Fall 2011

The day started out sad but ended up being okay. We had to put our terrier Huey down this morning. He is 17 years old and has kidney failure. He was having so many accidents around the house and was blind from cataracts and could not hear. It was sad seeing him go but it was the right thing to do. I gave him a bowl full of treats for breakfast this morning.

This afternoon I needed a thought diversion so we decided to carve pumpkins out on the deck since the weather was so nice and sunny. Julia had fun with the yucky insides and seeds. Evan tried to find s unique design for his

Our neighbor Evan who is one year older than Julia came over and asked Julia to go jump in the leaf pile that his dad made. They had so much fun laughing and jumping and screaming and burying each other.

Happy Birthday Evan August 7th 2011

Well today is the day that I can say that we have a teenager in the house....eeeeeek!
I really can not believe that my baby turned 13 today. He stands about the same height as me and I think he grows inches in his sleep. We had a large party with family yesterday to combine Evan and Julias birthdays since they are so close together. Julia wanted a dragon cake and Evan wanted an ice cream cake so I went to work! I always enjoy making cakes for the kids birthdays!

Wish us luck with the raging hormones of a teenager and the no's and why's of a four year old! Ohhh they have so much to learn even though they think they have it all figured out!

More Sanibel Pictures 2011/vacation

More Sanibel Pictures 2011

Vacationing on Sanibel Island 2011

We had a wonderful time on Sanibel Island and found it hard to say goodbye. Julia and Evan had a great time finding all kinds of shells along the beach. Julia enjoyed making sand castles. Our family got to go kayaking for the first time and found it to be very enjoyable. John paddled Julia around and I was with Evan. We did get to see Mannatees coming up to our kayaks and dolphins and fish flopping around. It was funny watching these large fish jumping out of the water almost hitting John in the head. It was so relaxing just getting away. John and Evan got to go fishing with another group and Evan did catch a small fish but did not get to spend all that much time out on the boat. The beaches were so nice with very white sand. There were so many biking trails to explore with free bikes to use from our resort. We did get to celebrate Julias birthday out at a restaurant and she felt like queen for the day. I think she is convinced that her birthday is every day this week since we have not gotten together with family to celebrate as of yet.

More Fourth Pictures 2011

Here are some home Fireworks Pictures

Happy Fourth of July 2011

A Special Thank You to those who have served our country and for our freedom! Happy Fourth of July!

Had a wonderful time celebrating with family and our neighbors. Had our yearly barbecue and went to the fireworks twice this year! Went to a parade on the 3rd. There were several kids around us at the parade and a lot of competition for parade candy. Julia did get tackled a few times and got frustrated so she ended up running up to the floats and insisting on candy instead of trying to catch it which was pretty funny. One lady next to me said she will have no problem at all with the competition this year.
Julia made her own teeshirt design in preschool. She got to stamp her shirt with stars and the teachers helped write Proud to Be an American on the back. It is a little big but was the smallest that they had.

Of course John and Evan had to light their share of fireworks this year as well. Julia actually liked holding the sparklers this year which was a surprise!
Hope everyone had a great Fourth!

Strawberry Picking

The weather in Wisconsin has finally cooperated and it was a beautiful day! I had decided to work on my yearly project of making freezer jam. We all went out strawberry picking. The wet weather really did take its toll on the strawberry crops for this year but we did manage to find quite a few small berries. I made 14 quarts for freezing. I like to freeze the jam so we can have it year round and it is fairly easy to make. Julia does not like strawberries but helped with the picking and did get to see one of her preschool friends Scotty there! We got to ride a tractor into the fields and then they assign you a row...John and I did a little row hopping since our rows did not have as many in them.
After the picking Julia played with the other kids in the play area and went to pet the goats. Had a nice relaxing day.

One Eyed Bandit!

We took Julia back to the eye doctors after wearing her glasses for about 6 weeks to see if there was any progress. It turns out that her vision in her L eye went from 20/80 to 20/40 which was very encouraging. They now want her to wear a patch over her right eye to strengthen and improve the vision in her left and she has to do this for 4 hours a day. She does not mind it except for when we have to take it off with all of that adhesive...ouch! I am hoping that she does not need surgery....we shall see in July at her next visit. She is a real trouper wearing her patch. One child asked her why she had a bandaid on her eye and she said, "It IS NOT A BANDAID" in her I want to set you straight voice! She is really something else.
Here are a few pictures from around the house
My step father came over and went swinging on our swingset with her. She loves her Grandpa Allen.

