It is Finally UP!!

Yeah!! Our swingset is finally up. After reviewing much information regarding how long this product will take to put up ( a range of 14-40 hours ) we decided to hire someone to put it up for us. I posted a ad on craigslist ( yes the dreaded craigslist) and got someone to come and put it up. It took four of them 16 hours to put up. And that is without stopping for a break. Man am I glad we decided to do that. Now it is up, we didn't have to do it, and the kids can enjoy it, and Chris doesn't have to waste many days off trying to put this sucker up.

Nolan knows it all....

Nolan knows the sounds that animals make. His little voice is so so adorable and how fast he is catching on with different words is amazing to us. He talks so much and if you ask him to say a word, he pretty much can say anything that you tell him to.

Crazylegs??

I am thinking about walking with the kiddos in the crazylegs race in Madison this weekend if it is nice weather, the kids aren't sick, and I am not too lazy. Anyone want to join me?

www.crazylegsclassic.com

Finally Warm...

We had a very good weekend. Finally, it was warm for a few days in a row. NICE!! We got the chance to relax outside and enjoy sun and warm weather. We broke out the shorts, tank tops, and sunscreen. I put sunscreen on Lily for the first time this year and she took a whiff and said " Mmmmmm, it smells like the beach" .

Friday, we had a playdate at the park with a friend of mine and her son. We had a picnic, brought the sand toys so the kids could build sand castles and spend the morning at the park. It was great. Great playtime for the kids and great adult conversation for the mommies. Then, Mom VV came over for the whole afternoon. We sat in lawn chairs, popped open a bottle of wine and more relaxing in the spring sun. The kids took naps for a couple of hours, then they came down and played outside. We are lucky to have a fenced in backyard, which is great for the kids to play safely and for us to not chase them around all the time. They jumped on the trampoline, played playdough outside, colored with chalk, and just had a good time.
Saturday was the opening day of the Farmers Market here in Madison. Chris and I took the kids up there for Breakfast. We bought local produce, ate bakery items, and enjoyed the 70 degree weather. We took a very long walk later Saturday night and enjoyed the parks near our house. We ran the ball diamonds and played soccer with the kids. It just felt like a wonderful spring day!!!
Sunday was a cold day outside and it was rainy. So long sunny weather !! Chris and I were getting ansy inside, and so were the kids. Nolan has been teething and getting in his molers so he is so so crabby all the time. Sometimes, just a change of scenery is good for them. Mom E. watched the kids for a while at her house and Chris and I went out for Lunch at our favorite, Olive Garden. It was a nice and long, relaxing lunch. We then stopped at the mall to pick up a few summer things for the kids.
Chris has off tomorrow as well so we are hoping to get some things done around here. We need to get that swingset up, which we know will take us a while.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!!

Happy Easter

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!! We had a wonderful Easter. It was great to just relax and stay in the area. Not a lot of traveling this year for us, which is great. On Saturday, we went to another Easter egg hunt right by our first house in Monona. We had so much fun. It was cold out and Mom and Dad VV met us there. After, I took the kids to the mall and we returned some things and saw the Easter bunny one last time before he came to our house. We came home, kids took a nap while I made food and then it was time to get ready for Saturday night, which was Easter with the Winch side( Chris's mom's side) The kids got dressed up in their Easter outfits, which were so cute.
Sunday we went to church. Mom and Dad VV met us there, then we went back to their house for the afternoon. I hid Easter eggs outside at their house and the kids found them. It was a beautiful afternoon so the kids flew their new kite that they got for Easter and ran around in Grammy and Papa's yard. We had a nice Easter dinner and dessert of course, then came home and relaxed for the rest of the evening. All in all, it was a wonderful day.

Easter Egg Hunt

So.. I braved the weather knowing we were going to get a blizzard here and took the kids to an Easter Egg hunt. Chris had to work, so I decided to take the kids out to see the Easter bunny and find some eggs. We started our morning out at McDonald's for breakfast. The three of us had a blast. Lily was a pro at finding the eggs. I don't know how she remembered from last year, but she did, and knew exactly what to do. Nolan learned very quickly to pick those little eggs up, or other kids, bigger kids, would come behind him and take them from him. Both of them had baskets full by the time we left. The lady from the local newspaper was following us around and taking pictures of the kids. She wanted to do a story on the hunt and asked if she could follow Lily and Nolan around. We will have to get that paper and check for the kids. She interviewed me for a bit then talked to the kids for a while. Super cool!!
We then, hit up the Oregon Easter egg hunt on our way home. The Youth center was sponsoring it so had a little kids carnival with games, tickets, face paintings, etc, followed by a egg hunt. Some of us preschool moms and bunco group moms, as well as some of our neighbors with kids, saw each other hung out there while the kids ran around played games, and hunted for eggs. We were a little disapointed though, that not all of the kids were able to get eggs. They ran out. Luckily we had hit up the egg hunt in the other town earlier, so my kids didn't mind. It started to get nice in the afternoon, and the egg hunt in Oregon was held at the school, so all the kids played outside for over an hour, enjoying the sun the had just come out. We had to get all our playing time in outside, because we knew it was going to snow another 5 inches here today ( we actually only ended up getting a dusting of snow and not the 5 inches they predicted) and they needed so fresh air, before we are cooped up inside again. Here are some pictures of our hunt. Sorry some of them are sideways. I couldn't figure out how to change these ones around, for some reason.

