hiking with Michelle

Michelle called one Saturday morning and asked if we wanted to meet her somewhere in the mountains to go for a hike. Jeff had been dying to go to the mountains. And Sam is always talking about snow and the mountains. And Jackson was excited because he could go look for bugs. See how the boys have their new bug catchers around their necks. They capture their little pets and put them in the prison and poke them with "food"- sticks and grass. The hike turned out to be longer than Michelle anticipated, but it was a great time. Oh, did I mention that Chloe and I met Traci and Hudson to go shopping instead.

Kari

Jackson on a log, a narrow walk high above a rushing river of ice

cold water. We all held hands the first time across

our two adventurers
are we almost there?
Jackson shimmies under a log
Jackson and Sam at the lake with their bug catchers

visiting Madison and Dave

(I don't actually have a photo of Dave, so this cartoon character will provide an almost life-like picture of him.) We decided to visit Dave and have mom and bob come to visit us at Dave's, rather than driving all the way up to their house. What a good idea; we had a great time. And Dave had no problem with us messing up and cleaning up his house with every meal or snack. The kids loved this super cool slide at Dave's neighborhood park. The slide was made up of metal roller bars, so you were like a piece of luggage sliding down the thing. You could make a funny sound, ahahahahahah.

Playing bingo with Grandma at Dave's house. This has to be on the top of the boys' list of things to do with Grandma. They love to be the caller (althought it looks like Grandma is the caller in this photo- how did that happen?) And when they get bingo, the boys shout out, "DINGO!"

We went to a hotel in downtown Madison for a night to meet up with our friends from St. Paul. Here is Chloe dancing on the bed, while the boys watch BooBahs- Chloe, Jackson, Sam and Desi.

Chloe makes her plans for the pool. This, of course, was her favorite part of the hotel. We had a poolside room, so she thought the pool was always open. When she wasn't in her swimsuit, she would run laps around the pool.




We went to the zoo in Madison. Here the kids are riding on the carousel. Jackson looks sad because right before this he fell and scraped his knee. We didn't have any bandaids at the moment.

me as a Simpsons character

A friend sent me a link to a Simpsons/Burger King website, where you can create your own Simpsons character with likenesses of yourself. I think I look better as a Simpsons character than in real life.

Birthday Party #4

Jackson chose rainbow cake with blue frosting
Sam chose chocolate cake with PINK frosting


Chloe chose, "um, CAKE!"
We invited only the boys' friends, to keep the party size down. But one of the boys' friend has a brother in Chloe's class. His name is Bailey. He and Chloe sat at the little table.

















There's Traci and Hudson at the far end of table. I made almond butter sandwiches cut into circles for kids lunches. That kid in the blue shirt at the end of the table, Ben, he looked at me and said, "these sandwiches are so good." As if I was some kind of world renowned chef.
















We just built this new table for our deck. It's a 3x8 solid core door with metal legs from Ikea. We hadn't stained it yet, so the boys picked out a fish table cloth for their party.
















I can't believe that Jeff got all these kids to sit on our steps for this photo. Jackson looks really happy about his party, doesn't he? Sam is always tipping his head! Chloe walked into the photo, and this girl named Ally put her arm around Chloe, so she'd be in the photo.

















Jeff lined up all the kids for taking turns at the pinata. See, they all have their green candy bags ready for the sweet treats.

Birthday Party #3

This is Chloe's school birthday party. Her birthday was on a Friday, so I already had the day off and Sam and Jackson and I took Chloe to her class to visit and have a party. All the food served to the entire class has to be Kosher, so we brought a cake mix in and some candy sprinkles and Chloe's teachers made the cupcakes for us in the Kosher kitchen. They weren't the nicest looking cupcakes, but the kids didn't seem to mind. We also brough party hats and a book that I made for Chloe's class, called "Chloe's new bed." It's about Chloe getting her big girl (twin) bed. The boys were excited to be a part of her birthday party.

Chloe in front; Flora, Jonaton & Guy

(teacher) Irene, Guy, Chloe, my arm, Jonaton and Flora

Birthday Party #2

This was our small, family party. It was held on Chloe's birthday, 2 days after the boys' birthday. The kids all helped to make the cake; Sammy was especially interested in decorating. We drew on two "5's" and one "2" for their new ages. But a cake cannot be complete without lots of spinkles and many plastic clowns. Each birthday child got a turn with the cake and candles; somehow the photo of Jackson with the candles didn't turn out so well.















