Jack and Emily - Video

After Andy sang his song, Jack had to record one too. Here's a Jack original, all about Mosquitos. (I have no idea why!) And Emily showed off some of her own tricks afterwards. It gets a little crazy at the end, but I don't have movie editing software, so we're stuck with it.

Nature Preserve visit

We went to Heckrodt Nature Preserve yesterday morning, and the kids had so much fun, we were there for over 2 hours. Jack had fun playing with his friend Tyler, and Emily really liked seeing the animals this time. We hadn't been there in awhile, and even though we only did inside activities, they still had a blast. We had the whole place to ourselves too - pretty awesome :) Jack loved the snake this time - he was moving all over the place. Emily liked watching the turtles swim.

Working on a puzzle

Playing with beanbags

Checking out the turtles

Enjoying her view from above

Andy Sings!

Most people that know Andy, know that he has never really loved singing songs, especially at school. I was shocked when he was singing songs from school on Monday night - he's very excited for his upcoming concert in March. Here's a little preview :)

Indoor Waterpark Fun!

We just had a great weekend! On Friday night we watched Kung Fu Panda 2 at home and then all crashed pretty early after a busy week. On Saturday, we started off the day with Andy's indoor soccer game, and at 1:00 Andy went to his friend Ethan's birthday party. Then, my parents came up to visit us. They got a hotel room nearby, and we went swimming in the attached water park. All of the kids (and adults) had so much fun. Emily enjoyed the water the entire time and did really well. She was so brave - going down the slide, getting her hair wet, and exploring the water areas. Jack and Andy LOVED all three of the slides. They were the perfect slides for their ages. Fast enough to be exciting but small enough to go down by themselves. We went out to Noodles for dinner after swimming, and then the boys got to sleep in the hotel room with Grandma and Grandpa. They had their own room that had 2 sets of bunk beds. As Andy said when he first saw them, "This day just can't get any better!!!!" Emily enjoyed a night of being the only child and had fun watching some tv with us on Saturday night at home. She was crawling all over us on the couch and stayed up late! Jack and Andy came home on Sunday morning and we played all day. A sad Packers lost ended the fun weekend - but oh well. We will definitely be going back to this hotel/waterpark again!

Early January 2012

Finally getting caught up on these posts! We enjoyed some snow over New Year's weekend and made the most of it. Everyone got outside, including Emily. (she actually lasted much longer than Jack did out there and was loving the snow) Chris was pulling the kids in the circle on the saucer. It was pretty icy, slick snow so they were really moving. Andy loved going fast and in circles. Emily got a much gentler ride :) The first few pictures of the kids are them just being goofy together. (yes, Emily is wearing Jack's underwear around her neck. She loves to put anything on herself - necklaces, scarves, capes, and even underwear work too!) All of the kids can fit on Emmie's new beanbag chair. The boys have enjoyed playing with their new nano-bots - little robot bugs that race around. We had a great New Year's - we had friends over for pizza and board games, while our 5 kids 5 and under played really well for hours. They were up until 11:00 having so much fun!

I haven't taken many pictures in the first couple of weeks of January. We've been busy getting back into the routine here. Andy will be done with his second quarter of school next week - it's flown by! He's been doing indoor soccer and will start up Karate in February. We've all been enjoying our new YMCA membership and have been swimming once a week. Last weekend the boys each went down the big water slide about 5 times each! They also love the Gymnastics Center at a different Y - Jack and Emily went there a couple of times last week and had so much fun, although Jack did say it's more fun when Andy can come with him :( I just had my first spin class this morning at 6 am. Besides having to wake up super early, it was awesome and I'm looking forward to doing something other than running on the treadmill this winter. We got more snow yesterday, and both of the boys were outside for most of the time while Chris shoveled. He's happy to have the helpers! Chris has travel for work coming up for a few days at the end of January. He hasn't had to travel anywhere for awhile - at least he gets to go to Atlanta where it might be a bit warmer! We're excited that it's the weekend now :) Happy 2012!!

Christmas 2011- In Madison and Delafield

We had a wonderful Christmas vacation, enjoying every minute of it! It's taken me a couple of weeks to get up the motivation to go through the hundreds of pictures that we accumulated over the holidays. So many cute ones :) On Andy's last day of school before Christmas, he had a fun holiday party that I got to help out with. Chris got off work that day so he was able to watch Jack and Emily. Andy's class had snacks, made a craft, exchanged books and played a game. Right after getting home from school, we hit the road and drove to Madison. We were so lucky to have clear roads for the driving, although it would have been nice to have a white Christmas.

In Madison, we spent time with Grandma Reinsel, Sarah, and Aaron. We enjoyed going to the zoo and playing on the playground there on Christmas Eve Day - one of the benefits to not having snow! We had some great meals, played cards, opened some awesome presents, put together a massive lego set, and just enjoyed relaxing. As a bonus, all the kids slept great - which makes for us sleeping great too :) They had so much fun playing each day that they wore themselves out! It was so nice to spend some time with Sarah and Aaron - we hadn't seen them since their wedding in May in Colorado.

In Delafield, right when we got there on Christmas Day, we had our big family get together. I enjoyed meeting my cousin Lisa and Joe's baby Kimberly for the first time. She is so sweet and seemed so small! The kids had fun all playing together and it was nice to visit with everyone. Throughout the time in Delafield, our kids got to see BOTH sets of Great Grandparents this Christmas, which is so special! We enjoyed all the time visiting with family, playing board games with Brad, Karissa, Ryan and Marianne, going to the YMCA for swimming and rock climbing (awesome), Andy riding his Sparks scooter outside, and of course, exchanging more wonderful presents.

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.... it was a very memorable, special Christmas!