More Snow....

Not much has been going on with us. Just hanging out and waiting for the weather to get warmer. Tomorrow we are getting snow. Totally stinks!! We did sell our play house and small, little tykes swingset(both for what we paid for them..YAH!!) and bought the kids a rainbow play system. It is really neat, and we can't wait to get it set up, althought Chris is not looking forward to that !!! We broke out the kids trampoline that they got for Christmas, got half way through putting it up, then it started to rain and get cold, so we are at a stand still with that. Especially since it is supposed to snow tomorrow. For some reason, when the weather gets warmer for a while, even though is was temporary, it makes me want to get out all the spring time stuff. I think that I have had enough of the Wisconsin cold winter for this year.

Today we had Meagan and Luke over to play for a while. We had so much fun. Lily, Luke, and Nolan played so well together and we can wait to do it again next week. Megan and I are trying to plan something every week, and sometimes twice a week, if we have Mops.

Chris has off three days this week. We are very excited for this. We plan on just hanging out and relaxing. Kinda like a small spring break for him:)

Lily is "On Spring Break" next week and the week after for dance, and next week for school. We can't believe that we have one old enough to have "spring break" How weird is that !!!

Our little vocalist!!

Here is a video from Lily singing in front of church, for her preschool. You can't see her very much, until the end. They put her in the back row, because she is so tall. You can see her waving her arms a little and then her face, in the very end.(We are the only ones who forgot to put our child in the preschool tee-shirt. She is wearing a white and pink dress with a pink bow:) ) It was so so gosh darn cute to see her up there. She did a good job and we are very proud!!!

Mom's birthday party

So..We surprised Mom with a birthday dinner. Just us kids, without the little kids. It was very nice. Mom E. babysat Lily and Nolan and we got a chance to get out and relax. We gave Mom a picture of all of us for her Birthday. We didn't tell her we were getting it done and hope that she was very surprised by that as well. The picture of all of us, David, Jenna, Gavin, Me, Chris, Lily and Nolan, turned out wonderful. Saturday was Aunt Shirl's funeral and wake. It was a beautiful service and just what she would have liked. The kids has their first, non family babysitter on Saturday. We were very nervous about leaving them with someone new, but think that they had fun. Hopefully :) Saturday night Chris and I had a wedding to go to. It was nice as well and we got to mingle a bit with some of Chris's friends from work.
Today, Lily sang at Church. She did such a wonderful job. Mom and Dad VV came and she was very excited about that.

Nolan's final product...

As promised.. here are some pictures of Nolan and the new do, although I can't get them to face the right direction :)

I am lacking in keeping up with this blog. I know that some of you check it everyday just to see if I posted something, to then be let down once you check and see that I did not post a thing :) So I promise.. To be more organized and post thing more regularly.... I do wonder though, how many people out there read our blog... If you do, give us a shout out and let us know.


Lots of things have happened since I posted about us last. We took Lily to the circus.. thanks for the free tickets Grandma Erfurth. ( She gets them every year because the late grandpa erfurth was a member of the shriners, who puts on the circus) Lily road the pony, as she freaked out with the elephants. She got lighted sword that she had fun with and had her first cotton candy. To my surprise, she did not like cotton candy, which is great new for us!!! She also loves, I mean LOVES, clowns. The clowns got hugs and kisses ( uck!!)
Weather became warmer for a few days, which allowed us to get outside in the wagon and in the back yard on the swingset a bit.
Nolan got his very first haircut( wah wah, boo hoo:( ), Sad... But I will say that it was long overdue. Older people, bless their hearts, started to think that he was a girl and asked me what my cute little girls name was, despite the fact that we dress him much like a little boy :( I posted some pictures of him getting his haircut. He was such a good boy and sat so nice the whole time. (As you can see, the sucker helped him out)I didn't get a chance to get any after pictures, and he is in bed now, but I will get on that tomorrow, and post them then. He looks so so grown up now, and not like a baby anymore. He looks like a little boy !! I brought my good ole' ziploc baggie into the barber shop and collected his FIRST hair :( cry, cry.
Yesterday I went and participated in a panel for Kraft foods and Oscar Mayer in Madison. I gave my opinion about being a mom, how I shop, what I buy, what I look for in the stores,what ideas we had for products, and what I thought about their products. There were about 150 Kraft marketing specialists there, so it was so interesting and alot of fun. Plus.. I walked away with tons of samples and free products, free breakfast, and 150.00 in cash, for giving them an hour of my time. How awesome is that!!! So next time you buy a oscar mayer or kraft product, think.. I wonder if Kristin gave them that idea ( hehe!!) I also got my buzzagent box for this month for those of you who know about it and know that I sample products for free in exchange for feedback, and it had bottles and samples of Palmolive pure and clear in it. Love it.. that is all I have to say. It leaves no harmful residue, it smells wonderful and really does clean well.

