Thursday, July 30, 2009

1/2 Birthdays

After Anne and Fritz headed to Chicago- we spent the afternoon just hanging out and resting. Friday night we went to the Zoo for the evening. They have this during the summer for Zoo members. Uncle Kurt joined us for the evening too.






Saturday morning Chad and the girls headed to the library. The big news from the library was that there was a Lion there- someone dressed up as one. Emma of course was not happy, but still came home wanting to go back to the library. While they were at the library, Lilly and I ran some errands and did a little shopping. We were gone most the morning and afternoon. Grandma Heff was in Boston all weekend for a conference for a new study. We met up with Grandma J for dinner to give uncle Kurt back. Sunday we headed to early church- we were one of the few families there. Then after church it as down to O'Hare to pick Grandma Heff up and then over to the ChiHeffs(my brother Alan and sister-in-law Tracie, Kate, and Ella) for Kate and Ella's 1/2 birthday parties. The girls birthdays are close to Chritmas, so they never really get a birthday party so Tracie thought that having one in summer would be better anyways. Chad, myself, Maddie, Kate and Ella went to go visit Alan at the Rock Shop.

Maddie was shopping for a Van Morrison album. Uncle Alan came through and we got that record and a couple others for G and G J's house. Chad even got a couple Bill Cosby cd's. We spend the afternoon hanging in the backyard playing in the sand, eating very yummy food, and some awesome cakes. The girls opened their presents and it looked like a tornadoe went through the house will all the gifts. Ella also got an American Girl Bitty Baby from Grandma Heff.


Kate was a little disappointed that she didn't get a doll, so Monday morning Grandma Heff ordered one for Kate and Maddie. Maddie and Kate both had babies on Thursday. Maddie was so confused about it coming in the mail- because she kept insisting that babies come from your tummy and she was way to young to have a baby. The rest of the week was just hanging out and waiting for Thursday.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Anne and Fritz

So Anne and Fritz were here for Lilly's baptism back in May, May 24th to be exact. Fritz had taken a call to the same school as Anne and was in the process of getting ready to move down to Florida. The following weekend Anne headed to Baltimore for one last weekend there before Fritz moved- that weekend Fritz proposed to Anne. It was very hard for me to keep it to myself the whole weekend before. I knew that he had bought a ring and was planning on proposing that following weekend. So he was in a wedding the beginning of July, they drove down to FL and then decided to take a road trip with a stop back here in Milwaukee. They got here on Tuesday- we met them after tennis for some dinner- it was fun to just sit and talk and catch up.

Wednesday the girls were happy so see Anne in the morning- it took a little longer to warm up to Fritz. Chad headed to school for speed and strength and we got ready to head to the library for story time. Anne did such a great job that she got to go to Kopp's for lunch and custard.

We met up with Chad and then it was home to celebrate Emma's birthday after dinner. We had a little celebration the week before at camp, but we wanted to celebrate with G and G Heff. They got her an American Girl Bitty Baby- Emma was in heaven. G and G J was there too- it actually happened to be uncle Kurt's birthday that day- so we made sure we had a cake for him too. He didn't have to share Emma's princess cake, but got a Detroit Tigers cake (it was for him and Chad). Emma played with her doll until it was bedtime and then of course took it to bed with her. We were planning a day at the Zoo Thursday, so we wanted to be well rested.


Thursday we were off to the zoo, the girls were pulling Anne and Fritz in every direction. They didn't know what direction they wanted to go, so we went in all of them. We had a minor incedent with the Tiger coming way to close to the glass for Emma's liking. We ran into our neighbors and also a girl from Maddie's class. The boys headed to Germantown to drop Emma off at G and G J's for the night and they went off to golf nine holes. Anne, Lilly, Maddie, and I spent just a little more time at the zoo. We were then on our way home so Maddie could spend the night over at my aunt Susie's house.



With Emma up in Germantown and Maddie over at my aunt's house, we decided to leave Lilly with grandpa and head out to dinner. A night out with adult conversation. We went to Fiesta Garibaldi as many of you will remember as the place of the mole incident of 2004 for Chad. That was the night of mom and dad's surpirse anniversary party. So after dinner no one could decide what to do or where to go, so we went to Rounding Third and had a couple drinks while watching the Brewers. We were home pretty early, but still had a fun night out. Uncle Kurt was dropped off a little after we got home by uncle Ben since they were in Madison for the Mallards game.

In the morning we headed out to breakfast before Anne and Fritz were on their way to Chicago. Chad had to take Kurt up to Germantown for his baseball game, but then they were back so we could head to the zoo in the evening. Anne and Fritz were on their way about noon and I had a couple hours to myself while waiting for Maddie to get home from Susie and Kip's. It was so great to have Anne and Fritz here. I am honored to be a part of their wedding and can't wait to see them again. I have been given a free pass to go see Anne in either Florida or New York before the wedding to help her with some planning or the like. Good thing that Southwest is starting to fly out of Milwaukee beginning in November.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Michigan 2009



I can't believe we have been back for almost a week. It seems like we have never stopped going. So here is our Michigan Adventure. We headed out Monday morning, we met up with grandma and grandpa J, Kendra, and Kurt in Oak Creek and were on our way to Michigan. The next stop we made was at the Michigan welcome center. The girls loved being able to get out of the car and stretch their legs on the playground they have there. We drove on- them not being too wild and stopped for lunch. We ended up getting to Hartland, where the camp is around 4pm Michigan time. The girls were real happy to be out of the car and instantly took to Molly and Audrey. Lilly got passed around and Chad and I unloaded the car and got everything set up. She got to meet most of the family right away. We spent the next few days playing, talking, laughing, and having fun. We stayed until Friday morning, there were a few other families there, but most everyone else left on Thursday afternoon. In the evening on Thursday we celebrated Emma's birthday- the Heiden's came out to the camp and so Ben and Chad took Matt, Nick, and Maddie swimming in the lake. Emma got to open a few presents and of course loved all the Barbie stuff.

