tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-111909942024-03-14T10:31:13.974-05:00thehalblogUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger662125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-46588243421838484152012-09-22T22:41:00.002-05:002012-09-22T22:41:26.008-05:00My Favorite Weather
This is my favorite time of year. I really really love it when the weather starts to cool down. You can do stuff like go to Olbrich Gardens and actually enjoy the time outside.
Or watch Claire play soccer and not count down the minutes left in the game.
Or you can go to Aunt Monnie's house to eat apple pie and ice cream in the back yard.
Summer doesn't have Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-57773876710833321332012-09-15T14:42:00.004-05:002012-09-15T14:42:47.093-05:00Happy Birthday Claire!She's nine! And nine is fine.
Claire's birthday was on a beautiful cool day. We made the most of it and the new deck to have family and friends over to celebrate. There were lots of balloons,
Lots of presents,
And lots of fun all around.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-17905597389759816302012-09-07T18:24:00.001-05:002012-09-07T18:24:23.958-05:00MilenaBeing fully happy:
Trying, as always, to avoid a picture:
Getting a little help with her zipper from her sister:
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-86516991527660023502012-09-05T14:17:00.004-05:002012-09-05T14:17:58.759-05:00The Last Week of SummerThe last week of summer held a few surprises for us. First, Milena got croup. This was my first experience with croup so when she woke up in the middle of night gagging for air, I'll be honest, it freaked me out. But Mike had probably seen cases worse than hers, so he was pretty casual about the whole thing, especially compared to me. Her pediatrician called in some steroids and she easily Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-8547519589646299122012-08-21T20:46:00.000-05:002012-08-21T20:46:28.306-05:00Aaaand, more Door County
When I decide to write a post, usually I start looking through the pictures I've taken since the last post. This time, the only pictures I took since the last time I was in Door County, were more recently taken in Door County. But, for something a little bit new, these pictures are mostly of my brother's kids. They seem to *enjoy* having their pictures taken. Which is surprising to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-35689911338145224712012-08-14T12:06:00.000-05:002012-08-14T13:25:36.016-05:00Door County
We've been spending a lot of time in Door County this summer. The kids want to spend every possible second at the pool. When these pictures were taken, it was barely 75 degrees out. And it was windy. Claire can make her own decision to swim in weather like that but Milena needs an adult in the pool and nobody volunteered. I don't think she minded much. She played on the stairs and in the end sheUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-27715499958882209182012-07-24T15:17:00.000-05:002012-07-24T15:19:39.744-05:00And she's 3.
Milena turns three today.
I think she's relieved to have woken up to find all her teeth still in her mouth, and all her diapers still in the closet. These two things have been causing some anxiety the past few days as she realized her birthday was getting closer and closer. A few months back Claire explained to Milena that she'll lose her teeth when she gets older. MilenaUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-55571102937084389232012-07-24T15:16:00.001-05:002012-07-24T15:16:18.141-05:00In July (and April, and May, and June)This is becoming a quarterly blog, at best. We've been busy, I guess? In any case, here are some highlights.
In the spring, we had the chance to raise four chicks. It was a ton of fun and really cool. Claire was in 100%, taking care of feeding, watering and letting the chicks out of their cage for some attention. At the end of several weeks, we got to send them back. Chicks are cool, but Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-20990884196420109032012-04-16T21:42:00.000-05:002012-04-16T21:42:03.088-05:00In MarchMarch started off cold. I think this may have been the only snow this year. I don't remember. Maybe it was the only time we actually used the snowblower. It was pretty, in any case.
Milena was ready to get out there, wearing Claire's protective eyewear from her science kit to keep out the wind and snow, of course.
It soon warmed up. All the snow melted and it wasUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-82696990849546883672012-02-07T14:26:00.000-06:002012-02-07T14:26:52.702-06:00Going on ThreeIts been said before, but I'll go ahead and confirm, the 'terrible twos' are nothing compared to what three brings. Milena isn't quite three yet, give her two months, but she's definitely close enough to start acting like a three year old. The past few weeks have been trying to say the least as Milena learns some boundaries and I keep looking for a reset button.
When Claire was in Kindergarden,Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-88783245021924001432012-01-01T11:56:00.002-06:002012-01-01T11:59:23.136-06:002011 Round UpLast January, the kids looked like this:
and, according to my pictures, we didn't do all that much. Probably because in February, Mike, Claire and I went to Germany to see castles, ski the Alps and do lots of fabulous things, including hanging out with Eric.
In March, Milena had both her first ER visit and her first blood draw after I found her with a mouth full of extra strength Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-15618246188238561932011-09-03T22:00:00.001-05:002011-09-03T22:02:46.434-05:00First Day, Third GradeThe first day of third grade happened last week, which requires the standard picture. I guess I hit my limit with the stand there and smile type.
"I don't want to just stand here and smile, Mom."
So she did a dance.
Just for fun. Here is last year, the first day of second grade. No dancing, but Milena was able to get in there a bit.