So, Friday is Mom's 50th birthday. Happy Birthday MOM!! We were talking about having her over for cake and ice cream and to chill out on Sunday late afternoon, since it has been so hectic with everyone lately. I called the news and her name was posted on the tv for her 50th birthday. I forgot to tape it and totally forgot the days that they posted it until that day, so she missed it.
Saturday they are heading to my cousin Jennifer's bridal shower early in the morning, which I have to miss.
Saturday is Aunt Shirl's funeral. ( see previous post) She will be greatly missed. The kids will have their first, non family babysitter that day. A girl that I used to babysit for, will be watching them. Funny how things work that way. Chris is one of the palbearers, as that is what Shirl wished, so this will be a busy day for us and it is an honor for him.
After that, Chris and I have a wedding downtown. Will be nice to get out and relax a little.
Lily is singing with her preschool in church on Sunday and we are very excited for this. Chris unfortunately won't be able to attend because that is Aunt Shirl's burial ceremony, but I will be sure to be the happy mom in the front row video taping the whole thing :-)
Then the St. Patties day parade downtown on Sunday as well. The kids will enjoy this as well, if it doesn't rain.

Hi Everyone- As some of you all know, Chris's Aunt Shirl Erfurth has been very sick and has been battling many diseases over the course of her life. This last month has been a struggle for her. I am asking all of you to keep her family( her husband Denny, which is Chris's uncle, and their daughter Angie, which is Chris's cousin) in your prayers as they say goodbye to her today.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Denny and Angie, today and always!!

She was a wonderful women who was filled with spirit and life. She enjoyed people and was a music teacher in the elementary school for many years. People still to this day, talk about her songs they used to sing. David, my brother, had her as well and loved her as a teacher. She had a scooter that they all called the "bucky mobile" (for all those badger fans out there). Lily loved to go visit Aunt Shirl and Aunt Shirl taught Lily how to Scrapbook, as this was Shirls favorite thing to do.

More Las Vegas...

Pictures of Our Vegas trip

As promised...here are some pictures of our trip. We had so much fun. We saw the eiffel tower, the seatle space needle, new york, etc. It was like a trip around the world on one street. Vegas is definately something everyone should check out once in their life. It is just different....Lots of things going on all the time. We also saw Hoover dam, which such a neat sight.

Like...Forever Dude

Wow.. It again, has seem like forever since I updated this. Chris and I got back from Las Vegas last weekend. We had so so much fun. We missed the kids but it was so good for us to get away for a while and not have to worry. We left on Friday at 6am from Madison and came back late afternoon on Monday. It was the perfect amount of time. We gambled, saw Jubilee and Cirque Del Soleil, took a drive out to hoover dam in the rental car, and had so much fun. We didn't loose gambling, so that was good. We didn't win super big either ( Bummer ).
While we were there, I woke up one night with awful pain in my eye. I couldn't open my eyes at all and they just burned. The plane flight home was awful in that I couldn't see at all and had to keep my sunglasses on and my eyes shut. They became super sensitive to the lights. Chris and Mom E. ( she and the kids picked us up at the airport) dropped me off at an emergency eye dr. apt. and they found out that I was allergic to the new contacts that they had given me right before Vegas. More or less... I am just finally able to begin to see now. I will post some pictures of our trip later.........

I started my own playgroup so that is new and exciting news. I was having a hard time meeting up with people during the day and having a hard time finding stay at home mom's in the local area. I was a part of a few stay at home moms groups in Iowa and I made so many good friendships that I felt that Madison should have something like that too. So..I started a group !!! YEAH!!! I am super excited. It is on meetup.com for all you stay at home mommies out there :)

Click here to check out
The Madison area and Oregon Stay at home moms group!

Some randoms and recents....

SO.. I finally found some time to load and post some recents of us. These are from Christmas up until this past week. ENJOY!!