Callie turns 2!

Our little Callista turned 2 on October 26th. Here she is on her last night as a one-year-old.

We had a Strawberry Shortcake party at Grandpa & Grandma Ritz's house. Callie wore her special Strawberry Shortcake party dress.

This picture is to show off my hard work making the cake, and also to prove I was at the party, since this is the only picture of me!

Callie loved her Strawberry Shortcake doll from cousin Kellie.

After a long night of partying, Callie finally passes out.

The next morning she insisted on wearing her hat and having her Strawberry doll next to her at breakfast.

Happy Birthday Callista!

Swim practice

Connor and Callie start swim lessons tomorrow. I took them to the swim club today to buy the required swim cap and goggles for Connor. He told me he had to practice in the bath tub to be ready for his lessons.

How much water do you think ended up on the floor?

Zoo trick or treat

We also took the kids trick or treating at the zoo last weekend. It was FULL of people, so we didn't stay long, but the kids had fun in their costumes.

Callie was a cheerleader.

She had eaten all of her candy by the time we got home.

And Connor was Spiderman (of course!).

This might be my favorite picture of all time!

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

We took the kids to the pumpkin patch on Saturday. We had a ton of fun and it was a perfect fall day. There were animals to see, gigantic pumkins to pose in front of, kittens to pet, spooky houses and even a place to eat.

Connor insisted on pulling Callie in the wagon. He's such a sweet big brother.

Connor led us through the corn maze. Unfortunately, it was muddy and he fell down. Then we needed "sabitizer", otherwise known as hand sanitizer.

Callie enjoyed the swing set, and then had to reload with some frosting.

Aren't they the cutest?

The Move

We survived the big move! The kids were great on the trip to Wisconsin. We drove about 7 hours each day and stopped for the nights at campgrounds. We made good time and were able to stop in Madison to pick up our apartment keys before heading to Baraboo to stay with Grandpa and Grandma. The kids were then shuttled between Grandmas for a couple of days while Jason and I got the apartment together. To put it mildly, it was not fun! The apartment is fairly small and we had boxes everywhere. We finally got things organized, and realized we were missing our silverware, and a bunch of other kitchen things. It turns out the movers put 5 boxes into the storage area that were supposed to come into the apartment. We had to scale box mountains to find them! Then we had to figure out where to fit 5 more boxes of stuff in the apartment! Now that we are all settled, we are liking apartment living. It is very quiet (not sure our downstairs neighbors would say the same) and we never have to do yard work. We are cozy in our little place and we always know where the kids are. Connor and Jason had their first day of school and work on the 15th.

Connor is attending an afternoon preschool program. He rides the bus, which he is very excited about. I tried to hide my aprehension, but every afternoon I watch out the window hoping someone will bring him home! It is a small bus with just a few kids from his class. We are also doing a gymnastics class and swimming lessons for both the kids starting next week. We're trying to get into some sort of a routine here.

Callie has had fun playing in the sink lately. She is very concerned about being clean right now. At least she covered the important bits.

I'm not sure what is in Callie's mouth in this picture, but she reminds me of a football player with a mouthguard in!

My brother's birthday

We got a special visit from my brother Jason at the end of September. He just turned 29, so we decided to extend the celebration--anything for more cake! We took him to Miyami for dinner while our neighbors babysat the kids. We stopped by Target on the way home, and Jason Williams found a Spiderman costume to match Connor's. Of course, he had to get it. So we went to the neighbors to pick up the kids with Spiderman in tow. They thought it was pretty funny--except for their 11 year old daughter who said "Connor's Dad is weird!"

Then we sang "Happy Birthday" and had cake.



Happy Birthday Uncle Jason!