Happy Halloween!

I don't think we've had a better year for Halloween! 60 degrees and sunny all day! The boys had off with me in the afternoon, and we were outside from 2:00 until 6:00. And a good year for Andy to decide that he wanted to be a swimmer! He wore his goggles and oxygen tank for awhile in the afternoon, but by the time we went out trick or treating at 4:30, he was just in his swimmer shirt, swimsuit, "wet suit bottoms (fleece pants), and swimmer shoes. Good enough and he was proud of his swimmer outfit! Jack was happy in is kangaroo costume and slept for most of the trick or treating from 4:30 until 6:00. He got a lot of "how cute!" comments though!

Andy did great - walked for the first 10 houses or so, and then rode in the stroller the rest of the time. He picked out the houses with the lights on to go to, and said "Trick or treat" and "Thank you!" very well. He was a little scared of some of the realistic witch and monster costumes that some adults were wearing. But he loved seeing any dogs at the houses! We filled up his pumpkin - including 4 full size candy bars!! So much candy... We also went to the park this afternoon and played outside for a long time. Jack is now ready for bed, and Andy should be getting off of his sugar high fairly soon, I would think. All in all, a great trick or treating time :)

Andy's a soccer player and Jack's feeling better

Yesterday evening, Andy was outside watching Chris mow the lawn, when our slightly older neighbor boys (7-8 years old I would guess) were playing around. They were very nice to Andy and started playing soccer with him. He was thrilled! They encouraged him and made him feel like he was playing like a super star. Unfortunately, the game ended as I feared it might, with Andy tripping on our concrete driveway and scuffing up his hands. Nothing that a few kisses and an icepack can't fix - and I think Andy was still glad that he played!!
Dribble the ball Andy!

Going for the goal!

Andy loves being close to Jack (sometimes a little too close for Jack's comfort) - here he is helping Jack start the music on his toy

Jack wasn't feeling too hot for a few days. Starting on Sunday afternoon when we got back from our trip, Jack had a little touch of the stomach flu. But now today, he seems to be back to his happy self. His appetite is coming back, and he hasn't thrown up for about 24 hours now. You don't appreciate a healthy, happy baby, until you've got one who can't keep anything down and isn't sleeping as well as normal!

Here's Jack sitting up on his own!

And here he is using only one hand for stability!
I think about 5 seconds after this picture, he started leaning more and more forward until his body was folded in half and his nose was touching the floor. He's so flexible! But he isn't quite able to sit up for extended periods of time yet!
He loves to roll himself from his back to his tummy! He likes to be able see what's going on around him.
Jack knows to smile for the camera now. Whenever he sees it, he just starts grinning and looking at it!
And, at dinner tonight (around 6:45) after Jack had finished his bananas, he literally fell asleep sitting in the high chair. Here he is with some very heavy eyes...

And here's Jack totally asleep, head nodding... don't worry, we changed his diaper, got him into p.j.'s and into his crib within 10 minutes of this picture...

Next post will probably be Halloween - Trick or Treat!! We'll see how it goes :)

Fall 50 Relay

This weekend, Chris and I participated in the Door County Fall 50 Relay Race. It's a run that starts in Gill's Rock and heads all the way down to Sturgeon Bay (50 miles). We had 5 team members: Chris, me, Stacey, Colin, and Eric. Stacey is a good friend of mine from work, Colin is her husband, and Eric is Annie's fiance, Annie being a friend of Chris's from work. So - we put together a 5 person team, split up the miles by how much each person thought they could handle and we all met up on Friday night for dinner. Our team also included Annie (our cheering section and time keeper) Ellie (Stacey's 9 month old daughter), Andy, and Jack.

