The Sunny Side of Life

Spring has...

2011-03-22T21:13:00.002-05:00

A. Sprung
B. is springing
C. is thinking about springing

I would go with answer C. It has been raining for the last two days, so that is a good sign considering that it could be the white stuff falling from the sky.

Spring Break has sprung in our house, which means that it is crazy in here with all the rain going on outside. Yesterday they did get to spend the majority of the day at grandma and grandpa's with Aunt Kendra while I went to work for a few hours. They of course enjoyed every minute of it, even though Maddie wanted nothing to do with it at the beginning of the day.

Tomorrow we are getting a chance to spend an afternoon with friends. Thursday we will be visiting either the Children's Museum or Stonefire Pizza (think an upscale Chuck E Cheese). Friday we are heading to Valparaiso for the National Basketball Tournament. There are about 7 teams we will be looking to watch. Boys and Girls from Trinity Klein, where we were members at in Texas. The boys coach is a friend. The boys and girls from Trinity Cedar Rapids, where Chad went to grade school and where my sister and brother in law go now. Our Redeemer boys and girls, where the girls attend school now. Last but not least the Hales Corners boys team, another school from the area here, a lot of their kids end of going to Martin Luther, so we know some of their families.

Chad started baseball yesterday. If it keeps raining like this, the field will not be dry by next Thursday for the home opener.

The girls are doing great. Maddie is getting so excited for 1st grade. Her reading is coming along really well and I love that she will pick up a book and try to read it. She is also starting to read signs along the highway too. Emma is itching to be in all day school. She is the social butterfly of the family and loves to talk to anyone and everyone.

Along with baseball filling up our spring, we will be heading to Michigan for Easter this year. We are looking forward to seeing friends and family while we are there. Our summer is starting to fill up fast, but it is always fun to have things going on.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T13:39:00.004-06:00

Nothing too exciting for Valentine's Day here. I worked (only myself and the principal in the office and got more work done then the last few weeks combined), the girls had school, the both had parties in their classrooms, and they even had George Washington come to school yesterday and talk about his life. This week is reading week at school. I am still trying to figure out a storybook character for the girls to dress up as on Thursday.

Here was the Valentine pictures we sent to some people:

Maddie Anne 5 Years 8 Months

Lilly Joy 1 Year 9 Months

Emma Grace 4 Years 7 Months

Here are some other Valentine Day pictures of the girls: (Lilly was not interested in having her picture taken or to have her picture taken with the girls. )

Basketball and Life

2011-02-15T13:32:00.003-06:00

Even though the Brewers pitchers and catchers report tomorrow, we are still in basketball mode. Boy are we ever in basketball mode. It all started last Friday, Chad had a game against St. Cate's. They lost to them by 47 the last time they played them, this past week, they only lost by 18, much improvement. So anyways, the girls and I, plus an extra girl (Maddie's friend Mia) set off to ML to watch the freshmen game. Well okay, Lilly and I watched the game while the other girls played under the bleachers, in the bleachers, and in the hall. We were on our way after the freshmen game, Chad always stays for the JV, well he was so lucky that he got to coach the JV. Then he also had to sit on the bench for Varsity and assist. I was only sort of in the loop, but got the full story when he got home. So the short of it is that Chad was the only coach in the boys' program left after the game on Friday. A couple coaches were asked not to come back, the head coach decided to step down feeling responsible for the actions of the assistants that got asked not to come back.

So needless to say last week was left trying to fill in some coaches spots for the last two weeks of the season. So Chad has 3 freshmen games left, 4 varsity regular season games and a sectional game. He is lucky enough to have found three other guys to help him out for the next 3 weeks. A great person/coach to take over the JV and is doing the best job possible, given the situation.

So we are all adjusting here, but I know that he will give it the best shot he can for the 3 weeks. I am assuming that the team won't make it much past the first round of the sectionals considering that the JV and Varsity teams have not won a game yet.

So here's to Chad helping them get their first win of the season.

A Surpirse Trip

2011-01-29T10:54:00.003-06:00

The girls and Chad had off for Martin Luther King Day. That weekend was packed with stuff, but it was all a lot of fun and so glad we got to do it all. Thursday started the Our Redeemer tournament, it is both a boys and girls tournament. We went Thursday, because we knew we wouldn't get to go any other time. So Thursday we packed everyone up in the bitter cold and headed to school to watch the OR girls take on the Mount Olive girls (that is my grade school), let's just say that OR pretty much blew them out.

Friday it was off to dad's game and so we had our usual fun Friday at Martin Luther for basketball. Saturday we packed everyone up in the car and headed to River Forest for the girls basketball game. It was alumni day and so I met one of my teammates/roommates and her family for the game. We went out to dinner after and had a really great time. Before the game we made a quick stop at uncle Alan's store to visit and Kate was there, so the girls had a great time for about a half hour in the store. So we headed home from River Forest in time to catch the second half of the Packers/Falcons game.

Sunday we went to church and then headed up to Germantown. There we dropped Lilly off for the day/night. We told the older two that we were going to run some errands and would be back. We started the drive to Lake Geneva, both girls at one point did fall asleep, so that helped. We were headed to the Timber Ridge Lodge and Waterpark.

We had gotten a gift card from the baseball team last year and finally got a chance to use it. They also gave us a bunch of tokens to use in the arcade. The girls had no idea what was going on until I came out of the hotel with the room key. We had such a fun time playing in the water, winning tickets at the arcade, eating dinner in the restaurant, watching some movies, and just hanging out.

So Monday morning we were off to breakfast in Lake Geneva and then back to Germantown to get Lilly. Even though it was a really short trip it was really fun and so nice to have just a short break.

The girls have been busy with school, Chad with basketball, getting ready for baseball, and I am into full force golf outing mode for work. Maddie and I are just about to leave for some time at the YMCA. She gets to go to a 2 hour sports day while I get my workout in.

Maddie had the time of her life last night, when she got to spend the evening (not overnight) at Mia's house while the rest of us went to Chad's game. She was so excited and had such a great time. Those are the things that you just love and remember about how they get excited for such little things.

We have some fun ideas stirring for Valentine's Day, so keep a lookout for those.

Packers or Bears

2011-01-23T13:18:00.003-06:00

VS.

That has been the question all week around here. Now here is my take- I could really care less about either. As most of you know I am not that big of a football fan. Now because I live in Wisconsin I am rooting for the Packers. My oldest daughter wanted to know if there were any other teams playing because she didn't want to root for either. She now has realized that there is nobody else is playing, so it would make sense to root for the Packers. It may have also been her father telling her that it is okay to root for them. I think deep down she thinks she is betraying the Lions (who did end the year with a 4 game winning streak). She also knows that the Bears are from Chicago, which is also where the Cubs are from and she figures that since we don't like the Cubs, naturally we shouldn't like the Bears either. Smart girl. So even though I may be one of the few in Wisconsin who won't be glued to the TV the whole game- GO PACK GO!!!

Christmas Time is Here Again and Has Gone Again

2010-12-17T22:44:00.006-06:00

The tree(s) are trimmed. Yes that is right, trees. Emma has her tree and Maddie has her tree. Lilly doesn't have one yet, but give her a couple years.

The stockings are hung, two out of three ain't bad. That is what happens when great grandma Janetzke doesn't crochet anymore. Lilly is missing her stocking, but don't worry grandma J is working on one.

The presents are bought, well all but one. This weekend we have to get Maddie's teacher's present, but that is an easy one.

Most of the presents are wrapped.

Cookies are being made tomorrow that was back on the 18th of December, some were made last week at aunt Susie's house, but those already have been eaten.

You know as well as I do, that this list could go on and on. I know that stress levels are high this time of year, mine included. But I love the excitement of everything;

Well now as I continue this post, the presents have been opened, fancy dresses have been worn, pictures have been taken, cousins have been played with, swimming at the waterpark has been done, and now all the cousins, except one (Nolan) have gone home. It has been so much fun spending time in Germantown with the whole Janetzke clan and the whole Heffelfinger clan at the indoor waterpark for Christmas day. We will start with the pictures.

Here are all the Heffelfinger cousins, minus Sam(he didn't want his picture taken) and plus one Rosie who is my cousin's daughter. That makes her the girls' second cousin.

Christmas Eve at Trinity Freisdadt.

The whole Janetzke Family. There are 17 of us, the Heffelfingers actually have them beat by one. I'm sure that will change since only 3 out of 7 are married on the Janetzke side and on my side everyone is married.

The 5 of us on Christmas Eve. We had to bribe Maddie with cookies when we got home so she would sit through all the pictures. Little did she know that we would have let her have some anyways.

Here are the girls on Christmas morning at Mount Olive. Lilly was being a ham the whole time and wouldn't leave the front of church until we took a picture of just her. I would say she is taking a little after Maddie in that department.

The girls have done great with all the different places and people. Emma did end up getting a little sick the day after Christmas, but I think she just had a little bit too much Christmas. She was so exhausted that I think her body was just done.

Now we are looking forward to spending New Year's Eve in Iowa at Jana and Mike's house. We will be heading there on Wednesday and enjoying some hanging out.

So we are now back into the swing of things with school. We spent a fun 4 days in Iowa. We went sledding before all the snow melted. Built a snowman. Set up the basement in full theater mode. Went to the Playstation (big indoor playground) for their Noon Year's Eve Bash (they had a balloon drop and celebrated New Year's at noon on Friday since their patrons are mostly under the age of 10. Maddie made it to see the ball drop, well she her eyes were open if she was actually awake is still being decided. We spent most of New Year's day at the Jonasson's house. We got to hang out with the 5 of them and had a great time. Maddie got a chance to play the Kinectimals on XBox Kinect. She is hooked. I already told her we aren't getting one. We had a Wii bowling tournament and did watch some football in there. To end the weekend Chad and Mike watched the Vikings/Lions game. It was a great weekend and we thank the Pownell's for inviting us and having us. It was a lot of fun.

It was back to the grind for everyone yesterday. Chad to school. Lilly by aunt Kendra, the girls to school/daycare, and me to work. We all got to all of the above on time and even with some time to spare. Our Redeemer called about 1:30 to let me know that Maddie wasn't feeling well, so it was a short day at work and off to get the girls and have them come home and rest. She did stay home again today, because she had a little fever, but I think she will be as good as new tomorrow. They have enjoyed playing with all their toys and we are still opening some from Christmas.

This morning Maddie and Lilly ran some errands with me. One of our stops was Target. Maddie has had this $10 from Christmas burning a hole in her pocket. So being the oldest and just like her dad, it took us about 25 minutes to decide on something. She ended up with the most perfect thing. She spotted a webkinz. It was an Okapi. Now if you know anything about Maddie and her Okapis it was perfect. An Okapi is an animal that is part of the giraffe family. It was her favorite at the Houston Zoo. She always loved to go and look at it and see it every time we went. Now the funny thing about this animal is a little fact about it and that is that it can lick it's own eyeballs and since the first time we told her that she has thought that was the funniest thing and has been hooked. So all you Houston friends next time you are at the zoo, check out the Okapi.

As you can see our lives are never dull or lack anything exciting. I hope that you all had a great Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Figuring It Out

2010-12-09T11:47:00.002-06:00

What is the it?? Now I have to tell you that we don't ever really tell our girls that there is a Santa. We just kind of let them believe what they think it is all about. Christmas presents are always from mom and dad, so we just let them make their own conclusions. Now Maddie knows that the Santa in the mall is just a guy dressed up. She isn't sure why there are guys dressed up, but she knows he is in costume. So on Sunday night, St. Nick came to the house. He filled Maddie and Emma's stockings with some goodies. Nothing big you know: a coloring book, a new toothbrush, some m&m's, and a little toy. Maddie was so excited and so was Emma. You could tell Emma was really thinking about this all hard. She was trying to put 2 and 2 together, but wasn't quite sure about it. So she went to school and daycare and on the way to pick up Lilly from Germantown and this is how the conversation went.

E: Mom, did you or St. Nick put those things in my stocking
Me: (again not telling her that there is not or there is a St. Nick) Well who do you think put those things in your stocking?
E: Welll I think that St. Nick did, but those are all things that you know that I wanted.

I have this feeling that she is putting it all together and is going to figure it all out. Now as long as she doesn't take the approach that one of the boys in 1st grade does and goes around telling all the kids that there is no Santa.

She also has been with me in a store where I have gotten a few of Lilly's or Maddie's toys. I have a feeling that all this information is being stored and when those toys are open on Christmas a lightbulb is going to go off. Now I know that it isn't a big deal, but it is just that innocence of a child who just lights up when they open that present. Emma is kind of like a closet smarty pants. She is our bubbly, twirling in circle kind of girl; but if something doesn't make sense logically, she will call you out on it and want to know how it really works. I will have to keep you updated on how all of that goes.

On a side note of the innocence of a child: last night the girls had their Christmas program at church. It is the 4K-2nd grade. So right away you know that it is going to be loud and all those kids are going to just sing their heart out even if they are off key. Now if any of you know Maddie, she is a performer. She loves to sing and dance. She wears her headphones with her MP3 player around the house. So when I dropped her off in her room- she told me that tonight she was going to be a rockstar. And boy was she ever. She had the hand motions for every song, she was belting it out like she was on American Idol. Let's just say that I had more then one comment from other parents about her performance. I love that she was having just the best time, but we all couldn't help but laugh at her. We love her for her enthusiasm.

Giving Thanks and Snow Flurries

2010-12-01T13:07:00.004-06:00

So as always around Thanksgiving, everyone wants to know what you are thankful for. I know we all are thankful for food, shelter, family, and friends, but I wanted to point out a few particulars when it comes to those three crazy girls we call daughters.

MADELINE

She is quite the 5 year old. She loves music and anything that has to do with music. Just yesterday we went to the library and got 7 cds to put onto her mp3 player. Since those songs have been on, I don't think she has taken her headphones off. She is always moving, running, jumping, playing some sort of ball. She loves to be wherever her dad is, and do whatever dad is doing. She is also a big help around the house, she usually does what is asked; even if that means going to get a diaper for Lilly or picking up toys she didn't play with. She will try anything and everything, especially when it comes to fun things, but also at the dinner table. She loves school more then anything and loves to write and make up stories. She is a unique little girl and I can't wait to see where her next adventure takes her.

(both of the pictures of Maddie are from Monkey Joe's at the beginning of November, as you can see the daredevil in her- going down head first)

EMMA
She is our social butterfly, loves to talk to everyone and anyone (we have to watch that sometimes). That being said, she is quite the homebody. She is most happy at home playing with her barbies, polly pockets, or just coloring (you also have to watch that, because she will color on anything). She is definetly the mothering type, she loves her baby dolls, helping Lilly, and being the little mother hen for Lilly and Nolan when everyone is together. She also loves school. She is smarter then she leads on, example she knows what a letter is but will always ask you just to have that interaction with you and make sure she is right. She is a whiz at puzzles. She will walk past the puzzle grandma J is doing, pick up a piece, look at it, and put it in it's correct place. She doesn't like to take as many risks as her sister and she is okay with that. She stays in her comfort zone of peanut butter sandwiches and go-gurts. She is a chocolate milk- aholic. She loves her princesses and playing dress-up, she also never passes up a chance to have her hair or nails done.

Riding a little ride at Mall of America

One of the last Brewers game we went to this fall

LILLY
Oh boy, does this one have her own personality. She wants no one to help her and that includes her sisters. Some days she reminds me of Maddie as she is climbing the chairs and sits in the middle of the dining room table. Other times she is like Emma as she can just sit and play with her bebe (think of it in French) that is what she calls a baby. She is a ham and loves to do her "tricks". She loves the bath, but hates the sprinkler. She loves Mo-Mo (Elmo). She can look at 100 books a day, she also expects you to read that many to her. Lilly is a bruiser, she loves to wrestle anyone who is laying on the floor. She loves to laugh and thinks that the world is her audience. She also loves music and loves to dance. She can't go to bed before giving everyone a kiss goodnight- it doesn't matter who is there, she has to give one to everyone. She loves her donkey (Army Mule) and takes him everywhere. Let's just say he is getting his share of time in the washer. She loves to go to the YMCA daycare and play with the kids there. She also loves to wave good bye to everyone, no matter where we are. She is a girl who is just trying to be her own person and I will be interested to see how her sisters pull her in their directions.

Lilly at Monkey Joe's she was trying so hard to get up the wall to slide, but she just wasn't quite big enough, which of course ticked her off.

Here is that ham- in the tub with the swimming dog's goggles on. Now every time she is in the tub she has to put them on.

In the quote of Emma- "It is going to be a great day, because there is snow falling"

That is what she said to me today when I picked her up from school. What she doesn't realize is that all it is is a dusting. Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure we will get our fair share, it was just to cute that she was excited for the first snow. It took until December for that to happen, so we are just hoping that winter doesn't last until May around here.

The girls got to watch their first Christmas Special last night- it was the cartoon version of How a Grinch Stole Christmas. They get that love of Christmas specials from their dad. Good thing we have DVR now because with basketball he misses a lot of them, so now I am able to record them and they can all watch them later. The girls get so excited about all the classics; Rudolph, Santa Claus is coming to town, Frosty. Now they like the new ones too, but I think they just love the classics because dad gets to into them too.

The older girls are in their Christmas program next week, they cannot wait to sing for everyone and Emma is so looking forward to wearing her sparkly Christmas dress. This girl loves anything that sparkles and shines. I will make sure to put some pictures up of that night.

So as December starts and we all know how crazy it can get; baking cookies, buying presents, wrapping presents, seeing friends and family, let's make sure we always take time to remember that little baby that came to us that first Christmas as the best present anyone has ever received.

Where have we been?? You got me....

2010-11-17T12:03:00.011-06:00

That's right, it is basketball season. Practice started on Monday- Chad, as of right now, is coaching the freshmen team. We are waiting to see if there are enough guys to make up three teams. The head coach is a little unorganized, okay that is an understatement. He is so disorganized, that it even bothers Chad, that may be a first.
For all of those who don't know, I work part-time at Lutheran Special School and Education Services. I work a full day on Mondays and so Lilly usually goes up to Germantown. Aunt Kendra doesn't have school on Mondays, so she usually is the one babysitting. Then she comes home with us and the girls and I take her to school on Tuesday mornings. So Monday night, I took the plunge and chopped my hair, and I mean chopped. There was a lot of hair on the floor when it was all said and done. Emma also got a trim. Now her bangs are almost as long as all the rest of her hair.

I am still getting used to the short hair, but with is all said and done I really like it. All the moms on Tuesday couldn't believe I chopped so much off. We went to the movies on Tuesday night (my moms group) and one of them didn't even know it was me for a moment.

Do you ever have one of those days where you wonder where is all come from, meaning your strength to just be able to get through the day? Yesterday was one of those days. I was so tired, but Lilly and I still went to the YMCA like we do every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday while Emma is at school. On Wednesdays the three of us (minus Maddie) go to school and eat lunch with Chad. So that is always a process in itself to get them and our lunches upstairs with no one falling or running into any high schoolers. Also, we deal with every Wednesday Lilly crying when we walk into Chad's room because Alex, his teacher aide is always right there. It is so funny because by the time he leaves for lunch after we have been there for 25 minutes, she is usually throwing him kisses. So Lilly normally falls asleep on the way home so then I have the task of trying to get her into her bed without her wanting to stay awake. So yesterday it was all good, got her in bed and so Emma and I were hanging out and I could not keep my eyes open it was like I hadn't slept the previous night. Emma was great about playing with her polly pockets and Barbies while I closed my eyes for a little while. Then we got the dreaded phone call that a mom hates, from Maddie's school telling me she is in the nurse's office because she isn't feeling well. So we get in the car to get her, she hasn't thrown up yet, she is the 5th kid down that day. We are getting her backpack to leave and she makes it to the bathroom just in time to lose her lunch. We get home, she gets situated on the couch and after some resting is looking a little better. The poor girl is hungry, so we had a little gatorade to make sure it would stay down. A little while later we move on to the yogurt, that wasn't as successful. Of course, this time she didn't make it to the bathroom in time. It just wears me out thinking about it all. I guess that is why I was sleeping by 9pm last night.

