Moved!

Well, for those that don't know it, we moved. I won't dwell on that since it was quite a while ago (I can't believe it's been over 3 weeks!). These days we're focused on getting the house in order. We're still unpacking boxes, but the house is livable. The 3 kids are back together in a room for better or for worse. They seem to like it and they aren't keeping each other up too much.

We're enjoying my month off from work, though I seem to be gone too much for Katie's taste. I escape to Lowe's to buy lots of stuff for the house, or go out to search for a car. I've decided on a VW Jetta--check out a picture of it!


I start work on August 1st. Katie's bday is coming up--August 7th. We'll probably head to St Louis for that weekend to hook up with her sisters and parents. We've been lucky to be able to see so many people so far--both her mom (her dad is in Germany), my parents and several friends. Right now Katie and the girls are at the neighborhood pool with her mom while I babysit Peter.

Good day

We had a great day today. Rather than try to catch up with what we've been up to, maybe just a slice of life for ahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifll of our faithful readers (hello? do we have any left??)http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Started on Saturday night. Somehow we convinced Mitzi to come up for the night and for today. We watched SNL with JT as host. It was pretty darn funny.

This morning Mitzi went to church (we went last night since we knew we were going out today) early. Then we had breakfast at the Pancake Cafe. It was pretty good. The 3 adults all got different things so we could try them all. Good! http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

We then tried to go to a dairy to see how they make cheese, but unlike what their website said, they actually are closed on Sundays. Booo!

So we went to The House on the Rock. It was pretty cool. It was on our bucket list of things to do http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifbefore we left Madison. We did the 3rd tour. We saw the world's biggest carousel, a room with tons of huge organs, a doll carousel, lots of doll houses, and lots of other mechanical inventions. Amazing!

Lastly we finally took Mitzi to our favorite local winery. We got there early so we got a bottle of wine, some pretzles, cheese dip and meat sticks and ate outside. It wasn't cold and rainy like everyone predicted! Then we went on the tour and had a tasting. We ended up buying 6 and Mitzi buying 6 bottles of wine. Tasty delicious!

Thus ended another good weekend. Last weekend we went to The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help. It's the only approved Marian apparition site in the entire US--and it's right here in Wisconsin!

Next weekend: Peter's second birthday!

So far...so long

Yet again, a while since our last post. Rather than try to recap the last few months, we'll just do a snapshot of current going-ons.

Peter is talking more and more. He still tends to make several words sound similar, so sometimes there is a little frustration when we can't understand him. For example, in the mornings he always wants "goggles!!!" for breakfast. That could mean bagels or pretzels. OR something totally different. Usually we can pacify him with just a bowl of cold cereal. Or sometimes he just picks that up and throws it on the floor.

He also loves to point things out and name them. Most large vehicles on the road are "Bus!!" We try to correct him but he probably thinks we're just idiots. At least his scar on his forehead is looking better and better. Just a little red mark. We'll see if he's left with any permanent changes from that or from the multitude of bumps on his left forehead. He continues to enjoy getting up on chairs.

Rose is still really enjoying being with Peter during the days when Mary Ann is at school. Her current favorite movie to watch is "Princess and the Frog." She can watch it every day. She is doing very well as the big girl of the house. She amazes us when she acts mature, especially when she helps clean the house.

Mary Ann is doing well in school. She recently had a talent show at school. The Kindergarten classes sang a song together. There were also a bunch of kids who did breakdancing. Several Michael Jackson songs. The girls loved when some kids danced to a Beiber song.

Our main thing now is that we're trying to sell the house. That helps keep the house clean. It's a challenge getting the house ready for showings, but Katie is doing a stellar job. Peter is sleeping in the old play room, so he seems to be sleeping better now that the girls don't keep him up. We also have less toys for the kids to get out, so even if all the toys are out, it's not a horrible mess. If anybody wants a nice house in Madison, let us know!!

We're really excited about KU basketball, of course. The only #1 still left in the tournament. Go Hawks! So, this weekend is sweet 16, elite 8. Next weekend: final four. Weekend after that: go to Hawaii!!