Friday morning we loaded up the car and headed over to the Tyler's house. Randy and Drue were there and the girls got to swim in the pool with Chad and uncle Ben. Christina and I were just happy to be able to take a shower with hot water since there was none at camp. Christina and Ben headed down to the Tigers game and we headed over to the Heiden's. The kids went right to playing and we then headed out to Red Robin for dinner. We got some ice cream at the Dairy Twist on the way home and then it was home for a little playing and bed. Sarah and I got to talk for awhile and it is always so nice to talk with her and just be relaxed. Saturday morning Ben made pancakes for all the kids and then we were on our way to Lansing to visit with great grandma Janetzke. She took us out to Wendy's for lunch, since it was Chad's 30th birthday and all. We drove out to the new Our Savior Church. We didn't get a chance to go inside, but the girls loved the playground they had and it looks beautiful from the outside. We stopped by grandma Brown's house to say hello and let her see the girls. She was getting ready for two weeks up north with her family and then the celebration of her 97th birthday. We stopped quickly over at grandma and grandpa Bickel's to feed Lilly and get the girls changed. We were on our way back to Milwaukee. We had to make a stop at a rest area in Indiana where the girls still think their toys from the car are in the garbage can there. As soon as we had a little talk and were on our way the girls zonked hard. Maddie didn't wake up until right at the Skyway and Emma was still sleeping when we stopped at the Oasis for dinner. After a quick bite to eat we got our pj's on and finished the last hour of the trip. We were home about 10 and were in bed right away.

Sunday we were planning on taking it easy, but figured the vacation laundry could wait so Chad and I took Maddie and Emma to the Brewers game. Our trip to Michigan was great and I think we will be back Labor Day weekend for Chad's cousin's (on the Janetzke side) wedding. We will hopefully get a chance to meet the new Heiden boy- Aaron James was born on Wednesday.

Camp 09 was great- I got to talk to some cousins who I usually don't get a chance too. Chad did a great job leading the devotions. Grandma and grandpa's anniversary celebration was great- everyone who sang did a great job. I am already looking forward to camp in a couple of years. The girls will be a little older and I think that they will start to enjoy and appreciate it more. It is neat to see everyone get just a little bit older and wiser.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

6 Years- 60 Years

UPDATED: With pictures from 4th of July and Summerfest

So today Chad and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary, we went to Summerfest with the girls, Amy, Ben, Sam, Alan, Tracie, Kate, Ella, grandpa H, and grandma H. We had some good food to eat and just walked around. When we got home I started packing the car for Little Bickel camp in Michigan tomorrow and Chad was getting ready to go to basketball practice. We are leaving tomorrow around 7am and hoping to make it to Michigan in the early afternoon. We will be there until Friday morning. Wednesday we will be celebrating grandma and grandpa Bickel's 60th wedding anniversary. There will be music and I'm sure lots of laughs. We are going to spend Friday afternoon and evening with the Heidens. They are getting ready for their third little guy to make an appearance. We will go out to Lansing for the night and then make a stop by great grandma J's.

What else has been going on. Last week the 22nd-26th was VBS for Maddie. I thought that that would also be a great time to start potty training Emma. After taking the first couple of days slow, she decided she was going to just go cold turkey. She usually wakes up dry even after sleeping 12 hours. We still put a pull-up on just in case. She got up about an hour ago because she had to go. I think she was still sleeping, but went to the bathroom and crawled back into bed. The same week of VBS- which by the way Maddie just loved. If I could find a VBS for her to go to every week, she would- Chad has basketball camps. He had one in the morning and then another in the afternoon. So there were a couple of long days last week, but it wasn't too bad. We headed to the Brewers game on Friday night- it was Chad, myself, Maddie, grandpa, and Lilly. It was a good game and Maddie was just happy that Bernie got to go down the slide.

This past week we had a pretty normal week. Chad had speed and strength on Monday and Tuesday. Monday the girls, grandpa, and I went down to Summerfest for Kid's Fest. We met up with Carter, Max, and Owen, of course their mommy too. Wednesday Amy, Ben, and Sam came to go to the Brewers game. They spent the night and so we all had some fun that night. We went to go see Ice Age 3 on Thursday morning. We dropped Lilly off by the Jantezke's and then after we went back there and hung out for the evening. Chad got some twilight golf in and then also him and Kurt played 18 on Friday morning. Friday was trying to get some things ready for Michigan. I got to meet up with Barkley who was in town for a strongman competition at Summerfest on Saturday. We watched the fireworks on TV and then I headed home. Saturday morning we went up to Freistadt for their 4th of July service. The girls wanted to stay for the parade and the games, but we would have had to wait about 2 hours. So we grabbed lunch and then it was off to the house for the day and then to watch the Germantown fireworks. We have had some late nights the last few nights, so tonight the girls went to bed early. I am also hoping that they are still catching up with sleep and will nap a little while in the car tomorrow. I can't believe that this weekend was already the 4th of July. When we get back we have something almost every weekend, so I know that it will make the second half of summer go by really quick. Here are some pics from the last couple of weeks.

This past week Michael started at West Point. He had to report on Monday. So right now he is going through all his basic training and what they call Beast. We are thinking about him often and just pray for his safety. Maybe it is me getting older or just being a mom, but it seemed that with him being there- Independence Day meant a whole lot more. It seemed to me that it was a little more special knowing that he was at West Point.