6.10.11

Cooper and Gina did the Bellin Kids Run back in June.  I think it was a quarter of a mile.  Basically, they ran around the block. It was so cute!  

4.23.11

2:23 pm



4:18pm

Love these guys.

3.4.11

We had double bday parties on March 4th.  First was Charlotte's first bday.  I was taking pictures for Dizzy with  her camera for most of the party, so this is the only one I have of the birthday girl.



Then it was up to Green Bay for Coop's 3rd birthday!  So old he is getting...still the most hilarious person I know I think though.

12.19.10

Sunday we spent a few last hours at the waterpark in our building before going our separate ways. We're hoping to make this a tradition - we had such a good time!

12.18.10

Our Saturday at the Wilderness started off with a morning at the waterpark. The Wilderness has 3 separate waterparks and we successfully made it to all of them. We went along the lazy river a bunch of times and hung out by the wave pool most of the time. Jon and I also went down The Hurricane, which actually made me scream really loud.

Later in the day, we went on a carriage ride and to the Tanger outlets for a bit. We finished off the night with a homecooked meal (by Jon and I) and playing Scene It. A full and fun day with the fam.

12.17.10

My family opted to forgo lots of presents for Christmas this year and instead spent a weekend together at the Wilderness Resort in the Dells. It was so nice celebrating Christmas together without having to run all over the state to make it to all of our families' Christmas parties. We all got to the resort at around 6pm on Friday night. We had pizza, exchanged presents and pretty much relaxed for most of the night.

11.13.10

We headed up to Green Bay in the beginning of Nov. for Fisher's 1st birthday party! We got up there Saturday night and got some pizza and made cookies for the party. Cooper put on my boots and attemped to walk around in them also - but mostly just fell every 3 steps.

11.7.10

A little Sunday morning project. He is a robot!

8.14.10

Gina, Todd, Coop, Fish, Mom, Jon and I went to Bayshore mall where they have an outdoor fountain/splash pad to let Cooper run around. He obviously had a blast. My favorite part was when we were packing up to go and Gina told him that we needed to get going...he ran up to her and said, "1 more". I guess she has been saying that to him a lot lately in different circumstances and he has started to turn it back around on her. ha! He did this "1 more" bit about 5 times. Here he is in action with his "1 more" business.

Later that night, Jon and I played babysitter while the rest of the adults were out having their own fun. It started off a little rough with the mother of all meltdowns on Coop's end (Gina and Todd would probably disagree with that claim though), but we were all friends again by the end of the night.

8.7.10

Gina brought the boys over to swim and hang out while our husbands were off doing things they do. (honestly, it was so long ago I'm having a hard time remembering what they did). When I took this picture, I told Cooper that I was going to count to three and then he should jump. Except he never waited until 3...and I had to be quick on shutter release! (and I just remembered that Todd and Jon went to their friend's bday party)

7.15.10

The day after Gina's bday, we went to the children's museum. I used to work there, so it was fun being back! Toward the end of the trip, this kid had a little meltdown when he had to wait to go into one of the play areas. Good thing we think he is cute and forget about the meltdowns fast! Well, we all do. Not sure if Gina forgets about them as fast...

7.5.10

Before we headed out of town, we made a stop at the Sun Drop bottling company. Our new friends, Jen and Andy, have family who own the company, so we got a behind the scenes tour of the operation. Sun Drop is huge in Shawano. It is in every restaurant and bar, right along side Diet Coke...and I wouldnt be surprised if Sun Drop outsells Diet Coke actually. Anyway, this company still bottles Sun Drop in glass bottles and we got to see the assembly line it goes through to get bottled. It was like we were in an episode of Unwrapped!

I also got to taste my first Sun Drop. I am here to report that it was delicious! Sort like a less sweet version of Mountain Dew, maybe? Yummy. Coop could be a spokeschild for how tasty Sun Drop is in this picture I think.

