Uncle Jason's present

Uncle Jason sent Connor a package on his birthday. He was so excited to see something with his name on it by the mailbox.

Of course, it included a Spiderman card.

And, a remote control tarantula. Doesn't every 5 year old boy need one of those?

Thanks Uncle Jason!!

Connor's Day-Before-Birthday Party

We also celebrated the day before Connor's birthday with Grandpa Fred and Edie. This little cake that I bought at Copps was actually the best cake of all the parties. I even dropped it unside-down in the parking lot and it was still great!

Connor's School Birthday

Connor had a pizza party at school for his birthday.
They kids enjoyed it, and Callie thought she was part of the class. She was so sad when we left! She is definitely missing her mother's morning out friends.

This reminds me of Steve Martin's "wild and crazy guy" This is Connor signature "silly pose" which you probably recognize from other pictures.

Winter Weather

For all you South Carolina friends, this is what your kids would look like in winter clothes.

They look a little too excited--don't you think?

Oh Collin - Where for art thou?

We are missing Collin Smith right now! I took the kids to get Christmas pictures and to attempt to get a picture of them together in regular clothes. Even

though we had an appointment right when they opened, we somehow ended up waiting 25 minutes, which is an eternity to a 2 year old. When I made the appointment, I told them I had a clothes change and that I needed a bunch of different shots. I even suggested to do two appointments, but they insisted they could do it all at once. So, when we got into the studio space, the girl says "we have to hurry, other people are waiting" ?!?!?!?!?!?! Umm, luckily I don't have tourettes. They she tells the kids to pose a certain way. She didn't actually help them pose, she just says "stand this way and look over there". That doesn't really work with a 2 year old. She didn't even try to engage the kids. She just kept saying to me "you need to keep them still" Seriously! No funny noises, or anything. Finally, I told Callie to sing "twinkle, twinkle" and she brightened up a little. We did get a cute shot of Connor and an okay one for our Christmas card. The one of them together happened when they started playing, not in the "special pose" they were supposed to be doing. Collin does such a great job of capturing them doing their own thing, instead of making them sit a certain way with a fake smile. We miss you Collin!

Grandma turns 85

I have the best grandma in the whole wide world. She is super fun and we always have a great time when she is around. She is truly the glue of our family. For her 85th birthday, our entire extended family took a trip to the mountains of Virginia to celebrate. There were 20 family members from Wisconsin and 20 family members from Florida who made the trip. Unfortunately, Jason wasn't able to come since he just started his job. So, the kids and I met the Wisconsin group at the airport and headed to Virginia. Everyone was really helpful, but it was a long day of travelling. On Grandma's birthday, we took a short drive into the Blueridge Mountains and had a nice picnic. It was cold, but the sun was out and the kids loved playing in the leaves. We attempted to hike to a waterfall, but about half-way there we decided it was too far and turned around.

Later that night we all got together for a birthday dinner. My Dad prepared a slide show with lots of old pictures of my Grandma and details of her family history. She is actually my Mom's mother, but she has always been close to my Dad, and she considers him like her son. We all shared our favorite Grandma memories, and a few tears were shed. She is just adored by all!

The next night we had a "cousins night" with all my cousins. Here we are standing oldest to youngest. Unfortunately, I am on the old side. And apparently an amazon too. My brother Jason kindly whittled pencils for us to play a game, since we didn't have a pencil sharpener. He is so talented!

Kellie and Jason realized they are the only two people in the family with cleft chins, affectionately known as "butt chins"

Since my kids were one parent short, they took every opportunity to get away with stuff. Here's Callie eating Doritos in bed.

It was a trip I will always remember

Happy Halloween!

The kids had a good time trick-or-treating. We took them to Baraboo to visit Grandma Crystal at work, and then to visit Grandpa at work too. Then we took them around the square to collect their goodies. It was fun because we ran into some people we went to high school with and got to see their kids. Of course, not as fun as the gigantic South Carolina party! We miss you guys!

It was kind of windy for our little cheerleader.