Fall Fun!

I can't believe how gorgeous it is today. It doesn't feel like Halloween at all. After taking a trip to the library to stock up on new books and train videos I decided to take the boys to the park. Every time we have gone in the past few weeks I have told Casey, this will probably be our last trip to the park this year, it will be getting cold outside soon. So today he informed me that it will probably be our last time to the park! Here are some pictures of us enjoying this 60 degree day.

All about Caleb

Last night Casey was feeling under the weather so Matt decided to cheer him up and build him a new track for his trains. So while they were bonding in the basement Caleb and I had some fun in the tub!

Here is a video before bath time. It is the first time I have been able to get Caleb to laugh for the camera. In fact, Matt hasn't even seen him laugh yet. He is a hard one to crack!



Then we have Caleb in the bath. As you can see, he has discovered his tongue. In fact I think his favorite things right now are blowing bubbles and chomping on his fingers!

After bath he was all snuggled up in his towel. This picture reminds me of Casey so much.

All about Casey

Sometimes I find that with a newborn in the house our big boy seems to loose a lot of attention. So I decided to feature him and him alone in this blog.

Casey just loves the outdoors. He doesn't seem to be bothered by the heat, cold, rain, snow, etc... Here are some pictures of him and daddy after they raked up the yard together.

Here Casey is holding the pumpkin that he picked out on his own. It won't be to long until he wants to find the biggest pumpkin rather than the smallest.

For those of you following our potty training adventure here is an update for ya. We decided that underpants was not the way to go with Casey. He really doesn't care when he has urine dripping down his leg, but I do! So we put him in pull-ups during the day and a diaper at night. We try to put him on the potty after meals, nap time, and snacks. On average he goes on the potty 2 times a day and has stayed dry several days. He refused to poop on the potty and we aren't pushing the issue due to some constipation problems. Every time he goes on the potty he gets a sticker for his shirt and one for his chart. He filled up his first chart (30 spaces) so we took him to Stonefire Pizza for his reward. We are very happy with his progress. He is too!

WI Dells getaway

This past weekend we took the boys to the Dells for a little getaway. Each year we try to go with my sister and her family as well as my mom. Last year we went during the summer but were not able to make it there this year due to Caleb's arrival. So we decided that it might be fun (not to mention a lot cheaper) to go in the fall.

My sister found us a great deal at the Polynesian. They had the perfect pool area for the kids to splash around in. Believe it or not it was really relaxing. Now that the kids are getting older we don't have to follow them around as much. We sat at the edge of the pool and enjoyed watching them have a blast.


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Besides the swimming we spent some time at the outlet mall and went out to eat at IHOP and McDonalds (both kid friendly). We also enjoyed some downtime during naps.

Besides the swimming pool I would have to say that Casey really enjoyed his sleepover in Grandma's room with his cousin Hannah. They are the best of friends and have so much fun together. It will be fun to watch them grow together. As much as these two were attached at the hip I wasn't able to get a picture of them! Go figure!

THE BIG 30!

I can't believe it but I have hit the big 30! Surprisingly enough I feel really excited about it. It has been really fun to look back on the past 30 years and see how much I have learned and all that I have been blessed with. I am very blessed to have a wonderful husband and 2 precious little boys.

Casey helped me bake and frost a cake for the occasion. He really got into it and was a big help.

Matt took the day off of work so we could spend some time together and so I could get a bit of a break. So we started the day off at the YMCA. This may not sound very excited to most, but Matt and I really enjoyed working out together. We used to work out together at the wee hours of the morning before we had children. It was fun.

We spent the rest of the morning at the Family Farm in Grafton. Here are some pictures of our
adventure.

Here we are hanging out in the hay romp. Casey really enjoyed jumping around in here.

The family farm had a ton of animals to look at and feed. Matt made friends with a goat. Casey and Caleb got to take a turn pretending to be animals too.

We took a tractor hayride out to the pumpkin patch. Casey didn't like any of those pumpkins though so we needed to go to another patch to find him a baby pumpkin. He picked out his very own and was as proud as can be!




In the afternoon Matt watched the boys so I could go to the mall and buy some new clothes with the gift cards I had gotten. It was a ton of fun. Then I came home and we had a ham dinner and carved our pumpkin!

Matt made me a very special gift this year. He made a DVD of pictures from all 30 years of my life. It was really fun to look back on some of my fun childhood memories as well as my crazy teenage years. What a full and blessed life I have had so far. I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for me in this decade!!!

Let's get this party started!

Well, this weekend started our week of fun. My dad and Sheryl came down to celebrate my 30th birthday! We hung out at my sister Leah's house and ate pizza and cake. Of course we watched the Packer's game too! Here are some pictures of our fun day.

Here are the cousins dressed up in their Packer gear!


Our happy family as Casey likes to say

The Reed family (with another one due in April!)

