

Treinen Farm Pictures 2010

Do you see Maddie sleeping in the back pack carrier? That's how we know she like it. She was comfortable enough to fall asleep. I love this picture

Jack loved climbing on all these tractor tires. I think he could have explored these for hours.

Jack sitting in the tunnel that brought him to the top of the slide hill.

There's the big slides that we went down. It was so fun!!!

A lesson in animals and their babies.

The Great Outdoors

What a great weekend to spend outdoors. Last weekend we visited Natural Bridge State Park.
We've actually driven into this park a couple of different times but have never been able to hike through. What a beautiful place. Jack loved the cave that the natural bridge formed. He came up with all sorts of creative things that they cave would have been used for long ago.


We explored on the trail and Nathan was able to capture pictures of some of the wild flowers found along the trails.

Jack and Nathan standing just outside the cave. Jack was a little hesitant to walk all the way back in the cave, but he did. He had lots of questions. There was a sign posted outside the cave that we read to him and he thought it was pretty cool that people used to sleep, eat and have fires inside the cave.

This is on our way out of the park. The kids did such a great job on the hike. They enjoyed running in the open grass. Jack is so good about holding Maddie's hand and helping her along.

We will definitely be going back for a hike soon!

On Sunday, we went to "Treinen Farm". What an AWESOME place. We went to explore the corn maze and found that and much, much more. We were very impressed with all the activities for families to do. The corn maze was so much fun. Jack had a blast following Daddy through the trails and looking at the map. In order to get the next piece of the map you had to find it in a mail box hidden along the way. There were 8 pieces of the map hidden amongst the corn. Nathan did a great job of navigating.

After the corn maze, we checked out the other fun things to do. They had huge drainage tubes set up as slides, pedal tractors, animals, a tractor tire maze and pumpkins. Jack had so much fun sliding down the slides. Jack and I got into the slides that were next to each other and raced down, he won!

Nathan was excited to try out our new backpack carrier for Maddie. He loved it and so did Maddie. She was comfortable enough to fall asleep half way through the corn maze.

We're already looking forward to our next hike and adventure outside next weekend at Devil's Lake State Park.

Kindergarten Here We Come

It's official, we're parents of a kindergartner! Jack's first day was yesterday and he had a great time.

He was excited to meet his teacher, hang his back pack in his locker and see his friends.

Jack was so brave. Nathan and I drove him to school, took a couple of pictures in front of the school's sign and took Jack to his classroom. Jack got to hang his back pack in his locker, put his lunch in the "green bin" and head outside to see his friends. At first, not recognizing anyone, Jack was a little nervous to run and play. I spotted a boy that Jack had played hockey with this past winter and pointed him out to Jack. He was off and running!

Nathan and I stood there for a second and watched Jack play, I then proceeded to cry, cry cry. I really did think I would be fine, but I have to say, it's a bit emotional.

Jack's second day was great. He was excited to go to music class and do some art projects. Today was his first time going to "kids club". It's an after school program that the kids go to until their parents pick them up. He was able to play with his friends and explore the school a little.

Our little boy is growing up very quickly. We're excited to hear about all the things he's going to learn and we know he'll have lots of fun!