Another long time since the last post...

Well, I guess we had better start with Christmas. We stayed here for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I had both days off, so we spent it together, just hanging out. Mary Ann helped me put the ornaments on the tree (Rose had to go to bed early since she didn't eat any dinner). Mary Ann still reminds Rose of that to this day...

Santa came as expected. Everyone got great gifts. The kids all loved the many gifts, though of course some were more loved than other (all gifts are equal, but some are more equal than others...). Of course, some of the "less equal" ones are now some of their favorites...

We then drove to St Louis for the night, stayed with the St Louis Keels. Always low-key, relaxing to go there. We drove to Jeff City and had lunch with Oma. Peter called the police, either by the phone or with Oma's life-line. They called and Katie told them what was up, but then later Oma called L'Opa and told him the police came; we're still not sure if they actually did or if she just thought they did.

We stayed several days in Lawrence with L'Opa, Nana and Mitzi. We turned the first night into a traditional Christmas Eve with the normal soups and then lit the candles on the tree. Santa came there, but once again the gifts were left in the upstairs closet until we could get them in the morning. Everyone had fun opening yet more presents.

The kids all turned a little sick in Lawrence. They all seemed their sickest on the night Katie and I were going to go to the KU basketball game, so Katie gave her ticket to L'Opa. We saw a great game and the kids all turned magically healthy 10 minutes after we left for the game.

Then off to KC. We saw Fr Scott, the Thomas-Vogrin family, and my parents. Yet again, more and more presents. Those kids were so excited! We had a fun few days in KC. We celebrated New Years with the kids early and most of us used that as our official countdown too =)

We had an easy drive back--only one stop in the 8 hour drive. Much better than the Beier's had...

We've mainly been working on 2 things this calendar year--moving and deciding on a job. I've been offered many positions, and Katie and I are sifting through them, trying to decide. We think we have it down, but aren't ready to sign the deal yet. We've been slowly working on the house, trying to get it in order to sell it. We'll probably put it on the market in late Feb, early March.

We just got back from a trip to KC to look at neighborhoods. We missed our connection in Chicago so had to spend the night there. We were in KC for about 9 hours. Awesome...

The kids keep on progressing. Peter is saying more and more words. He now likes to push chairs around and use them as stools to get up to things. Rose is blooming at her preschool and seems to be bonding with Peter really well. Mary Ann just got her first report card and is doing great at school.

Things to Remember

We've been too lax for a while of keeping this blog up to date from month to month, defeating it's purpose of being our personal record of these wonderful memories of our children. Sorry!

Robert has been gone this week for interviews and I just wanted to jot down a couple of small things that made my heart smile today.

First of all the two girls are very entertained by asking us simple addition problems.
Rose: Mom, what is 5 plus 5 plus? (Second plus here means equals, she is starting to use that word, too)
Mary Ann: What is 350 plus 350 plus pi?
Mom: Rose, it's 10; Mary Ann it's 703.14..... (I'm also thinking, let's not get any more complicated, I haven't had any coffee yet)

I then proceeded to alter life as she knew it by informing Mary Ann that pi is a number between 3 and 4. Mary Ann calmly corrected me that this couldn't be true, there is no number between 3 and 4. When I told her there were lots of numbers between 3 and 4 she filed that info away. Then brought it out later today when I asked her how the day rated and she said "Oh, about a 4.5".

My memory of Rose and Peter from today is our time in the Starbucks by our gym. It's become a pretty regular Friday routine that after we go to the gym we then go to Starbucks for pumpkin bread, kid's hot chocolate and a coffee beverage. In honor of the holidays we've added a slice of gingerbread to our usual fare as well. Peter and Rose are great in the cafe, Rose efficiently removes the edges of her pumpkin bread to give to Peter. Peter eats his pieces and then they both go and play at the little kids table for a bit. Then Rose takes a napkin and wipes off our table, deposits the crumbs and cups in the trash and it's time to go. Today they were both so wonderful there I just wanted to record it for posterity's sake.

