First Day of School

Whit is in Junior Kindergarten this year!

A few days before school started, we went to the "Meet and Greet". Whit was so excited to go to school and meet his teacher. I took these pictures that day because I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to take him to school on his first day. (I was hoping to be in the hospital with a new baby since she was due on the 31st of Aug.)

I love how big his backpack is:)

Whit had fun going to his school and playing in the classroom for a little while, but when we were leaving he was confused he didn't get to stay and have school.  I told him he gets to come back in just a few days.   

  I was so happy that I got to take Whit to school on his first day, since Kayli didn't come until early the next morning.  He had such a big grin on his face.
Before school...

Taylor wanted to be in all the pictures with Whit.

After school...

Jake took Whit to school on his 2nd day. Then the next week after I got home from the hospital Grandma was here to help take Whit to school. For the first few days I was so excited for him to go to school since I knew he was excited but then the next few days it really started to get to me and I was sad that my Little Boy was already big enough to go to school.
His teacher, Mrs. Gordy gives them "Happy Grams" if they are good at school and I love how excited he gets to show me his "Happy Gram".

Kayli's here!

Kayli Mae
arrived Sept. 2
7lbs. 2 oz. and 20 in. long

My Birth Story:
On Sept. 1st we went to the Back to school BBQ for the Dental school, we had fun playing, meeting people and eating Brats and lots of yummy desserts, but after I ate my dinner I realized that wasn't the best dinner for tonight.  When we got home around 7 my contractions started and for the next 4 hours they were about 10-15 mins apart.  Around 11:30 my contractions picked up, I told Jake it was time to go.  We gather our things get the kids in the car and take them to a friends (Thank you Kathryn for taking our kids and providing a place for them to sleep for the night!) which they were so excited the next morning when they woke up and they were at Kennedy's house!  We got to the hospital around 12:20, they got me all settled in my room, I was dilated to a 4 and my first thought was only a four, then my second thought oh good I have time for an epidural!  The nurse sent someone to let the anesthesiologist know.  In the meantime my contractions are getting stronger and around 12:45 my water broke, when they checked me again I was dilated to a 6, now I was making some progress.  The nurse sent for the anesthesiologist again but he never showed up and by now my contractions were so strong and coming on top of each other I didn't even have time to relax and breathe.  All I could think about was "I can't do this!"  But sure enough I had to and I did!! I started pushing around 1:15 and Kayli was here at 1:24.  It all happened so fast, and it was definitely very hard work but Kayli was worth it.  Jake and I were both in tears and when I got to hold this sweet little girl all the pain went away and all I felt was Joy and Happiness!

* Side note: My recovery without an epidural was much quicker and it was nice to be able to get up and use the restroom and walk around afterwords.

Whit and Taylor were both so excited to come see little Kayli.  Whit had such a huge smile every time he saw her.

1st summer in Milwaukee

We moved to Milwuakee the end of May so Jake could start his Orthodontic Residency at Marquette University.  The day we left Richmond it was about 95 degrees (I was so excited for summer) but a few days later we got to Milwaukee and it was about 48 degrees.  Luckily it didn't stay like that for long.  It warmed up and we had a fun summer going to the parks, splash pads and the Lake.  

Whit was so excited went he found out that we would have a lawn to mow!  We are in a duplex so the boys only have to do it every other week but Whit wishes he could do it every day.  Once in a while he will follow Jake with his little lawn mower but usually he likes to hold onto the bar and help daddy push the big one.

Rockin' Out!


Fun at the Children's  Museum

 
Taylor thought it would be funny to put on some of my shorts, they are so tight around her since she is in one leg.  I ran downstairs to grab the camera, I came around the corner and some how she made it down the stairs like that without falling (until I told her to turn around and then she fell right after I snapped the picture!)





Whit's new friend that lives a couple houses down has this fun police car that they love to drive around.

We have had fun going to all the splash pads and wading pools.

I made this Boredom Jar for the summer filled with different activities for the kids to pick out.  It was such a fun idea, we'll have to make sure to pull it out next summer.  One of our activities was to make these fun cookies...

Lake Michigan has this fun park we love to go to play, ride bikes and have picnics.

 Jake took Whit to a Brewers game.  Whit was so excited to go with his daddy.

4th of July

We had a fun 4th of July. We went to the Parade in the morning. For the first part of the Parade the kids didn't like it too much because we were behind a bunch of people and they couldn't see much going on and any loud noises or gunshots scared them, but once we got closer it got better.


Whit loved these little cars...




I love this Girl!

After the Parade we went to our ward pool party & bbq. It was nice to get to know more of the students in the ward and make some new friends.
Of course a bbq is always a good excuse to make a frog eye salad:)




After the bbq we got to go home and enjoy naptime so we could go out for fireworks. We got there early so we could play at the park for a while before the fireworks started. We met up with some friends, the kids had fun playing and they were so excited to watch the fireworks until they started...



You can't really tell in this picture but they were both crying hysterically, and just kept saying "I wanna go home!" We packed up and walked back to the van. By the time we were in the van they were fine and wanted to watch the fireworks from inside. They really don't like loud noise (unless they are the ones making it!). It was a fun day and it was nice to have Jake home from school.
*The rest of the week the kids kept asking when we were going to go see some more fireworks, Whit convinced himself he wouldn't be scared this time. Maybe next year will be better, I just need to remember to bring some earplugs.

Last Goodbyes

We enjoyed our last day at the park with all the girls and kids.

Our last "Scraps" (which is the girls night of visiting and eating lots of yummy treats!) the girls put together a fun night.  They made a DVD with pictures of everyone that was moving, made "yearbooks" for everyone to write little messages, we voted and got "most likely" awards.  Thanks for such a fun night girls.

For Graduation my friend Mandi watched the kids and they had so much fun playing with their friend Linc.  Thanks Mandi!

On our last night in Virginia after we had our moving cubes all loaded up and ready to go we went out to dinner at Panera Bread then got home to our sad empty house but were excited to have some friends outside saying Goodbye.  We stayed out way past the kids bedtime but they loved running around and giving lots of hugs in the dark. 

Sara, Mandi, and Me

Samantha, Teegan, Whit and Lincoln

It was so nice to get to visit one last night togther!

Home for the Next 2 Years

Looking for a place to live without being able to come here and see was definitely hard. We moved into a 3 bedroom duplex. It is nice to have a house that is a little bigger than before and I will actually be able to have a nursery (maybe one of these days I can decorate it). Whit and Taylor are sharing a room, but they actually prefer to share and they can finally go to sleep now at the same time. The kitchen is a little small but we have a big dining room that I am enjoying. In the basement we have big storage and laundry room (that hopefully won't flood anymore from the rain storms, but everyone tells me that's Wisconsin!) and also a toy room that is nice to just throw all the toys downstairs so I don't have to see the mess. I am loving having a full size washer and dryer, I can actually do my laundry in one day and it only takes one cycle for my clothes to dry (thats one thing that I don't miss about chelsea square!)

It has been hard to move away from so many good friends but our ward here is great. We are looking forward to our new adventure and whatever that brings:)