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.

Callie's First Day of Preschool

Callie had her first day of preschool today. She will be going from 9 - 11:45 on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. On Fridays, I am going to help with the kids who stay for lunch. She loves her teacher, Debbie, and made friends right away. I know she will have a great time.

Connor's First Day of Kindergarten

Connor is officially a kindergartener.
















He pushed his sister in her stroller on the way to school.












Here's Connor's teacher, Mrs. Turner, getting the kids ready to go in. There were lots of Mommy's and Daddy's there to video and take pictures.



























This is Connor on the second day of kindergarten. Apparently he became cool overnight.

One-Armed Callie

So, here's the story. Late Friday afternoon, we got a package from UPS. It had some stuff I ordered for Connor's fish tank in it, including some "Feng Shui pebbles"--if you know Connor, you'll know why he wanted them. Anyway, we had to rinse them off, and then let them dry before we put them into the tank. While they were drying, I decided to be a nice wife and make a dessert that Jason likes. Meanwhile, Callie went upstairs, threw some of the pebbles into the fish tank, and then fell off Connor's bed. She came downstairs crying and saying her arm hurt. I thought she fell off her bed, which wouldn't be much of a fall, so I didn't worry too much. But, she kept crying and complaining about her arm. When Jason got home, he thought we needed to take her into the ER for x-rays. 5 hours later, we were back home with a diagnosis of a fractured elbow. She had a splint on for the weekend, and got her beautiful pink cast today. That means no sandbox, no swimming, no bathing, NO FUN. The only good part is that it matches all of her clothes! We are hoping she will only need the cast for a short time--we go in again Friday for a follow-up.

Moral of the story: Don't try to be a nice wife. Your kids will end up with broken bones.

Finally Moved In!

I'm a bad, bad blogger. But, I have a good excuse. We are finally moved into our new house! The main living spaces are cleared of boxes, but the basement is a total disaster. We've decided that will be our "winter project." We're very happy with how the house turned out, and we have vowed to never move again. Here are a couple of pictures--notice how Connor appears in all of them!

















Dining Room - It's hard to tell without a table! That is really the only major piece of furniture we need to buy.












Family Room















Master Bedroom

Summer Fun

The kids have been busy at summer school. They go together, three mornings a week. Here they are on their first day with their new backpacks. Callie was so excited to finally be in school again. She loves that Connor is there with her "to keep her safe".











Jason and Connor went fishing one morning a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, they didn't catch anything. Connor has had good luck out at Lake Redstone though.










We spent 4 nights at Jellystone in Warrens, WI. Callie modeled her camping fashions.












She also liked to sit in her double-decker chair and watch the camp fire.












Last weekend, Connor lost his first tooth! We were at Lake Redstone, visiting with Grandma and Aunt Jenny decided it was time for that tooth to come out. All of the Grandkids have lost teeth that the Lake, so it was fun to continue the tradition. Connor got a generous gift from the tooth fairy, and he had a ball at the Dollar Store spending it.