She is good today, a 24 hour thing. She stayed home just to keep those germs away from school. These are the days when I remember why I send her to full day kindergarten.

Here are a few pictures of the girls from the fall. Here are Maddie and Emma hanging in the leaves. They even helped rake them into a pile, so they could jump in them. The funny thing is, that both the girls are still wearing shorts in the picture. We have had a few days of needing our winter coats before this week, but really this past week we put away the fall coats and brought out the winter ones. I would say that is pretty good, it being November 18th and all.

Same day as the one above. Lilly was a little less interested in jumping in the leaves, but did like being able to throw them up and watch them fall.

We went to Minnesota on a weekend in September. We went on Friday after school. Here is Lilly with her Army Mule that she carries around everywhere. We like to take pictures of her and "donkey" and send them to Michael to show him where her and "donkey" have been.

Jay thought the girls needed some facepaint. If this isn't a perfect characterization of our children, Emma the Butterfly and Maddie as Spiderman. This is that weekend in Minnesota. Saturday we spent the whole day with Jill and Jay. We went to this awesome hole in the wall (aka bar) for burgers. We did some hanging out at the MOA. Emma was in heaven in the American Girl store, Maddie tried her hand at a bunch of rides at the Nickelodeon "theme park". Sunday while Chad went to the Vikings/Lions game with Mike, we took Nolan with us the Minnesota Zoo. We had fun walking around and seeing all the animals. I think we did a pretty good job at tiring the girls out too.

This is the neighborhood trick or treat. This was on Saturday night. The two werewolves are Ben and Sam, along with Wonderwoman, and a Bride. We decorated the house as Monsters, Inc. Everyone thought is was great. We also had the projector playing the movie the whole night too. Lilly was a little glittery fairy, but refused to be in the picture. She is quite the little stinker. She sure has a mind of her own and no one is going to change it for her.

Maddie spent Thursday at home with Lilly and grandma. She was her "normal" self by Thursday morning, but we didn't want to give the 5K any more germs. So Friday we were back our normal routine. We spent a little time at the mall on Friday after school, because we got to see Phineas and Ferb. Emma wanted nothing to do with them, but Maddie was up there dancing and trying to win prizes. She didn't win anything, but she did get her picture taken with them.

So there is where we have been. Look for more frequent updates on our lives. We are busy, but I know that some of you like to see pictures of the girls, that are more recent then 6 months ago. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Be thankful for all you are given and make sure you let those around you know how thankful you are for them.

My New Resolution

2010-11-14T20:12:00.003-06:00

I know that it is not New Year's, but I am making a resolution for myself. I am going to blog at least once a week. I figure that if I write a little each day or each couple of days and then on the weekends I will post it. I have updated the look of my blog and now I am going to keep it updated, so look for a new post this week.

Here are all the Pictures

2010-06-19T22:18:00.000-05:00

JUNE?? What happened to May?

2010-06-18T19:37:00.003-05:00

Okay so here is what we have been up to since my last post.

Lilly's had her first Birthday party- her godfather (Michael) surprised us by attending the party. He came all the way from Westpoint to be with us. That was awesome.
For Mother's Day Chad and the girls got me an iPod Touch ( i love it) the girls love that I put some cartoons on there for them
We celebrated Kurt's confirmation on May 16th. Chad got confirmed in 1993 and Kurt, the last one, 17 years later.
Same day we had a wedding shower for Ben and Christina
Of course during all this we are still playing baseball games about three times a week
On Monday the 17th, I had the Lutheran Special School Golf outing, I was in charge of the silent and live auction part of it. The auction raised $31,000. Not too bad for my first one.
May 19th we take Maddie to the ENT, she is having her Tonsils and Adenoids taken out and tubes put in on June 29th
The weekend of the 21st-23rd we enjoy our last free weekend until August 6th. We played at 5 playgrounds, saw a movie (Shrek 4), and just hung out, the 5 of us.
Found out that Chad got a bye as a #2 seed for the first round of baseball playoffs.
Friday the 28th Dina and I headed to Michigan for Anne's wedding shower. Once we got out of Chicago it was smooth sailing.
That same night had dinner with an old college friend who lives in the same area we were going to
Saturday the 29th, had a great wedding shower for Anne, got to hang out with the girls who were there in the evening. Laughed pretty hard that night at just about anything. Chad had extra help with the girls because Jill and Jay came to visit.
Sunday Lydia graduated from Living Word High School. Made it back from Michigan with just enough time to change and get to the ceremony. Got to play some cards with Jill and Jay
Monday took the girls to Stone Fire Pizza, it was a perfect day to take them and everyone had a great time. Had to say goodbye to Jill and Jay (don't worry they came back last weekend)
Tuesday we watched some Spartan baseball pull off a 7th inning, 2 out, suicide squeeze win.
Wednesday got to watch Spartan baseball (with no kids) win the Regional Championship in 9 innings 3-2.
Wednesday was also the last day of school for Maddie and Emma. I was Maddie's helper.
Friday the 4th, Kurt graduated from Trinity. Chad started 4K (at a different Trinity)way back in 1984 and this time 26 years later the last one graduated.
Saturday was Maddie's golden birthday. It was also Martin Luther graduation. We had some cake and beer with family that night.
Tuesday was to be Sectionals for Spartan Baseball, but they got rained out.
Wednesday the girls, myself, and Kurt drove to Oakfield Wisconsin to watch some Spartan Baseball.
Spartan Baseball won their first round of sectionals 12-4 against Palmyra/Eagle.
Spartan Baseball was in the Elite Eight for State, but ended up losing a nail biter in the bottom of the 7th to Winnebago Lutheran (those darn WELS).
Friday the 11th Maddie had her birthday party- 13 5 year olds running around Mt.Olive's gym and then watching a "drive-in" movie. She had a blast and I'm pretty sure so did everyone else.
Saturday Jill and Jay came back- They again helped Chad as I attended Christina's Bachelorette party.
Sunday Jill and I got to shop the outlet mall while Chad and Jay did a little golfing. We met the boys in Madision- the Olsons headed back to Minnesota and Chad and I got to spend the night in Madison.
Monday we walked State Street and UW campus in the rain, but had an awesome time.
Tuesday- back to reality.
Now that we are all caught up, not pics yet, but I am trying. This weekend is the baseball banquet and Father's Day (Chad got an iTouch too- don't worry he already has it)
Next week is VBS at MO and getting ready for uncle Ben's big day.

Going to try to post a few pics from each of the events that have taken place. Here's to catching up and trying to keep up. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far- I can't believe that it is already the middle of June. Yikes, where is the summer going?

Lilly is 1

2010-05-07T07:02:00.003-05:00

HAPPY 1st Birthday Lilly!!!
Here are just a few pictures from last Sunday at Miller Park for her 1 year pictures.

Easter 2010

2010-04-14T15:22:00.002-05:00

So I am almost caught up. We are all the way up to Easter. We came back from spring break and had a short week with Good Friday off. Chad officially started baseball on that Monday. He had great weather until Saturday when he was suppose to have a game. Thursday night also started Ben-A-Polooza (Ben's Bachelor Party). You might be wondering why so early, well the Tigers were in town for exhibition game on Friday and Saturday and so of course they were there on Friday. So Thursday they hung out up in Germantown, Friday we went to church and then the boys all went to the game. Saturday Chad went to school for his game, but the field was too wet, so we met him and went out to Oconomowoc for the JV game.

Easter morning came, Maddie had asked me earlier in the week about the Easter bunny. We were at the mall and she looked at me and her exact words were "So mom, that easter bunny is he for real or just a guy dressed up in a costume?" What a smart little girl. They did get easter baskets, but Maddie knew that the Easter bunny didn't really leave them. We went to church at Mount Olive, had a little Easter Breakfast and then headed up to Germantown where everyone was for the day. We had the egg cracking contest, which uncle Ben beat Emma in the championship. We played some dominos, laughed, talked, you know all the normal stuff.

Easter Monday Chad and that girls had off. He was on dad duty while Amy and I went to Opening Day. We had a beautiful day. The rest of the week while Chad was suppose to be having games, not so much.

We are in full swing of baseball. Games a few nights a week, practice and the like. The Lutheran Special School Golf Outing is May 17th and so that is what I am working on. We are keeping ourselves busy, enjoying the nice weather (for now at least) and can hardly believe that there are only 33 days left of school for Maddie and Emma.

Texas Spring Break

2010-04-14T15:12:00.003-05:00

Spring Break 2010 was spent back in Texas. Chad took 20 of his baseball players along with 21 from Lake County Lutheran and we thought we would make a trip of it too. No, we didn't ride the bus. The girls, myself, and (almost) aunt Christina drove down and back. We left on St. Patrick's day and headed to Anamosa to spend the night at Mike and Jana's. From Anamosa we went to Norman Oklahoma (just south of Oklahoma City), spent the night in a hotel and then headed into Spring Texas. We got to the Wilke homestead on Friday and spent the next 4 days there. The bus with the baseball team arrived on Saturday and so between hanging with them and seeing everyone down there, we enjoyed the sunshine, the laughter, the shopping, and the playing with everyone. Lilly got to meet her godfather, Michael, for the first time. He was at the end of his srping break. We got to hang out at the Pier, the old sanctuary at Trinity Klein, that they turned into the youth buliding. The team went to the A & M game on Sunday, we stayed home and walked Sam the dog, played at the playground and watche NCAA basketball. Monday we got the chance to go up to Concordia and see teachers and staff up there. Christina and I did some shopping that day and then spent some of the evening hanging at the retreat center. Tuesday we had a playdate with the Keipers, we played at the park for a few hours and then at their house for lunch and after. Lilly and Raegan got to play, more like Lilly poked at Raegan. Tuesday night we got the chance to watch the Crusader baseball game and then we were off to home on Wednesday. We drove two days on the way home. The girls did great in the car. Again that was Lilly's first long trip and she would just nap, look out the window, talk to herself. We had a great time and can't wait to go again next year. Well that is what Chad is telling me.

Way Back to Florida

2010-04-14T15:04:00.001-05:00

So like two months ago, Lilly and I got the chance to visit Anne and Fritz in Florida. We left Ash Wednesday and returned home the following Tuesday morning. We had a blast just relaxing, hanging with them, and enjoying the warm weather. That was Lilly's first time flying. Can you believe that she was 9 months old, I think both girls were somewhere between 3 and 4. That is what happens when you know live close to everyone. She did great. We left in the evening on Wednesday and she just took her bottle and then slept most of the time. There was a guy sitting across from us who was thinking "great I get to sit by a baby", but after the flight he even said how amazed at how good she was. Anne and I got to do a lot of talking and she got to hang out with her goddaughter. They had a few cold ones together. No, we didn't do any tourist things and I was okay with that. I didn't think Lilly needed to go to Disney, since she wouldn't remember it anyways. The girls did great being home with grandma, grandpa, and daddy. Chad still had a couple basketball games and actually the girls got to go to Iowa with grandma and grandpa over the weekend to help the Pownell's finish moving in. I needed about 3 days when we got back to recover from being gone, but it was worth it.

Groupon

2010-03-05T20:52:00.002-06:00

Okay so I got this from Jamie's blog. If you are looking for deal for things to do in your city, check out groupon. Each day there is a new deal for you. So many people have to join in order for that deal to happen. If you follow the link below I will get groupon bucks to use to buy these awesome deals. Happy deal hunting.

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu1256123

P.S. I promise I will have a real update about the Janetzke clan one of these days. I have about 80 pics to download from the camera to then blog about.

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-11T20:02:00.004-06:00

Here are our Valentine pictures from 2010. The girls were pretty cooperative when I wanted to take them and even managed a bunch of smiles for the camera.

When did Maddie get so big?? I got some prints of these pictures and I couldn't believe how big Maddie looks in them, maybe not so much big as just older.

She's even cute with her snotty nose

Emma being cute Emma
Emma bringing the cheese- she does love to smile

Lilly wondering why we always have to take so many pictures

Lilly catching flies- this is her normal smile

The three actually looking at the camera- Maddie looks like she was out a little too late the night before (do you know how hard it is to get a good picture of the three of them)
Let's try a different pose- this time it was Emma who was out too late

This is the point where Maddie was done wanting her picture taken- check out that stone face

Here are the pictures that I know at least Anne has been waiting for. Maddie, Emma, and Lilly all on their first Valentine's Days, all wearing the same shirt, all looking very much the same.

Maddie- Febraury 2006

Emma- February 2007

Lilly- February 2010

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Princesses Everywhere

2010-02-11T10:23:00.005-06:00

I had told you that we had gone and seen Princesses on Ice a weekend back (the 6th to be exact). Grandma had gotten tickets, so Maddie, Emma, myself, grandma, Mrs. Tickner and her granddaughter Lauren when down to the MECCA. I know it isn't called the MECCA any more, but that is what I will always think of it as. I took a ton of pictures so I won't bore with all of them. Emma loved it- she didn't know where we were going until we got there. Maddie actually was pretty entranced the whole. Even for someone who doesn't like princesses that much, it was pretty cool. I think she would have been more disappointed if she wouldn't have gotten to go. The set was amazing and just to think what they have to do in-between each story to change it. The girls got to pick one thing during the intermission. They both can't decide and of course theyare just trying to get everyone through the line as quick as possible. I made sure that they knew what they wanted when we got to the front of the line. They both walked away with a snow cone in a cup they got to keep. Maddie's was Mickey Mouse and Emma's of course was Cinderella. So overall Princesses on Ice was a success and I am glad that the girls got the chance to go. So here are a few pictures from the afternoon.

Here they are as the show is starting

This is what Emma did as soon as Ursala from Little Mermaid came out

Now you can see why she was scared, the costume was big and when the end scene came it was even bigger.

Aladdin and Princess Jasmine going on a magic carpet ride

The Seven Dwarfs goofing around the dinner table

Snow White and Dopey doing a little sweeping

Belle trying to ignore the Beast

Cinderella's castle

Cinderella taking her carriage ride

Cinderella getting to the ball

Mickey and Minnie all dressed up for the ball

The whole cast doing the final dance at the ball

The whole cast at the castle waving good-bye

A New Princess

2010-02-08T20:27:00.002-06:00

Okay so we went to see Disney Princesses on Ice this past weekend, but this isn't a post about that. There will be more on that later, but I wanted to say welcome to the world of pink to Julie and Bob who welcomed a little girl, Rachel, into their world of three boys. For you Texas readers, Julie is Christa's sister and so now Faith has another girl to play with. Rachel was born on January 31st, I have a feeling that if her birth was any indication of her style, there will be a lot of waiting for Rachel to finish getting ready (you know doing hair and make-up). It sounds like everyone is doing great- we will get to meet Rachel next week after the families make their rounds. I get the updates from Bob while he is on drop off duty for school. So here is a pic of Rachel.

January in Review

2010-02-02T13:21:00.004-06:00

So catching up from last post- Lilly is on the move, she is getting faster everyday. Pulls herself up on everything. Has the one handed hang on down, tries to let go and stand by herself. If she is just right, she can sometimes manage for a couple of seconds. She has also figured out how to cruise from one thing to another- she is still a little unsure, but has no problem attempting it.

So where did January go?? I have no idea- isn't that what always happens?? So we left you with the crawling of Lilly and from there it has been basketball, work, and school.

Basketball took us to Iowa over MLK weekend. Since everyone had off on Monday, we loaded up the van- the 5 of us and uncle Ben and uncle Kurt and made the trip to Iowa. Uncle Kurt was lucky enough to sit in between Maddie and Emma the way there and back. We spent most of the weekend at Trinity Cedar Rapids watching basketball- Hannah played great, they got third place. We got to hang out with the Jonasson's- played DJ Hero, Beatles Rock Band, shared a few drinks, lots of laughs, and good times. We headed home Monday morning, since Chad had practice in the afternoon.

That week I also started a new job. I am working part time at Lutheran Special School and Educational Services. There is a self-contained classroom at Milwaukee Lutheran for 3-8th graders, 3 resource rooms at grade schools in the area(one of them being Our Redeemer where the girls go), programs at Milwaukee Lutheran and Martin Luther, and they have a teacher consultant for all the schools. I am not in the classroom, but do see some of the kids most days. I am working as a development assistant. I am helping with the events they plan and have. They have two large events, the gold outing and the auction. The golf outing is in May, so we are going gung ho with that right now. I am enjoying it, the girls like that they get to go to day care once a week. We are still adjusting to the new schedule, but everyone is getting better.

Here are a couple pics from uncle Kurt's games, we have been keeping up with those most weekends and even a couple weekday games. He has a couple tournaments coming up at the end of February.

The rest of the month we have been keeping warm and keeping busy. Chad has about a month of basketball left, we have been to a few games, but they aren't very good, so it is a little hard to watch. We are suppose to be going tonight, but we will see how naps go this afternoon.

We had a baby shower for my cousin's wife. They are getting ready for their little girl to join them at the beginning of March. They are going to join the world of girls.

It always seems like the month goes by in a blur and then I try to think of what we did and I can't seem to remember anything that exciting.

This past weekend was the first weekend we didn't have anything to do- so what did we do, took the girls to the movies. Chad took Maddie to Princess and the Frog, Emma had already seen it and so her and I went to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. In the evening Chad and I took Lilly up to CUW to watch the last couple game of CIT. We saw a few people and got a chance to talk and catch up. Sunday we actually did take a day to do nothing.

It is back to the grind and trying to not get too far behind in February.

Crawling Video

2010-01-09T16:10:00.002-06:00

Per her godmother's request, I took a video of Lilly crawling. I posted it on Facebook for those people to see, but figured I should also post it here. So she was about 3 weeks behind her sisters at crawling. They were both crawling at 7 months, but Lilly decided to wait just a few more weeks. She is getting faster everyday and is already pulling her self up on things, you know like the tv stand or anything that she could bonk her face on.

Lilly's New Year Resolution

2010-01-02T09:52:00.002-06:00

Lilly decided that for the New Year, she would actually start crawling. She has been rolling, going from all fours to sitting, doing the bear crawl (you would be proud uncle Phill), to honest to goodness all fours crawling to get places. She also has decided that because she can crawl she should already begin to start trying to pull up on stuff. She pulls up to her knees and then usually finds something more interesting to do.

She also has a mind of her own, because she thought that at about 7pm on New Year's Eve would be a great time to start this crawling. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. (procrastination- that she gets from dad)

Heffelfinger Christmas 2009

2009-12-29T17:22:00.003-06:00

So Christmas morning it was off to grandma and grandpa Heffelfingers for church and seeing all the cousins. After church they played and played and played. There weren't too many fights and overall everyone seemed to get along. Some of us watched a movie and just had way too much fun poking fun at it. My brother thinks there should be a Cheesey Movie channel and it would just suck people in, I have to agree. The living room was a little like Mystery Science 3000. We all headed down to Susie and Kip's house in the later afternoon. The kids had fun running up and down the stairs. They played and played some more. We managed to get a game of Trivial Pursuit in. It was the Pop Culture Edition- so we knew most the answers. We had another great day of celebrating with family. The girls were having so much fun with their cousins, that they didn't even open their presents from us until Saturday morning. They were too involved to even worry about it. It was really nice and made me feel like they weren't all about the presents, but enjoyed being with family.

Now Saturday morning, they ripped their presents open and again loved them all. They couldn't wait to open everything. Saturday we just relaxed and then on Sunday we headed over the the Country Springs Hotel where Jana, Mike, and Nolan were staying to have a couple of hours of playing at the indoor waterpark. Lilly enjoyed splashing in the pool. Maddie and Emma had fun taking turns with Daddy and uncle Mike going down the big slides and Nolan could have cared less about being in the pool. We ate some pizza with everyone and then headed home. Christmas weekend was over, but the girls still like each other (at least 75% of the time). They have been playing with their new games and toys, and even sharing them with others.

We still have the week of break left and so we will see what that brings.