Chloe's turn















Sam's cool new 5 year old look




The boys got a computer that plugs into the tv for their birthday. They love to play their computer. Even Chloe likes the computer; she doesn't seem to understand that she's missing out on not actually playing the computer, just watching is fun enough- for now. Quickly after they began playing, each boy had a favorite game. Jackson likes 1-2-3 Click, a game where you chase around these bubbles and try to pop them. Sam likes Scout's House, a game where you walk around this dog's house (it looks like a person's house) and uncover all these fun things. His huge laugh above is probably when he got the dog's hair brush and you put it near the dogs head and he gets these funny hairdos.
Kari

Birthday Party #1

The first of many birthday parties for Sam, Jackson and Chloe. This one is at Grandma and Grandpa's house in WI.


Chloe in front, Anna, Jackson, Sam & Elizabeth on Grandma and Grandpa's stairs. Jeff likes to collect all the kids on the stairs from group photos.


Sam dons his birthday hat. Jackson peers in on the clown cupcakes. "Which one should I pick?" he thinks. Then he shouts, "I'll pick THE BLUE ONE!" "Which one do you want Sammy? The blue one or the pink one, PICK SAMMY!"


Grandma bought Molly and Chloe matching princess dresses.


Chloe got crocs shoes for her birthday from Anna and Elizabeth. Chloe calls them "Molly's Shoes". She absolutely loves her "Molly's Shoes". She wears them every day and puts them on all by herself. I'm not sure why she calls them Molly's Shoes, since I think Molly was the only cousin who actually wasn't wearing crocs during our vacation.


singing happy birthday, not sure what Sam is doing with his hand

4th of July

The fourth of Jully in Wauwatosa is all-American. Every child gets a new outfit for the occassion. I can't believe we got this family photo of all the cousins! Here's who's here: (in back) Elizabeth, Kate, Anna, Elli, Caley, (in front) Sam, Jackson, Chloe, Molly


These photos are of the cousins doing "Sam's head tilt". This way, then that way. Sammy, put your head up!

Photos from the parade- hands down the best part of the day. There were dogs to pet and lots of candy to collect. At the end of the parade, Jackson was crying, because the bigger kids were faster than he and they grabbed all of the candy before he could get to it. What a hardship! Later that night, we went to the fireworks and sat about 80 feet from where they were lighting the fireworks off the ground. What an amazing view. And loud too.

Fun with cousins

Sam, Elli, Elizabeth, Jackson, Anna, Caley and Kate. We're at the new museum on Milwaukee's waterfront-it's a Science/technology/aquarium kind of museum- a great museum. It was windy that day; looks like it bothered Jackson.
Sam, Kate and Elli on the climbing thing at Sue's birthday party in the park

Molly says hello to Chloe at Sue's birthday party. Chloe hasn't seen Molly since she was 18 months old- a full 6 months ago. Molly was so cute, getting in Chloe's face to talk with her.

Sam and Elli in the plastic bubble at the park. These two were wonderful playmates- it was so cute.

Kate loves getting her photo taken. Here she is, posing, on the center with Elli and Anna on the girls' side and Sam and Jackson on the boys' side.
July in Milwaukee- it can't be beat. Well, except for the heat and humidity. But we had a fabulous time visiting our family. The boys and Chloe were so excited to see their cousins.

Columbia City

This post is written for our friends and family who haven't had the privilege of visiting our home. We live in the Columbia City neighborhood; it used to be a separate city 100 years ago- this year is actually the centennial. We live only about six blocks from the neighborhood center, shown in these photos. We have lots of parks to play at and lake front to splash in and throw rocks. Coffee shops abound for our espresso and cookie needs. A small library allows us to pop in quickly for the latest shark or dinosaur book. A cool toy store sells retro toys that look like they're from the 1950's. There's also a hair salon in the toy store that serves kids and adults. I'm getting my hair cut there for the first time next weekend. The best pizza in town in made in Columbia City too; they also serve gelatto- yummy! The movie theatre has a day when you can bring your noisy baby to the movie- I haven't done that yet. The first Friday of each month, all the restaurants and bars have live music; you pay one cover and get to see all shows. Lots to do! If you haven't been to visit us, come on out!

Kari