Happy Halloween!

Last year it took me 2 weeks until I posted about Halloween so I'm considering posting today about Halloween a huge success :)

 

Winni had school that morning and had a wonderful little " Silly Hat Parade" and I had the best time ever with her! Even  though the second I get to her school she becomes so clingy to me ( which I may secretly love :) and I will post about that more later but after school we stopped by this little pumpkin patch on the way to Grandma's house and got a pumpkin to carve. I know nothing like waiting til the last second but honestly we werent going to get one but I figured why not and that we would probably have some fun with it which we did!

 

Once we made our pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern and put a candle in it Winni found it necessary to sing Happy Birthday to the pumpkin because there was a candle! I seriously love how her little mind works! Candle equals birthday !

 

And yes this is her costume reveal SUPER WOMAN!

 

Ya no what I loved most about Winni's costume this year was it all tough...No frills or fluff or anything she straight up was happy being superman! We had her another costume ( we got her 2 costumes for $10 and both will be held onto for Tyson to wear in the coming years) but she chose to wear this one and I just loved it!

 

She embraced the SUPERWOMAN she was!

 

 

She "flew" around all night!

 

 

And of course the 2 best babies in the world together!

 

 

Can't tell what Tyson was from this picture?

 

Still confused?

 

Maybe this little picture of another sweet little baby in this same costume 2 years prior will remind you :)

 

Winni Halloween 2010

Yup you guessed it an octopus!

 

The kids had such a great time trick or treating door to door! My dad and some friends came along with us while my mom and step dad stayed home and passed out candy . We didn't keep Ty with us the whole time because it was getting late and cold but Winni just loved knocking on all the doors and getting candy and she was so sweet saying thank you and everything! I seriously am just loving the little girl she is becoming!

 

Getting a family picture is always a fun challenge these days!

 

Yup that was the best we got :) But I love it ! Its who we are and what we are at this time in life and I wouldn't have it any other way!

 

I can safely say Halloween 2012 was a blast! Can't wait to see what 2013 brings!



Pumpkin Patch

With temperature in our area still in the 80's and 90's seems we've just been waiting and waiting to go to a pumpkin patch. Well this week temps were a tad bit cooler so we decided to go mid week ( less crowds and cheaper) with some friends and we had a wonderful time!

Not that this is the best picture but its one of the few of my babes actually together 

 

 

I love this one pumpkin patch about 10 miles from us and during the week its only $3 to  get in but man do they get ya with the tickets! Everything is 3-5 tickets and each ticket is a $1 ! Its insanity and I don't know how people do it with more than one kid.Tyson still obviously could care less about  rides and what not but when he does these kind of things are going to get harder and harder!

 

Anywho we all got to enjoy the petting zoo !  Tyson thought this chicken was pretty awesome

 

Except when it got a little to close and wanted to peck his buttons

 

 

We went into the corn maze and as expected got insanely lost and found dead end after dead end

 

We enjoyed wagon rides with snacks

 

And a special ride on the cow train

 

And my princess of course couldn't wait to ride the horsey

 

They had an awesomely built wooden train that Winni absolutely loved playing on!

 

And I just had to get some fun shots of my handsome little guy

 

Are you dying of cuteness or what?!?

 

Tried to get a sweet one of them together but yeah that never seems to work out but this one ispretty darn adorable with Winni giving her brother a sweet kiss , even if he was crying and trying to wiggle out of her arms :)

 

I am so glad we went the day we did because within 24 hours the weather was back up in the 80's and well this is the last weekend of the pumpkin patch since Halloween is on wednesday!

 

Already thinking of our trip next year and hoping we can be in some scarves and boots :)



Wisconsin

To be entirely honest its been a good month since we left for our {somewhat} annual trip to Wisconsin. I dont remember as many of the details as I would like but the first thing I remember is thinking " I will never do this again!" This being travel with a 1 and 3 year old. 3 year old was perfection, 1 year old ... well lets just say not so much. Thankfully despite our hardships we weren't " those people" with the screaming crying inconsolable child ( this time ) even though it felt like it. We had two 2 hour flights with very short layovers in between but I don't think our 1 year old sat still or was content for any more than 2 minutes at a time. It was some rough traveling thats for sure! I am so thankful Winni was so awesome traveling but we def won't be taking a family of 4 trip again on an airplane til the kiddies are MUCH older!

 

So anywho we made it to Wisconsin late at night and got all settled. We had to do the rooms a little mixed up so Winni and I slept together in a room downstairs where it was nice and quiet ( and worked our wonderful she sletp well past 10 most mornings) and Tyson and Daddy slept upstairs.

 

Our first big thing we did in Wisconsin was go to the Milwaukee zoo with some family! We got to meet baby Lily for the first time which I am pretty sure was the highlight of Winni's trip and we got to see Aunt Carole which we don't always get to do in Wisconsin! And an extra added bonus the Milwaukee zoo was amazing! By far the best zoo I have ever been too! 

 

Posing with the baby monkey

 

 

Watching the elephants with Aunt Carole

 

My little man!

 

She is my little animal lover with no fear!

 

We were so lucky we happened to run into many many feeding time while at the zoo. We saw the fish and sharks ( smaller ones) getting fed, we got to watched the tigers eat and we saw the elephants getting fed.