Janetzke Christmas 2009

2009-12-29T16:52:00.002-06:00

Chad had his last day of school on Friday the 18th, but Emma and Maddie still had school the following week. I helped his mom at Trinity with their Christmas Shoppe and so that meant that Chad had to be the 4K helper on Monday. He had an exhausting day, but he made it through with no one throwing up on him. (last year someone blew chunks on him) He even took Maddie to the doctor after school. She had quite the ear infection with fluid in her ear. She got on her antibiotics and is back to her normal self. Tuesday he took Emma and Lilly to practice with him while Maddie was at school. Wednesday we headed up to Germantown. We baked some cookies and hung out for the afternoon. In the evening my cousin Alex came over to watch Emma and Maddie while the rest of us went to a funeral. Chad's mom's cousin passed away the weekend before Christmas. Thursday we all hung out during the day, got ready for church and then came back home for celebrating. We ate and opened presents. The girls were having tons of fun. They loved everything they got. After they finally settled down, they hit their pillows and were fast asleep. We had a great time celebrating with the Janetzkes.

A little part of Texas in Wisconsin

2009-12-29T16:35:00.003-06:00

So the Tuesday before Christmas we got a chance to hang out with Christa, Paul, Isaac, and Faith who made the trip from Tomball to see the rest of their family up here. We met over at Julie and Bob's house (Christa's sister). It was like we were part of a little Kasten get together. Julie and Bob go to Our Redeemer and their Carter and our Emma are in the same class. Julie also was Jana's roommate in college. Then you have Christa and Paul who were at Concordia while we were there (Paul is also Chad's college baseball coach's brother). Then their brother Luke went to Westland High School which is where Chad went. Not only are all the Kasten kids linked with us, but Mr. Kasten is one of Lydia's teacher's at Living Word. What a tangled web of the Lutheran world we weave. We had a great time just hanging out, the kids played with every toy in the basement while we all just talked. It was a relaxing evening and fun to get to see how big Isaac and Faith have gotten. The "big" kids spent most of the night downstairs, so there are just a few pics from that evening.

Lilly showing Faith how big she is.

Faith doing a great job sharing her toys with Lilly

Cousins Faith and Owen playing.

Lilly just hanging out with all the adults while the big kids ran around down stairs.

Thanksgiving, Sprecher, and Everything Inbetween

2009-12-15T13:39:00.004-06:00

So here is what began our Thanksgiving vacation. Chad had a student help day and practice on Wednesday, but we then headed up to Germantown to go to church and enjoy some sibling bonding. I was determined to for everyone to hang out, I mean come on we are all almost adults and we are always going 17 different directions when we are all there. So after church the outlaws: Scott, Christina, and myself went down to the Sportszone on Mequon to have a couple beers and hang out. While we were gone, the originals got some little kids to bed (meaning our girls and the boy cousins) and just started the party. We laughed, talked, played some games, laughed some more. I think that everyone had a good time, if you didn't then you can correct me. I think most of us were on our way to bed by about 12:30, but there were a few (those without children) who stayed up even later.

Some people gathered in the kitchen to have a drink and talk.

Others played Clue on the back porch.

Thanksgiving morning came way to quick, at least for me, I know I am old. I made a run to KMart, you might think I am crazy, but I got some really good deals on some things the girls really wanted. It is hard to pass up buy one get one on things like v-tech games, barbies, and baby toys. We all managed to fit on the back porch for dinner. That's right all 17 of us and we only had to add a card table at the end. The little kids minus Lilly were sitting at their own table. It was pretty impressive if I do say so myself. I am guessing that that may be on of the last time that happens. Maybe we need to get some banquet tables for the back porch, you know the ones like they have at church. We actually headed home that night to have cake for my dad's birthday which landed on Thanksgiving this year. Before we left we did do some Christmas gifts for the kids, since Kathy and Scott will be in Saint Louis for Christmas. It was fun to see them try to figure it out, they knew it wasn't Christmas, but believe me they weren't complaining.

Friday morning I did venture out to three stores, Wal-Mart $3 pajamas, Target $5 Barbies, and KMart $7.99 Christmas dresses for the girls. I left around 5:45 and was home just before 8. I knew what I wanted, I didn't need anything that bad, so I wasn't mad if they were all out. The rest of the weekend we hung out since the girls were feeling a little under the weather.

Sunday was the first Soda with Santa at Sprecher Brewery. It is this really cool thing they do, they have been doing it for the last couple of years and I hope that they continue it. So we were down there with Sprinklefingers to do some cookie decorating for the kids while they were waiting for the soda to be done. What happens is you come in, get your picture taken with Santa, go on the Brewery tour and while you are on that, they put the picture you took with Santa as the label of root beer bottles. It was fun watching all the kids and their reactions to Santa. There were a good number of criers. We did that for three weekends. The girls came down the second weekend. Emma wanted no part of the picture, so we have a case of root beer with just Lilly and Maddie. Then after the tour started it kind of clears out, so we thought that maybe she would do it if we all were in the picture. She did and the bottom picture is one that is now on 6 bottles of root beer.

The man who plays Santa is an employee of Sprecher and does such a great job. This past Sunday was the last one. There were 2 week old twins, then my favorite kid of all three Sundays: I think most of you have seen Elf, you know when they announce that Santa is coming and Buddy yells "Santa- I know him" this kid yelled Santa the exact same way and was shaking with excitement. I could not stop laughing. There were a few who brought their letters for Santa and then another favorite who brought a picture from a magazine of what he wanted.

We also Maddie's Christmas program thrown in there too. It was back on the 2nd of December. At Our Redeemer they break up the grades and do their Christmas programs as the Advent service in the evening. It is kind of nice so you don't have 500 people at one program and there is more opportunity for the kids to sing more and be involved more. She did great and sang out. The people next to her weren't squishing her this time, so she was able to do all the action.

So we are now about 10 days away from Christmas. We are going to Woodstock this weekend to celebrate Sammy's birthday. Chad is done with school this week and the girls have two days next week. Since he is off on Monday, he gets to be Maddie's helper. She is so excited that dad is going instead of me. The Keipers from Texas are coming and so we are getting together with them either Tuesday or Wednesday evening. Maddie cannot wait to see Isaac. She told me the other week that she is going to marry him. What a goof.

Also don't forget to watch Amy on A Home For The Holidays (it is an adoption story) that airs on Wednesday the 23rd on CBS. It is either a 7pm or 8pm thing. You would have to check your local listings.

Thanks for sticking with me and this long post. Here is a goofy picture of Lilly trying to get her whole fist in her mouth.

Hillbilly

2009-11-30T20:36:00.002-06:00

So if you take a look at the chart above you will notice the two red teeth on the bottom, which Lilly got about 2 months ago. She also has two other teeth that popped through about 2 weeks ago, no not the top two red ones, not even the top yellow ones, but yes the 2 top green ones. Just imagine this little person with hillbilly teeth. She knows how to use them, but she looks just way too funny. We are hoping that the top will start to fill in soon.

I try to get pictures, but she is not very cooperative. Maybe sometime soon, but for now just imagine her sitting outside a trailer, with her overalls on, yelling at her cat with her 4 teeth.

Gig 'Em

2009-11-30T15:49:00.003-06:00

Here are a bunch of pictures of Lilly from just a random day where she was really happy and smiling the whole time. She was enjoying playing with my A & M hat. Maddie still knows and I'm sure Lilly knows that even though we may not live in Texas anymore, we still say Horns down- sorry Christian.

Zoo

2009-11-21T21:42:00.004-06:00

So at the beginning of November Chad had the Teacher's Conference in the Dells. He went up on Sunday afternoon and then was home Monday night. Both him and the girls still had off on Tuesday, so we decided to go to the zoo for a couple hours in the morning. We had lots of fun and there weren't too many people. It was a brisk day, but it was sunny and the animals were pretty active. We actually even got some time to play on the playground- usually it is packed with kids and so you can't even climb, but they only had to share with about 5 others. So here is our outing to the zoo earlier this month in pictures.

Maddie sizing herself up by the baby gorilla.

Even being bundled up all day, Lilly had a great time navigating our day at the zoo.

Maddie and Emma in the small mammal house- we didn't go to the bat side of it.

The three of them watching some crazy mammal doing sommersaults and running back and forth

Maddie insisted she have her picture with the prairie dogs, but you can't even see them in the picture.
The giraffes were inside while we were there, I think they were cleaning up outside, so it was pretty cool to see them up close. Not as close as the Houston Zoo, but still pretty close.

We spent a good amount of time in the Big Cat House- here are the two Tiger cubs that were born in July. We had never seen them before.
Here is one cub with mom- we even watched the video of their vet check up and that is all that Emma could talk about for the rest of the afternoon.
The Lion just watching all the people at the Tiger Cub area. It was a little creepy the way he just was staring over at the cubs.

We had lots of fun and it is always fun to just spend a few hours at the zoo. Chad wonders how I can go as often as we sometimes do, but the girls love it. We can go different ways and see the same animals, but they love watching them and Maddie is getting into wanting someone to read about the animals and tell her about them. I look at it as a great chance for learning. Don't know if we will get to the zoo again until the spring, but you never know we will see.

Rockin'

2009-11-15T14:09:00.006-06:00

You may think that this post is going to be about Maddie, our rockstar, but really it is a Lilly update. Can you believe that Lilly is 6 months old?? She just had her 6 month check up on Friday. It was going pretty good until we were told she has another double ear infection and then they also gave her 4 shots. So let's just say she was not a happy camper. She is following in her sister's footsteps in the height and weight department.
Height: 27.5 inches- 94th percentile
Weight: 19lbs. 6oz- 95th percentile

So you may be wondering about the rocking, well Lilly does not want to be left out of anything her sisters are doing and so that includes being able to get around. She rolls everywhere and then usually ends up under a table, couch, or chair. She has started doing the rocking thing on all fours. She has no idea where to go from there, but give her a couple weeks and I think she will be on the move. She just wants to move and is in that I can't move yet, so I am just going to get mad phase. At least she loves her feet and so when she gets mad and is on her back, she just eats her feet.

Lilly got her two bottom teeth about 3 weeks ago, number 3 is out too. The funny thing is is that it isn't the top front one, it is off to the side. I think another one on the other side top is just about ready to come in too.

Lilly is starting to look more and more like her sisters. She is also starting to take on some of their mannerisms. It is scary sometimes, but knowing how different Maddie and Emma are, I think she will be okay.

We have been eating lots of different foods, apples, bananas, peaches, pears, green beans (yuck according to Lilly), peas, squash, and sweet potatoes. She loves to eat just like her sisters too.

This picture was taken tonight while she was drinking her dinner bottle. I have a picture just like this when Maddie was probably about 8 months old, drinking her bottle and legs up in the air.

What A Weekend

2009-11-02T13:24:00.004-06:00

So we had quite a weekend, good thing the girls don't have school for the next two days and can recover. It started on Thursday. Maddie took a ride with grandma and grandpa to Iowa to pick up Nolan. Jana and Mike were moving out of their apartment and so with Nolan not there, they were able to clean it and get all the last things done a little quicker. While they were in Iowa, I actually attended a funeral for a guy I went to high school with. He was sick, but it still was a little sudden. There were a good number of people that I went to high school with there. That is the cool thing about going to a school like Martin Luther. You knew everyone and most likely you had more then one class with them.

Friday we still had school, so the girls went and Lilly got to hang out with Nolan. The rest of the afternoon the girls kept Nolan entertained, chased him, and made him do all his "tricks". Chad came home and I think we just all hung out, I can't even remember Friday since it seems so long ago. Jana and Mike got here late on Friday evening since they made a stop at Direct Buy in Schaumburg to order their cabinets.

Saturday we got ready for everyone to get here. We made a Wal-Mart run, got the house picked up, watched college football, and waited for everyone to get here. Once the Chapman's got here Chad decided that Maddie, Ben, Emma, Sam, Joel, and himself would go see Astroboy. So they got going and since it was just Nolan and Lilly; Jana, Amy, and myself went to see the Hangover at the Budget Cinema. Jana had not seen it before. When we got back the rest of the company was here. Uncle Kip, Aunt Susie, Jared, the Chicago Heffelfingers and everyone was ready to go trick or treating. The problem was that is was only 4:30 and it didn't start until 6:30. So we tried to get the kids to eat something before going and then it was time to get them dressed. It was cold, so we needed to layer under their costumes. So we took our 8 crayons out around grandma and grandpa's neighborhood.

I know that Crayola is spelled wrong, but Sam didn't want to switch with Ella. We also went in birth order with Lilly being the trademark. It is a little hard to see her since she is in the stoller.

Maddie the Orange A

Emma the Pink L

Lilly the brown Trademark

Nolan the Green A, but we all thought he looked a little bit like a gnome

We got back and everyone was not ready for bed, so we let the kids run around for a little while and then it was off to bed. The rest of us talked for a little while and then were all more then happy to set our clocks back one hour and get that extra hour of sleep.

Sunday morning Lilly didn't like the whole daylight savings and thought that 6am would be a good time to get up. She wasn't alone, Nolan was up and the girls were shortly after.

A little cousin love in the pack n' play.

We all went to church at grandma and grandpa's church, since it was grandma and grandpa's 40th wedding annviersary.

Grandma and Grandpa 40 years later- this picture is courtesy of Maddie the photographer

After church the Pownell's and Chapman's headed home. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and just resting up. We watched a little of the Packer/Vikings game, we played some games and even went outside for a little while. The girls were a little wound up, but everyone went to bed pretty much without a fight.

Lilly just hanging out on Sunday night.

The girls are off school and I don't know who is more disappointed, them or me. Now that it is 6:15, I would say me. Let's just say that school does Maddie good. Chad is on his way home from the Dells (Teachers Conference). So tomorrow everyone will be home, maybe we will do something fun.

Hopefully they don't all decide that 6am would be a good time to wake up like this morning. Good thing everyone took a nap this afternoon.

Phew!!! What a weekend and I am glad that it is over. I am tired and now that the Holidays are coming, the weekends may all be like that.

Pumpkin Farm Take 3

2009-10-28T13:52:00.005-05:00

Okay so this is our third trip to the pumpkin farm. This time we met some college friends and kids at Swan's pumpkin farm in Franksville. We were a little worried that it would just be too muddy to go, but we took the chance on Saturday afternoon. It WAS muddy,but all of us with our trusty boots, we did alright and didn't come away with too much of a mess. Nick and Ashley came with their son Eli and daughter Addie. Ryan and Kate came with their daughter Michaela, I didn't get any pics of her since she is just about a month old and spent the whole time in the snugglie. We had a great time and it turned out to be a okay day weather wise. The kids didn't want to leave, but we promised them we would get together again soon. So here is the pumpkin farm in pictures.

Emma riding the train- you can sort of see Eli sitting next to her.
There is Eli, he wasn't so sure about riding with Emma, but she did let him drive.

Maddie also took a ride on the train, but was too cool to sit by Emma and Eli.

Maddie and dad took a walk through the kiddie Corn Maze, she did a pretty good job and didn't get lost.Here she is at the end of it- what a big girl.

After the train riding, we fed a few goats and sheep. Emma actually held the food and let them eat out of her hand.

Maddie and Emma, the pirate and fair maiden.

Emma posing for Kate (who was taking the pictures)

Lilly spent most of the afternoon in the snugglie, but at least it was warm in there.

Maddie and Emma posing for Kate.

Emma really enjoying her cookies, she ate them both at the same time.

Maddie, Eli, and Emma measuring up.

Three Girls

2009-10-23T19:08:00.003-05:00

Well you can't see Emma's face very well, but here she is on the train at the pumpkin farm. We met Kate, Ella, uncle Alan, and aunt Tracie there a couple of Sundays ago. Emma and I just went since Maddie had gotten to spend the night at Ben and Sam's the night before, it was her special time with mom. She had a blast with the girls.
Here is Lilly sitting by herself. She is getting pretty good at it herself. She is getting better at leaning one way and being able to pull herself back before she falls over. The other two girls haven't quite figured out to not be in her face and force her over. She is okay with falling over as long as there are toys within reach.

Here is Maddie's singing debut. Her 4K class sang before the 11am service on the 18th. She has been singing the songs in the kitchen and I was pretty sure she knew the words. They practiced in the room before hand, but when they got into church she just kind of went into shy mode. You can see that she does sing the song, but we always thought she would be that kid in the front belting out the words as loud as she could even if they weren't the right ones. After she was done I asked her why she didn't do the actions for the second song, she told me that the kids standing next to her were smushing her. What a character. The video is just a few seconds over a minute, so it isn't too long.

35 Years

2009-10-23T18:50:00.003-05:00

So many of you know that Chad's dad is no longer at the South Wisconsin District. His contract was not renewed after President Willie was reelected this past June. Don't worry, he is doing fine. He is doing some consulting for the national group called CRM. CRM is based in California, but they get to stay in Germantown since he doesn't go into the "office", instead he goes to churches around the nation and helps them, so need for moving.

So last night we got to help celebrate his 35 years in the ministry. He started as a DCE, did some teaching in there, also some principaling, more DCEing, and then it was to the district for the last 8 years.

It was really neat to see the people (mostly principals), who he has helped with at their schools. Our Redeemer is one and so I know that the many things that he has taught the staff there will be taught to our daughters someday. All the kids, except Scott were there. The girls did stay home with grandma and grandpa (it was at the North Hills Country Club). We got to hear some amazing stories about Gary and all the great work he has done and that was only in here in Wisconsin. Chad spoke on behalf of all of us kids and managed to make it to about the last 2 minutes before he couldn't hold in his emotions anymore. He did a great job.

So here are a few pictures from last night.

Chad talking about his dad, he is trying to hold it in for as long as possible.
Grandma and Grandpa J
Grandpa J and his assistant Robin
Almost the whole family, well at least those over the age of 10.

Sickness

2009-10-23T18:34:00.003-05:00

That's right, sickness season is here. We haven't had it as bad as others, but it has made it's round through the house. It started last week Monday when Chad came home right after school and went straight to bed. Both him and Maddie stayed home on Tuesday from school. Maddie was just very tired and had quite the snot coming out of her nose, so I thought it better for her to stay home. She had 4 kids gone from her class on Monday, so it is only a matter of time before they all share their germs. Wednesday was testing day for Chad, so he went to school for half a day and then was home early, also feeling much better.

So we were all doing pretty well for the next day or two, well at least until Thursday. I had a bad sinus cold and so I went to bed pretty early, Chad and Maddie had been up in Germantown for the evening and so I was sleeping by the time they got home. A few hours later we were awoken by Emma puking, she tried making it to the bathroom, but just didn't quite get there. She went back to bed for a few hours and then was up again getting sick. Maddie too, but we are pretty sure it was just reaction from Emma throwing up. So after getting everyone cleaned up, Maddie on the couch downstairs with a bucket, Chad on the futon upstairs, Emma and I in our bed (Emma had a bucket too), we were off to sleep for a few more hours. Lilly just slept through it all. Emma ended up missing grandparents day at school, she was so bummed, but we didn't want to spread those germs. So the rest of the weekend we took pretty easy. Chad had to work at Buy Costumes both Saturday and Sunday for baseball, so after Maddie sang at church on Sunday we headed up to Germantown to drop off Lilly so I could help in 3K on Monday.

Maddie and Lydia hung out on the couch on Sunday watching a movie. Doesn't Maddie just look like she is in a daze??Lilly just playing, trying not to get her sister's germs.

So we thought everyone was back up and running, the girls were doing great and Lilly picked up a little cough and so we were just watching her. Chad came home from school on Tuesday and again was right back to bed, he stayed home on Wednesday. Wednesday after Lilly got up from her nap, she had a fever and was having trouble catching her breath, so off the the doctor we went. We ended up with a double ear infection and the flu (no piggy flu), he just wants to make sure that there was no bronchitits either, she is doing much better with her being on antibiotics and actually being able to sleep without waking herself up with her coughing. So we have survived the last two weeks, the sickness seems to be gone for now and we are hoping that it stays away for the rest of winter.

So sickness we say stay away, we have done our time and want to be done with you.

