Pumpkin Pickin!!

We welcomed October with a quick family trip to Jim's pumpkin farm in Germantown, WI. We took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch which detoured through a little patch of haunted forest that was super cheesy-but fun. Nolan was more impressed with the old tractor that pulled us than silly witch legs sticking out of an old barrel. We picked out a big 'ol pumpkin and then wandered around the different Fall & Halloween scenes that were on display. It was such a gorgeous day-perfect for pictures and getting excited for fall and Halloween.

Kenny & Nolan surveying the options...

He made sure the perfect one didn't get away before Dad could come pick it up.

We found the pumpkin express...


and took a little ride!

I'm sure we'll be back next year!

Apple Holler

A few weeks ago we took a little trip south to the Apple Holler farm in Sturtevant, WI for a family Branch Playgroup activity. We took Karisa and Benson down with us in our new Toyota minivan on a beautiful, and suprisingly warm October afternoon. There are acres of apples to pick, kids rides & attractions, a yummy restaurant, a little petting zoo and several other things. Too bad we picked the perfect day to go because so did the rest of southeastern Wisconsin! It was packed! So we enjoyed what we could and grabbed a few pictures to prove that we had been there.

Here's Karisa and Benson getting an October tan!

Nolan checking out the produce...

and deciding that it would be better to throw than to eat. Check out that form!! He's got quite the arm for a 2 yr old!

Aww, and a nice Fall family photo

Merrell Look-alike Meter

Well here is the proof just for good measure anyway I guess...

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family tree template - Family history

Look-a-like Meter...

I don't need to take one of those look-a-like meter tests online to see who Nolan look more alike. It's quite obvious I believe...

Priceless...

This picture was taken in August at my parents cabin in Mt.Pleasant, Utah. Nolan and Beagsly were pretty good pals that whole week and this picture just captured the perfect moment.
Looks like a Norman Rockwell painting....well except for the Lightning McQueen shoes.

The importance of a good role model...

We purchased a potty for Nolan's 2nd birthday as well in anticipation that we will begin the big step to potty training someday soon. I placed the potty in the bathroom and have tried to make Nolan familiar with it's functions and encourage him to sit on it whenever he'd like. Well, for now it's just been a fun chair and and interesting toy to take apart and drag all over the house. Thanks goodness Kenny has stepped in and directed him in the correct usage of the potty chair....

Such a good role model.

Official Announcement

To all of you who haven't heard the news about our new baby coming along next spring, I apologize! We were trying to be somewhat strategic about spreading the word, but I'm afraid in doing so we've made things a little more difficult. Instead of just telling everyone that we see, we've started with our parents first, then siblings and grandparents, and then it just sort of took off from there and now I can't remember who we've told and who we still need to. So here goes the major announcement...
WE'RE EXPECTING OUR 2ND BABY ON MAY 9TH! WAHOO! Nolan's going to become a big brother, and Kenny and I will be parents of two adorable children...crazy huh? We are very excited and looking forward to adding to our little clan. This pregnancy has been great so far, no morning sickness just kinda tired. But I have gone from eating about 3 meals a day to being hungary every 2 hours! Now I have to pack snacks for both Nolan and I whenever we run errands! I'll take that though-it's a good time of year to want to eat all the time right??
So we'll keep you posted on any new gender news, beacause yes-we are definitely finding out that I am right about having a girl this time...Kenny's just going to have to have a co-ed soccer team.
We are also open to name suggestions for both genders, as of right now we have absolutely none!

Happy 2nd Birthday Nolan!!

We did it! We made it to 2 yrs, and what a wonderful couple of years it has been. Nolan has grown and learned so many things, that we are so proud of. For his birthday he went to "preschool" with his friends, Thanks Kristin for making that day his first "birthday at school" experience!

Adam, Nolan & Amy


He was totally into the birthday candles thing this year!!

He has developed a love for the Disney movie CARs since last December, so of course we had a CARS themed party for him.
I made him a race track cake...and it turned out very well I must say. Thanks to Karisa McAllister for lending me her cake decorating kit!



More candles!!

A new "bike-bike" as Nolan calls it.

We had the McAllisters, Pitts, Burnetts, and Leavitt's over to celebrate with us and are so glad they could make this day even more special for Nolan! Thanks Guys!

We closed the night with webcam visits to each set of Grandparents, and one tired and sugared-out little boy!

Guilty....

So after big vacations to Utah or Seattle I always feel like I have to blog a big post for each and put up lots of pictures. So when I get home I have that in the back of my mind while I am trying to get back into the swing of normal life. So it gets put off and put off, and now it's October and I haven't blogged anything because I haven't done the August vacations and now I'm months behind and I feel so guilty I don't even want to look at our blog and it is actually causing me a lot of unnecessary stress!!
So I have decided that this time I guess I'm going to have to just move on-our families have all of the pictures that we took (all like 400 of them I think). So I will now be moving onto our fall activities....sigh..I already feel better now that's off of my chest. Whew-I should have done that weeks ago.

Summer Recap

We all know what a crazy winter it had been, and after waiting for so long to have summer finally come around we were determined to make the most of it before the humidity set in and killed the desire to be outside. I must say that when people told us that Milwaukee's summers are really nice, I really didn't believe them. When we moved in last year it was like 100 degrees and 100% humidity!! We had no air conditioning at the time, and it was a very long few months before it switched from extreme heat to cold. We were prepared this year though!! We bought window A/C units back in March/April and were just waiting for the heat to bring it on! Thankfully it really never did-well not too badly. A few days were pretty warm and sticky-but for the most part summer was very kind to us. We've done a lot of biking, splash pad swimming, outdoor BBQ's, visiting nearby lakes, and exploring a bit of the areas around us. It was the first 4th of July that I can remember that wasn't scorching hot-it was kinda nice!
Here are a few of the summer's highlight photos-We kept ourselves busy enough that I was really bad at keeping up our blog...sorry everyone!


Balcony sandbox for one...

or two as the case may be...

A new found love of bike helmets...

and the American flag. He also liked the 4th of July parade too!

We also learned how sad it is to loose our first balloon-that was a heart breaker!


We spent a day at the beach at with our playgroup friends.


We went to Madison and experienced the farmer's market...mmm fresh peas!


Played volleyball weekly

And even caught a few fireflies!

AND THAT WAS ONLY JUNE AND JULY!! BRING ON THE REST OF SUMMER HORRAY!