The Domes

This morning we decided to take a fun adventure to the Milwaukee County Domes for their annual train exhibit. Probably our last fun trip as a family of 4!

This year they had a little train ride for the kids and adults.
This was Casey's favorite part (Matt's too).

My favorite part was the fresh cool air and smell of flowers.
Can you tell I've been cooped up in my house for a month?

Caleb enjoyed watching all of the trains go around the tracks.
We all liked the steam engine that blew smoke.

The way Casey has his hands on his legs here reminds me of Matt.

One of the coolest displays was made up of legos.

General overview of the main display.

What would a Buntrock Adventure be without a trip to Urgent Care? The boys got to have a picnic in the car while they waited for mommy to get some medicine for her UTI.

6 days to go!

Super Siblings!

Last Saturday Matt and I took the boys to a sibling class at Community Memorial. Most of the kids in the class were Caleb's age, but we felt Casey enjoyed and understood it much more than the toddlers.

While we were waiting for everyone to arrive the children were able to look at different books about being a big brother or sister. Casey of course picked out a Bernstein Bear book.


Once all of the participants arrived the kids got to watch a video about being super siblings. It went over everything from what the baby will look like to how they can help. It was actually rather amusing and held the kids attention pretty well. After the video we all got to go see the room where their mommy and new baby will be staying. This was good for us because we haven't been to this hospital before. We got to see a newborn baby in the hallway which got Casey very excited. He can't wait for the baby to arrive!

When we got back to classroom they had different stations set up for the kids to participate in. The first station the boys wanted to do was to color and create their very own
big brother buttons.

We then moved on to the puzzle station where Casey put together a puzzle of a newborn baby. You can see their finished buttons on the bottom of the picture.
Caleb got to pick the next station which was to trace his feet. We also traced his hands for him. Casey decided to draw me a picture for my hospital room. He drew a picture of me holding Squirt in the hospital bed. Since then he has drawn tons of pictures for me to bring along. My favorite is the one of him and I...it says "I love you mommy" on it.

Then it was time for the boys to learn about how to safely hold their little brother. This first picture makes me laugh. They both look thrilled to be holding dolls!


They learned about how they always need to ask an adult and wash their hands before holding the baby. They also learned that they can't just put them down when they are done, they need to tell an adult. While the nurse was talking Caleb was poking at the dolls eyes, mouth and nose....

When the class was over the boys got a Certificate of Completion. It was a really cool class and we had a lot of fun. I would recommend it to my mommy friends.
Afterward it was off to KOPS for burgers...yum!

Blessings

Life in the Buntrock home has been very low key the past few weeks. We have been spending a lot of time together as a family as my foot recovers and we prepare for Squirt.

You would think that having a broken foot at the end of a pregnancy would be horrible. In all actuality it has been a bit of a blessing. For one, I would have never been able to sit and relax this much! I also have done a few sitting projects that I may not have made time for. The yummy meals that friends and family have provided have been a perk as well. I think my favorite part has to be all of the friends that stop by to keep Caleb and I company. Without those visits I would feel very secluded.

There is one more thing...all of the time I have been able to spend with my family. Instead of doing housework during the day I have been playing legos, doing crafts, playing play dough, building train tracks, and many other fun things with the boys.

Here are some random pictures from the past few weeks from time spent together.

Here is a picture of our family that Casey drew...it includes his baby brother on the left.

Caleb loves to cuddle with the baby

Here are the boys reading Matt's history books (boring)

Family movie night!

Superbowl Sunday! Go Pack go!

Two weeks until we become a family of 5!

Blizzard of 2011

Supposedly this was the biggest snow storm of the decade. All I know is that it took my poor husband 2.5 hours to shovel the driveway and sidewalks. The boys had a blast playing on the snow hills that daddy created while I sat and watched from the garage feeling a bit helpless.

Happy 5th Birthday Casey!

I can't believe my oldest son is 5 years old! He has gone through so many stages and changes in the last 5 years. He has grown into such a caring, smart, good little man. We love him so much.

We spent the weekend celebrating his birthday with friends and family. Here are some highlights from the parties.
On Monday (Casey's actual birthday) Matt took the day off so we could do something fun as a family. We were planning to go to the Shed Aquarium in Chicago but because of my broken foot Matt stayed close to home and took the boys to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum in Milwaukee. Before they left for the day Casey and I spent some time looking at pictures and videos of when he was a little baby. Here are a couple of my favorites from that stage of life.

Happy birthday Casey Thomas! We love you very much bubba!