Lilly

2009-10-07T15:09:00.003-05:00

So today Lilly is 5months old. I don't know her stats, since we don't go to the doctor until next month. She is doing great, rolling both ways. Probably not as much as she would like, since most of her floor time comes after Maddie and Emma are in bed. She is "talking" a lot. She likes to hear the sound of her own voice and she also is starting laugh at being tickled, but also at her sisters in general. She also is able to scoot herself in a full circle and also backwards. We are figuring that by Christmas she should be crawling, just in time to get all those presents under the tree.

So here are some of those promised pictures of Lilly:

Here Lilly is practicing sitting- she likes to practice in the laundry basket while I fold clothes.

Taken a little by surprised.

Lilly is also starting to reach and grab at anything. Nothing is safe, especially her sisters' hair. She has got to fight back somehow, right??

Taking the first taste of cereal- she doesn't think it is too bad.

It is usually better when you can feed yourself though.

I Gotta Feeling

2009-09-27T14:46:00.004-05:00

So one of my favorite new songs is "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas. The line is "I gotta feeling, that tonight's gonna be a good night." I didn't have a feeling, but have you ever had a day that was just an ordinary day and then it ended up being one of the best nights ever?? So yesterday (Saturday) I woke up tired, Lilly decided that she wanted to see what kind of night life we had between the hours of 12:30am and 2:30am, she as disappointed because there was none. So as tired as I may have been, I got up and started my day. Lilly, Emma, and I went to Wal-Mart for some staples for the Michigan State/Wisconsin game. Chad and Maddie went to uncle Kurt's football game and brought him back here for the game, uncle Ben came over and also my cousin Jared. While those boys watched the game, Joel, Ben, Sam, Emma, Maddie, grandpa, and I checked out Harvest Fair at State Fair Park. It wasn't bad, it was much better last year, but the kids still had fun.

When we got home, Lilly woke up a little bit and so I decided to get her back to sleep and was going to take a little nap with her. This was a little before 4. Chad and I were going to the Brewers game to sit in the Diamond Box behind the Phillies dugout, so I figured I could get a half hour nap in. So my uncle Kip called to let us know that they were down there and if we wanted to stop by them in the parking lot before going in we could. So we decided to get ready and get going. We made it down there about 4:30pm. We had a couple beers with them and then headed into the game. Eric and Jacquie were at the game to, so after playing where's waldo in the crowd of 40,000 we found them and had fun texting back and forth.

Can you see Eric and Jacquie??

After a two run walk-off by Braun we met everyone back at Kip and Susie's car.
After hanging there for a little while, we decided that it would be fun to visit uncle Ben at the AMF where he bartends. Jacquie wanted to bowl, so after some deliberation we decided to bowl a game, it was the original Heffelfingers vs. the In-Laws. We had so much fun and just laughed. Even though there was probably some sore muscles this morning from bowling, I think everyone just had a great time and it was just one of those nights that just happened. I always think that those can sometimes be the best kind. We were even home by midnight and so I got a good night's sleep.

Here is our Bowling Team:

Missing: Two weeks of our lives

2009-09-25T15:12:00.001-05:00

Here is the missing two weeks in pictures:

We like to exercise. Actually Emma has mixed two of her favorite pastimes, getting her energy out and also playing dress-up. Emma is loving school and I think school is a good fit for her. We miss having Mrs. Willer as a teacher, but we know that she is learning all sorts of wonderful things.
We spent the night at grandma and grandpa J's while they were in Michigan with Maddie and dad. We hung out with aunt Lydia and uncle Josh. It was fun, we went to dinner, we laughed a lot, and Lilly and Emma had a little bonding time. Maddie and dad went to Michigan the weekend after Labor Day to help great grandpa Bickel celebrate his 60 years in the ministry. They went with grandma, grandpa, and uncle Kurt. I think Maddie enjoyed having a little adventure of her own. Since we were hanging out with aunt Lydia, we thought is would be fun to take her to the Zoo, so here is Emma and aunt Lydia posing as Emma's favorite animal.

We took in a Brewers game with Maddie and Emma on a Friday night. Dad and Maddie played a little gameboy while we were finishing up our dinner. Emma's favorite part of the evening was that she chose the Polish to win the Sausage race and he won. She was telling everyone that she picked the right guy. Maddie was so excited to go to the game, she doesn't get that they are out of the race, but she loves them anyways and it is just great to see her get all excited about it.

Of course we had our turn on the jumbotron, Maddie always says hi to the camera guy when we sit down and as soon as any music comes on, she is up and dancing. The Tuesday after this game I had MOPS and Mia's mom (Mia is in Maddie's class), told me that she saw us again up on the jumbotron (that is like the 3rd time she has seen us).

We are finally into a routine of school- usually Mon, Tues, and Wed are no problem with getting up, but once Thursday hits Maddie is wiped out. We have been keeping the weeks pretty low key, but the weekends always seem to be busy.

We have had two new babies born to some of our friends. Nick, Ashley, and big brother Eli welcomed Addie at the beginning of September. Ryan and Kate had their first baby Michaela last week. Just a couple more girls to add to the bunch.

Nolan also spent a week with us while Jana and Mike were in Hawaii. the girls loved chasing him as much as he loved chasing the girls. He did a great job with our carzy schedule and having to pick the girls up from school.

I know I have been slacking on my Lilly pictures, so I will try to get some of her this week.

Labor Day In Michigan

2009-09-09T18:16:00.002-05:00

So we took the long weekend to head over to Michigan to do some visiting, but also to go to Chad's cousin's wedding. Jenny and Alan got married on Saturday, but since the girls and Chad had off on Friday we decided to head over on Thursday. Maddie made the drive with grandma and grandpa J and aunt Lydia right after school on Thursday. Emma, Lilly, and I picked Chad up from school and then we were on our way. We made pretty good time and pulled into Dimondale (grandma and grandpa Bickel's) about 10:30 eastern standard time. Everyone was still up including Maddie and so after a little visiting, it was off to bed.

Friday we got to visit with grandma and grandpa, Maddie and dad did some fishing, I made a trip to Meijers and then we took off for Wolverine Lake to spend the evening with the Heidens. We got to meet Aaron for the first time and the kids just had a great time playing together. Saturday morning Sarah was so nice to cut my hair and then we were off to Sterling Heights for the wedding. We all had fun and ended up dancing the night away.

Sunday we were back to Dimondale to celebrate Luke's 3rd Birthday. We had pizza, cake, presents, more fishing, whiffle ball, and again lots of laughs. We were planning on heading home on Sunday, but we were tired and the girls were having lots of fun, so we spent one more night. We got some cards in then it was off to bed.

Monday we got going and made a stop at Grand Mere State Park. Uncle Ben and aunt Christina came with us. We hiked the trail, went up and down some sand dunes and then played in Lake Michigan. We made it home in good time and it was nice to be back home, sleeping in my own bed. We have been back in the school swing and this weekend Maddie and Chad are heading back to Michigan with grandma and grandpa J. Nolan is coming on Friday and staying with us all next week while aunt Jana and uncle Mike go to Hawaii.

There are lots of pictures from the weekend, so enjoy.

First Day of School 2009-2010

2009-08-31T21:38:00.004-05:00

Today was the first day of school for Maddie and Emma. They both could not wait for this day to get here, but I'm pretty sure that Emma has no idea what she is getting herself into. Lilly spent the night at grandma and grandpa J's since I was the helper in 3K. Without Lilly here, the morning went pretty smooth, now we will see how it goes tomorrow. We were off and there were no tears and it seemed like we could get there fast enough.

Both girls seemed to have a great day. I am hoping that Emma does okay on Wednesday when I don't stay as her helper. She seemed to not really be clingy, but you never know how it will go. Emma was so excited to tell everyone what she did today and to show everyone the craft she made. We went to McDonald's celebrate the first day of school. We went to go pick up Lilly and boy were the girls happy to see her. I think deep down Lilly missed them too. The girls were so excited that naps didn't happen, but on the way home from Germantown Maddie just couldn't keep her eyes open any more.

Not only was it the first day of school, but it was also grandma Heff's birthday. We celebrated with cupcakes after dinner that the girls picked out at Wal-Mart. I think they were enjoyed by all. Maddie is back to school tomorrow since she is going 5 days a week. That is going to be an adjustment for us also having to go to OR everyday. So we will see how the rest of the week goes. We are off to Michigan on Thursday for a wedding. The girls and Chad have off on Friday, so it will be nice to get an extra day in Michigan.

Last Week Of Summer

2009-08-31T20:38:00.006-05:00

So we have started school, but you probably already read about that in the post above. So we spent the last week of summer enjoying all we could. We did make it to the Zoo on Wednesday and it was almost the most perfect day for the Zoo. It was nice and sunny- and not too crowded. So we did the normal circle at the zoo- saw everyone's favorite animal and then it was off for a train ride.

Thursday we spent a rainy day inside playing, coloring, and waiting for dad to get home from school. For being a rainy day, it actually went pretty quick.

Friday looked like it was going to be rainy, but ended up being a pretty nice day-that was until we were walking back to the car after the Brewers game and got poured on. So Friday we went to go get a Bumbo seat for Lilly that I found on Craigslist. We figured that since we were out in Menomonee Falls we would swing by grandma and grandpa J's house. Maddie decided she didn't want to stop at the house- so she spent about 20 minutes just sitting in the car. She finally decided that playing in the front yard was better then sitting in the car waiting. Grandpa Heff was with us- since he has Fridays off- and so we stopped for some lunch and then it was back home. Actually we did make a stop at a rummage sale, but I just got out. The girls were very disappointed, but I reassured them that there were no toys to even buy. Chad and I were off the the Brewers game that evening with Ben W. We had a good time and saw a good game. It was nice to actually see the game and not have to be running out to the concession stand for some cotten candy.

We got to see Prince hit a homerun, Coffey Time- he didn't beat his best, but was about 2 seconds more. As you can see from the picture they post his best time on his stats. We also got to see Hoffman pitch. The roof and panels were closed, so Hell's Bells were pretty loud.

Saturday morning, Chad was nice enough to let me sleep in a little. That was also because he was up at about 6:30am to have the BFL draft. Ben was also over for the draft. Maddie and I headed up to Germantown for a Mary Kay party- now Maddie didn't put any makeup on, but she did play Wii and football with uncle Kurt.

After the party was over, we headed over the district office to help grandpa J clean out his office. We all had a lot of laughs and had good times remembering lots of memories. We finished the afternoon off with an empty office and a couple of beers.

Maddie spent the time playing in the empty shelves.

After we got all the boxes back to Germantown, we headed back home. We decided to take a little walk down the Boulevard since there was a block party happening. The girls had fun listening to the music and then we saw Jan and Sharon out front, so we headed over by them so the girls could play with Lucy. We said goodbye to Alex for about the 4th time that week since she was heading off to college on Sunday. Yes, IT IS August, but Lilly needed a hat on. It only got up to about 63degrees on Saturday.

Sunday was the OR church and school picnic. Actually for church, g and g J, uncle Kurt, aunt Lydia, and aunt Kendra joined us at OR, so it was nice to have some of the family there. Grandpa was giving an award to OR school for NLSA. After church, Lilly was headed to Germantown for the night, since I had to be the helper at school. We headed to the picnic for just a short time, since we knew that Amy, Joel, Ben, and Sam would be coming back to the house after the Brewers game. We got home relaxed for just a little while and then when everyone got back to the game, we headed out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner to celebrate Grandma Heff's birthday, which is today. If you have a bigger group of younger kids, it is a great place to go, because it is once of those noisy places, so you can't even hear the noise your kids are making over everything else.

It was home to get ready for the first day of school.

Falling Behind

2009-08-25T07:42:00.012-05:00

That's right, I am falling behind again. Good thing school starts in a week and we will have some schedule to work with. So when I last left you we had just gotten home from State Fair- I still laugh when I see the picture of Maddie and her scared face.

We had spent the next few days just hanging around the house and then on Thursday we packed up and were on our way to Iowa. We made a stop in Marshall WI- it is pretty much in half way between Watertown and Madison. So you may be wondering, Marshall, really?? Well let me tell you- the girls had a blast and didn't want to leave. They had no idea what town we were in, but we were at this place called Little Americka- they loved it. I have a feeling that wasn't the last time we go there. It had a roller coaster, jump houses, a ferris wheel, merry-go-round, bumper cars, go karts, putt putt, a monorail around the park, a train around the park, and all the kiddie carnival rides you can imagine. The girls loved it, even Emma- it took her one ride and she was hooked. The nice thing- you only pay for those people who are going on the rides, so like Lilly and I didn't pay, we just watched. You also pay for a "level" of rides, sorted out by height of person. So Emma wasn't able to go on a couple of the rides Maddie could, but she was also 2 dollars cheaper. I think Maddie is now hooked on roller coasters- there was a wooden roller coaster, and she went on it twice, but each time you got to go around 3 times. We spent about 2 1/2 hours there and when we left there were tears because they didn't want to leave.

Emma trying not to look like she actually likes the ride.

That is Emma's arm up and having fun- she just didn't want us to be right.

Waiting for the little kiddie coaster- look they actually like each other.

On the boats- I was surprised Maddie or Emma didn't try to jump in the water.

Taking flight- Emma is really concentrating on her pilot duties.

Emma and dad keeping that Zebra in line.

Maddie doing it all on her own- that is the way she likes to ride now.

Getting ready to go up on the Ferris Wheel- again Emma not so sure, but she was smiling in no time.

The Mad Mouse- looked a lot like the Whizzer at Great America

At the end of the big roller coaster

Going down the first big hill- Maddie even had her hand up, well almost

Getting ready to start the ride- I think this is the 2nd time on.

Lilly was pretty content to just hang out in her stroller and check everything out.

We got back in the car and were on our way to Iowa. We made pretty good time, even for a short trip I am always glad to be out of the car. We made it to Kirk and Jodi's, Leon met us there while Luke (he's a 5th grader) hid in the basement because he was afraid of our girls. The rest of the weekend was filled with seeing old friends, talking way past my bedtime (every night), going to the Kernels game with uncle Mike and cousin Nolan, going to the Children's Museum with aunt Jana and cousin Nolan, celebrating Trinity-Cedar Rapids 125th Anniversary, spending an extra night that led to way too many laughs to even begin to count. The girls loved playing with all their toys and by Friday morning Luke wasn't afraid of them any more. Hannah- who is the same age as uncle Kurt helped a ton and I know that the girls loved playing with her.

Front row seats at the Kernels game, right by the visiting team's on deck circle

Nolan I think was more entertained by our girls then by the game

Nolan and his godfather doing the grumpy face

Maddie and Nolan- she was more interested in Nolan then the game

Emma and her rally cap- they were playing the Wisconsin Timberrattlers, you needed a rally cap if you were a Kernels fan- 13-2 after 3 innings.

I figured this was just to hard to put into words, but it is just a great representation of what Maddie is.

The Timberrattlers are the Brewers single-A team

Chad tells me that this guy is going to be good- he hit one onto 8th Avenue over the left field wall in the 2nd inning.

The Janetzke kids and Jonasson kids: Lilly, Hannah, Luke, Joe, Emma, and Maddie.
Their mom, Jodi used to babysit for Chad and Kathy.

Monday morning came way to soon after we went to bed, but we had such a good time on Sunday night, it was a nice split second decision to stay the night. So we got our things together and started for the drive home. We stopped for lunch, but that was about it. We made it home and grandma was making an appetizer dinner and then we also had birthday cake, since it was my big 3-0 birthday and everything. The girls were just more excited that we were having cake on a random Monday. They helped with the candles and of course with the eating of the cake.

Finishing putting the candles on.

The final product

Uncle Kurt wearing the stupid helmet, but now I can't even remember why.

Chad started meetings on Tuesday and had them through Friday. We went and spent the night in Germantown on Tuesday because Emma had her Therapy Evaluation on Wednesday morning. We did manage a few hands of cards that night. So Emma had been diagnosed with Sensory Integration Disorder. She doesn't have as much trouble with the physical part of it- she can handle the itchy clothes or different textures of food, but she has more issues with the emotional aspect- like transitions from one thing to the next, needing to know where we are going and how many places we are going to go, she notices that things in a room have been changed around, she doesn't like interruption to her routine (bedtime, school, etc.), she needs warning if those routines are going to change. There are a couple of main physical ones too- that would be she does not like when a brush touches her hair and water that would be lukewarm to you and me is too hot for her. We are hoping to get some therapy in a couple times of month, but insurance is not real cooperative- and at other times we will have to adjust and make some changes in our reactions and also try to be proactive in certain situations.

Wednesday evening, Kate and Ella came to stay for two nights. Not too much Wednesday since they didn't get back until 6, but then Thursday we went to Stone Fire Pizza for their mommy and me breakfast. The girls had a blast playing on the jungle gym and also painting their faces. They even managed to eat a little breakfast while we were there.

Kate eating her cereal- she was a little disappointed that there wasn't any Cap'n Crunch- that is her favorite

Ella enjoying her coco krispies

Emma with her face drawing- this is after we had to scrub her hands since she colored them completely green

Maddie's face drawings- not as much as Emma, but she did manage to get her neck

Ella and her goatee- this was the first picture I never got her after she went back the second time.

Friday night Chad went to go get Kurt and they were off to the movie theater to see G.I. Joe- I told Chad I wouldn't go with him. So then Kurt spent the night, I think some video games were played- I was sleeping. Saturday morning I was off to a couple of rummage sales- I was planning on flying solo, but then miss Emma was up and wanted to go with me, so she went and of course found things she couldn't live without, i.e. dress up clothes, barbies, jewelry, etc. We were then off to Germantown again- this time to help rip up the backyard. They have been talking about clearing stuff in the back and so we started the job. By the time we got there around 11:30 they had cleared stuff around the big pine tree and between the rock wall. We helped with rebuilding the rock wall, clearing the big bush and all the things around there. The girls even helped, Maddie had on her work gloves and was all about dragging big branches over to the burn pile. We got a lot done, but there is still some more to do. The backyard will just seem so much bigger when there is room to run. We stayed around for some brats for dinner and then the whole day the girls were asking about s'mores, so I had run to the grocery store for those supplies and they had a blast roasting and eating their marshmallows.

Sunday we spent over at Jan and Sharon's having a little going away party for Alex- who leaves for college this coming weekend. It was nice to just sit outside and hang out in the beautiful weather. The girls just love going over there to be able to play with Lucy the dog.

Eric getting his practice in since he will be a dad in March

Chad started school yesterday and so we have been getting things ready for school to start for the girls next week. Maddie is so ready, Emma says she wants to go, but I don't think she completely gets it. Luckily I am the helper on Monday in her class and I think that that will make the transition a lot easier.

I think we are planning on heading to the Zoo tomorrow- we have been to the playground and are getting the last few days of fun stuff in before summer vacation is over.

Just a couple of pictures of Lilly from the playground today.

A new Do for School

2009-08-11T19:28:00.002-05:00

Maddie and I went to go pick out a backpack for school today- while we were out I told her that she needed a haircut before school started, she decided that she wanted to get it cut today. Here is her new do- she looks like aunt Lydia who always sported the shorter hair when she was younger.

State Fair

2009-08-11T18:58:00.007-05:00

Monday the girls and I ventured to State Fair while Chad was at school working. We went with auntie Susie, uncle Kip, and Jared. The girls were so excited to go- they just wanted to see all the animals. Of course the first barn we went into was the horses and it was a changeover day, so there were none in there. It was dog day so there was the dog show going on in the coliseum, so they both loved all the dogs just walking around and being able to pet them or just see them up close. We went over to Saz's to see cousin Alex at work. Maddie wanted to go on the big slide. She was just big enough to go on herself, so up the stairs with her potatoe sack she went (in the pic below she is almost at the top with the hot pink tank top on the right side)

Then down she went, she was good about half way down and then fell backwards and couldn't get up until she was all the way down at the bottom. I think that is what freaked her out the most.

