The Reinsel Family

Emily had her first soccer tournament with her new team, the Toros. She played side midfield and side defense. Although they lost their 3 games, they really fought hard and learned a lot. In their best game they lost 1-2 against a top-tier team from Green Bay. We are looking forward to seeing the team grow together this season! Emily has some really nice friends on the team. They practice 2-3 times per week. Their next game is September 11!

Andy marched in the first football game of the season on Thursday and then in a parade today. The end of the parade was a mad dash to the busses as it started to pour! Although he was not really excited about playing the clarinet in middle school, he loves band in high school. Their theme this year is 2000’s British pop songs (like One Direction, That’s what makes you Beautiful, and Cold play’s Viva la Vida).

All of the kids are running cross country this fall. Jack is extremely into it and is looking to be very competitive this year, Andy is mainly doing it to be active and have fun with friends, and Emily is doing it to gain endurance for soccer (she hates running just to run). Jack joined in Andy’s first 2 mile “fun” race at their home course and totally held his own with the high schoolers (funny story - He heard people yelling Go Jack!! the whole race and was feeling pretty special - until Andy told him there was a sophomore running right behind him who was also named Jack. Haha.)

School starts Wednesday! Emily gets a haircut tomorrow (it’s been over a year!) and we are doing one last fun day at a beach on Tuesday.

Merry Christmas!
Thanks to those family and friends who are visiting the blog to see what we have been up to this past year! We hope you are having a wonderful holiday season so far. 2014 was our first full year in Muskego, WI. We are continuing to get to know the area and have definitely kept ourselves busy! Our kids are getting bigger way too fast, and we are trying to enjoy every moment. Andy is now in third grade. Andy is really liking science and math (and reading is still his favorite) He was on a soccer team this fall, which will start up again in the spring. He scored a goal this season! Jack is in the first grade and is also doing really well. His class only has 18 kids! Math is by far his favorite subject, but he has a few favorite books that he thinks are funny (the Fly Guy series). He continues to love all things related to Super Mario. Emily is in the 4K class this year and goes to school every morning for 3 hours. I drive her to school and then she takes the bus home. She really is enjoying school and loves her teacher. I think she loves drawing and just playing with her friends the most. She has gone on two field trips already.

JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2014
Wow, it's hard to remember almost a year ago to what we did in January! We basically were getting back into the school routine after break. The boys had a great time celebrating friends Ethan and Tyler's birthdays and seeing The Lego Movie for the first time. Andy and Jack had fun at the Country Springs Water Park for a school event. And Emily enjoyed a rare afternoon playing outside in the snow in February (As many of you will remember, last year was snowy but SO cold!) A couple of "cold" days off of school were also enjoyed by the kids!

MARCH 2014
In March, we had a couple more exciting things going on. We enjoyed our first family Bucks game; filled with trampoline stunts, dance teams, a circus act, stuffed animals dropping from the ceiling, a live concert at the end, and of course some basket ball too! (we won tickets in a raffle at the kids' school!) We took a trip to Minneapolis to visit cousins Ben and Elizabeth and got to meet Tinkerbell, their puppy. Andy went on a school field trip to the museum, and Jack and Emily performed an awesome Dancing with the Stars routine in our living room. (check out the video below!) At the end of the month, thanks to Chris and my dad, I got to take an amazing warm weather vacation with my mom. Lots of time spent sitting by the pool reading - perfect!

Enjoying the Bucks game

Emily's face when she didn't win one of the stuffed animals that parachuted from the ceiling... (she got over it soon enough!)

Enjoying time with cousins (While us parents got to play some board games!)

At the museum, in the butterfly exhibit

Ah! Vacation!

Jack and Emily's Dance (please excuse the messy living room!) Enjoy the show!

APRIL 2014
In April, the snow was finally gone and we were able to get outside a bit. We celebrated Andy's birthday on the 13th and had a fun Lego party with all of the boys from his class. (12 boys at our house was pretty crazy!). Emily had her first preschool field trip to a gymnastics facility and she got to see a bunny at her class Easter party. Jack lost his FIRST tooth ever! And we went on a great family field trip to Kentucky to visit Mammoth Cave, stopping at Indianapolis Children's Museum on the way there and visiting with my cousin Meghan and her family in Louisville on the way back. We celebrated both of the boys' birthdays with family at the end of the month.

MAY 2014
May was filled with soccer games for Andy, a half marathon up in Door County for Chris and I, a birthday party at a gymnastics center for Jack with the boys from his class, and our first trip of the season to Six Flags. I had a really nice Mother's Day celebration at my Grandma's house. Jack's birthday landed on Mother's Day for the first time since he was born. He likes to remind me what an awesome Mother's Day gift he is. :) The excitement was building for getting done with school for the year and we were already making plans for the summer.

Here is Emily singing a special Mother's Day song she learned at school...

