piano lessons

lia started taking piano lessons in september.

her teacher has a studio above heid music store in downtown appleton. her teacher (bruce) is an amazing musician and such a funny guy. he was recommended to us by some of our friends - and it has been such a good experience for lia. she loves to play and it is so fun to hear her tunes coming from the living room.

preschool

maggie does go to a little park and rec preschool 2 days a week this year.

due to the fact that our house is awfully quiet without the big kids around she loves getting out to play with the other kids.

she has the sweetest teachers there - it has been a great fit for her! :)

me and my silly girl

1st day - wearing a backpack that is as big as she is
showing off a furry friend that she took with her in her bagartwork

hanging up her backpack with her friend lucy

lucy is a year older than maggie and was such a big help in making maggie feel comfortable the first few weeks! thanks lucy! :)

back 2 school

ok - i am still so behind in my blog efforts -

here we have some beginning of the school year photos.

my kids have loved their elementary school. they have great teachers and friends.

this year i have a first and second grader. here they are on their first day! :)

hey we even caught ty on his way out the door :)

this one still gets to spend the day with mom - i know all too soon she will be joining lia and jax

i treasure my time spent with her each day!

(stacie do you recognize her tutu? so cute)

camping at high cliff summer 2010

we went camping at high cliff state park (just 20 minutes from home) the end of august before the kids started back to school.

we got all the troops and our gear packed into the van!

here are jax and maggie getting set to go..

and then of course it started to do this outside...complete downpour
it stopped for a minute right when we got there so ty had time to set up the tent and then it started up again with a vengeance and rained all night

so we sat in the tent for a while ...here's ty and jax attempting to hold up the side of the tent
jax thought it was funny

maggie eating cookies tucked in the corner of the tent

so it continued to pour...

everything we brought to eat had to be prepared outside so we finally gave up and drove into town and got pizza and warmed up for a while. we did sleep in the tent that night and by morning the storm had passed. the rest of our trip was great - i love camping with my family! :)

maggie enjoying some cocoa

lia crafting
maggie adopted 3 caterpillars during the trip that she insisted she carry around everywhere.

i think she loved all 3 of them into the hereafter and kept wondering why they weren't moving anymore....what can you do?

here she is holding them...look at her face - just adoring them
this one is on the branch

and on the branch again

maggie crafting

playing some ladder ball - jax is crazy good at this game and would play all day if you let him

helping dad load up on wood

takin' a hike

and fishing(unsuccessfully i might add) casey - where are you when we need you?

they look cute though right?

my boys

on the playground

making bracelets

ahh..kind of a sweet picture even though their hands are dirty

silly

sweet -

i always hated my own freckles...but i think his are adorable

lia practicing a magic trick ty taught her

maggie moo

ty is all about the camping gadgets - here he is popping some popcorn over the fire

the kids were exhausted by the end of the day so it was kind of fun to do popcorn and a movie outdoors

yum!

watching the show

marshmallowscheesy grin

look a cheesy grin from maggie too.

she is dirty from head to toe too - welcome to camping, especially when you're 3

tyler telling "scary" stories

lia telling us a story

now for a small tutorial on my favorite camping food

cut the top out of some oranges and hollow out the peel - keep the top part as well

fill with your favorite kind of muffin (i recommend poppy seed or cranberry orange) - 2/3 full
put the top back on and wrap in foil like so..

then find a nice bed of coals to place them on for 5-10 minutes

unwrap and ta-da

a warm muffin that can be eaten with a spoon

this is not the most attractive picture of me..or maggie

but the last day we were there she woke up with a hugely swollen eye - due to a mosquito bite

so i thought i should post a picture...poor little lamb

one more camping craft

all in all a great trip - hopefully we will go a few more times next summer :)