October 2012

October was a fun month!  The highlight of the month was welcoming our new niece, Audrey Mae into this world!  The girls are so great with her and we are so greatful to get to see her so often now that we live up here.  We also went sightseeing at Devil's Lake this month, had Nana and Pop come to visit, went to a Halloween party and had a fun Halloween!  Here are the photos from this month:

http://photos2.walmart.com/walmart/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=8389933002/a=3342801_3342801/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walmart/

Halloween



Halloween already?  Where had the year gone? 

 

 

Fun was had by all once again this Halloween.  We carved pumpkins and the girls did a great job taking all of the seeds out themselves.  Nana and Pop were here visiting, and we think they enjoyed watching the girls get all messy too!

Getting the seeds out for cooking

 This year we had an Ariel and a cowgirl.  Both costumes turned out pretty darn cute! Mikaiya got to wear hers to her Daisy party and then again at a school party and for Trick or Treating.  Braenna got to come into mommy's work and participate in the costume contest, have a party at school and Trick or Treat.  She really enjoyed the work costume parade and I got so many comments about how cute she was and how well she did!  Halloween was a lot of fun for everyone again this year!



Our little Ariel

Mikaiya the cowgirl

Mikaiya, Emily and Braenna

Devil's Lake

 

We decided in early October that we wanted to find some nice fall foliage to check out.  So I asked around, and hands down, Devil's Lake was the top recommendation.  We had never been there before so we had no idea what we were in for.  It was absolutely GORGEOUS!  We hiked up this huge rock formation and saw spectacular views all around.  We hiked through the woods and enjoyed the peace and tranquility of fall.  Wow, it was so worth the trip and this will definitely become a yearly destination!!

 

The girls on the old railroad tracks

One of the beautiful views

 

Our family at one of the rock resting points

September Photos

Somehow I missed posting September photos!  The last month and a half has been a whirlwind!  Mikaiya started 1st grade, Braenna started 4K.  We had Casey's baby shower, we went apple picking, I went to a girl's weekend...it's been nuts!  Here are our September photos:

http://photos2.walmart.com/walmart/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=8274706002/a=3342801_3342801/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walmart/

August Pictures

Here is the link to all of our August pictures!

http://photos2.walmart.com/walmart/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=8093014002/a=3342801_3342801/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walmart/

New York Visit 2012

We made our annual visit to NY this August.  The girls (as always!) had a blast!  They swam and swam and swam in Nana and Pop's pool.  We have two little fish!  Braenna even learned to swim under water without her life jacket...quite the accomplishment for her!  The girls also got a lot of time with their cousin Max who was there the whole time we were this year.  Aunt Jen, Uncle Johnny and Ethan even came to see us while we were there!

 

The highlight of the trip for the girls this year though was their first ever visit to the ocean.  We went to Bradley Beach on the Jersey Shore and they had a BLAST!  Mikaiya loved the water from the moment we arrived.  Braenna took a little time to warm up to it, but ended up having a blast as well!  We will definitely have to make this a tradition!

 

Their first view of the ocean!

Mikaiya's first touch

Braenna's first touch

Family shot!

Nana and Pop with all their grandkids

The girls with their cousins

Sun Prairie Sweet Corn Festival

We got to be in town this year for both the Sweet Corn Parade and the Sweet Corn Festival.  The girls had a balst at both!  This was their first Sweet Corn Parade and the first time they've ever been to a parade where they threw out candy.  It was a hit (surprise, surprise)!

 

Emily, Mikaiya and Braenna waiting for the parade to start

Waving to Mickey Mouse

 This was our second year at the Sweet Corn Festival and we will definitely make it a yearly tradition.  There is a fair, bounce house, and LOTS of yummy sweet corn!

 

Who doesn't take their kid's pictures in front of a large blow up ear of corn?

Ready to go on the swings!

Bumper cars!!

LOVE this picture!  They had sooooo much fun!

July Pictures

TONS of pics for July!  It was a crazy busy month!  Enjoy!

http://photos2.walmart.com/walmart/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=7900649002/a=3342801_3342801/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walmart/

John, Jen and The Boys Visit!

John, Jen, Max and Ethan all came to visit us here in Wisconsin for a few days!  They drove all the way from NY!  It was so nice to see them and get to spend some quality time together.  The kids had a lot of fun together and played and played and played!  We went to a Mallards game, downtown Madison, several parks, the zoo, and Ella's Deli.  I think everyone kept pretty busy!  

Max looking oh so cute driving around the car

Little sweetie Ethan

Watching the Olympics opening ceremony

Taking in the Mallards game

Aren't they cute?  Got them all together for a picture at the zoo!

Dane County Fair

We took a family trip to the Dane County Fair this July!  The kids had a really nice time. Mikaiya got really into the animals this year...and wow were there a LOT of cows, we are in Wisconsin after all!!  She really enjoyed looking at all of the cows and horses...Braenna did not enjoy it nearly as much, she thought they were stinky and a little scary!



