Nostalgic Day

Just about everything I did today made me feel a little sad that time is passing so quickly with Brooke and Clayton. There are certainly plenty of days that I cannot wait until it's time for bed, but today wasn't one of those. I dropped Brooke off this morning for her last day of summer preschool - she starts with her new teachers next week. Which led me to thinking about how fast last school year went and that it really wasn't that long ago that I was dropping her off for her 1st day of preschool. She has learned so much and changed so much since then. Part of me is excited to see what the next year brings and part of me knows it too will fly by. While she was at school I decided to pack up the clothes that Clayton no longer fits in. It's been a while since I've done so and therefore his fall clothes from last year were still in his drawers. Each outfit had different memories (Christmas, Easter, picture day, etc.) and to think that he's gone from a size 12 mo to a 3T in such a short time. He's not my baby any more and at this time next year he'll be starting preschool too - WOW! After naps today we took a walk to the library for more books and on the way back saw some kids (not much older than Brooke) riding bikes and playing outside. My thoughts jumped to a time when walking to the library with mom won't be as fun as an afternoon with friends....(sniff...) I think it was a hard day too as I reflected that Mike and I lost our first baby 5 years ago this month...and there was a time that we weren't sure if God would bless us with even one, let alone two healthy children. It was a long road to get there, but worth every step. On that note, enjoy the pictures.

Camping Success!

Our life group from church had it's Annual Camping trip this weekend. We went to Devil's Lake State Park and couldn't have asked for a more beautiful weekend. After much debate we decided to bring both kids (Clayton was going to stay home with Grandma because last year didn't go so well with both kids...) and this year it turned out great. They both did really well, slept through the night and had a blast. We swam, hiked, ate smores, and hung out with a great group of friends (Dave & Alyssa Krause, Matt & Gretchen Weis, Neal & Christal Korfhage, Mel & Andy Boeck, Matt Buntrock, and Amanda & Kevin Mast.)

The outdoor pack 'n play turned out to be great entertainment for those 2 and under - they played great together and requested to be packed like sardines in there!

Mike and Brooke also took a row boat out on Saturday morning. (I didn't think Clayton would sit still that long!)

Our trip out there was a bit interesting though...we decided to follow the GPS and not the way that Mike knew. So we're heading along the south side of Lake Wisconsin and the GPS says, "Turn right and board ferry." WHAT?! We pull forward and sure enough there are 3 lanes of cars sitting there - apparently for the ferry. My first response was to turn around and go the way we knew, but Mike got out of the car to ask the man next to us what to expect. Turns out it's a free car ferry that takes 15 cars at a time over the lake. Brooke kept asking, "What are we doing?" Mike told her we were waiting to drive our car on the boat. "NO, daddy, that's silly! What are we doing?" Boy was she surprised when we drove our car onto the boat. (We did take that way also home per a little princess' request.)

My best helpers!

Over the past couple days, I've had some really good helpers!

I was making dinner yesterday and it wasn't quite finished when Clayton got up from his nap, so I asked Brooke to take him a few toys to play with in his crib. Here's what I found...


The picture's not great but we have a huge playground ball, the Weeble treehouse, Weeble mobile, and a full bin of Weebles and Little People that she dumped in - there was barely room left for Clayton!

I'm not sure what the excitement with the vacuum is, but both kids were thrilled to push it around. We'll need to work on technique a bit yet! Hopefully they stay excited as it will eventually make it to the chore list for them.






And a few stories that made me laugh...

• We were running errands and Brooke said she wanted to sit in Clayton's seat and pretend to be him. I agreed (heck, their basically the same size anyhow!) So we buckled up and right after I started the car Brooke says, "Pretzel please!" and started to laugh. She then says, "mom, I'm silly!" Very funny...that's exactly what Clayton does and she knows it!


• Brooke brought me a pretend vacuum cleaner that she and Clayton both enjoy playing with and says, "MOM, you have to put this away we just cannot control ourselves and keep fighting over it!" Hmmm...where did she pick up on a phrase like that?!