Enjoying a nice day in Madison

JUNE 2014
June marked the end of the school year for the kids (2nd, Kindergarten, and 3K). We were so ready for summer! I completed the Trek 100 with my dad and brothers in early June. The weather was great for that! We took a trip up to Neenah to visit friends, and did so many fun things in the few days we were there (Neenah Fun Run, Neenah Pool, strawberry picking, and visiting a lot of parks) We had our first trip up to Door County with Grandma and Grandpa Graham. One of our favorite places to visit! Chris went on his annual Colorado hiking trip with his good friend Jim. Despite sustaining a foot injury, he still had a fun time. The kids also went to their first Brewer game in June. They loved the fireworks at the game.

JULY 2014
Over the Fourth of July we went on our first 3-night camping trip with the kids. We went to Pike Lake State Park, with our wonderful friends, the Meylink family. We all had an awesome time hiking, boating, swimming, playing BANG!, and enjoying time by the fire. All the boys even slept in their own tent! They played with Sparklers, ate pancakes in the morning, and just had adventures in the woods. The boys took a couple of fun summer school classes. Both boys did an Eco-Art class, Jack did Gym, and Andy did a Read and Write all about it class. It was about 2 hours of class, split up by a half an hour of recess on the playground. It was great for us to have a bit of routine and to get to see some friends. Also in July, we were visited by Aunt Sarah and Grandma Reinsel. We went to a great Hot Air Balloon Festival with them in Waterford. It was so cool to see the balloons light up at night. We also introduced them to our favorite Thai restaurant in town. We went to the Milwaukee Zoo, where Jack got to pet a sting ray! I played in a women's tennis league over the summer and was undefeated. Chris had his one-year anniversary at his new job at S.C. Johnson. The work is going well, and in the summer they have half day Fridays, which we all love to have Chris at home for longer weekends!

A cool new splashpad we found in Wauwatosa

Riding on the hotdog behind the boat

AUGUST 2014

Our last month of summer was a busy one. We went to Chris' work company picnic where the kids loved winning tons of prizes and eating yummy food. We also went to the Racine Zoo with his work group. They had a lot of different animals, and Emily got to feed some parakeets. We took another fun trip to Door County in August, this time getting to visit with cousins Ben and Elizabeth too. Emily and Elizabeth had an awesome princess birthday party at our house to celebrate their fourth and third birthdays respectively.

Hiking one of our favorite trails in Peninsula State Park - the Eagle Bluff

SEPTEMBER 2014

The start of the school year! Andy is now in third grade, Jack in first, and Emily in 4K. In September, I took a trip to Door County to ride in another century with my dad and Brad. It was a beautiful ride! The kids adjusted really well to school. In September, they were all playing soccer. Andy with a new U9 team, and Emily and Jack in a park & rec classes. Emily also began her ballet class that she does once per week. We had a fun weekend trip to Madison where the kids ran in a Zoo Run and we all went to see the UW Badger Volleyball game. Chris enjoyed UW football games with his mom.

Andy had a lot of fun at a special indoor game during his fall season

OCTOBER 2014

In October, the kids participated in the one mile Dragon Dash run at school, which I co-chaired planning. It went great! We also were so excited to meet our new nephew Milo, Jude's baby brother. We went to the pumpkin patch in Hortonville that we have gone to every year since Jack has been born. Also in October, we got to visit with Great Grandma and Grandpa Graham from Kansas. That was so nice! And of course, Halloween is the highlight of October for the kids. I think they dressed up on 4 separate occasions - for trick or treating and Halloween parties. They got a ton of candy, of course. We also took an overnight trip to downtown Chicago and visited the aquarium and Museum of Science and Industry.

NOVEMBER 2014

In November, we went to Disney World in Orlando with Grandma and Grandpa Graham, Ryan, Marianne, Ben and Elizabeth. It was 5 days of solid fun at all of the parks. We all had such a great time! Marianne and I even ran in a half marathon at 11 o'clock at night (in the rain and dark) I would never have done it alone, but it was a great accomplishment and am so glad we ran it together! Jack's favorite ride was the Everest roller coaster at Animal Kingdom and Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom. Andy loved Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain. Emily loved a lot of the smaller rides and also loved meeting a couple of her favorite princesses. Soon after getting home, we already had our first snow of the season! We had a really nice, long Thanksgiving, spending time in Delafield and Madison with family.

DECEMBER 2014

And that brings us to December. Sorry this update is so long! I haven't been doing a consistent job on keeping up with the blog in 2014, so I thought this might be a good way for me to document all of the fun we have had throughout the year with friends and family. Looking back, it makes me appreciate each of those special moments. The kids are growing so fast, and this time of year is extra magical right now at their ages! The kids all had Christmas concerts and were incredibly proud of the hard work they put into them. So, I'll end this post with a video of my favorite song from each of them! Enjoy! Wishing you a very Merry Christmas, and a wonderful 2015. I'm hoping we get to see all of our friends and family at some point next year!

Below: Jack singing "Sing Noel", his favorite part was the boogie dancing at the beginning