Saturday morning was race day - starting at 9 - we had 3 vehicles going from one hand-off point to the next. It was a logistical challenge to say the least, but I'd have to say it was a VERY fun and successful day. All 3 kids were fantastic - really no tears at all. We overall as a team ran 8:00 mile average pace, where I think we had submitted an estimate of 9:00 mile pace when entering the race. So we exceeded our own expectations! We were always ready for each hand-off, with the right runner ready to go. Chris ran 3 legs (1,7,10 for a total of 14.4 miles) and I ran a long leg through Peninsula State Park (Leg 4, 7.4 miles) It was a blast! We were done by 3:45 and pigged out at the post-race pizza party. We got race medals - which Andy really enjoyed wearing. In the evening, Stacey and I took Ellie and Andy swimming, which was lots of fun. The weather was pretty good - 40-50 degrees, cloudy, but windy. Unfortunately, we did not get a team photo - the kids were ready to get back to the hotel by the end of the race. We'll get a team photo next year!! The photos I have start at the end of Leg 3 where I joined up with the team. Most of the photos I've got have Andy enjoying each of the hand-off point locations (they were at a lot of park areas). Oh - and Andy REFUSED to wear his hat most of the time - so when you see him in the pics without it, know that we really tried. It wasn't TOO cold outside, and we kept getting back in the van to warm up. They haven't posted the results yet, so we don't know how we did compared to the other mixed relay division teams. There were some crazy, impressive people running the whole 50 miles on their own - or doing a pairs relay. WOW! Maybe that'll be Chris and I some day! Or maybe, Andy, Jack, Chris, and I will run it in about 20 years :)

I think everyone was exhausted that night, so we all went to sleep early. In the morning, Andy and I went swimming again before heading home. Chris unfortanately forgot his swimsuit, but he and Jack got to spend some nice time together while we were at the pool. Andy had some fun taking pictures of us at the hotel and in the car - I probably deleted about 50, but he did get a few lucky good ones! We checked out around 10:45, and by the end of the trip home had 2 sleeping boys in the backseat.

Family Fitness Fest

A week or two ago, K-C held a "Family Fitness Fest" in the evening. The highlight for Andy was that there was a firetruck, police car, and SWAT truck there for the kids to ride in. Andy was excited to ride in all of the vehicles and had lots of fun! He even got to meet a real K9 police dog, named Jess, and McGruff. After we had visited all of the vehicles, we did the 1/2 mile hike around the pond to get tickets for a chance to win prizes. Andy was our Pokey Little Puppy, and was not so happy about this part of the evening. We had also forgotten the stroller, so we got to carry Jack around the entire time in our arms... strollers are a great invention - you realize that when you don't have yours handy. Anyways, Andy got his second wind once we got inside the KC fitness center and he got to run around the gym kicking the big fitness balls around with the other kids! Andy won a cool basketball nightlight which he picked out on his own. Next year, Jack will have lots of fun at this event too!

Hikes in Door County

We had a beautiful fall weekend in Door County with my parents this past weekend. The colors of the trees were very bright this year, and the weather was perfect for hiking. Hiking with a 2.5 year old and a 5 month old may be a challenge but it was well worth it! We went on a nice flat trail on Saturday morning, probably about 2 miles. Before we hiked though, Andy saw Eagle Tower and decided he wanted to climb up it with Grandma and Grandpa. He climbed the whole thing and was fearless! Chris and I stayed down with Jack, but we've seen the view before and it's well worth the climb. On Sunday we went on a slightly hillier trail. Jack was perfect - didn't cry once and fell asleep on both hikes in the stroller. Andy alternated between wanting to sit in the stroller, wanting to run ahead of people, and wanting to be carried. A typical 2 and a half year old, I would guess. All in all, I think he had fun. Chris had the hard job of pushing the stroller over some pretty big roots and hills. And Andy got his Grandpa Graham to carry him for quite a bit of the second hike! Chris and I also got to go out on the trails on Saturday for a long run together which was very fun. Andy had fun playing with Buzz Lightyear and his Bumbleebee Transformer toys. And, of course, the jumperoo came along with us, which Jack of course enjoyed. Jack had a new world-record night of sleep, sleeping straight from 8:30pm to 7:00 am. awesome. We had a nice quiet Sunday, which included a long nap for Jack and I! Thanks for the fun weekend, mom and dad!

Birthday Weekend for Chris!

We started out this weekend right by celebrating Chris's birthday a little early(yes, the big 30!) I took a half day from work so that we could buy gifts, get the cake, and pick up dinner to have it ready by the time Chris got home. The boys got Chris a cozy pair of adidas sweat pants and I'm giving him an iPod. We had very yummy Thai food (which Andy actually ate some of) and a Chocolate Extreme Dairy Queen Cake.