So she got off, she was about white as a ghost- which is hard for her to do, since she is already pasty white, and she was shaking. She said it was fun, but also scary. She decided that a tatoo would make all the fear away. Her and Emma got a tatoo from one of the students at Hamilton- which is where auntie Susie works. Maddie got a Hello Kitty and Emma a Barbie.

So it was some walking through the exhibits and what not- a big pickle for Maddie who was disappointed that it didn't come on a stick and then some ice cream for Emma, Blue Moon of course. We saw pigs, sheep (Maddie will tell you about the one that looked like a referee), and then the Budweiser Clysdales. Emma loved that the horses had bows in their manes and tails.

Maddie got to ride a camel, Emma said she wanted to, but of course when she saw how big the camel actually was decided against it.

So Alex was getting off of work at 5pm, Lilly was getting some dinner and she met up with us. We sat and talked for a little while with her, Emma enjoyed some of her chocolate covered cookie dough, then Maddie decided she wanted to go on the big slide again, this time with Alex. So off we went over to the Big Slide again. Maddie made the trek up the stairs again, this time Alex carrying the sack, they got on at the top and off they went. She is still thinking it is okay in the picture below.

Here Maddie has changed her tune, she is not having fun, she made it all the way without crying, but has said that she will never go on it again. She is still singing that same tune today.

Emma wanted nothing to do with the slide and this is as close as she wanted to get- posing with the board cutout.

That was our adventure at the Fair. Thanks to Susie, Kip, and Jared for helping with the girls.

These are for Anne

2009-08-11T18:46:00.002-05:00

Wisconsin Fish Fry

2009-08-11T18:25:00.003-05:00

Being back in Wisconsin gives the opportunity to take advantage of having a Friday Night Fish Fry, but we have only been to a few in the year we have been back. Friday morning we headed up to Germantown to hang out and spend the night, but early evening (I'm talking grandma and grandpa dinner time) we headed over to Hartford to the Mineshaft for their famous $4.99 all you can eat fish fry. You might be thinking $4.99?? Really?? Can it really be that good?? Well the always packed place that seats many hundred, the 45 minute wait and the satisfied look of everyone leaving tells you that it is a good fish fry. We took g and g J, uncle Kurt, aunt Lydia and Kendra, then uncle Ben and Christina met us up there. It was good and we all went home full. Even uncle Kurt who said he didn't like fish fry, had a second helping of fish.

We headed back to the house, but made a quick stop at Cabela's- the big hunting/camping store. They have an aquarium with lots of fish- Maddie even saw a Northern Pike just like the one she caught at Bickel Camp. They also have quite teh collection of stuffed animals, deer, bears, porcupines, wolves, a polar bear, a lion, a rhino, even an elephant. It was pretty cool.

After our safari adventure we got home and even managed to get a few hands of cards in. We had some laughs and then headed to bed- I think Chad and Kurt played a game on NCAA Football or something.

Saturday morning everyone slept in since it was rainy and dark, we hung out for awhile and then after lunch we headed home. We came home and had some roasted corn and watermelon for dinner- it was yummy.

Sunday we decided that since it was so hot we were going to head out to Pewaukee to my aunt and uncles house- they live on Pewaukee Lake. They had the boats ready to go, the girls got some swimming in and then the dark clouds rolled in and in came the thunderstorms. They had fun even if they didn't get a chance to go out on the fast boat.

Vacation Week

2009-08-06T14:24:00.003-05:00

So Chad decided that this week was his one whole week at home. He didn't go in for Speed and Strength, he hasn't gone in to do any work, but instead has been at home and hanging with us. Monday Ben, Sam, and Amy came to spend the night since their bathroom is getting redone. So we had a movie night outside with the help of grandma's new projector. Eli- the boy who lives next door came over and watched the movie with us also. Tuesday the Odingas came and we got to meet Raegan (who is exactly 2 months younger then Lilly). We went to lunch at Miller Park and then just came back to the house to hang out for the rest of the afternoon and part of the evening. It was so great to catch up with them and hear how everyone in Texas is doing.

Wednesday Chad took all three girls to the library for story time, it was quiet around here, but it sure was nice. The rest of day we just spent as a family, most of it outside. I managed to get some laundry done and we even had dinner outside. After dinner we took a walk to Walgreen's to get some drops for Emma's eyes. Ben and Sam had something (not pink eye) and Maddie must be a carrier, because she spent the night down there last week and brought it back with her, she got it a little over the weekend, but my mom said it wasn't bad at all. Emma wasn't even here over the weekend with Maddie, but she seems to have gotten the brunt of it. She has been really good at letting me put some drops in her eyes to help with the red and the itch.

Today I ran over to Our Redeemer to hand in the final stuff for registration. Emma still has some accidents, but I am hoping that in three weeks she will be going to school. She wants to, so that is a good thing. This afternoon we are heading down to Racine to hang out with the Nate Bickels- it is funny that we live so close, but don't see them all that often. Tomorrow we are heading up to Germantown we will probably end of staying over and just hanging out there for part of the weekend. Next week is Chad's last week before meetings start on the 18th. Hoping to get to the fair one day so the girls can check out all the animals, Maddie has a playdate on Wednesday and then we are off to Iowa on Thursday for the 125th anniversary of Trinity Cedar Rapids.

Now I am all caught up- other exciting news is that Anne and Fritz set a wedding date and so we will be heading to New York for their wedding which will be July 23rd, 2010.

Chicago

2009-08-06T13:48:00.004-05:00

So last weekend Chad and I got away for the weekend to celebrate our 30th birthdays. Now Chad turned the big 3-0 on July 11th, but I still have about 10 days before my actual birthday. So we decided that we needed to get away for a weekend. We didn't want to go to far, but somewhere that we could go to hang out and have some things to do. So after dropping the girls off at grandma and grandpa J's (no they didn't keep all three all weekend- grandma and grandpa Heff picked Maddie and Lilly up after work), we were on our way about 10am. We made a stop at the outlet mall in Pleasant Prairie and then some lunch in Gurnee. We left the car in Oak Park with my brother, talked with Tracie for a little while and then took the El downtown. Our hotel was at State and Wacker, on the river. After checking we we walked on State Street and ended up in Millennium Park. We of course took the mandatory picture of the "bean" and then people watched. We just watched a group of 20something yuppies and wondered what it would be like to have that kind of life.

After deciding that we were going to go to a movie, we walked around the Tribune Building to look at all the pieces or rock or buildings from around the world. I never even knew they were there until I watched an episode of CSI:NY this past year. It was pretty cool to see them all. There is a rock of some sort from all 50 states, many monuments that are known around the world, and then some that are pretty unique- like the fact that they had a piece from the place Luther lived in Wartburg.

We headed to the movie theater- saw The Proposal. Funny movie- didn't think it was going to be that funny, but it was. We stopped at the Jewel for some snacks and drinks and then it was back to the hotel to people watch out the windows. Some weird people come out after dark in Chicago. We had a corner room, so looking north on State Street you could see the river and the Wrigley Building and then looking south you had a perfect view of the Chicago Theater(picture at the top of the post).

Saturday we slept in, took our time getting ready and then we thought we would try something a little cultural. Chad had found this photography museum, well it was cool, but not very big so it only took us about 30 minutes to go through the whole museum. We headed over to the Sears tower, but the line was way to long. So instead had some Chicago deep dish pizza for lunch and Garrett's popcorn for dessert. The line at Garrett's was a little long, but we met a really nice lady who is a CTA bus driver. All day we saw people who were doing the Great Urban Race- we looked at the website, it looks really cool if anyone is interested. We did a little shopping on Michigan Ave (had to get the girls something from American Girl for their Bitty Babies). Went back to the hotel for a nap- that doesn't usually happen unless you are napping with a kid, met up with Renee and Karl for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen- good food and good company. Then it was to Mother Hubbard's (a sports bar) to meet up with Amy and Joel for a couple of beers and to watch the Brewers game.

Sunday morning we got ready, checked out of the hotel, and then it was back to Oak Park to hang out with Kate, Ella, and Tracie. The girls were just a hoot and we were on our way by about 2:30 to head to Germantown to pick Emma up. Our girls had a great weekend with their respective grandparents. Emma talked grandpa J's ear off on their walk to Walgreen's, Maddie got to go to the Blueberry festival and a movie. Lilly just went with the flow. It was fun to be away for a couple of days, but it was also nice to be home with my girls.

The week just flew by

2009-08-03T09:42:00.003-05:00

So Monday was a typical day here, laundry, playground, catching up on everything that got pushed aside during the weekend. It was Chad's last day of baseball for the summer and so it was a long Monday, but one of the last before school starts. Tuesday we were headed up to Germantown so the girls could hang out there while we went to tennis that evening. Amy and the boys were coming to go to the Brewers game on Tuesday night and planning to spend Wednesday with us. We ended up at the Zoo and just walked and saw all the animals. The girls love the zoo, maybe not their dad so much, but they sure do. Maddie got to go home with Ben and Sam for the evening and she of course had a great time. Emma was a little sad she didn't get to go, but she got to pick either going to get a movie at the video store or walking for some ice cream. She chose the ice cream. Thursday morning it was quiet, but then Emma, Lilly, and I were off to meet Maddie in Lake Geneva to pick her up. While we were picking Maddie up, Chad was able to meet up with some former students from Minnesota and play a round of golf with them. They came back here for some dinner and then I was off to a MOPS planning meeting. It was nice to see the MOPS ladies again and we got a lot accomplished for this years' meetings. Friday morning we were out of the house around 9am and back up to Germantown to drop the girls off and we were on our way to Chicago to spend the weekend away for our birthdays, yes that is right our 30th birthdays. Chad has been 30 for about 3 weeks and I have about 2 weeks to go. More about Chicago in the next post. The girls were off and running to the backyard as soon as we got there and didn't even mind us leaving. Here are a few pics of Lilly- the first one is of her talking to the baseballs on her carrier and the second on is her showing her Brewers pride.( now mind you that is the helmet you get at the stadium with cheese fries in it).

Babies Everywhere, CURF, and Airplanes

2009-08-03T08:13:00.006-05:00

So we made it through the week to Thursday- we were excited because Jill and Jay were coming to visit us. We spent most of the day up in Germantown and met them back at home since they couldn't leave until after work. We stayed up for a little while and visited, but then it was off to bed. Friday we were headed out to Oconomowoc for a baby shower for Ryan and Kate. Now out of the group of 5 couples they are the only one without kids, but will be having their first in September. The Petersens were so gracious to have us at their house, they have two kids; Clayton is 5 1/2 and Ava is almost 3. The girls love going there because there are lots of toys to play with. The guys headed off to play golf and the girls headed to Olympia Resort to go to the spa, that is where Wendy works. Nick and Ashley G. have little Eli (almost 2) and are due with number 2 at then end of August. Nathan and Katherine G. have little Nora (almost 3)and are due with number 2 in December. Then there is our family with the three girls. There are going to be 4 born within 7 months with Lilly being the oldest of that group. It is kind of neat knowing that when we get together there will be kids to play with.

We spent the majority of the day there and the evening too, we got a fire going and enjoyed just sitting around talking and catching up.

Saturday I was in the car with mom and dad headed down to CURF for the Women's Athletics 50th Anniversary Celebration. We met up the Jana, Mike, and Nolan. We walked around the track while talking with the new Track and Field coach. We went to breakfast and then to Jana and Mike's hotel. They headed off to Direct Buy to get some things for their house, which they have broken ground on, and we took Nolan off their hands. They actually dropped me off at the movie theater and took Nolan for a walk at the mall. We met up back at Alan and Tracie's to head over to the banquet. We had a nice time and saw a few people and had a few laughs.

Sunday after church Jay and Jill headed home. I'm pretty sure Chad was thankful that he was able to play man to man for all of Saturday with the girls, otherwise it would have been quite a long day. Amy and Joel headed up this way and then we all went down to the lakefront to see the air show. We took our picnic lunch and watched people, airplanes and then the Fabulous Thunderbirds. They were quite as loud as I remember, but we were saying that we don't think they flew as low as we have seen them fly before. There were a few times they flew low and Emma of course had her ears covered. It was fun to see them and even though the kids weren't as excited, I think they had fun just being with each other.

1/2 Birthdays

2009-07-30T16:17:00.007-05:00

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.

Anne and Fritz

2009-07-27T13:34:00.004-05:00

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.

Michigan 2009

2009-07-13T18:36:00.004-05:00

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.

6 Years- 60 Years

2009-07-05T22:02:00.003-05:00

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.

Birthdays and Baseball

2009-06-17T12:53:00.004-05:00

The first birthday we celebrated was Maddie's. On the 5th we went to Red Robin for lunch with grandpa, dad, Emma, Lilly, me and Maddie. She picked it and got a little something from us at lunch. She even got the birthday sundae and the waitresses sang to her. I'm pretty sure I was embarrassed enough for everyone at the table.

Aunt Amy, Sam, and Ben joined us on Friday night. It was my cousin's graduation at Martin Luther, so Amy, Sam, Lilly, and myself headed to the ceremony around 6. It started at 7 and was actually done about quarter after 8. They only had 72 kids in their class. After some pictures outside we headed home to feed Lilly. We walked over to Jan and Sharon's for a couple of drinks with other family.

Saturday was the neighborhood rummage sale, so some of us headed out to find some deals. A few were found and all the kids found some toy. The afternoon was spent playing with cousins and then we had some people over for cake for Maddie's birthday. She requested a rock star cake, so we made a guitar cake by tracing the guitar hero guitar and cutting it out from there. It was pretty small, so we just made a big star too. Maddie helped decorate it and so it was her own. We let her open her presents and then we just ate cake. Nothing too involved, but we couldn't let her birthday go by without a little party. Chad and I got her a bike for her birthday. She has been out on it a couple of times, but only rides it for a short period of time because I don't think she is quite sure of herself on it. Sunday we headed out Germantown and spent the day hanging out with aunts and uncles.

I decided that it was time to get some pictures of all three girls since I had requests from great grandma Bickel and Shelly. So I got them in the only matching clothes that they all have- Brewers clothes and started taking some pictures. Some turned out good, others not so good. Speaking of those pictures, I ordered them last week and they still haven't gotten to the Walmart. I will have to put that on my to do list to investigate where they are. So here are a few pictures from that morning.

Last week Wednesday was the Martin Luther golf outing, which meant Chad was gone for most of the day. Maddie and Lilly had doctor appointments in the morning. Maddie is weighing in at a big 48lbs and 44inches, while Lilly is weighing in at 10lbs and 4 oz and 21.75 inches long. She doesn't have any trouble eating as you can tell. We have to go for a renal ultrasound to check her kidneys because of the two vessel cord, but the doctor doesn't think there will be anything abnormal since she is growing more then enough. After our appointments we headed up to Germantown to hang out. I had packed stuff in case anyone decided they wanted to stay- well of course Maddie did and Emma followed suit. It worked out anyways because Thursday they were going up there anyways. Mom, Lilly, and I went up to Oshkosh to go to the American Girl Warehouse sale- one word NUTS. We got there and it was a four hour wait to get in the door. We went over to the outlet mall and found a few deals. Went to lunch at Friar Tuck's where I felt like I was transported back to 1976. Good food and pretty much still 1976 prices. Even the waitresses had little friar uniforms on- they were brown too. Went back over to check the warehouse sale- it was a two hour wait. We decided to call it quits and head home.

The Pownell family arrived Thursday night- we went to the zoo on Friday morning. Friday night we went for a fish fry- it was so good and only $4.99. Saturday was Alex's graduation party. Chad took Maddie to see Up in the later morning, then Amy, Ben, Sam, Emma, and myself met them at the mall to eat lunch. It was to get the noise out of the house for Lilly and Nolan to nap. We headed to the party where the kids just played outside for a good 4 hours. Sunday was Nolan's first birthday party. We tailgated at the Brewers/White Sox game. This was the first time since Lilly was born that the whole Heffelfinger family was together. Some went to the game and others (like us) came home to nap and relax. After the game we let Nolan dive into his Elmo cake. It took him a few minutes to get into it, but he looked like he was enjoying himself.

Monday was a recovery day- we did laundry, hung out, and then headed to the baseball banquest. We cooked out for the third day in a row- it is Wisconsin- how can you not love brats. Grandma and grandpa came and got the girls so we could clean up the cafeteria. Then we decided to grab a drink with Ben, Christina, and Iggy- the other JV coach. Today we ventured to the Central Library for story time. The girls had a good time. Maddie was much more into it them Emma. Emma was alright to start and then when we had to go into the story room- she had her normal break down and telling me she wanted to go home. We went in, she sat on my lap and by the end she even ventured down on the carpet next to Maddie.

Chad has decided that Thursdays and Fridays are days he isn't going to to into school. Last week he was finishing up stuff, so tomorrow we will have to plan something fun. Next week Maddie is going to VBS at Mount Olive since her school isn't having one this year. Chad also has basketball camp all week, so that means that next week he will be gone like a normal school year week. We then have a week to get ready for camp. We leave on the 6th for Michigan and are there for at least 5 days, but maybe until the 12th. We will see.

Hope you enjoyed all the pictures.

School's Out For Summer

2009-06-04T14:44:00.004-05:00

Have you ever tried explaining summer vacation to a three year old?? Maddie gets that she doesn't have school, but she doesn't get why everyone gets so excited about summer vacation. She likes school, so why is everyone happy about not having to go- she just can't grasp it. We actually had two days this week, but are now officially on summer vacation. Chad has meetings today and tomorrow (if you can call golfing this afternoon meetings). Graduation is tomorrow and then he has some things to tie up next week. He figures his vacation starts next Friday.

This past weekend Chad was in Texas to give the speech at Concordia's graduation. It was a short trip for him, but he had a good time. He got to see people and catch up with them. Friday before he left he had the first round of regionals and won. He was off on Saturday around 2pm and got back Monday around 2pm.

The girls and I took in the Brewers game on Sunday with grandma and grandpa. We went a little early and took subs and met my aunt and uncle in the parking lot to hang out before the game for a little while. Lilly and grandma spent the game in an armchair in the warm watching the game on television. It was a little chilly in our seats, because the sun is behind us by the time the game starts and even with the roof open we are in the shade. It was a great day in the sun, but everyone in the shade was cold. Maddie spent most the game eating peanuts and then spent a little time up by grandma. Emma actually spent the majority of the game with me in our seats, eating peanuts, watching for Bernie Brewers, laughing at the little Chorizo fall down during the race, and covering her ears while Hell's Bells played.

Tomorrow is Maddie's birthday. We are having a little cake "party" for her on Saturday. She wants a rock star cake, so we are making a guitar cake and then a star cake. We traced the guitar hero guitar and will be using that as our pattern for the cake. Grandpa has off tomorrow and so I told her that we would go for lunch somewhere. I figured she would pick like Chuck E' Cheese, but today she said she wanted to go to Red Robin. We will see if she changes her mind between today and lunch tomorrow.

Since Chad won on Friday they played on Tuesday evening. The game wasn't until 7pm, so just Maddie and I went. We actually rode down there with grandma and grandpa J, uncle Kurt, and aunt Lydia. It was a good game. They lost 7-4, but it was 4-4 going into the 6th. So baseball is officially over now.

The last couple of days have been nice, so we have spent the later morning at the playground. Yesterday we went to Wick Field and played with some other kids that were there and today we went to the playground at Washington Park and had it all to ourselves. When we all go Maddie has to be a big girl and walk because there isn't any room for her in the stroller, but she is doing a great job and only complains a little. It is to be expected since it is usually on the way home from the playground, so she is already tired from playing. I told her that when you are the biggest sometimes you have to do big girl things. Today on the way home Emma was nice and let her sit in the stroller for about 4 blocks and then wanted back in- I thought it was pretty nice for Emma to give Maddie a little break.

So here's to Summer Vacation- even if Maddie isn't quite so sure about it. All she knows is that dad will be home and we get to have fun.

What a Weekend!!!

2009-05-26T08:39:00.008-05:00

I know that it is Thursday, but it has taken me two days to get this post finished in between laundry, naps, MOPS, and all the other normal everyday happenings here.

