Callista Ballerina

Callie has been wanting to take ballet classes for a while now. She is signed up to start "fairy tale ballet" with her friend Isabelle in January. A few days ago, we went to the dance studio to pick up her outfit. She spent the rest of the day twirling around doing "a ballet."

Connor's Birthday

Connor turned 6 on November 21st. For the first time, he had a kids birthday party with his class at Pump It Up. The kids had a blast.

The next day, we brought in a special treat for his class.

South Carolina Trip

We took a trip to South Carolina the last week in October. Most of our friends thought we were crazy to drive with both our kids, but they actually did really well. We left on a Thursday afternoon, and stayed in southern Illinois the first night. The kids loved the hotel.

We stayed in Gatlinburg, TN the second night, and had some time the next day to check out the city. On Saturday, we celebrated Callie's birthday for the final time. Somehow my kids' birthdays seem to last weeks and weeks by the time we are done celebrating with everyone.

Columbia has a great zoo, and we spent a day there. They had everything decorated for Halloween.

They have a bird exhibit where you buy nectar and the birds land on you to eat it. It was pretty scary.

We spent one day in Florence visiting our friends. We even had some family pictures taken there. We met our former neighbors for dinner. Here is Connor's beloved Ashley. He told me this morning that he is planning on marrying her. It was great to see our Florence friends!

We went back to the zoo a couple of days before Halloween to trick or treat. The kids loved it. Connor's costume attracted a lot of attention. Everywhere we went, people were talking about it. No one knew who Callie was supposed to be (Abbie Cadabby--the new Sesame Street character).

Callie's School Picture

Cutest School Picture Ever!

Callie's Play-Doh Party

Callie had her first birthday party with friends last week. We had to do it early becuase we will be in South Carolina on her birthday. Callie helped me make the cake the night before. Unfortunately, I was trying to make a cake that looked like a play-doh can, and it didn't quite work out. Luckily the grocery store had a Dora cake to substitute! The theme was "Play-Doh." It was a beautiful day, so we were able to play outside for a while at the beginning. Then each child got to choose a color for their homemade play-doh. They had fun using their cookie cutters to make play-doh shapes.
Then we had cake and opened gifts.

Callie was really excited to have all her friends over to celebrate her birthday.

Pumpkin Fun

We've had great weather in Wisconsin this fall, which means lots of opportunities for pumpkin patch fun. Our first trip was to the largest corn maze in Wisconsin!!! I know all of you are jealous. Of course, we didn't actually go in. Callie's best friend, Isabelle, came with us.

These girls are so fun to watch. They just adore each other. When we try to separate them, it is mayhem because they encourage each other to run away from us so they can stay together.

Every year I attempt to do an "artsy" pumpkin picture with my photo editing software. Here are this years pictures.

Our next pumpkin adventure was a field trip for Connor's class. I went along to chaperone. Here is Connor with his kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Turner.

After Callie's birthdy party, Grandma and Grandpa Ritz, and Grandma Williams took us to another pumpkin patch. This one has a giant pumkin contest. They spent at least 15 minutes rolling down this hill and running back up again.

Karate Tournament

Connor has been taking karate lessons since last April. He has earned three belts so far. This weekend, he participated in his first tournament.

He was all smiles and giggles when we first got there. We entered him in a non-scored division, so we knew he would get a trophy.

After watching some of the kids practice though, he got a little nervous!

His division did some work together as a group.

Then he had to go in front of three judges and do his forms.

He did great! We were so proud, and so was he.

Check out the look of adoration for his very first trophy! He informed me that it was shiny because he did so well. It now has a place of honor above his bed.

I'm NOT Tired!!

Who are the people who have children who like to sleep, and what can I use to bribe them to trade? Believe it or not, my children have nice, soft, cozy beds to sleep in--they just choose not to.

Callie in Preschool

Callie is loving her new preschool life. Here she is with all her classmates. She is so excited to go to school and she loves all the singing and art projects they do.

A family picture

Callie's preschool had a cute family tree on the wall where everyone has posted a family picture. Sounds like an easy thing to do-right? When I tried to find a picture that had all of us in it, I had to go all the way back to Christmas. In the Christmas picture, Callie has her eyes closed. The family picture before that is our last night in LaCrosse, which was in April of 2006!! So, in the last 2 1/2 years, we have exactly two pictures of our entire family. PATHETIC!! Again I say "Oh Collin, where for art thou." So, before church yesterday, we all piled on the sofa and hit the auto-timer. It's actually pretty decent, for us.