The first day of first grade, which alsoUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-4391764149475850322011-08-31T14:49:00.002-05:002011-08-31T14:56:26.667-05:00San DiegoAbout two weeks ago, Mike came home from a particularly rough shift in a series of rough shifts and said, "If you don't book a vacation for next week, I will stop at Ho Chunk and spend money. I don't care where we go, but it needs to involve an airplane." When you go to work every day, and get your butt kicked for 12+ hours, its nice to have something to show for it. And an end in sight to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-75603657593482601102011-07-23T14:52:00.000-05:002011-07-23T14:52:42.032-05:00Blooming ButterfliesMet up with a friend at Olbrich today for the Blooming Butterflies. I kind of expected hundreds of butterflies flying everywhere, like the exhibit the Milwaukee Public Museum. There weren't quite so many, so you had to really look for them. Fun for Claire, but pretty boring for Milena. She's only sitting there because I promised her ice cream if she did.
We did find a few Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-1334545030935342962011-06-02T21:29:00.000-05:002011-06-02T21:29:56.183-05:00St. PaulSaturday morning at 10:30 Mike said, "You know what we should do...we should go to St. Paul."
So we did.
We were able to see some residency friends and some medical school friends. Its been right around five years now since Mike finished up med school, so it was really fun to catch up and meet the kids that have been had in that time.
Plus, we went to the Minnesota Museum of Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-3136983111289091162011-05-17T14:13:00.000-05:002011-05-17T14:13:46.570-05:00MunisingHollie and I decided to treat ourselves to a girls only (because we happen to have all daughters) trip to Munising for Mother's Day. It was a huge success. We've talked about taking some bigger trips, and with this one under our belts, at least I am a lot more confident about taking a longer trip sometime in the future.
I'm pretty sure that we hit the best weekend the UP had Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-43690939429570742672011-05-01T21:12:00.000-05:002011-05-01T21:12:14.937-05:00Milena is Two!Milena turned two last month. We had such a fun time partying at the zoo with Annesley, Hollie and Tom last year, we decided a repeat was in order. Hollie was smart and made a cupcake for Milena without frosting, though I did bring a poncho for Uncle Dave, just in case. A lot has changed over the past year, but Milena's dislike for cake was not one of them. She Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-48488369268756729812011-04-07T23:05:00.000-05:002011-04-07T23:05:22.695-05:00Its April!So its been a while. We have all been deep into a pretty ambitious Spring To Do list. I've made some changes in the house, based on wanting to get rid of the red wall throughout the kitchen/living room. I liked the red, but as it started getting nicer out, it was just so heavy. And the curtains were so big and flowing. I went in the opposite direction. Green walls Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-79579829231601633212011-02-27T21:23:00.001-06:002011-02-27T21:44:07.405-06:00BavariaWe just got back, a week or so ago, from Germany. The Bavarian Alps, to be specific. Originally, only Mike and I planned to go and meet Eric, but there were some changes and in the end we took Claire as well. We've taken a number of amazing vacations with Eric now, enough that I think its become a kind of tradition (UK or bust this summer?), and this one was no exception. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-18369704788331969132010-12-28T21:00:00.000-06:002010-12-28T21:00:37.162-06:00Christmas 2010Hurray! Everyone was healthy by Christmas Eve. We had a great weekend. It was nice to have a lot of time, there were a lot of people to see.
There was a lot of playing with new stuff and running around outside. Milena hasn't liked winter weather from the beginning. Hopefully she comes around, or I'll have a lot of pictures of her crying in the snow. Maybe Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-89821671151234550802010-12-22T12:01:00.000-06:002010-12-22T12:01:19.623-06:00Christmas is Coming, So Stop Puking Already.Three or four years ago, Mike, Claire and I had a terrible flu that peaked in its awfulness right on Christmas morning. It was the worst flu I've ever had, and the timing could not have been worse. I think my brother is still angry we had to break tradition and wait to open gifts until later that night. This year, Claire seems to have come down with a bug, though not anywhere Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-61475482790353445182010-12-12T21:15:00.000-06:002010-12-12T21:15:47.536-06:00SnowingI found some more pictures from the first snowfall.
These two pictures of Claire are fun. I like to think she's trying to decide who to hit with her handful of snow. Her father, who has definitely thrown his fair share of snowballs at Claire and deserves some retaliation,
or her unsuspecting, attention getting little sister, heh.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-41152197114007216172010-12-08T22:29:00.000-06:002010-12-08T22:29:32.666-06:00On to ChristmasThis time of year I can not post for a few weeks and it seems like so much as happened. Last time I posted was Halloween. Thats like two holidays ago already.
Milena has started in on the pretend play. She likes to feed her animals. It was like she realized one day that you could pretend to feed the stuffed animals, that pretending was a thing. A lightbulb went off, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-27339043750708230622010-11-07T21:59:00.000-06:002010-11-07T21:59:34.606-06:00Halloween and Whatnot.Claire decided a year ago she wanted to be a paintbrush for Halloween. We were making her costume, a doorbell, when she stopped, looked at her brush and said, "Next year, I want to be a paintbrush". And it stuck. So I bought a bunch of black felt and nylon tule and shredded it to make a skirt which in my head looked a lot more paintbrush-like. I think the problem was trying to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11190994.post-36607605538496532292010-10-03T20:48:00.000-05:002010-10-03T20:48:39.015-05:00At the Library.At the library, Milena is completely unwilling to look at books with Claire. She wants to play with the trains. While Claire is wandering around, Milena does everything she can to escape and get to the 'choo-choo choo-choo's. Finally Claire has what she wants and we head over to the train table. Milena is finally happy, and Claire talks about her book. But notUnknownnoreply@blogger.com3