 

 

The next day we headed for the Great Wolf Lodge at Wisconsin Dells! The last 3 years Greg's Mom and Dad have so graciously hosted a family trip ( for all 6 kids and 9 nieces and nephews with one more on the way) and last year we had plans to go but with Tyson surprising us with his arrival 2 weeks before we were set to go, we didn't make it so it was extra wonderful to be back this time with Winni now as a 3 year old and our son!

 

For comparison sake here is Winni from our first trip to the Dells in 2010 and now

 

 

Same spot , same sweet baby girl just all grown up now!

 

And now a picture of Tyson in that same spot

 

 

Yup this boy would seriously just crawl right on in not even noticing he was under water! He was too funny and wouldn't sit still for 2 seconds ( as usual)

 

I had a hard time balacing crazy photographer mommy and be in the moment mommy. I only brought my camera down to the water one day because it almost seemed more of a hassle than anything and even though I dont have many of the actual photos of all the smiles from my babies I was blessed to embed them in my heart and even though being at the water park was a lot of work it was worth every second watching them smile!

 

And I of course did get some pictures :)

 

 

 

As you can see the kids had an amazing time and absoluetly LOVED the waterpark!

 

We also just loved being at the Dells and every year we love to go to a local deer park!

 

Tyson looks frightened here but he really wasn't. In fact he had a pretty great time! I was most worried about him being eye level with the deer and all but he loved it and reached out constantly for them

 

 

And my little animal whisperer of course loved it

 

The deer food was pretty much like a triscut so Greg the kids kept eating our deer food. Winni was sitting on Daddy's shoulders and realized how many crumbs she could make on Daddy's head. It was pretty hilarious .

 

One of the best things we did in the Dells was get a HUGE family photo! Its not often the whole family gets together so its always so important to get these rare photos of everyone. Yet " everyone" is a loose term. The first one the family did Greg's sister was pregnant with baby #4, last year we didn't end up making it and there was another bun in the oven with Uncle Tom and Ashley, and this year we all got a surprise that there was yet another bun in the oven from Uncle Doc and Mork! Don't know if we will ever get a complete family photo but I love that the family keeps growing!

 

 

After a few days in the Dells we headed back to Greg's parents house for the last day of our trip which we spent relaxing with Grandma and Grandpa

 

 

and playing at a local park

 

And spent a little time on the four wheeler

 

 

 

All in all we truly had a wonderful trip. Ty slept some of the way home ( although you still couldnt pay me a million dollars to do any of those flights again) I'm def glad we made the journey to be with family and I just have to close this post with this picture that seemed to capture the chaos of the majority of our trip :)

 

 

 

 

 

 



Preschool Love

This sweet little love of mine is officially a preschooler!

 

 

Doesn't this picture ( above) melt your heart!

 

When I first tried getting some poses this is what I got :)

 

 

 I am so happy to say Winni has been doing so awesome at preschool! We have had some talks about sharing and what not but everyday she is so happy to go to school and she tells me every day when I pick her up what a great day she had! In fact she likes to use the words " amazing, marvelous and awesome" when describing her day at school.

 

 

I am so thakful she has an amazing teacher and Winni talks about her constantly. " I'm gonna show Mrs. B my toy" " I'm gonna show Mrs. B my finger nails" and on and on and on. Mrs. B is the best teacher I could ask for for Winni!

 

 

Winni has learned to identify her name, sing lots of songs, knows her Pledge of Allegiance, and tells me how Jesus lives in her heart! ( And in the sky and how bugs live there with Jesus too)

 

Here she is doing the Pledge of Allegiance

 

 

 

 I have also met some wonderful mama's at Winni's new school and everything thus far is just perfect! Winni even has her first performancr at church next Sunday and I am beyond thrilld to watch her! Pretty sure I will shed a tear or two :)

 

Thank you Lord for a wonderful school where Winni can grow and learn about You!



Birthday Part 2

Um holy blog vacaction right?!?

 

I seriously can't express the insanity of the last month...good bad ugly and yet oh so beautiful with my family by my side! So anywho to finish up some birthday party fun!

 

I was smart this year ( kinda ) to get some family photos before the party started since once it starts I always forget!

 

With Grandma and Papa

 

 

Tyson and Papa

 

Cake time! We didnt even light Tyson's candle since I made the mistake at Winni's first birthday of looking away for 0.2 second and she touched the flame in front of everyone and I won worst mama ever award so...the boy got no flame

 

I love her sweet little smile

 

Family!

 

Love the chaos that is our life currently

 

One of my favorites of the day! He had no problems or reservations getting into his cupcake

 

The eyes that melt your heart!

 

This girl loves her Daddy!

 

Tyson and his BFF Gavin

 

The only kind of dog we will be having for the next 5 years or so

 

Family!

 

We were so thankful our friends drove 3 hours just to come celebrate the kids birthday with us! Winni and Isabel are best of friends and I love watching their friendship grow!

 

Tyson look slike a total goof but its our family !

 

We tend to keep the birthday parties to our closest friends and immediate family and we still end up with around 35 people or so. I love keeping them somewhat smaller and intimate and really getting to enjoy our babies and our family and friends. We are so thankful to each person who came to celebrate the sweet amazing miracles our babies are !