Mikaiya posing with the cows

 They had a great time on rides this year too.  These swings went a little higher and faster than Braenna was ready for, but she said she had fun!

Ready to swing

Mikaiya helping Braenna through the obstacle course

Braenna chose this bench instead of the pretty horses on the carousel, I think she felt safer this way!

One of my favorites of Mikaiya, she was so proud of her pretty horse!

Overall we had a great time!  We even got to catch a little bit of the band in the evening and the girls did not want to leave.  Fun family times!

Hayward Vacation 2012

We took our annual 4th of July vacation to Hayward again this year.  It is fun to watch how much more the kids enjoy the lake every year!  This year we had absolutely beautiful (but HOT) weather.  There was lots of time spent in the water!  Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves, as always!

Here are some of the pictures from the trip:

Swimming through the lily pads

Braenna holding on to Aunt Teresa for dear life!  She didn't like the water that much yet.

I love this one of Braenna and Emily just having a blast...the smiles are priceless!

The three girls...so cute!

Braenna finally took to the water and was having a blast by the last day!

Here is a link to the rest of the pics from the week: http://photos2.walmart.com/walmart/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=7760564002/a=3342801_3342801/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walmart/

June Pictures

Here is the link to the June pictures...only a month late ; )

http://photos2.walmart.com/walmart/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=7759069002/a=3342801_3342801/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walmart/

Hayward with the Fullerton's

This year we took a nice 3 day weekend to head up to the lake with the Katie (my old roomie), Bruce and the kids.  We had a lot of fun and the kids had a blast playing together!  Tubing was a hit for everyone this year!  The kids in general just had fun playing with each other, which was great because it gave us adults some time to catch up!  Here are some pictures from the weekend:



Braenna and Jenna tubing

Mikaiya and Andrew tubing...she kept asking to go faster and faster!

Braenna and Jenna posing on the dock at Katie and Bruce's rental house

These two were having a great time together!

Mikaiya and Andrew walking through the weeds to get to the neighbors

Braenna's Birthday Day and Father's Day

We celebrated Braenna's birthday early this year, so there are not a lot of pics from the actual day.  Jeff was out of town, so we celebrated as a family a day later.  Here she is on her birthday enjoying her birthday popsicle:

We opened presents when Daddy got home and this was her favorite...a two wheel scooter!  She has to be just like her big sister and wanted nothing to do with the three wheeled scooter she had gotten as a hand me down.

After presents we went out to dinner at Red Robin (she picked!) where she got to enjoy her favorite meal of Mac and Cheese.  She also got a yummy sundae for dessert!  She had a great birthday this year that lasted for weeks!

Next up was Father's Day.  Mikaiya made a lot of stuff for daddy at school this year.  Here she is helping to explain her card to him.

Daddy thought it would be funny to see if his new clothes would fit Braenna!

This is my new favorite picutre...daddy and his girls!  They look so happy!

May 2012

What a fun and crazy busy month May was for us!  We did not have much in the way of downtime this month (as you can see from the other posts!).  Mikaiya was busy with her last month of school, several birthday parties, a concert and a dance recital.  Braenna was busy with a recital and her 4th birthday party.  Mommy and Daddy were, well, just busy!  We did find some time to enjoy the nice spring weather and get the flowers and garden all planted.  We also enjoyed a visit with Nana and Pop and got to make our first trip of the season up to Hayward.  It was a great start to the summer! 

Here are all of our May pics...and yes, there are a TON!  http://photos.walmart.com/walmart/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=7628159002/a=3342801_3342801/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walmart/

Enjoy!

Braenna's 4th Birthday Party

We had Braenna's 4th birthday party this year in Hayward over Memorial Day weekend.  The original weekend we had planned to do it had gotten really busy, so it made sense to do it up there when we were all planning to be there.  Unfortunately Aunt Cece didn't end up making it because she was busy buying a house, but we understood! 

Braenna has been all about pink lately and her favorite book is "Pinkalicious" which is a book about pink cupcakes.  She picked out Pinkalicious EVERYTHING for her birthday party and we pinked everything out for her.  She LOVED it!



The girls started the day off by making the pink cupcakes that they would decorate at the party

The birthday girl with her favorite goofball grin...it shows off her little personality!!

Emily, Braenna and Mikaiya...all with their babies (also wearing birthday hats!)

Candles on one of the cupcakes they decorated.  They had so much fun doing cupcake decorating!

All of us girls...all in pink!

Ready to fill their candy bags from the pink cupcake pinata!

What birthday party is complete without a bounce in the bouncehouse?

Overall, it went GREAT!  The girls all had a blast and Braenna had a wonderful 4th birthday party!