Big cousin Hannah practicing for the new arrival!

Me and my daddy!


Stay tuned, we have lots of fun stuff planned this week....

Fun with friends

Saturday night we had the Eric and Traci Tully over so we could meet their new baby Lauren. We also invited Josh and Laura over with their boys so we could catch up with them as well. It was a fun night of food and fellowship. Here are some highlights from the evening.

First of all meeting Lauren was so much fun! She is such a cutie pie!

Casey and Jacob had a blast playing together. Casey shared his big fire truck with Jacob. It is a good thing because I think Jacob might be a tad bigger than Casey.

Here they are making silly faces for me. I don't know if this was before or after the cookies?!

My favorite events of the night were eating the delicious apple pie from the Elegant Farmer and watching Casey and Jacob share a moment in the bathroom. Both are in the process of potty training right now. Casey thought they could read the truck book together while Jacob was attempting to go potty! No pictures of this one though.

Here are the Benjamin and Caleb with their daddys. Before to long they will be eating cookies and playing together too.



It just so happened to be Caleb's 3 month birthday so here he is posing with the racing sausages.

Our God is amazing

Saturday morning as I was driving to work I was in awe of the beauty around me. The colors of the leaves this time of year are just gorgeous. I thought to myself, how could people not believe that there is a God who created such beauty?

Today Matt and I were able to slip away for a couple hours while my mom watched the boys. On the way to lunch I found myself in awe again of God's awesome creations. I think Matt got sick of me pointing out all of the beautiful trees. At one point he did point out one of his own though:)

Anyways, after lunch we went to see the new movie Fireproof. Wow, what an awesome movie! This movie is so worth the money (although we had free movie passes). It has so many powerful messages along with some drama and humor. It touched our hearts and our spirits. It made me realize how lucky Matt and I are to have developed our strong faith in God so early in our marriage. When you put God at the center of your marriage he will bless it. I also went away from the movie feeling so blessed to have the husband that I have. Matt is an amazing, Godly man and I cherish what we have together. Everyday I wonder if I could love him any more, and then the next day I find room in my heart to do just that!

Friday Fun

It was an absolutely gorgeous fall day here in Wisconsin so we went to one of our favorite places. That's right, the ZOO! My friend Elizabeth and her mom brought Clayton and Brook and Karen brought baby Ali.

Casey enjoyed the freedom of running around and climbing while we were waiting for the gang. Caleb took a nice morning nap.




We spent a lot of time looking at the animals of course. Today we adventured to a part of the ZOO we had not seen before and stumbled across the kangaroos. After our friends left we stopped to have some french fries and ended our trip with a train ride. This was Caleb's first train ride. He seemed to enjoy it almost as much as Casey.

keeping busy

Well, we have been keeping very busy and having lots of fun around here. Between the potty training adventures to all of the fun we are having with our new addition, life has been great.

We have been enjoying making bubbles and smiles...


Chewing on toys...


And playing with our big brother...


As Casey is getting older there are many funny stories to share. Yesterday I asked Casey to get me a Kleenex while I was feeding Caleb. He climbs up on the potty to reach the Kleenex. I heard him remove his potty seat from the toilet but unfortunately he didn't put the toilet seat down. I heard him crying and went to see what had happened. Sure enough there Casey was with one foot in the toilet!

Casey's favorite phrase of the week..."where's my daddy, I want my daddy". Mommy is chop liver!

12 weeks!

I can't believe that my sweet pea is already 12 weeks old! To celebrate he decided to have a party from 2:00am-3:30am. What fun! He had never done this before so we didn't know what to do. The good news is that he wasn't cranky, just ready to play.

Caleb is growing like a weed and talking more every day. We are so blessed to have two healthy, happy boys. They are so much fun.

For those of you wondering, Casey has been doing pretty good with the potty training. I don't think we will be going in public without pull ups for a while, but we have had more successes than accidents in the past two days! Casey is responding very well to the truck stickers and prize buckets.

potty training

Well, we decided to get down to business and really work with Casey on going on the potty. He continuously tells us when he is pooping and when he wants his diaper changed. So we bought some Thomas the train and Nemo underwear, some trucks and cars to use as prizes and we were set to go.

We started slowly by introducing him to the potty and showing him the underwear. Tuesday night we put him in the underwear and he had a few accidents along with one success. I missed it of course! So far he is doing pretty good about letting us put him on the potty every hour to try. He has gone a few times on the potty but has had many accidents as well. He tells me he has to go as it is dripping down his legs. This morning he went poopy on the potty though. This video says it all.


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Caleb has been great through it all. I have had to put him down a few times to assist Casey as urine is dripping down his legs. One time I was nursing him and had to take a break to clean up Casey. Caleb didn't mind at all, he is so easy going. I think he is entertained by the excitement of
it all. To tell you the truth, I think we all are!