Florida

We spent ten days in Florida and seemingly skipped the worst stretch of Wisconsin weather this year.  The kids had a lot of fun in the sun.  We spent a lot of pool and beach time, went to the zoo, had some mini-golf, I did some real golf, Kate and I got a date, and we rarely put on jackets.

  

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch with the boys and they had a blast.

Jake is now narrating his life most days.  "We are vrooming in papa's car.  Der a bus.  Der a fire truck.  Sunny out today."

Sam likes his 4k school a lot.  They have a new letter they study every week or two.  Right now he is singing songs with the letter "h."  He has a ton of energy.  We had a good time with a pile of leaves over the weekend.  

Yesterday Jake was educating me on "Dark Bader and Corn Poopers."  "They're bad guys."  I asked how he knew so much about Darth Vader and Storm Troopers.  He said "Sammy share his bad guy books."    

Updates and water slide

At the end of April Sam, Jake, and I went to Great Wolf Lodge to see Grandma Mary and Aunt Betsy. I taped Sam's first water slide experience.

I finished school in May and signed with a new firm in June.

The boys started taking gymnastics lessons in June.  They take classes on Mondays and Katie coaches a class at the same gym on Tuesdays.

Jake is picking up a bunch of new words each day.  When he says "help, please" it is adorable.
Sam quizzes him at lunch.
Sam: "Jake, say wall."
Jake: "Wall."
Sam: "Say window."
Jake: "Window."

Both boys suddenly are afraid of spiderwebs.  Sam has been hung up on talking about poisonous spiders for awhile.  We think it is from his Spiderman books.  Eventually Jake took this to heart and started getting nervous around spiderwebs (including rubber climbing webs at the park).  Now this seems to have rubbed off on Sam to a certain extent and (despite what Katie and I keep telling him) he is starting to wonder if spiders wandering on the deck are all in fact poisonous.  He used to say it and not really believe it.  Hopefully this passes soon.

Ham and Peeps

Jake learned the words "ham" and "Peeps" over Easter weekend.

Story Time

Sam, Jake, and I went to story time at the library. Most of the kids sat on carpet squares as the librarian started. Jake stayed close to me at the back of the room. After a few minutes he pointed at Sam and jabbered a bit. Then he walked over to Sam and sat in his lap. Sam didn't even flinch. He wrapped his arms around Jake and tipped his head so he could still follow the story. Most of the parents in the room looked around smiling.

We've been away for awhile...

Now we are back.

Facebook has made me a bit delinquent in updating as it feels like dual entry accounting. However, not everyone has Facebook.

Sam and Jake are doing well. We just got back from a Florida visit.

Here is a random assortment of shots from the last year to catch up.

Florida

We visited Grandpa's place for ten days and had a wonderful time. The kids were great on the flights and slept well. The weather couldn't have been better.