Okay so I will admit that I am getting older, but I have to say that even though I was in bed by about 11pm every night this weekend, it was one of the best weekends I have had in a long time. We had so many laughs and stories to share and time to just hang out. So here is how it went down.

FRIDAY

Maddie had school- I thought that I would be taking her since on Monday and Wednesday she wanted me to take her, but grandma was already taking her, but nope she wanted grandpa to take her to school. So while she was at school I got the bathroom cleaned and then Lilly and I went and ran 2 errands before picking Maddie up. Emma of course, didn't want to leave the house, but more on that later. Grandpa went to play golf in the afternoon, Emma and Lilly napped and Maddie and I waited for Jill and Jay to get here from Minnesota. They got here around 1:30. Maddie played shy for about 5 minutes and then was wrestling with Jay. After the other girls got up from nap we all headed out to ML to get Chad from practice. Since we all know Chad's time management, we ended up running around at school for about an hour. We headed over to Champps for some dinner and then home to put the girls to bed and play some euchre. This was all in the course of lots of laughs because Jay fell of the curb, no one could remember what trump was and Jill kept forgetting about the left bowers. We then decided to call it a night knowing that the next couple of days would be long.

SATURDAY
Chad was off to his game by about 9am and we all kept wondering if it was going to get canceled, because there was some rain, but it ended up not being enough to cancel. Anne and Fritz got dropped off around noon since they spend Friday night with some other friends. We waited for the Chapmans and then it was off to the mall to eat before the game. It seems that the food court is one of Maddie's favorite places to eat. We headed out to Chad's game, not knowing which field they were at, but we took a shot in the dark and headed to Madison Park and they were there. It was a good game, the kids played on the playground, we actually saw most of the game, Lilly got passed around, and it even turned out to be a pretty nice day. They ended up losing by one, but it was a pretty good game. Jay, Jill, Anne, Fritz, Lilly and I headed out to Germantown to drop some stuff off for Sunday and we hung out for just a little while before needing to get back to the house. We played cards, watched the Brewers, and laughed for the rest of the evening. The Chapmans headed down to my aunt and uncles for the evening and mom and dad went with for a little while. Once gain I might have been sleeping by about 11pm, but I still had a great time.

SUNDAY

The big day!! We all were up and ready to go and got to church in a timely fashion. Lilly did great, I don't think she made a peep the whole service. Anne was relieved when uncle Kurt held her for the majority of the service. The other girls were a little loud, but we survived- even being in the front row. After the service we headed up to Germantown for lunch and a day of playing outside. All the kids enjoyed the swing set, the sandbox, and of course grandpa J's pond with the fish in it. Most everyone was on their way around 3pm and we spent the rest of the afternoon just sitting around talking and laughing. If you haven't guessed there is a theme to this weekend, talking and laughing. We got home and the girls weren't quite ready for bed, so we let them stay up for a little while. While Maddie was enjoying her peanut butter sandwich, Anne was enjoying telling her stories. Maddie was laughing and it was just so funny to listen to the two of them. I'm pretty sure Maddie thinks Anne is the coolest, even if she is a Mets fan. Anne and I headed to Kopp's for an after dinner snack, of course everyone else put in an order as well.

MONDAY
We were heading to the Brewers game- it was a 1:05 game. We were planning on tailgating, but decided to just cook the food here and then take it down to the stadium. We didn't have to hassle with a grill and all those things. The girls headed to the grocery store in the morning, but then had to stop at Kohls only because I was making fun of Chad for wearing a CC shirt, since he doesn't play for us anymore. So we all picked up a new Brewers shirt for the boys. Lilly also got some new Brewers gear too. We got the cars loaded up and headed out. We were only in the parking lot for about an hour, but the boys played bean bags, while we just sat and people watched. That is always fun at the stadium. Into the game we went. I knew that I wouldn't see too much of it since we had all three girls. Emma fell asleep in the 2nd inning, Lilly spent most of the game with Jill, and Maddie settled after about the 4th inning. It was a really quick game (2hrs 27min) and it even went into extra innings. The Brewers did end up winning, too bad they lost the next two. We went back out to the parking lot to wait for the traffic and then it was off to the airport to drop Anne and Fritz off. They got home with no problems. Jay and Jill headed back to Minnesota from the game too. We spent the rest of Monday just catching our breath.

The last couple of days we have been cleaning and playing catch up on the laundry. It is nice to think that the week is already almost over. Chad has his last day of classes today, student help day tomorrow, and then finals next Mon, Tues, and Wed. He has his regional baseball game tomorrow. Good thing it is suppose to be sunny and 70. If they win they play Tuesday. He is also heading down to Texas on Saturday afternoon. He is giving the graduation speech down at Concordia. It is a short trip, but I am sure that he will have a good time. I'm sure we will manage while he is gone. We are going to the Brewers game on Sunday with my parents and the girls. Maddie has school Monday and a field trip Tuesday and that is the last day. Then it is her birthday Friday. I think we are just planning on having some cake and giving her her presents on Saturday. Nothing too big, but a little celebration for her. I guess I should get going on that, since it is just about a week away. Any ideas, throw them my way.

Enjoy all the pictures from the weekend.

Anne and uncle Kurt- we will have to photoshop Michael in

The whole Janetzke Clan- all 16 of us

The mini-Janetzke clan (role reversal- Emma in her jeans and Maddie still in her church dress)

The General in his grandpa get-up

The cake picture

Maddie and Ben playing on the swing set

How many kids can fit on the swing set??

Maddie got a sliver and so she was soaking her finger- we finally got the last of it out today (Thursday)

Fritz, Anne, me, Chad, Jill and Jay

Fritz and Lilly
Anne and Lilly tailgating

Fritz and Emma just hanging out

In all our Brewer gear- Maddie doing her pout pout face

Maddie enjoying her cotton candy at the game

How Emma spent the first three innings

Anne, Lilly and I after the game

How Maddie ended up on the way home from the airport

Hell's Bells

2009-05-19T15:05:00.003-05:00

So there have been 19 home games for the Brewers and I have been at three of them. Now remember that Hoffman was also out for the beginning of the season, but last Wednesday we went to the game and I got to hear Hell's Bells for the first time in Miller Park and let's just say that it was awesome. The roof was closed because it rained throughout the whole game and so it was even louder and shook even more. It was cool to see what you know will be a future hall of famer do what he does best. He got the job done and I think it was all in about 10 pitches. Thursday was a day game and we actually thought about going, if I would have known how nice it was going to be I would have taken Maddie. Anyways, one of the pastors at mom and dad's church said that he was driving on 41 past the stadium when Hoffman came in to pitch and with his windows closed, he could hear Hell's Bells. Back to Wednseday's game- was so hoping that Weeks would have gotten that double to hit for the cycle. We then wouldn't have to always have the trivia question about Chad Moeller being the last Brewer to hit for the cycle.

You didn't think that I would post and not give a Lilly update. Well she is doing great, the girls still think that she is still pretty cool. I am waiting for the day when the novelty wears off. This past weekend Maddie went with grandma and grandpa Heff to visit the Pownell's in Iowa. They left Saturday morning and got back in the early evening Sunday. Chad had a game in Racine on Saturday. Emma, Lilly, and I headed up to Germantown to hang out and then Chad joined us later in the day. We stayed over there and on Sunday we finally got the swing set up. The boys took care of that while Christina and I did some yard work.

We are getting ready for Lilly's reaffrimation on Sunday. Jay and Jill are coming down on Friday and so I am hoping that we get some good card games in. Then on Saturday Anne and Fritz will be here and so I am sure that we will be heading to Chad's game as long as the weather cooperates, then we are just planning on hanging out since we all don't see each other that much. Monday the Brewers play the Cards and so some of us are going to that. Of course we just swept them down there and so I am hoping that we don't embarass ourselves here.

Maddie has just a couple weeks of school left- we are trying to get her to grasp the concept of summer vacation. She knows that she doesn't have to go to school, but doesn't quite get why it is such a big deal. She is going to VBS at grandma and grandpa's church since ours isn't having one this year. I am also thinking about putting her in tennis lessons through the rec department- she told me she would rather do tennis then t-ball.

Emma is still working on this whole potty thing. She is going every once in awhile, it is usually just a fluke. She is still not so sure about school, but I think it is growing on her. We will see how the summer and this potty thing goes. She has always been afraid of the carwash, but in the last couple of days every time we say that we are going somewhere, she has to make sure that we are NOT going to the carwash. I think she must have dreamt about the carwash or something. She is just so funny sometimes.

Chad has two weeks of school and then finals. Graduation is June 5th. He is going down to Texas on the 30th for graduation there. I know that he is looking forward to it. Baseball is starting to wind down. They have two conference games left, a tournament this weekend and then their regional game on the 29th. They got a 4 seed and so that means that they get a home game that day.

We are getting ready for summer here- just trying to get through the last few days of school without any major problems.

Mother's Day Craziness

2009-05-13T12:57:00.002-05:00

So we came home from the hospital on Saturday morning and had some visitors later in the afternoon. Grandma and Grandpa J came over. Grandpa J had been in St. Louis when Lilly was born, so he had to get his time in. Aunt Kendra and uncle Kurt came with them and also Aunt Kathy along with cousins Luke and Ben drove up for the day. The came by and hung out for just a little while, but it was nice to see them and let them meet Lilly. Luke really liked her and just wanted to hold her. Ben wasn't as sure, but still wanted to check her out. The rest of Saturday we just hung out at home eating pizza and watching the Brewers. Ben and Christina came over for a little while in the evening and then it was off to bed (or to see what sleep we would get).

Lilly is actually a champion eater and sleeper. She is a little mixed up, but has been doing great. She eats just about every 4 hours and even sometimes about 5 at night. Chad has been letting me go to bed around 10 and he will feed her around midnight. She will usually sleep soundly until 2/2:30, but then gets a little restless. I can rock her back to sleep and she will sleep for another 2 hours or so. We will feed somewhere between 4 and 5 and then it is back to sleep until about 8am.

We headed to church on Sunday, some of the older ladies around us couldn't believe that she was just 3 days old. It was kind of funny to see their reactions, but she was great and slept the whole time. When we got home the Chapmans and Heffelfingers were already here. So that meant craziness was coming- 7 of 8 cousins were at the house for Mother's Day. We missed having the Pownell family, but will see them in a couple of weeks. Who was going to the Brewers game was still undecided, but eventually dad, Alan, Amy, Chad, and I went. So that meant that mom, Tracie, and Joel took on the 7 kids and no one had anything broken or bloody when we got back. They did great. Tracie cooked some lasagne and pizza for dinner, it was yummy. My aunt, uncle, and cousin Alex stopped over and the kids just went nutso because Alex was entertaining them. Chad, myself and Alex took Kate, Ben, Maddie, Ella, Sam, and Emma to the playground for a little while, while their parents were getting ready to go home. Ben and Christina stopped over again, very briefly, I think they were a little intimidated by all the chaos. Everyone was on their way home and we all just took the rest of the evening to relax.

Monday Chad took the day off and helped by taking Maddie to school in the morning. We had to take Lilly to the doctor to get her Hepatitis B shot- Emma was with us, but didn't want to stay in the room while Lilly got her shot. We picked Maddie up and made sure to let Mrs. Willer see Lilly, since Maddie made sure to let us know that we needed to bring her to pickup. We grabbed some lunch and then headed home for naps. Chad had a game and so he was off to his game. Tuesday it was just us girls and we did just great. It was a nice day and after grandpa got home, we headed out to Chad's game. Well grandpa, Lilly, Maddie, and I did. Emma was all ready to go and then we started walking out the door decided she wanted to stay home with grandma. It was a little windy at the game, but it was actually pretty nice. Today was school again for Maddie- grandma dropped her off on her way to work. She was going on a field trip to Greenfield park to learn about frogs, but then she said that they didn't see any frogs. Oh well, I guess it was a little too cold for the frogs. We are hoping we don't get too much rain this afternoon- we are suppose to be going to the Brewers game tonight, but we will see how the rain goes.

Here are a few pictures from me trying to get a good one for Lilly's birth announcements. Maddie got in on the shoot and even took a few herself.

Lillian Joy

2009-05-08T14:35:00.005-05:00

Here she is:

Lillian Joy
5/7/2009
9:09am
7lbs. 14oz
20 1/2 inches

Lilly wanted to wait for her own time to come and also to make quite the entrance. We headed to the hospital about 11:30pm on Wednesday night. I wasn't sure if I would be admitted or if I would get sent home. I was admitted and was in the labor and delivery room around 1am. We had to wait until about 3:45am to get the epidural and then I was able to catch a few Zs. Chad was able to catch a little nap in there also. Around 7:30 am there was a shift change, so that meant a new nurse who has to start all the vitals and checks again. She checked me and I was about 8cm. She had another nurse check just to make sure. Well Lilly didn't like all the poking around at her and decided to slow her heart rate down. A resident came in and put a monitor on her head and after they stopped flipping me from side to side she decided to settle down. My doctor came in a little after 8am and told me to try pushing because her head was still a little high. So I started and about three sets of pushes later she was here. The cord was looped around her neck, not tightly, but still around. We were down in the labor and delivery room for about 2 hours before getting settled in our room for the next couple of days.

The girls came up with Chad in the later afternoon. They weren't so sure about it all right away, but I think there were too many people there. Grandma J, uncle Kurt, aunt Lydia, grandma and grandpa Heff, and I think they were a little intimidated. After the Germantown Janetzkes left and grandma Heff left for her meeting, they were a little bit more curious about Lilly and wanting to hold her. They each took a turn holding her, Maddie was a little more hesitant then Emma.

Friday I missed the Mother's Day celebration at school, but grandma Heff went in my place. After school the girls and Chad came to the hospital. Pasor Schroeder came to baptize Lilly, uncle Kurt who is one of Lilly's godparents got to skip school for a little while to come to the hospital for the baptism. We will be having a ratification on the 24th of May at church for her. Pastor Schroeder added another Janetzke to his baptismal list, he also baptized uncle Ben, aunt Kendra, and aunt Lydia.

The evening was pretty uneventful- uncle Ben and Christina came around 7:45 and stayed until about 9pm. It made the evening go a little quicker for me. I let Lilly go to the nursery again for the night so I could get some sleep, I figure tonight I don't have the option of her going to the nursery. This morning Chad came around 10am and we were on our way around 11:15am. We were waiting for my doctor to come and let me go. The girls were very excited when we got home- and now Lilly is resting with grandma.

I am happy to be home and back in the real world. We will be taking it easy today since tomorrow the Chapmans and Chicago Heffelfingers will be coming for Mother's Day. So that means lots of cousins around tomorrow. Chad is taking Monday off, which will help since Maddie has school and Lilly has a doctor's appointment. His baseball game this morning was canceled, but we are still waiting for word about tonight's game. It would be nice if the game was canceled and we could all just hang out, but I'm not that worried about it. I'm sure more pictures will be to come.

Waiting

2009-04-30T09:40:00.002-05:00

That is the game we are playing right now. We are always waiting to see if Chad's baseball games are going to be played because of all the rain we have had lately. Today it is suppose to be close to 65 degrees, but of course there is rain coming down also. Chad played last Friday and hasn't played since. They play the other teams in the conference twice and always in a row. So they play Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. So right now they missed Saturday and Tuesday's game against St. Joe's. The good thing is that usually when they need to be made up they can schedule a double-header with that team and not have to worry about trying to make up two separate games. I have a feeling there are going to be a good number of doubleheaders in the next few weeks. If they miss today's game and Saturday's has already been canceled because of both school's proms, those right there are two double-headers to make up. Okay enough trying to figure out when they are going to get to play those baseball games- they could be playing until the middle of June at this rate.

We are also waiting for baby to make her appearance. I go to the doc today and hoping that there is some progress. If this one decides to be like her sisters, it would be this weekend. It would be great if it was this weekend. Of course, Chad has one of those double-headers scheduled tomorrow down in Kenosha, so I'm sure that is when she is going to decide to come. I am ready for her to come, both myself wanting to be done being pregnant and also just everything is in order for her to come.

Other than waiting, there hasn't been too much going on. Maddie got to spend the night with Christina (uncle Ben's fiance) last Friday. Christina met us at school pick up, we all went to lunch, and then Maddie went home with Christina and spent the night there. We went out to school for the JV baseball game and they were there. She was so excited and that was all she could talk about for about 24hours after she got home. She has about 11 days of school left. She is done on the 29th. She also is going on a field trip this Friday and has been talking about it non-stop for the last few days.

Emma also enjoyed Maddie staying at Christina's because that meant that she got to have the house all to herself. We ran some errands and then spent most of the day at home because that is what she wanted to do. Talk about a homebody, this child would never leave the house if I didn't have to take her with me everywhere.

We will keep you updated on baby news. Maybe the next post will be introducing her to everyone.

Baseball, Easter, Baseball, Zoo, Baseball(do you see a pattern??)

2009-04-18T19:35:00.003-05:00

Well we have been busy the last week or so. It seems like lately the time just gets away from me. We left off getting ready for Easter, which has come and gone. As most of you know, church and toddlers don't always mix. Maundy Thursday we decided to go to Mount Olive with grandma and grandpa because Chad had baseball practice and wasn't sure he was going to get to church on time. The girls were not having it and just could not sit still. So communion came and it was at the rail (which happens I think about once a year at MO- on Maundy Thursday). Maddie was with grandma all the way to the right side, which is next to the lectern. Some of you know what I am talking about, if not just try to picture an older church that has a distinct lectern and pulpit. So Maddie decided that she needed to check out what was over in the lectern and good thing she is not a little taller, but we later found out that she wandered over there and popped her little head over the lectern for all to see. Let's just say that we had quite the talking to after we got home from church.

Good Friday we decided that since evening church doesn't always work best for the girls we would go to the afternoon service. Church was at 12:15 and Our Redeemer actually gears is towards working people, so it is only about 30 minutes long. Of course Maddie in that short 30 minutes fell asleep. I think she must have taken lessons from Christian before we left Texas. She is getting real good at falling asleep quickly in the car or while at church. So when we got home we were all excited because not only was it Good Friday, but it was also Brewers Day (aka Opening Day here). So while we were at church, Bernie Brewer had come over to drop off some new Brewers shirts for the girls. Chad also got a new Tigers shirt too. Later in the afternoon- Emma decided she wasn't feeling too well and had a few episodes of throwing up. She was just a little under the weather, but came back strong on Saturday. Mike, Jana, and Nolan got here Friday evening and so we got to hang out with them for a little while before bedtime.

Saturday morning was an egg hunt at Mount Olive. We thought Emma was going to sleep through it, but decided that when she heard us talking about getting ready to go, she was ready to go too. So Emma, Maddie, me, grandma, grandpa, and Jana went up and hunted some eggs outside. They had about 25-30 kids there and 700 eggs, so the girls had lots of fun. They then got to hear the Easter story and hung out for a little while. We headed home and out to Chad's game. It was a nice day and they ended up beating the number 5 team in the city. Emma was still feeling under the weather, so she slept most of the game away in the stroller. The Chapman's met us there and the boys and Maddie had lots of fun running on the track, on the bleachers, and after the game on the field. We hung out the rest of the evening watching the Brewers and just playing.

Easter morning came and Emma was so excited to finally get to wear her big dress. Grandma cooked some pulled pork and other goodies. The boys (Chad, Joel, Mike, Jared, and Sam) went over to the playground to play whiffle ball. Sam was in heaven. He made sure that the game ended in a tie so both teams won. We ate dinner, hung out, and then some of us headed to the Brewers game. Mike, dad, Joel, Chad, and I went along with Kip and Jared. I figured that I better go to a game now, because who knows when I will get to go to another one. Maddie and Emma got to hang out with grandma, Jana, and Nolan. They were helping "babysit" Nolan.

