Goodbye Winter (I hope!)

Our family had a busy winter- packing, moving, unpacking a little, packing back up the little we unpacked, moving and unpacking- whew...it was a lot of moving. But I am so happy to say that we are settled in our new home and loving every minute we spend in it together. Here are some winter highlights:

 Cousin Nate was born in March-

Our other cousin Emmai was born in February

 Seeing the Easter Bunny (mom and dad are a little worried about Kate in DisneyWorld this summer)

 Loving the snow (back in January:)

 Dying Easter Eggs

 FINALLY! Sold!

 Valentine's Heart Pizzas

 Moving in

 Making Chocolate Bunnies

 Fun with Shaving Cream (good thing Daddy wasn't home- it was a mess!)

 Fun at our new neighboorhood park!

Extra highlights:

Ryan had an indoor soccer clinic and basketball class

The kids LOVE watching the train by our house : "Goodbye train, have a nice day" everytime

Ryan officially was passed the torch at Easter from cousin Ashley- he now gets to lead the prayer:)

Kate is talking up a storm now: she mumbles the prayer with Ryan, insists on certain clothes, like PJ's and shoes "Wear my crocs". 

She puts on her own jacket- "I do Momma!"

We have two beautiful, energetic,  ever growing kids. I am trying to ground myself in the now as I can now see for myself how time truly flies. Until Ryan turned 4 1/2 on Valentine's Day, I had embraced every milestone Ryan had reached with pride and angst to see what is around the next bend.  However, 4 1/2 hit me hard, making me realize that he is growing up so quickly...my baby will be 5 this summer! As Joe and I now realize our children are closer to entering high school than we are leaving it, we realize as our kids have grown in an instant, so have we. Love this caption from Pinterest:

While Joe and I feel like we just met (almost 14 years ago), feel like we were just at Madison, feel like we just got married and bought our first home, feel like we just had our first baby...we realize that we are beyond those years/stages in life and agree that we woudln't trade anything for the world. The wisdom gained with experience, the comfort in our careers, the confidence in our decisions, the family we built, the growth as a parent (really as a human being), the memories created along the way...while older in age than we sometimes feel, we are so happy with where we are (maybe we could just stay here a little longer!).

Happy Endings and New Beginnings

As 2012 leaves just memories behind, we hold on to those memories tightly and make room new ones, anticipating the New Year.
2012 brought many wonderful memories and Happy Endings
I said goodbye to my 20's and welcomed the 30's (as well as coffee and wine:)
Ryan said goodbye to daycare and welcomed preschool
Kate said goodbye to being a "baby" and welcomed being toddler
Joe said goodbye to his fear of being on a boat and welcomed Cruisin' (he didn't even wear his life vest the whole time like he planned!)
Our family will be saying goodbye to our first home- the home where we welcomed my first job, our dog, our baby boy and our baby girl- and we will welcome our new home in 2013 (after we welcome living with my in-laws for 2 months in between:)

2013 will be full of New Beginnings for our family.
We will move into our new home in March!
Joe and I will be an official Uncle and Aunt and Ryan and Kate will have official cousins- our sisters are both expecting their first babies!
Ryan will begin 4K in our new school district and baseball in summer
Kate will begin dance class this summer
Our family will take our first trip to Disney as a family of 4 (with Gramma and Grampa of course!)

Along with new beginnings, we will continue to grow in love and traditions we have already built.
Kate and Ryan will continue swimming lessons and classes at the zoo
Ryan will continue soccer, football and basketball
I will continue to teach Ryan's Sunday School class and build my Thrity-One business
Joe and I will take our annual couple trip- this is a family vacation year, so we will continue our tradition of spending a weekend in Chicago.

Joe and I vow to cherish everyday, dreaming of the future while keeping our feet planted in the now. Our family celebrates the Happy Endings of 2012 and welcomes the New Beginnings of 2013. Best Wishes to all in the New Year!
                                   

 Hugs at the Pumpkin Patch

 1st Day of School

 Football Saturdays in Fall

 Happy Halloween

 Ryan is the Elf on the Self

 Changing her baby

 Kate is 2!