Happy Fathers Day 2011

Happy Fathers Day to all of the blogger dads! I really miss my father every year and wish he could have watched me grow older and get married and raise a family. I know he is probably watching me from above!
I only took a few pictures from Fathers Day! It was a pretty low key day. We bought John a Kindle and I think he was really surprised that it was not clothes or cologne. He is one hard individual to buy for!
John took a half day off of work to visit Julias daycare for a special Fathers Day picnic and nature hike this past Friday. Julia was so excited and so proud to have her daddy there.
I took Evan and Julia to the local grocery store to decorate a cake for Fathers Day. Julia had so many sprinkles on hers....we had to turn it upside down in order to shake the sprinkles off of the words.
John is such a wonderful husband and terrific father and I am so lucky to have him in my life!

Julia Needs Glasses

Thursday I took Julia to Childrens Hospital to see an opthomologist. She had failed a vision screening at daycare and the teachers were noticing that her L eye seems to wander when she looks at you. I started noticing it as well after they pointed it out. We found out that she had very poor vision in her L eye and is very nearsighted and her R eye is starting to show some nearsightedness. The opthomologist said that she would need glasses to try and strengthen the eye muscle and if she did not wear them then I would need to patch her R eye to strengthen the L at least 2 hrs a day. We are supposed to return in 6 weeks and if no improvement then she will need surgery. They dialated her eyes with drops and told me that it would take a week before her pupils would return to normal since it is harder to dialate Asian childrens eyes...which I found interesting. She did not complain during the visit at all and told the Opthomologist that she wanted Star Wars glasses..which surprised me.
We ended up going eyeglass shopping at the mall that afternoon and went to 4 different places. I did not bring the stroller so it was a regular glasses free for all. We had fun trying on different styles. The black pair that Julia helped herself to which I will post a picture of are too wide and thick for her but she liked them. I like her in wire rims...I have a feeling I will need the 2 pair deal at Stein Optical for 99.00 in order to have back up.

Baking for Easter

Every year around this time my mother makes a Polish yeast cake called a Babka. It has raisens and rum sauce and streusal and a glaze and is a good treat with coffee. The year that I tried to make the family recipe mine turned out undercooked and my sister attempted and hers was too dry. Last week Wed we decided to camp out at my moms and learn every step. It always is a full day project since you need to let the yeast rise.
Julia came in to observe a few times but my step father kept her entertained.
I have a picture of the finished product and hope it tastes as good as it looks

Thursday Julia and I made bunny cookies with a cinnamon nutmeg spice recipe and then we melted white chocolate and tinted it pastel colors for the icing. My house was smelling good.

Medical School???

Julia was introduced to Evans old play medical kit and it was a hit!! She wanted to examine all of her stuffed animals and told me that everyone was sick and needed to see a doctor. She also played doctor with all of us and I caught a few shots of Julia examining John. I loved the picture of her examining his ear with such intent. She would say, "Your blood pressure is 1 over 3 which is very good!!"

Happy Chinese New Year 2011 Year of the Rabbit

Hppy Chinese New Year 2011 photos

Happy Chinese New Year 2011 Year of the Rabbit

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone! I hope everyone had a nice celebration. Our family celebrated the New Year with the Families With Children From China and went to the yearly party at the Washington Fair Grounds! It was so fun to see all of the little children in their Chinese outfits as well as some of the parents and grandparents.
The Cricket Acadamy had the little dancers perform ages 4 through 12 and that was so sweet! Their was a demonstration on Thai Chi with the option of coming up and practicing on stage for a little lesson. The lion dancers were incredible as usual. Julia is still afraid of them this year even though she keeps telling me they are pretend...she had a firm hold around Johns neck as they paraded down the aisle.
I purchased another outfit for her for next year as well as a parasol and fan and another one of the Chinese lion marrionettes.
Julia and Evan decorated masks. Evans made a Green Bay Packers one. Julia made a cut out dragon on a stick and a Chinese Lantern. Julia made friends with Jenna and they had so much fun running around on stage with the other little girls and playing with their fans and balloons and Chinese yoyos. The food was very yummy....a Huge buffet of every kind of Chinese dish and eggroll and wonton! Julia enjoyed the Lo Mein noodles. It certainly was a full day of activities with no nap but we all had a great time!