Monday even with no school, it was time to get back into a routine. Chad had practice, I had my non-stress test, and grandma and grandpa were back to work. Chad had away games during the week and then today was at home. Maddie was back to school on Wednesday and Friday. Maddie and grandpa went to the Brewers game on Wednesday. She lasted about 6 innings before wanting to come home. I figured that with getting back into a routine of school that was pretty good. Thursday grandma went down to Chicago to pick up Kate and Ella (Kate had spring break, but Tracie didn't). They got back up here around 10:30 and were all ready to play. That afternoon while I was at the doctor, Maddie and Kate went with uncle Kip and auntie Susie to Wick Field to play. I know Maddie had a blast and wasn't ready to come home. So we all piled into the van to go get grandpa from work. We decided that since it was such a nice day to go out to Jared's baseball game at school. The varsity was playing away, but JV was at home. That also happens to be the team that uncle Ben coaches. The girls played and were enjoying being outside. I think we left about the 4th inning and headed home.

Friday Maddie was back at school. She was all ready to go because she loves Fridays. Not because for most of us it means the weekend, but because it means that it is gym day at school. What a nut. When Maddie was done with school grandpa, me, Emma, Ella, and Kate picked her up and headed to the Zoo. Well we were not the only ones with that idea. The line to get into the parking lot was backed up all the way to HWY. 100 on Bluemound. We decided to park in the neighborhood a few blocks away and just walk. It was a little bit of a hike, but the girls were all troopers. So we enjoyed the sunshine and animals at the zoo for a few hours. Grandma came and met us when we were getting ready to leave because my girls and I were heading up to Germantown for the evening to see other cousins Ben and Luke. We just hung out at the house Friday, playing outside, eating pizza, and talking. Saturday morning Chad was off to his game by 8:15 and the girls and I thought we would just hang out until the game started. Aunt Kendra and uncle Kurt ended up coming too, so we got to Chad's game and once again enjoyed the warm and sunshine for most of the day. Chad didn't quite squeak out the win yesterday, but it was a good game. With having other people there I actually can watch about 50% of the game. We just all took it easy last night and I think doing the same today. Chad has grades he has to get done and I know that there is laundry needing to be done too.

We have just a couple of weeks before baby gets here, so we are just trying to get a few things together. I think we are planning on putting up the swingset at grandma and grandpa J's next weekend. I know that it will make the girls happy to be able to go out and play on that. Other then that, we are just playing the waiting game. We are planning on having the affirmation of baptism on Memorial Day weekend- so doing a little planning for that too while I can. Here are a few pics from the past week. Maddie did not want to have anything to do with pictures on Easter morning, so you will have to pardon her pouts.

Hippity Hoppety- Easter's on it's Way

2009-04-08T13:18:00.004-05:00

So every Sunday while getting ready for church Emma asks if it is Easter yet and each week we tell her how many more Sundays until Easter. Why is she so obsessed with Easter? Well the only reason a true princess would be- she gets to wear her big pretty Easter dress. This girl cannot wait for Sunday to be able to wear her Easter dress that hangs up in her room and she looks at longingly every Sunday.

Emma is still up to her mischievous self. You can't leave her alone for too long because you never know what she is getting into. She is known to take anything and everything out of any given drawer or cabinet. She is known to draw and anything with markers, crayons, pens or pencils. Sunday we were up by Chad's parents and we brought home some Easter things for the girls from his mom since they are going to be out of town. They were in some grocery bags and within 5 minutes of being home Emma was digging through the bags knowing that there was something in there. She is very insistent on certain things. There are somethings that you pick your battles with and others that you just let go. Sleeping with sandals on is one of those things you just let go.
We are still trying to get her to like the potty, but no such luck yet. She still wants to go to school next year. We did find out that Mrs. Willer is moving up to 4K afternoons, so she will have a different teacher then Maddie. I was glad to find this out now instead of like a week before school starts, so I can let Emma know and prepare her for the change.

Maddie is done with school for the week and doesn't go back until next Wednesday. She was very upset that there was no school on Friday even though we kept telling her that it is Opening Day she wanted to go to school. We kept asking why she wanted to go to school and she just said she did, finally on Monday she told me she wanted to go to school Friday because that is the day that she goes to the gym. Luckily they went to the gym today and so I think that helped. They also did a little egg hunt on the playground and a few other Easter crafts.

Chad has his first game today. It is actually 50's and sunny and so I think that we may head out there for a little while. It will be weird to watch a game in the daylight and not one starting at 7pm. I guess at least the good thing is is that the game will be over before 10pm and we can be home at a reasonable hour.

I am looking forward to the weekend Jana, Mike, Nolan, Amy, Joel, Ben, and Sam will be here and we will be going to the egg hunt at Mount Olive. Which here is known as grandma and grandpa's church. It is looking like it will be a nice weekend so hopefully we will be able to get some playing outside in. Sunday evening is the Brewers/Cubs game on ESPN. Joel,Mike, Chad, my dad, and I are going. I figure I probably won't get to too many game this summer, so I better go now.

Maddie got to watch the Brewers yesterday with grandpa- granted she would watch, leave, play with something else and repeat. Chad came home just as the game was ending and she made sure she informed him that "they are getting their butts kicked". Monday night Ben and Christina were over for the Michigan State/UNC game and she was bound and determined that she is going to spend the night over at Christina's apartment and watch movies. She then had to recap it for me the next morning because I wasn't here.

Here is a picture I took the other day- Maddie usually wants to wear a Brewers shirt and since when Maddie has one on, Emma wants to put hers on too.

Happy Easter to everyone. I know that I will be taking pictures this weekend so I will make sure to put them up.

Back to the Grind

2009-03-31T12:16:00.002-05:00

Well our spring break has ended and the end wasn't very spring like. Saturday into Sunday it decided to snow about 5 inches. Luckily it has been in the 40's and rainy and so most of it should be gone soon.

The rest of the weekend was just hanging out and watching March Madness. Emma had a great time on Thursday night all by herself. She got to watch a movie (that she picked) and ate popcorn and was just loving being the only one here. Amy, Maddie and the boys got here around noon and we all went down to the stadium to Friday's for lunch. We also checked out the Brewers store and reopened that morning. They remodeled and so they had a big opening at like 5am. The boys game back for just a little while to do some playing and then it was back to Woodstock for them. Friday later in the afternoon we headed out to school so dad could help Chad take down the nets in the rummage room and let the girls run around for a little while. We made sure that we got home in time for the Michigan State game which was quite an exciting one.

Saturday Chad did not have practice, so after getting laundry done in the morning, I had a few errands to run. I went while Emma was sleeping and Chad and Maddie went to go see Monsters Vs. Aliens. She loves going to the movies. Usually we just wait for it to come to the budget, but since it was just her and dad and it was the middle of the afternoon- we figured what the heck. The evening was once again spent watching NCAA basketball and waiting for the snow to come.

Sunday was church and then back home to watch the Michigan State game. Uncle Ben and Christina came over too. Grandma and I cleaned up the basement and put together a nice big pile of stuff for Chad to take to the ML rummage sale.

Monday came and I didn't even have to fight with Maddie to get up. She was so ready to go back to school. She kept asking last week if she got to go. She told me yesterday that she wants to go to school in the summer. I guess she likes school or maybe just her time away from her sister.(Good thing for VBS) I had again a non-stress test yesterday and everything is just fine. I think that Chad and I have finally agreed on a name (you'll have to wait to find out).

Today is the last day for tryouts for the kids who were gone over spring break. There was suppose to be a game today, but since the snow and the rain today- he gets to wait until next week to play. I'm sure we will be out there sometime, but I think that we will be waiting until it gets warmer and not so wet out there.

I can't believe that I didn't take any pictures during spring break, but I guess when you don't actually go anywhere, there isn't much to capture. Emma's new thing is to jump off things. She used to just step off and say she jumped, but now she is actually landing on two feet and getting in the air. As I am typing this, she is using the step stool as her jump pad.

Hoping that this week goes by semi-quick and with little disruption. I can't believe that Easter is just about 10 days away. Maddie is more looking forward to that fact that the Brewers are going to be starting. She knows that they start around Easter and so we have made sure to put Opening Day on her calender. She is going to the game on the 15th with grandpa (she got to pick who she goes with since there are only 2 tickets). At least I know that no matter what their record is in September, she will still be wanting to go and be excited to watch them. Oh, to not know how the whole standings thing works.

Spring Break Thus Far

2009-03-26T17:20:00.002-05:00

So usually spring breaks are spent with people visiting us in Texas, but as you know that didn't happen this year. We have been enjoying not having to get up, get dressed, and out the door in a timely fashion this week. Although Maddie has told me that she misses school and wants to go back.

Chad actually just had parent/teacher conferences on Friday, so he didn't have any students at school and was home by 2:30. We headed up to Germantown for the evening to hang out and watch some basketball. Chad and I actually went out to dinner just the two of us while the girls stayed at grandma and grandpa's and played with various aunts and uncles. We all watched basketball and I stayed up way to late watching the overtime Wisconsin game- what was I thinking. At least they ended up winning and so it made it a little worth it.

Saturday morning Chad headed down to school for the last of the grade school clinic with Ben and the girls and I hung out a little up there. We were home in time for nap and then spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, made it to the playground for awhile since it was so nice outside. Sunday after church Chad took the girls out to school so he could pick up a few things and they ended up playing in the gym for like an hour and a half. He was getting some baseball stuff together and they were just having fun, so it was quiet around here for part of the afternoon.

This week started baseball and so we haven't been able to do too much. Chad's assistant coaches aren't teachers, so they still have normal work schedules which meant that practice is at after school times, not in the mornings this week. So Chad has been spending the mornings with us and then the afternoons are spent at baseball practice. Monday and Tuesday we pretty much hung out at home. Those two days it rained a bit and so everything has been soaking wet.

Wednesday we were all getting cabin fever, so we decided to head out to Chuck E Cheese before practice. We were all having a great time- the girls were playing games and on the slides. Our food came and Maddie wanted to change seats. She wanted to go into the big room where the tvs are and were the mechanic Chuck E Cheese is. Everything was fine until the curtain opened and he started moving and talking/singing. Emma lost it. She wanted nothing to do with it- she just wanted to go home. I got her to sit on my lap while we ate and then as soon as we were done and ready to play more games she made a bee line out of the room. It was sort of amusing, but I did feel bad for her.

Today(Thursday) we had another non-stress test. It is sort of relaxing to just sit in a chair for 45 minutes and either watch tv or read a magazine, but it a little annoying to have to go to the hospital, get all your vitals checked, get hooked up to the machine and just wait. Monday we actually had a follow-up ultrasound from Dr. Carr. She is a specialist because baby here has a two vessel cord. Which means- normally there is a big vein that takes everything to the baby and then 2 arteries that take the waste away. Well this baby decided that she just wanted to have 1 artery to do all the work. There is some worry about growth, but since you all know that we don't have small babies this hasn't been a problem. So we had an ultrasound about 7 weeks ago with the specialist and this was just the follow up. The baby is growing just fine- actually I was 32 weeks 4 days on Monday and baby was measuring 35 weeks. Which would make sense since the other 2 were 2 weeks early too. The tech measured her legs about 5 times, because she couldn't believe how long they were. Back to today- while I was at the hospital the girls and dad went down to Miller Park to play on the playground there. Maddie slid down the slide with the big puddle on the bottom and so her pants were soaked. Emma came home to tell me that Maddie peed on the slide- which was not true, but I had to make sure for myself. After that grandma, the girls, and I got in the car and headed down to Woodstock to see Ben, Sam, and Amy. We played at the house for a little while and then we went to Burger King for lunch and to play on the playland. Maddie is down there now and is spending the night. She has been talking about it all week and was so happy to finally be able to go. I had it on her calender and every day she would count to see how many days until she got to go to their house. Emma wasn't too happy that she had to come home with us, but she got over it pretty quick. She has asked a couple times where Maddie is, but I think is enjoying having everyone to herself. Amy is bringing the boys and Maddie back tomorrow- to pay and hang out for awhile.

Grandpa has the day off again tomorrow- so maybe we can find something to do in the morning with just Emma since Maddie won't be here until later in the day. The rest of the weekend I'm sure will be spent catching up on laundry. Hopefully Maddie won't be too much of a beast getting up on Monday morning, but I won't worry about that until Monday morning.

Let the Madness Begin- Oh Wait, That is Every Day

2009-03-19T08:19:00.004-05:00

So today is the start of March Madness- it also happens to be parent teacher conferences and so Chad has to be at school until about 9pm tonight (haha). So we have all filled out our brackets, Maddie's is quite a long shot and so is grandma's, but you never know.

Maddie likes to fill out her's by what mascot she likes better- here is her Final Four:
Robert Morris
CSU Northridge
Xavier
Michigan

Grandma also had quite a method to her picking to- top team, bottom team, middle team- here is her Final Four:
Louisville
Washington
Texas
Akron

Besides the beginning of March Madness, the every day madness is going strong here. Emma has been getting into a lot of sneakiness lately. She likes to draw on everything and I mean everything, including herself.Here she is in the bath after giving herself a mustache and beard with the purple marker.

She does have her good points too here she is reading to her "babies" in the rocking chair and making sure they are nice and warm.
She also really loves her cousin Nolan. Nolan was visiting us again while Mike was in town for the robotics competition. He stayed with us on Wednesday and then Jana came on Thursday. Emma wanted some good drinking time with her cousin so she joined him in his pack and play.

We have been enjoying the nice weather this week. I am sure that since baseball starts next week it will be cold and rainy for the better part of the week. Spring break is next week for Chad and Maddie. Chad as I said has baseball tryouts. Both of his other coaches aren't teachers, so they don't have practice until 3 everyday. I don't know how much stuff we will get to do- or maybe I should say I don't know how much Chad will get to do with us. Tuesday it was 70 degrees, so the girls and I walked down to the park to play. They were just having the best time being outside and running around.

Here is Maddie just showing off for the camera. Notice all the dirt on her face. I am pretty sure that dirt just jumps up on her face the minute we walk outside.

Today I go for my second week of Non-stress testing. Monday it wasn't as bad as last week with the number of phone calls being made to let people know of their STD. I am thinking that I would rather go to the hospital on Mondays also because at the office this is not a normal thing, so they aren't as efficient as they are at the hospital. I will check on their schedule when I go today to see if I can just go there on Mondays and Thursdays.

Maddie is back to loving school- we had about 2 weeks where she didn't want anything to do with school. It was like a switch being turned on and then off two weeks later. Chad has been able to take her a couple of times and I think he will tomorrow too.

I am sure that this weekend will be filled with basketball and the last of the grade school baseball clinic for Chad. We are all looking forward to Brewers baseball starting. Maddie asks about every day when it is going to start- she knows that she has to wait a few more weeks, but that it is getting close.

Well let's see where the Madness takes us this year. As always I am pulling for Duke, but that is just my heart talking. I know that it is a long shot, but what do you have to look forward to if you can't really get into it, right??

We are still at a lose for baby names, but have been polling people- so tell us your opinion about some of the choices we have made:
Olivia
Claire/Clara (not sure which one)
Lillian (Lilly)

Rain is so much better than snow.....

2009-03-10T08:56:00.002-05:00

..... that's what I keep telling myself. The last few days, like 5 have been rainy and dreary, but I keep reminding myself that it could be snow.

So two other funny Maddie sayings from this week that could be added to the last blog post. Sunday I wasn't feeling so hot, so Chad took the girls to church so I could go back to bed for a little while. Emma even went to the nursery, so his job got easier. So they were in the middle of prayers and pastor was describing how we are sinners and sin is smelly. I guess Maddie just looked at Chad like "did he just say smelly", and proceeded to laugh out loud. At least she is starting to get jokes or at least knows when to laugh and not laugh.

The other one happened on Sunday too. My brother and his family came up from Chicago for the day. We all went to Applebee's for lunch. We were in the car driving there and Chad and I were talking about Kopp's (the custard place). Maddie proceeded to jump into the conversation and let us know that she doesn't like cops, but does like police officers. So how exactly do you explain homophones to a 3 year old. We just looked at each other and laughed. She then thought it as funny too.

Yesterday I was the helper at Maddie school. It was a slow Monday, but nothing too major went on, so it as just fine. I then had to go have a non-stress test at the doctor's office, which I will have again on Thursday and then twice a week until this kid comes. It would have taken about a half hour, but 10 minutes into the test, the machine ran out of paper and so they had to reload it and start all over and it took about an hour total. I did catch a little nap in there, so that was nice. So here is what I observed as I was strapped to a machine for that long. The office has a front reception area. Then the rooms and in the back there are rooms and a "nurses station". There were probably 6 or 7 desks with nurses, doctors, or other people who work there. Now the rooms all around the nurses station have a door, while the little room, okay closet, that I was in just has a curtain. Talk about patient doctor confidentiality- every phone call that was placed by the nurse closest to me was how this person's test came back positive for this STD or this issue and how they need to make sure that they let their sexual partners know about this. Then there was a lady who needed a referral for a mammogram, but then they realized that she couldn't go to where they normally send people because she had implants. It as kind of funny to hear some of the one sided phone conversations and wonder what the people on the other side where thinking. Let's just say it made my test very interesting.

On the topic of baby, Chad and I are at a total loss for any names. We have been going back and forth and can't decide on anything. One night when we were out for a "date" we even sat at Barnes and Noble for like an hour and a half looking at names. I figure that this kid will eventually have a name, so I'm not that worried about it now.

Well we are in our three week break between basketball and baseball. Chad has been getting ready for baseball, he is doing a grade school clinic on Saturdays, and getting everything else in order. The good thing is that the snow is mostly all gone because of the rain, so if the ground would dry, he might actually get some games in before May.

Tomorrow Nolan is coming with Mike and then Jana is coming on Thursday. There is the robotics competition downtown this weekend. We will go and check it out on Saturday with the girls and then Amy, Ben and Sam are coming too.

I am hoping the girls survive the day- as I am writing this I am looking outside and it is dark, gloomy, and rainy. Good thing I have MOPS tonight and can get out of the house for a little while.

Kids say the funniest things

2009-02-23T12:43:00.002-06:00

So here are a few of those funny things that the girls have talked about in the last week that I still can't stop laughing about.

1. I was the helper at Maddie's school on Friday so that means that Emma stayed up at grandma and grandpa J's. Since uncle Kurt had a tournament game in the evening on Friday we were just going to meet them at the game to get Emma. So we had a good day at school and were leaving and I asked Maddie if there was something she wanted to do that afternoon- just her and me, something fun. She said she wanted to go to the movie theater. I told her we had to go home and check on the computer what was playing and what time it was playing at. She proceeded to tell me that when I got home to just go to movietheater.com to see what time the movie started. I cracked up and couldn't stop laughing. It is so funny to me that dot com and google are part of her vocabulary. She has told me a few times before to just google it.

2. Maddie and Emma went over to auntie Susie and uncle Kip's house on Saturday morning. I had my last game and Chad was reffing at the Mount Olive 5/6 grade tournament. They were all ready to play with Sophie the dog and then also to make cookies. So they were rolling out the dough and cutting cookies out, when Maddie informed everybody that what they were doing was so cool. Like Maddie even knows what cool is or if something is or is not cool.

3. The girls have gotten real good at annoying each other. We are trying to get Maddie that sometimes you have to just ignore the other person. So they usually really get on each other's nerves in the car. So Maddie asked Emma to stop whatever she was doing that was annoying her. I then told her to try to ignore her sister, she proceeded to lalala and tell Emma that she was ignoring her. When Emma kept on talking to her and asking her questions, Maddie just kept on telling her that she was ignoring her. It kind of defeats the purpose of the ignoring if you have to keep telling the person you are ignoring them.

4. Yesterday Emma stayed home to nap while we took Maddie with us to uncle Kurt's game (remember he was in a tournament). His game was at 1 and so we told Maddie we would leave at noon and let her pick somewhere to get something to eat. She had to think about it and finally decided on King Burger (Burger King). She was very excited to go, but we told her she had to keep it a secret, because Emma wasn't coming with us and it isn't nice to rub it in her face. So she was trying to not say anything, but then went over to Emma and told her that she had a secret to tell her, but couldn't tell her. So she walked away, then came back over to Emma and figured that since it was a secret if she whispered it, it didn't really count as telling her. We just watched the whole thing and sometimes just have to laugh at her logic.