 Happy Birthday

 Having fun with Kate's new wagon

 Our grown up four year old

 Santa pancakes

Christmas Morning candy cane

 New Years Eve Celebration

Wild Summer- 2012

Our summer can best be described as Wild. It was wild- busy, wild-awesome, wild- themed birthday party, wild- children, wild- crazy...but mostly wild-fun. It was the best and most memorable summer for me so far. There was a great balance of vacation, time with kids and time with friends and family. This was the first year that we had no naps in the morning so we were out and about everyday putting stamps on our summer passport. Some of our favorite everyday activities were swim lessons at Hoyt, summer classes at the Y, Art Class at the Big Backyard, Sports Explorers through the Rec Dept., weekly visits to the zoo and library. 

Some of the crazy wild comes from Kate being all over the place and into everything, Ryan deciding he does not nap at home anymore, except maybe every 4th day, Kate wanting to go potty, Ryan becoming a more independent thinker leading to things like colored train tracks and making his own choices regardless of what mom or dad said and Kate making a mess with the contents of her diaper- totally grossing us out! EWWW!

Kate: We have determined that Kate is an advanced child- she has started her terrible twos at only 18 months! While smiley and sweet, she can be sassy and stubborn- a little stinker (I have no idea where she gets that:) She wants to be more independent- no tray at the table, no help while eating... Her first instinct when something is not going her way is to shriek or grunt. She has also mastered a stink face and a firm "No!". We are working with her on using kind words:) She has recently begun to express what she wants with "I want that!" or "In a bowl". My favorite was when I turned on a song and she raised her hands in the air and shouted "I want to dance". So I got her down from her highchair and when danced! Some of our favorite words she uses are "I love you", "Minnie", "Football", "Nonni" for Ryan (I have no idea!), "Peas Momma", "Bapa"and "I Do!". Even when we are not asking, for example, "Who wants a banana?", she will shout "I do!" if she shes something she wants to eat or do. 

Ryan: He started the summer working to earn rewards for making good choices and looking at people's eyes. When he earned a reward, he got to choose a paper popsicle with a reward on it. As a result, we went to see Brave, rented video games/movies, saw the Sea Lion Show at the zoo, rode the Carousel, went to Yo Mama, constructed and painted an airplane and much more. It has been fun to watch him grow and begin to reason and understand consequences for choices. One example where he didn't quite think through the consequences was when he and Kate were in the car, I went to grab our lunches and I hear loud crying. I asked what happened and he replied "I boxed her". "What do you mean you boxed her?" "I punched her in the face" One small commercial highlight from the Olympics stuck in his brain and turned into a jab into the cheek of his unsuspecting baby sister. We live and learn! He still has his pretend boy that seems to appear at the most convenient times- my pretend boy said that or my pretend boy did that. The most recent occurrence was yesterday when I told him he would not be able to read his new magazines in the car because it was too dark outside. He immediately replied "Sometimes my pretend boy's head can light up so I can see" My response:"Oh, well let's hope that happens tonight for you."  This kid has quite the imagination! This year as I get ready to go back to school, Joe and I are getting Ryan ready to go to school for the first time. He is more than ready and I know he will thrive in a classroom. I'm so excited for him to begin this new adventure.

Our Summer Passport

Feeding the giraffes

Celebrating my 30th with Family and the Brewers

I think we lived at the zoo this summer!

Loves the train just as much as her brother- Family Night at the Zoo

In Aunt Linda's fountain at the Pig Roast

Day off with Daddy- we loved those days!

Happy Lady

Ready for Fun in the Sun

Running through the fountains at Bayshore

Puppet Show at the Library with Gramma

Yahnke Family Christmas in July Brewer Game

Both kids sat through most of the game!

We LOVED reading lots of new books this summer!

Face Paint and a Tractor- what more could a 4 year old ask for!

Best Smile of the Summer- the trick: a corn dog!

Still LOVES the Piggy Bank Slide!

State Fair Cream Puffs-Yum!

Lovin being home with my kiddos!

We made a zoo

Fun in Minnesota 

Ryan didn't want to be in a picture with just girls, so we had to recruit a male cheerleader to join us

One of Daddy's Favorite Days- Badger Family Fun Day

The Carousel was a summer highlight

Lovin the Brewers-lots of clapping

Brewer Game with Godfather Tim

What every 4th Day looked like

Summer Fun= Long naps that started before we got home