On Saturday, Brad, Karissa, and Teddy came up to visit and we had so much fun! We had lunch together, played a board game, played some croquet since it was so nice outside (Brad had a great victory), and went for a walk to the park. We had such a good time that I forgot to take any pictures. Oops... Brad and Karissa headed back home - but Andy gave some big good bye hugs and an "I love you" for both Brad and Karissa. Next was pumpkin carving with Andy, while Jack and Chris watched the Badger game. Andy picked out his pumpkin to carve, but I got to do all of the hard work (he didn't want to touch the goopy insides) But once we started on the face, he found his plastic knife and pizza cutter and tried to help me out. We were happy with the face we put on him, and took him outside to light him up. Andy was saying "I've never done THIS before!"

I've tried to take lots of pictures of Jack this weekend because he is growing up so quickly!! He's looking older, is sitting up really well in his high chair and is getting sturdier trying to sit on his own. He rolls whenever he wants to now, and really starts laughing easily anytime you try to make him laugh. He now eats peas, bananas, green beans, applesauce, and sweet potatoes. The green beans make him gag a little bit and he loves the bananas best. Jack even slept better last night, sleeping about 8 hours in one stretch. Jack loves being pushed around in his stroller when he is sitting upright - he rarely gets fussy because he has so much to look at.

Cuff's Pumpkin Farm - Grandma Reinsel and Aunt Sarah visiting!

We had a great day today. Grandma Reinsel and Aunt Sarah came to visit. Aunt Sarah is from Colorado so this is the first time that Jack had gotten to meet her, and it had been awhile since Andy saw Sarah too. It was a pretty nice fall day, a little cloudy but not too cool, so we decided to try out Cuff's pumpkin farm. It was fantastic - we would highly recommend it to anyone with kids age 2 and older. Jack did fine there too, but I wouldn't say that he got a lot out of it.

We started with a tractor ride on a hay wagon out to the pumpkin patches. We each got to pick out: 1 pumpkin (huge!), 1 mini pumpkin, 1 bumpy gourd, and 2 pieces of Indian Corn. (all that for 6$/person - not bad at all) We selected our pumpkins and they are all gigantic - it's going to be a lot of work to gut them so that we can carve some cool faces. Andy liked to see the pumpkins that were green and still growing. The nice farmer let Andy get all the way up in the tractor and pretend to drive it, which was awesome. With our big haul all loaded up onto the tractor, we headed back. Jack slept pretty much through all of that - the bumpy tractor ride was pretty soothing to him.

Next, Andy climbed up into a play tractor and drove that for awhile. He would have been on it even longer but we convinced him to try the hay bale slide. That was a HUGE hit - you can see the pictures for evidence. Then we tried out the corn maze where Andy led the way until he got a little tired and I carried him out. To his benefit, it was a pretty long corn maze. Lastly, Andy rode on the little four-wheeler train with me which was very fun. We got going pretty fast up and down some little hills, but he wasn't scared at all. Finish it off with a little bit of halloween candy, a trip to the barn to see the bunnies and kitten, and we had 1 happy 2 year old. Andy was then ready to go home and so was Jack - they were both getting hungry. I fed Jack a bottle on the way home and Andy had a snack. We thought they would both fall asleep, but only Jack did. Andy was too wired with his Aunt Sarah and Grandma visiting!

We had a fun afternoon at home - Chris and I both went for a long run separately (in the rain, but we felt tough, like in a Nike commercial), we ate a big lasagna dinner, and Andy showed Sarah his dancing skills. Sarah got to bond with Jack while I was cooking dinner, and she wasn't at all put off by how heavy he is to hold! Andy is now finishing the night by playing with Grandma for a little while, and he should be crashing soon, ready for bed.

Aunt Sarah and Grandma Reinsel will be here tomorrow with the boys too, so they get a vacation day from school - yeah! Enjoy the slide show!!

Hats and Coats and Blankets, oh my!

It seems like all of a sudden, autumn is here in full force. We spent some time outside today - Andy playing with his soccer ball and frisbee, getting pushed on his bike around the circle, and later going for a wagon ride with daddy. Jack spent some time bundled up in the jogger stroller and enjoyed the fresh air. Here's a couple of first pics of the boys in their winter hats!


Grandma Graham came up for a day this week to see the boys before she left on vacation. Andy and Jack had lots of fun as you will see. They had school pictures, which is why they were dressed a little nicer than usual!

Goofy face!
Grandma Graham and Jack
Grandma Graham and Andy with his new Halloween flashlight.
Jack in his handsome sweater

He was all smiles for his school pictures (Andy was a little more challenging)
Sitting in the high chair so well!