Tonight I scored a few points by getting "Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale" from the RedBox to watch. I have to say that my opposition to Barbie has dwindled. She's fun, she's pretty, and I just can't buy honestly into the idea that she gives girls a false ideal of perfection and beauty. And her movies are actually kind of fun to watch. I'm shocked to admit it, but they aren't that bad.

We are also enjoying listening to a new-t0-us holiday radio story called "The Cinnamon Bear". Originally aired in 1937, it's available online to listen to and we've gotten caught up in each cliffhanger episode. If you've seen photographs of families settled around their radio listening and staring at it, you have an idea of what our family is doing most evenings. Except we're staring at our laptop. The similarity again made me wonder that even in this incredible age of technology, our behaviors can still mirror those from 70 years ago.

I have wonderful kids. And even though it took a visit from super scary Mommy tonight to finally get them to settle down and go to sleep, I love their little socks off.

Kindergarten

Mary Ann started Kindergarten today! It was a very exciting day. We practiced bicycling to school last week; we put Rose and Peter in the trailer and Katie pulled them with her bike. Mary Ann rode her own bicycle all the way there and back. It was pretty exciting!




We took her to school today. Since it was the first day we just walked. Mitzi is here visiting so she stayed home with Rose and Peter. We made it there in time but learned that Mary Ann was switched from one class to another; it upset us a little because we had known 2 kids already. Hopefully this new class/teacher are a good fit for Mary Ann. She seemed both very excited and also a little nervous. As she told us repeatedly...

Katie was of course also excited...and a little sad. Especially with the new twist of the class switch.

Mid-July

It's been 2 months since our last post. It's been a very busy time!

We went to KC/Lawrence for a week in the end of July. We first went to Katie's cousin's wedding the first Saturday we were there. Katie and I got to dress up.


We went to a Royal's baseball game with the Thomas family (well, most of them). We got nice tickets that included food/drink in them, so we all had lots of good stadium food.

From KC trip May 2010

We then hooked up with the Buschelmans minus Eric, and went to the Great Wolf Lodge. We got a "kid's cabin" room with a special area for the kids to sleep in. Most of the kids loved it...Will did NOT (hence him being in the background for this picture).

From KC trip May 2010

We went back and forth to Lawrence, but finally ended up in KCK for Fr Scott's ordination. I was the first reader, and it was one of the most special moments of my life. We are all so happy to finally have him be a priest.

From Scott's Ordination

We went back to Lawrence to celebrate Peter's first birthday. Jen Vogrin made the cake which looked and tasted great. Peter approved!

From KC trip May 2010

We had a nice Father's Day in June. Peter was in a very silly mood, so we got lots of good pictures of him such as below

From 2010 June-July

I finished neurology residency in June. There was a nice graduation party for which my parents came up.

From 2010 June-July

Unfortunately we got a flat tire; Mary Ann got a hands-on tutorial!

From 2010 June-July

We finally took the plunge and took the kids on their first camping trip. Katie and I had been wanting to do this for a long time, but there was always a reason to shy away from it before. So many of our pre-kid memories are from camping trips (Utah, Yellowstone, Missouri State Parks) and we have so much camping gear that we finally pulled the trigger. The park we went to was nice...except WAY too many mosquitos. Poor Peter was eaten alive. Overall we learned some better ways to camp.

From 2010 June-July

Finally, we just had some Salina relatives visit us. Marina, Jen, Ashley and Meghan all drove up from Kansas to spend an extended weekend. We had lots of fun times, boating twice, going to the Farmer's Market, going to a pool. The best part was Mary Ann's and Rose's first soccer game. They played on separate teams with games right after the other. Mary Ann's team was on fire, shutting out the other team. Rose's team played a team mostly with kids a year older. They only scored one goal, but Rose scored that goal! It was 2 hours in the hot sun, but it was much more exciting than we had feared. The time actually went by fairly quickly. Both girls did a great job and seem to have natural talent. Next game next Sunday!

From soccer 1st game