Trick-or-Treat

We had so much fun celebrating Halloween this year. We were joined by my sister's family, my mom and our good friends the Weis'. The kids had an absolute blast running from house to house collecting their treats. I bet they all sleep well tonight!

Superman!

Black cat, chef Matti, Giraffe and Superman

Weis family...lumberjack, french maid, Minny Mouse, and puppy dog
Calvin, the cutest puppy I've ever seen


Casey and Caleb

The boys and their cousins...the fairies and the ladybug

Casey and his girlfriend, Lilly

The cutest bunch of kiddos Waukesha has ever seen!

I can't believe I don't have any pictures of the Reed family!
Nick was a female doctor and Leah was the fairy Godmother:) Did I mention my mom dressed up as ME! She had the pregnant belly and wore my old pom-pon jacket. It was pretty cute.

Thanks to all the adults for dressing up and making this such a fun event for all!

Birthday Fun

Last Friday was a very special birthday for me. Probably one of the most fun I have had since my "younger years".

In the morning I had some of my girlfriends and their kids over for brunch and fun. A couple of them stayed late to help me pass the time until my ultrasound appointment. I love these girls!

crazy chaos

Where's the birthday girl's hug?

I sure do have some good lookin' friends!

At about 3:00 we headed out for the appointment we have been anxiously waiting for....will it be a boy or a girl? Our ultrasound appointment was at Froedtert hospital where I delivered Madi, Casey and Caleb. They know us and our story very well so it was so much fun to bring the boys along to meet everyone. We were surprised to find out that we were going to be having another boy around the Buntrock house. We feel blessed that he is healthy and doing well.

Squirt (this is my nickname for the little guy)

On our way home we stopped by Pappa Murpheys to get a Jack-O-Lantern pizza for dinner. Then we headed home for my birthday celebration. This consisted of pizza, cupcakes and carving our Jack-O-Lanterns. It was so much fun. There is nothing like celebrating a birthday with favorite boys.

It tastes as good as it looks!

Matt and the boys made me some yummy chocolate cupcakes

Let the scooping begin...yuck

Matt's masterpiece of the evening, a Thomas the Tank Engine Jack-o-lantern

More pumpkin fun!

Every Friday morning we have a play date with some of our very closest friends. This past Friday we had an extra special morning planned...a trip to Prospect Hill Garden Center! I decided to let Casey play hookie and join us for the fun, shh!

We enjoyed a hayride, cornmaze, picking our own pumpkins, games, feeding the goats and the boys favorite activity...jumping in the ball pit. What a beautiful day with some awesome friends!

Al's Run/Walk 2010

Yesterday was an absolutley beautiful day for the Al's Run/Walk downtown Milwaukee. It was 75 degrees and sunny. It is always amazing to see how many people come out to help raise money for the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. I believe they recieve over $1 million in donations.

We started participating in Al's run/walk to honor the memory of our Madi a couple of years ago. I can see it being a family tradition for years to come. There are so many teams of people racing for little one's that have survived and for those that haven't. It really is an awesome event to take part in.

After the race we enjoyed a picnic lunch and some playtime at the park. It was a wonderful day with family!

We love you and miss you Madi!

Special day with the boys

Casey and Caleb have both been sick lately with sinus infections and strep throat. After being on antibiodics for almost 24 hours they were both in great spirits this morning. Casey needed to stay home from school one more day just to be safe. So, I decided to take advantage of his "day off" to go to the ZOO!

I realized a few things today:

• I really miss being able to do whatever I want with the boys each day.
  
• I love fall, especially when it is 70 degrees!
• The Zoo is absolutley gorgeous this time of year.
• My boys are growing up way too fast!

This tree was absolutley beautiful

playing on the playground

picnic lunch

another pretty tree

Nesting already???

I am just about 18 weeks pregnant now and I have been cooking, cleaning and organizing like a mad woman! Matt has helped me with a couple of the organizational projects, because he is nesting too!

For my birthday I asked Matt if I could get a piece of furniture to put by the garage door to help us organize shoes, hats, coats, bags, purses.... So this is what we got!


This new piece of furniture inspired me to do a little rearraging of furniture. So we moved the kitchen table into the sitting room/den area. So now it is a dining/den area and I LOVE it!

This is where the kitchen table used to be.
Now the boys craft/snack table is there as well as our new organizer!
It really opens up the kitchen area a ton.

Here is the new set up in the den/dining area.

Like I said...Matt is nesting too. He decided to put new organizational shelving in our bedroom closets. I came home the other day and he had surprised me. He said he wanted to get it done by my birthday, which isn't for a couple of weeks. Is that a good man or what!

Here's hoping the next project will be painting the baby's room purple!!!!!!
Well find out in 2 weeks and 1 day!!!!!

Casey loves school!

Casey started four year old kindergarten this fall. He really enjoys going everyday. His teacher sends home a lesson plan each week so I am able to see what he will be doing each day. There is always a theme for the week. This weeks theme is fire safety. Tomorrow a firetruck and firefighters will be visiting his school!

Last week I sat in on the class for an hour and was able to see how the routine goes. Miss Melinda does a great job with the class. His day goes something like this:

Free time
Calendar time
Movement time
Group activity
Centers (art, math, phonics, science)
Story/group time
Outdoor play

Casey has a number and a letter of the week. We try to practice these in the afternoon. I have seen a huge improvement in his self-esteem since school has begun. Here are some examples of things we have done in the afternoon together to help him improve his small motor skills.

Casey wanted to practice the entire alphabet (not bad for a 4-year old)

Casey told me that he colored part of the pumpkin green because that is the color it is before it turns orange.

Here is a portrait of me! He says I have rainbow hair. Not sure if I am sticking out my tongue here or what!