End of Summer Update

Well, I had good intentions of updating more often this summer but we have just been so busy! Both kids have gone to week-long camps (Ellison went to horse camp in Muskego in late June and cheerleading camp 2 weeks ago and Kellen went to nature camp at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in July) and we have crossed lots of things off of our summer bucket lists. We have been to the pool in Tosa, several different beaches, the zoo (including seeing the special Brick Dinosaur exhibit), a few different playgrounds, bowling, Shalom Wildlife Zoo, Old World Wisconsin, mini golfing, multiple different libraries, State Fair...and more! Jay, Ellison, and Kellen spent a weekend at the Miller cabin up north.

Petting the horses at Old World Wisconsin

Shalom Wildlife Zoo

The kids spent time in Green Bay with their cousins Isabella and Olivia a couple of weekends, and we also were up in Green Bay again (to go to Bay Beach) and Manitowoc (for a family ping pong tournament) another weekend. We haven't been taking as many pictures as I wish we had...so I don't have tons to share. I'll try to do better, I really will! The kids go back to school on Monday! I can't believe how fast the summer has gone by.

The cousins at their "canteen" at the family ping pong tournament

Ellison has been enjoying gymnastics this summer - she was excited she learned how to do a cartwheel before cheerleading camp! She had fun at cheer camp and was thrilled she got to be a "flyer" in some of the stunts her group learned. She's still reading a lot and has been working on some extreme dot-to-dot books in her spare time too...they are intense! Our biggest struggle with her this summer has been getting her to practice piano - she likes to play but definitely does not like to sit down and practice. She's looking forward to starting 2nd grade soon. Papa (Grandpa Ron) is going to be building her a desk and she's pumped for that!

Dance Showcase Day!

First day of horse camp

Kellen played  t-ball this summer and seemed to like it, sometimes! He's definitely still more into running around outside or playing with his dinosaurs (he's become quite the dinosaur expert!) than he is in organized sports. He's also looking forward to school starting - I can't believe he'll be in kindergarten and both kids will be gone at school all day, 5 days a week!

Nothing really new and exciting is happening with Jay or I. We both celebrated our 10 year anniversaries at our jobs this summer (actually my 11th year at Children's, but my 10th as a nurse).  We are getting new windows in the living room next week, with plans to continue slowly replacing windows over the next few years. That's about the most excitement we've got going on!

Hopefully I will get a chance to update again soon! Enjoy the few pictures I did find to post for you :)

Welcome Back!

Almost 3 years since my last post...wow! So much has happened in the past few years! We went to Disney on a long road trip, Ellison cut her hair off and lost almost half the teeth in her face, Kellen started school and is now going into kindergarten, and so much more. I'm just going to give a update of the last month or so and post some recent pictures because there's no way I can catch you up on almost 3 whole years worth of stuff!!!

At the beginning of May, St. Jacobi had a Social Studies fair. They switch off between that and a science fair or art fair. The social studies fair was great - Ellison and her class worked very hard on their wax museum. Ells made a very cute Amelia Earhart.

May also included a Track and Field day (I helped with the 1st graders and it was a lot of fun...and we actually had a nice day for it, which is pretty shocking considering how the weather has been!), Kellen's end of the school year celebration service at school, Ellison's spring piano recital, and the last day of school. The kids went back to school on August 20 so they got out early, on May 24. We are already a couple of weeks into summer and some kids aren't even out of school yet!

Ellison is a great jump roper! She was 2nd best in her class at track & field day

We made a bucket list for summer and over the past week we have set out to get things done. So far we've been to the beach at Seven Bridges, Bookworm Gardens, the Milwaukee Central Library, Kayla's Playground, Possibility Playground, and had s'mores in our backyard. We have lots more to complete and I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that we probably won't complete the whole list...

Planting the garden with Daddy

Bookworm Gardens, Sheboygan

Now a quick minute to brag on the kids and all the things they are doing nowadays. Ellison will be going into 2nd grade in August. She is really into reading and is reading well above grade level. She read 4 chapter books in one day earlier this week! She also likes history and is interested in pretty much anything related to that. She got a 100% on every spelling test in 1st grade and was in the Wisco Spelling Bee as one of the top spellers in her class. She is taking piano lessons and is a very good piano student, moving to the 2nd level of books pretty quickly. She's a great kid! She is just finishing up her dance lessons and will move on to gymnastics this summer. She is also going to both horse camp and cheerleading camp within the next couple of months!

Kellen is going to be a kindergartener and is also a very smart little guy. He learned everything he was supposed to learn in 4K and has almost completed his summer workbook (Brain Quest has really cute workbooks for the summer if you're looking for one). Our next project is to work on reading, because he is very interested in learning how. He is able to sound out a lot of words so we are on the right track! Kellen will be playing t-ball this summer and he is going to nature camp at Schlitz Audubon.

We're excited to see what other adventures come up this summer and I will try my best to keep the blog updated a little better than I did over the past few years!!!

Oklahoma Road Trip

We just got home from a long road trip to Oklahoma! I had the Usborne National Convention and everyone else tagged along. None of us had ever been to Oklahoma (Kellen had actually never left Wisconsin and Ellison had only been in Illinois once) so it was a new adventure for everyone!

The drive down took about 14 hours. We left at 9 pm, after I got off of work. As you can imagine, everyone was REALLY tired when we got to Oklahoma! The kids did great on the drive down. We only did one extended stop, to eat breakfast in Springfield, Missouri.

We went on a tour of the Usborne warehouse and Home Office when we got to Tulsa. It was so cool to see where the books come from and go into the offices of the President and Vice President of the company! We went out for pizza and that's when the kids tiredness started to really show. We've never had to leave a restaurant before finishing a meal before...! Early bedtime for everyone on night #1!

The next day I had leader training. Jay took the kids swimming (Kellen wouldn't go in, but the next day he decided he liked swimming). Once I was done with my Usborne stuff we headed out to a park to eat dinner. It was really nice, and almost no one else was there! Apparently the people of Tulsa are spoiled by nice weather and don't have to get out and enjoy every minute like we do. We did almost get attacked by geese, but we managed to get away!

When I went to training the next morning, the rest of the gang went to Route 66 Village and the Tulsa Botanic Garden. It looks like a beautiful garden! They also went swimming, and that's when Kellen decided he liked it :) After dinner they headed out to a rodeo! They had a lot to say about it the next day so I think they really enjoyed it.

The next day, Jay and the kids went to the Tulsa Zoo. They really liked the zoo! They went swimming when they got back, and after lunch the kids napped until dinner time. They took LONG naps every day in Oklahoma, which does not always happen at home! After dinner, cowboy hat shopping was on the agenda. They didn't have Ellison's size, but the guys came home with new hats.

We took a long route home because we wanted to make some stops. None of us had ever been to Kansas, and since we were so close we decided to stop there for breakfast. We also checked out a place called Cars on the Route, which had cars that looked just like the ones from the movie Cars. We also stopped at a place called the Uranus Fudge Factory...we saw it on the way down and just had to. The fudge was good! And then we stopped in St. Louis. We ate a late lunch/early dinner there and saw the Gateway Arch (lots of construction going on around it). And that was that - just driving and gas/bathroom stops after that. We left at 7 am and got home at 11 pm, so it was a LONG trip back! Overall, the kids were pretty good and it was great practice for any future long road trips we may take!