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!

Moving Moving Moving

We're spending most (all) of our time preparing for the move. We were fortunate to get a contract on our house a couple of weeks ago. What a relief! The people who are buying it are really nice, and they have bought a ton of furniture, toys, etc. from us as well. We are working hard to sort out what will go into storage and what will be moved to the apartment. We are also having a continuous garage sale. Whenever anyone comes over, we make them walk through the garage to see if they can find any treasures! Callie is moving steadily toward age two. Although she is not quite there chronologically, she is there emotionally. She has to do EVERYTHING herself. Don't bother trying to pick up a cup for her, she'll grab it out of your hand and put it down and then pick it back up herself.

1st Day of School-sort of

Connor's first day of school was August 20th, or so I thought. I talked up the first day, and Connor was really excited. We got up nice and early on Monday to get him there by 7:30. We all walked in together and found . . . no one was there! It turns out that although most of the school started on Monday, Connor's classroom didn't start until Wednesday. He was a very disappointed boy. He was really ready to go by the time Wednesday rolled around. He is in a new classroom this year, and has been doing really well.

Wisconsin Vacation

At the beginning of August, we spent 2 weeks in Wisconsin. It was kind of a working vacation, because we were trying to find a rental property while we were there. We spent the first part of the trip with Grandma Williams at Lake Redstone. The kids had a great time going for boat rides and playing with their cousins Grant and Logan. Callie and "Gamma" painted nails together. We also celebrated Jason's 36th birthday.

The rest of our vacation was spend with Grandma and Grandpa Ritzenthaler. We took a fun boatride with Uncle Trent. We spent some time at Pattie & Mike's pool, where Callie smartly answered "Aunt Pattie" when faced with the question "Who do you like better? Aunt Pattie or Mommy/Daddy/Grandma/the postman, etc." Grandpa took us to the circus. Connor was chosen to play a tiger in the kid's circus. Connor and I got to take an elephant ride. We also had a birthday party for Grandpa.

Check out our fun pictures!