As you can see the girls are keeping themselves busy. My basketball season is over, Chad has this week left. He plays tonight and then on Friday night. It will be nice to have a few weeks off before baseball starts. It is hard to believe that it is March already. We are just patiently waiting for all the snow to melt. It was almost all gone and then Friday/Saturday we got about 6 inches, for a fresh blanket of snow.

I am excited for tomorrow- I will now be able to have an honest to goodness Sonic Cherry Limeade that I haven't had for like 7 months. Right on the other side of Miller Park they have put up a Sonic and it opens tomorrow. I told Chad that he should stop by on the way home, since he passes it every day and bring me one home, so I can take it to MOPS with me. I have a feeling that it is going to be busy until the newness dies down. Nothing like a happy hour large cherry limeade for 79 cents to make your day.

Haircuts

2009-02-17T10:10:00.006-06:00

So we have had two haircuts in the last couple of weeks with the girls. One was intentional and the other very unintentional. Maddie has been refusing to have her hair put up in any type of ponytails, so I told her that either she needed to get her haircut or she had to let me put ponytails in. She opted for the haircut. So one Friday evening we went down to the Supercuts and got it cut. She sat very still and just watched the lady as she cut her hair. She has such curly hair that no matter how many times you brush it in a day it still looks all messed up. So here is the new Maddie:
The other haircut was very unintentional and Emma gave it to herself. She had done this about 3 weeks ago and it wasn't very noticeable, but Saturday evening she decided her bangs still needed more cut from them. It is somewhat humorous, but she looks silly. We realized she was doing it when she started screaming at Maddie for trying to make her stop. Maddie was telling her to not do it and take the scissors from her and then she screamed her scream of death and that is when we found her with her new "haircut". So here is Emma with her haircut- check out her bangs and the couple of "layers" they have:

We have continued being busy with basketball and getting ready for baseball season. I have just one more practice and one more game and I will be done with basketball. Chad has 5 more games and he will be done on the 27th. He has about three weeks off before baseball starts on the 23rd. The girls enjoy going to the games at school- they have even gotten used to sitting and entertaining themselves during the game. We went to my cousin's game last night, it was her senior night, we made the girls t-shirts and they were so proud to wear them. Of course I forgot my camera, so I will have to get a copy of them from my aunt.

School is going for everyone. Maddie had a little trouble yesterday of not wanting to go. It probably had to do with the fact that Ben and Sam were here and they didn't have to go to school and she did. We are hoping that maybe if grandma drops her off tomorrow we won't have any tears or temper tantrums. Here's hoping. Emma is wanting to go to school, but still has no desire of the potty. She knows she needs to use it to be able to go to Mrs. Willer's class, but just doesn't want to. She sat on it once, but just is not interested. We have her registered for next year, but we can always pull her out if needed- I'm hoping not too. I figure it took Maddie until about the end of July to get it all down.

Ben's 5th birthday was on Friday- they were suppose to come on Saturday and we were going to go to Stone Fire Pizza, but Ben was sick. Ben, Sam, and Amy came on Sunday and we played and played and ate cake too. They hung around a little yesterday, but then headed back home.

Here are a few other pics from the last couple of weeks:

Here is Maddie's photography skills at work- if you notice she got all of dad, but completely cut out uncle Jan.

Emma has been really into dressing herself lately- this is from about a week ago. Yesterday she had the same skirt on, pink striped tights and a pink polka dotted shirt. Hey, I am just letting her creative side out.

Maddie and cousin Kate playing gameboy while waiting for their food at Max and Erma's. We went down to Schaumburg to meet up with them and also Jana and Mike.

Ben and his Spongebob cake. He wanted to blow out the candle, but we couldn't sing happy birthday to him. Everyone had a blue face after a piece of this cake.

Superbowl

2009-02-03T07:47:00.004-06:00

Well Superbowl is here and gone- I love to hang out with friends while some are watching the game and even the commercials aren't that big of a deal. We went out to our friends Ben and Wendy's house- they have two kids, so we knew that the girls would have some other kids to play with. We had lots of good food- for Pittsburgh Nick made Rothlisburgers (burger- with a fried egg and bacon) for AZ we had taco salad along with potatoe skins. It was all so good. We had lots of laughs and it was nice to be out there. We weren't going to stay for the whole game because Maddie and Chad had school in the morning, but since the game went pretty fast and then got interesting at the end we ended up staying.

The girls are doing great- Maddie is loving school even though some mornings it is like trying to wake the beast. She gets that from her dad. She is enjoying all the basketball. She is starting to actually sit and watch the games, not the whole time, but she is starting to know what is going on. She loves to play in the gym after the games and also to play in the gym during my practices. Maddie still has no concept of time, but is always asking how long it takes to get somewhere or when something is going to happen. So trying to get her to grasp is a little harder then you can imagine, but she is trying. Her new favorite games are Pretty Pretty Princess and Princess Wii (Thanks Phill and Shelly). She keeps wanting to know when baseball starts- when we drive past Miller Park she always ask if the Brewers are home yet. I don't know where that obsession comes from. We also told her that on Sunday that would be the only day that we would allow her to cheer for a team named the Cardinals. Our friend Kate- was at Superbowl- is a Cubs fan and Maddie made sure to tell her that the Cubs and the Cardinals are ucky. She is getting good at writing her name and got a realy good report at parent/teacher conferences. She is also her father's child because her biggest issue at school is cutting with a scissors. We got her paperwork done so she can be tested for speech and start some speech therapy at school once or twice a week. She can't wait for her birthday, but hasn't asked for anything yet, so we will see when she figures that out.

Emma still has no interest in the potty, but she wants to go to Mrs. Willer's class next year, so I am hoping that will light a fire. She is also very into Pretty Pretty Princess- she just likes to wear the jewelry. She is now sleeping in a big girl bed. About three weeks ago she decided that she no longer liked her crib and would scream when she had to get in. Let's just say that when Emma makes up her mind about something- it is going to be how she wants. For a few days she was sleeping on the pull out couch in the living room until we went up to Chad's parents to get the other half of the bunk beds. They are not bunked now, but both are in big girl beds and Emma likes to let everyone know that. Yesterday the girls came to practice with me and Emma was insistent that she wanted to go to day care, she did end up going which surprised me a little, but she said she had a great time.

There is just a few weeks of basketball for both Chad and I. This weekend is the boys tournament at Mt. Olive, so we have a pep rally on Friday. The basketball girls of course are all excited and so Thursday we are going to make posters and stuff for the gym. I'm sure that we will venture up there at some point, if not for the games at least for a brat. Chad then will have a couple of weeks before baseball starts. Hopefully in that time the snow will melt.

Here are a few pics of the girls from the last couple of days:
Here are the girls with cousin Nolan- this is from back at the beginning of January when Nolan stayed with us for a few days.

Maddie playing at Ben and Wendy's house on Sunday- she came out with this mask on and we call just cracked up. Well everyone except Emma, she saw her and started to cry.

Emma loves Grandma's hat for some reason- she felt that it was so cold she needed to wear it in the car last night.

Congratulations to Michael on his appointment to Westpoint. We are very proud of you and know that you will do great.

I never know where the time goes

2009-01-17T13:36:00.003-06:00

So my last post was 11 days ago, but it seems like it has been like a month. That is what happens when there is always something going on. So the last few days have all run together and most days I have to stop and think what day it is and where I have to be.

The first week back at school was an adjustment week for everyone. Maddie was adjusting to being back at school, Emma was adjusting to not having Maddie or dad around the whole day. Later that week we had an ultrasound and lots of laughs to go along with it. You can read Chad's post about it on his blog. The weekend was basketball I had a game Saturday and uncle Kurt also had a game on Saturday. We managed our first win of the season last Saturday. Friday evening Chad and I managed to go out for dinner, just the two of us. Saturday after all the games, Kurt came home with us and Emma went to hang out at the Janetzke's. After all the kids got back to their respective homes, Chad, myself, Ben, and Christina went out for a little while. The rest of the weekend was spent just hanging out and relaxing.

This week was something going on every night of the week. Monday I had practice and so the girls went with me. Tuesday was a help day at school for Chad and no practice, so he was home early. So of course instead of just hanging out at home we were off to uncle Kurt's game. We went to the game and were planning on coming straight home because I had a MOPS meeting and so Emma was very upset that she wasn't going over to grandma J's. She wanted to go over there and I told her that if she asked grandma if she could stay over then it was okay. So she marched over to grandma, who was in the middle of a conversation, and asked her. So once again we were down a kid for the evening. Wednesday Maddie and I took Chad to school, then I dropped Maddie off about 20 minutes late because it took us about 45 minutes to get Chad to school and about 50 minutes from there to get to Maddie's school. Both of those drives are usually about 20 minutes, but there was some snow and whatnot, so it took twice as long. I didn't know what to do with myself for two hours with no one. After picking Maddie up, we headed up to Germantown for the afternoon. Chad met us up there after practice and I had a game up near there. By the time the game was over, we already knew that school was canceled for Thursday because of the wind chill. Side note: we did win our game, so that was two in a row. Thursday I ventured to the mall (there was no one there) to get some jeans, then Chad and I went to a dr's appointment, we headed to Target after to pick up a few things.

In the evening I had a game for the tournament and Maddie's school. We were of course playing Maddie's school. The gym was loud, it was their "A" team, they had like 15 girls on their team, and then there was our team. We have 9 girls from 5th-8th grade. They thought that we were so bad that they didn't even start their starters. I kind of took it as a slap in the face, but we played hard in the first half and were losing 10-5 at halftime. The second half was another story. We were out of gas and they put their starters in. I think we scored 2 more points the rest of the game. School was canceled again for Friday, so another day with dad home. Chad still had his game last night, so we were out there for his game. They lost by 2. It came down right to the end. We stayed for the JV game, which was not pretty.

Kurt is staying with us this weekend since mom and dad are at a conference in the Dells. We picked up some pizza on the way home. Once the girls were in bed, they played some Wii and I went to bed. It was off to more basketball this morning. Our game went about as well as Thursday's was. Chad took the girls out to Martin Luther for Kurt's game. He is still out there doing some baseball inventory. I have another game this evening. Hopefully we can pull out one win for the tournament.

Tomorrow we are heading out to Germantown to spend the day and night there. Chad and Maddie don't have school on Monday and we have canceled practices for that day. Even after having the last two days off, this one was planned so it is a little bit more relaxed. Chad has to make up finals next week Tuesday and Wednesday, so that will be taking half of the week. We have more basketball for him and I have another tournament next weekend. One of these days things might slow down, but I am not counting on it.

Christmas and the New Year

2009-01-06T22:12:00.005-06:00

Well Christmas has come and gone and sorry if you were looking for a Christmas letter from us, you can stop checking the mail. I don't even know when I would have had time to write or go to the post office to mail them. So here is the low down on our Christmas.

When we last left we were having our snow day- which all of us enjoyed a lot. We watched movies and just hung out all day. The next day I had a game, uncle Kurt had a game, and Chad had a game. We lost our game 15-16, I think uncle Kurt won, and I know that Chad got his butt kicked. The Chapman's were also around that weekend, so we hung out with them.

Monday evening we headed up to Germantown to spend a few days with the Janetzke clan. Everyone was there and we had some good laughs. We spent the days playing Wii, cards, and watching movies. We also took some time to decorate Christmas cookies.Chad, Kathy, Scott, and myself even managed to leave for a little while to run some errands and get something to eat. Tuesday Chad's practiced got canceled and so we just got to hang out more. Christmas Eve was playing in the snow, while the boys shoveled and broke the ice off of the driveway. We went to church and then came home to open presents. The Janetzke family got their own Wii and I wish I would have had my video on for the camera to capture the reaction of Kurt and Ben. We went home Christmas Eve night.

Christmas morning was church and then we came home to open the presents from Santa (meaning what we bought for the girls). The Chapmans arrived later in the morning and then we just hung out and played until we headed over to my aunt and uncle's house. We had a good time just hanging out, playing games, watching movies, and the kids played hide and seek for like 2 hours.

The weekend came and we headed out to the indoor waterpark for the weekend. We went out on Saturday night and stayed. The Pownell family and Chapman family stayed too. My brother and his family came up for the day on Sunday and we all had lots of fun at the pool. Chad even got to watch the Lions game (they were playing the Packers), but was not happy with the outcome that whole 0-16 is just hard to take.

The next few days were filled with basketball practice, watching movies, hanging out with Jana, Mike and Nolan. New Year's Eve came and went. I don't think I made it to midnight, but it was pretty close. We even managed to watch a movie (Iron Man- I actually liked it). Jana and Mike went home on New Year's Day and left Nolan here. Jana had to work the weekend and Mike was off to Minnesota for the Vikings playoff game. So the girls enjoyed "babysitting" Nolan over the weekend. We had another little guy with us on Friday. Eli ( Nic and Ashley's son) spent some of the day with us while mom and dad went to look at a few houses. Sunday we were out to Germantown to drop Emma off because I had to be the helper in Maddie's class on Monday.

Maddie was more then ready to go back to school. On Sunday all she could talk about was going to school. I am glad that she still enjoys going. We had fun at school and then we enjoyed a quieter afternoon with Emma still at Grandma J's. It was back to basketball practice for me yesterday and it is going to be a long next few weeks. Like the fact that I just got the bracket for a tournament we are playing in next weekend. The tournament happens to be the Our Redeemer tournament (which is where Maddie goes to school)- which we are playing the home team in the first round which if anybody knows that means that they know they can win and want to advance to the winners side.

Today was more basketball. Chad had a game, we watched a little of the JV game and then Chad took the girls home while my dad and I went to my cousin's game. Chad won by 18- they were down by 10 at half and finally woke up after half time. My cousin wasn't as successful, but maybe one of these times when I watch her she will win.

The rest of the week is pretty routine- Chad gets to take Maddie to school tomorrow because he is doing Chapel for Our Redeemer, so that will be nice to not have to get her out of the house. Chad is getting ready for finals- not liking that finals are after break after being used to finals before break. We are just getting back into the routine and will hopefully be back into it soon.

Happy Epiphany and New Year!!!!

SNOW DAY

2008-12-22T07:48:00.002-06:00

So it has been a long 4 years since we have been able to say those words. Those are the days that teachers and students live for. I guess since I am in the house with teachers and a student- that is a day that I live for too. So Thursday night we were all ready for this snowstorm coming- some schools opted already close Friday on Thursday and right there I thought we were in for the jinx. I figured now that some schools have closed already- a day in advance we for sure were going to get like 3 inches of snow. Low and behold- we were up around 5:40 and everything was closed. Chad went back to bed and I laid there for a little while before getting up. Mom and dad were off to work- mom to return just a couple hours later. This was after Chad had to go help her get unstuck on the other side of the block and at least make it to Aunt Gerry's house- good thing aunts and uncles live just around the corner. We spent the day just hanging out and watching the snow fall. Chad got to do some shoveling and has decided that when we get a house- we will have a snow blower. The girls got to hang out with dad, play wii, watch cartoons, and then we finally got around to decorating the tree that night.

Saturday morning the roads were clear and that meant off to basketball games in the morning. My team played the first game and I thought we were going to pull it off- we lost 15-16. After our game uncle Kurt played, so we hung around to watch that. We made it home with uncle Ben and uncle Kurt coming with us. Chad had a game later that afternoon that they were going to. The Chapmans arrived in the early afternoon and the boys and Maddie had some fun playing Wii. Grandpa, Joel, Ben, Sam, myself, and the girls all headed to Chad's game. They weren't any more successful than my team, well at least my team made it a game. Their's was pretty much a blow out.

Yesterday we braved the negative windchill (like -30) and headed to church. We were just going to lay low- but then decided to go see Bolt. So after nap we loaded up and headed up to Menomonee Falls to meet uncle Ben and aunt Lydia. They went to the movies and I went to Wal-Mart to get some last minute things. You always have to make sure that you have batteries for those toys. We met back at the house and hung out there for the evening. Kathy, Scott, and the boys got there yesterday so it was good to see them.

Chad has practice today and tomorrow- it is suppose to snow again tomorrow, so we will see about that. We are heading up to Germantown this evening and will be there until Christmas Eve night. I have just a few more presents to wrap and hoping to get those done today. Christmas will be here in the morning and then we will be heading over to my uncle Jan and aunt Sharon's in the afternoon. Since Jana has to work and Alan has to work the day after- we are doing Christmas with my brothers and sisters on Saturday and Sunday. We decided to cut out presents and instead head to a local indoor waterpark for two nights. I'm sure that all the kids will enjoy that.

The rest of break will be filled with more basketball practice for Chad, relaxing, and most likely playing in the snow. The girls have been eager to get outside, but with it being so cold that hasn't happened. We know for a fact that if we put Emma in one of the snow banks at the bottom of the driveway- we would lose her for sure.

Merry Christmas!!! I will be sure to put some pics up after the week.

Basketball and Door County

2008-12-09T09:53:00.000-06:00

So right now our life is pretty much consumed with basketball. Chad got his first win on the 2nd when he traveled to Watertown Luther Prep to play. They had another game on Friday and they didn't win, but in the week and a half since I saw them last play, they looked a lot more like a team. The game on Friday was a nightmare. The officiating was not at its finest and we then came to find out after the game that one of the refs was the baseball coach from last year, in other words, the guys who's job Chad took. I am a firm believer that Freshmen basketball should be called a whole lot tighter than varsity, because they are still learning, but these guys were letting guys roll around on the floor with the ball and not call anything. Okay I could go on and on about it, but I won't.

My basketball team had their first regular season game this past weekend, they had played in a tournament the weekend before Thanksgiving, but league play started on the 6th. We are out of town, so my dad (who is helping me) coached on Saturday. It was a real defensive battle of us losing 10-6. My dad said that they couldn't make a lay-up to save their life. That meant that yesterday in practice we went back to the beginning basics ans started with walking lay-ups. It could be a long season. I think that I am not looking to set any records, but maybe just make them better players. We play on Thursday of this week, so we will see if we can make some improvements.

So Chad and I headed to Door County this past weekend for a surprise birthday "party". Kate is married to Ryan and he turned 30 earlier in the week. She rented a cabin for 11 of us to share and hang out in. 9 of us live in the Milwaukee area, but Nathan and Katherine even made the trip over from Fort Wayne for the weekend. We left after Chad's game and were on the road by about 6:30. We grabbed some dinner and were up there by about 9:40. We only had to stop once for me to use the bathroom. When we got there Kate and Ryan were there, Ryan was the one who we were surprising. Nathan and Katherine were there and Ben and Wendy got there about 15 minutes before us. About 15 minutes after us, Nick and Ashley got there and then about 15 minutes after that Craig arrived. Ryan was quite surprised- he didn't know anything about it. So by about 10:30 everyone was there and settled in and just hanging out. We were up quite late, but we had lots of laughs that night. Saturday morning, everyone slept in and when everyone finally got up, we all went to breakfast together. We went to the Door County landmark, Al Johnson's. If it wasn't winter, it is the place where the roof is made of grass and there are goats that are on the roof who eat the grass. It was nice to be lazy and not have too much to think about. Everyone was fortunate enough to leave their kids with grandmas and grandpas. We went back to the cabin and the guys watched football and napped while some of us girls just relaxed and watched some HGTV. That night we grilled out and played games. Sunday morning we took our time and most everyone was gone by about 11am. We were home by about 2:30. I drive most of the way- because Chad ended up coming down with the flu and even stayed home from school yesterday. I am just hoping that no one else in the house gets it. I think that if we haven't gotten it yet, we should be okay.

Maddie seems to be getting a little cold, but nothing to worry about. She is going to the fire station and library tomorrow with school. It is snowing once again, but hopefully it should be all done by later this afternoon. Chad was suppose to have a game tonight, but the school they were playing has no school because of the snow, so that is canceled. We are almost ready for Christmas. Emma is waiting for grandma to pick out her tree, because Emma insists that she is going to decorate it with grandpa. We have cousin Sam's brithday party this weekend and then just one more week of school.

Here are some pics from the weekend. Hope you are all staying warm.