Wednesday, July 29, 2009

SNEAKY SNEAKY

I snuck in a few posts before Baby Colin. Check them out!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Colin Joseph

The child formerly known by our boys as Baby Dude, Colin Joseph was born to Scott's brother Brian and wife Kelli.
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After a short labor, he entered the world with a full head of hair, weighing 8 lbs 4 oz and measuring 21 1/2 inches.

We can't wait to meet our new little nephew!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Circus Parade and Baby Bunnies

The return of the Great Circus Parade! Apparently, the Circus Parade was a Milwaukee summer staple, but it hasn't happened in several years. So, when it returned, we decided to see what all of the hubbub was about.

Basically, it was a great parade with these beautiful wooden wagons pulled by horses. Between the wagons, clowns, jugglers and performers entertained us.

It was a warm sunny day (shock!) during the hour our boys lasted.

Yes, those are actual tigers! Super cool, except the boys weren't paying attention just then.

The Statue of Liberty on stilts went by. We've seen her at parades before. Luke excitedly exclaimed, "There goes the tall Jesus!"

In other news, we had a little nest of baby bunnies in our back yard. They were in a little patch of plants right by our patio. (Brave Mama bunny!) We made sure to powder up - an old tip from Grandpa. It keeps the human scent off of the bunnies. If the mama bunny smells humans, she can get scared and abandon the babies. The little babies were quite feisty so I had to hold them while the boys pet them.

The babies were just the right size for little visitors. If they were smaller, they'd be too ugly and helpless. If they were bigger, they wouldn't be easy to catch. As it was, the bunnies were in the next for about two more days. Now, we see little kid-aged bunnies all around the yard. Next spring, I'm sure we'll get our fill of twitterpated young adult bunnies, which seems to be how this whole thing started in the first place.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Littlest League

Joe started "Little League" at our church. It's not so much a league with real games, etc, but more like a big practice and scrimmage that the whole family can attend. Whatever kids show up that day, they separate by age, and whatever parents show up, they dole out as coaches. Then, they just play! (Joe has on the white hat)
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Half way through, Joe excitedly exclaimed to one of the coaches, "I'm having so much fun!"
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We tried soccer last year and that was a little too much for him (plus, it was right when Andrew was born) We also tried swim lessons for him, but I think we were trying all of these things too early for him. He protested and cried a bit (who knows why, maybe tired?) when we told him about playing baseball, but he recovered well and was ready to go when it was time.

He came home just beaming. The stop for "fudge hot sundaes" at McDonald's probably didn't hurt, either!

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Olivia the little Catholic

While we were home, baby Olivia, Scott's sister Katie's little girl was baptized (or, "bath-tized" as the boys call it).

She did just great for the service.


Granddad was snuggling with his youngest grand babies.

Olivia sleeping peacefully in her swaddle.

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Happy 4th!

We watched the Menomonee Falls parade again this year. We went with some friends from Joe's school. We got bags for the kids to collect candy, but most of the candy had been tossed out already (we were toward the end of the parade route) Instead, the boys used the bags as hats. Left to right: Patrick, Jonah, Luke and Joseph.

Even Andrew stuck the bag on his own head!

Joe didn't like the booms from the drums whenever a band would go by.

Andrew, on the other hand, was facinated.

This little community is a bit nuts about their parade. This sign hangs all year. Yes, people do stake out spots that far in advance. It's like a mad rush July 2 at 7 pm. We were fortunate to be invited to share space with some families from our friends' parish. Otherwise, we would have been stuck on 36 inches of corner curb like last year.

We didn't stay for the fireworks, but we did see them a little from our friends' house. It wasn't too loud for the kids and they could see most of the sparkle. From left to right: Luke, Jonah, Joseph, Scott, Andrew and Aaron.

The cutest part of the night is when we saw the fireworks off in the distance. Docile and quiet little Andrew went nuts! He started yell-babbling and pointing with delight. He was saying "Arga bluu! Bab ga! Managa!!" It was like he was saying, "Hey guys!! Check it out! Those cool lights over there! Look now, so you don't miss it!"

Here he is again in his real 4th of July outfit. So cute! Thanks, Aunt Janelle (who, by the way, is on her way back home from Afghanistan for a month).

Thursday, July 02, 2009

More Kids Galore

It's all of the first cousins on my side: clockwise from top left, Kolbe, Joe, Luke, Andrew, Molly, Patrick and Libby in the middle.

Please don't pay any attention to Patrick's lovely goose egg on his forehead or the boys multi-colored leg bruises. Gotta love little boys.
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All I can say it that the pictures look lovely compared to the complete chaos before and especially afterward. We had to wait for an hour and a half after they were done before we could view and order them. All of the cousins together is completely nuts on a good day, but pull-your-hair-out crazy when they're enclosed in a store with other people, not many toys, hot, and late for dinner. I needed some Valium to recover fully.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Wiidiculous

My sweet little Patrick was playing Wii boxing. I was surprised at his aggressiveness on screen since he's not all that aggressive with his brothers. What surprised me more was when he hollered, "Wanna piece of me??" to the cartoon guy he was hitting.