7.2.10

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Shawano at my brother-in-law's parents' place. It really felt like the quintessential holiday weekend. We were at the lake, great weather, in a small town, with family, relaxing, fireworks, bbqs, sparklers, parades. It was a blast! Hopefully we'll be able to enjoy many more summer weekends at this cottage in the future. We got there around noon on Friday and got right to the beach with the kids to make the first of many "lakes" and sandcastles. We later had dinner at the famed Amico's pizza for stuffed crust pizza. If one is ever in the Shawano area, a stop at Amico's is a must!

5.23.10

The fam on day 2 at the Blue Harbor resort. This place is awesome, btw. It is less than an hour from Milwaukee and about 2 from Madison, but once you get there, you kind of feel like you are at an coastal town in Massachusetts or something. It is gorgeous!

4.25.10

On Sunday, Jon, Todd and their friends went to the Brewer game. I hopped a ride in the car so I could spend the day with the fam. Diz brought Charlie over so Gina and my mom could meet her...and we spent the rest of the day running errands and hanging out at home. Cooper coined the phrase "big night night" in reference to my old bed, which is a loft. It was awesome. He kept saying it over and over and was reeeeally excited to be able to climb up into it.

It was a great day, but it was also really nice to get back to Madison and relax after our very busy weekend

4.13.10

One of the awesome parts about our condo at the Chula Vista was that there was a hot tub in the room! After the kids went to bed, we sat in it, talked and ate snacks....and in the morning Cooper used it to play with his toys.

As far as the water park at the Chula Vista goes, I have nothing to compare it to since I have never been to any of those Dells resorts, but Gina said the Kalahari and the Wilderness were much better. I thought it was decent though - and I am sure it would be much better when the outdoor park is open also. The room was GREAT though! We had a 2 bedroom condo - with a full kitchen, 2 bathrooms and a hot tub.

4.4.10 pm

Easter night, we had my family over to our apartment for dinner. We had a pretty delicious meal, if I do say so myself. We had salad, grilled steak with onion strings, and my father-in-law's famous sesame potatoes. The onion strings were a recipe from the new Pioneer Woman cookbook and let me tell you that they were so good, so easy to make and seriously tasted like they were from a restaurant.

Of course we had another egg hunt for Coop, too! My mom and I set this egg hunt up with string wrapped around trees and other freestanding things in the yard. It made it easier for him to focus and find all the eggs rather than having a free-for-all. A great idea for little ones, right?

12.25.09

Coop and Mom in their Christmas outfits! We had a pretty low key christmas this year actually. Instead of driving all over the state making it to every Christmas celebration, we took our time getting ready on Christmas morning, and then made our way back to Madison and celebrated with Jon's family. It was niiiice.

12.5.09

We had so much fun on our little trip up to Green Bay. Cooper quite possibly might be the funniest person I know right now. He is constantly saying and doing things that are so hilarious. Even though he says very few words, he still was just cracking us all up all weekend. Mostly, I found it funny when he would try and imitate us. He has been wanting to do things the adults do for a long time - i.e. eating with real silverware, not eating food cut up in small pieces, etc. but now he tries to do the same thing we do too. For example, I was laying on the floor on my side, propping my head up with my hand and he layed down next to me and tried to do the same thing. He totally concentrates the whole time figuring out how to position himself too. It's classic! He tries to cough into his arm too, people! He isn't even 2! The waitress at the restaurant we went to for dinner Sat night even laughed at that one.

On Saturday night, we went to a Christmas celebration at Lambeau where they had a bunch of activities for kiddos. Cooper got to met Santa, or "Ho Ho Ho" as he calls him. He loved it and even gave Santa a five 5 when he left.

10.18.09

While the boys were at the Packer game on Sunday, Gina, Cooper and I went to Mulberry Farm. It was uber chilly and windy, but we still had fun. Cooper knows how to do one thing well these days - and that is to run in the opposite direction of anything that isn't where we would like him to be. And when I say run, I mean run. For such a little person, he is fast!