Clayton (at 21 months) has also started some two-word phrases this past week. "bye-bye mama" "nigh nigh Buh" (Brooke) "da da car" It's interesting to look at where his speech is in comparison to Brooke's - she was over 2 before she even referred to me as "ma ma."

Wisconsin State Fair

Yesterday Mike took off of work to escort us all to the Wisconsin State Fair. We have our traditions of foods to eat and rides to go on and fulfilled them all. The kids were much more into the animals this year than any other...including watching the cows be milked and the pigs race.

We started off in the barns and Clayton was crying within a few minutes when a goat "maa"ed at him a little to close to his face. The petting zoo was open and both kids enjoyed that.

After the barns we walked past some sort of bungee jumping apparatus. We asked Brooke if she wanted to go on that ride and she said no, but that Clayton did. Somehow through the day she changed her mind and on the way out announced she was ready to try that ride. (I think it had to do with the fact that every other ride she wanted to go on through the day she was too short for and she didn't want to leave without doing something!)

The BIG slide is a must and I think all of our favorite. Everyone got two rides this year.

We enjoyed our cheese curds, cream puffs, and flavored milk - a well rounded meal if you ask us!

Clayton was asleep before we even hit the highway and napped for 3.5 hrs in the afternoon...apparently too much excitement for one day.

Also, thanks to all of you who have been praying for Grandpa Mark following his heart attack on Saturday. Praise and glory to God that he is home and on the road to recovery. We continue to covet your prayers to the God of the universe who is also the God of healing.

Evangelism from a Three Year Old's Perspective

I loved this conversation that Brooke and I had yesterday, but there are a few points to know leading up to that story.

1) Our church is currently undergoing construction as we are expanding. On Monday, we drove past it on our way home from dance and Brooke asked again why we were doing that. I told her that we needed to make more room so that more people could know Jesus.

2) With the garage construction, the various workers have affectionately become the "garage men."

Yesterday, Brooke is standing in the kitchen, gets this huge smile on her face and says, "MOM! More people are going to know Jesus!" I told her that we hoped so and that would be great. "Mom? Is everyone going to know Jesus?!" I responded that it would be a wonderful thing if everyone did know Jesus (I wasn't sure how to respond at a 3 year old level.) She paused and you could see her wheels turning...."Mom? Do the garage men know Jesus?" I told her I didn't know. Her response..."You forgot to ask?" Yes, Brooke, I forgot to ask.

She left the room and perhaps didn't think anything of the conversation for the remainder of the day, but it stuck with me. In reality, it might just be as simple as asking those around us if they know Jesus. I love the lessons she teaches me each day.

Falling Behind on Updates

Clayton had his first haircut on July 8th. He did great sitting in the truck at Kid-do's.

Brooke has a had a few cute stories recently...

• Grandma Denyse gave Brooke a ballerina dressed in purple a couple weeks ago. I asked Brooke what she had named her ballerina. She responded, "The" (We've been working on "th" sounds for speech.) So it stands and she is consistently referred to as "The."
  
• Our pine tree in the backyard was taken down. We filled the hole with dirt and subsequently sprinkled grass seed to fill the space. Last week, we were coming home from preschool and construction workers were finishing up with a hole in the middle of our street. Brooke asked when they were going to put the "road seed" down.

And the big news for the past couple weeks has been all the excitement of building a new garage. Lots of big machinery, new faces, and questions. It's provided for some good entertainment as the kids (and oftentimes friends) will sit at the kitchen window to watch. Progress has been fast...we're waiting for the overhead door and electrical and we can call it done (hopefully by the end of the week.) I don't want to even guess how long it would have taken Mike to tackle this project with his schedule and 2 kids!

Before

Down she comes (My thoughts for grabbing the video camera came a few seconds too late.)

Day 1 of Construction (There was nothing but a slab when I dropped Brooke off at Preschool and this was the result at 4 p.m.)

Day 2 of Construction

And Day 3...Roof and siding finished...WOW!

Oh, NO the BIG 3-0!

Today Mike turned 30! We started the morning with the traditional sweets for breakfast - chocolate was enjoyed by all. Brooke greeted daddy in the morning with, "You're old today?!" He and I had a nice dinner out at a new place in Brookfield - Agave.