Lake Michigan

Did you know we have a big, beautiful lake practically right in our backyard?? I knew that, but I never get down there which is such a shame. So...I took Simon down today, along with the Kohn family. It was really fun, they saw huge fish, huge yachts and sail boats and got to swim and jump waves in the lake! The beach was clean, the water was pretty warm and they had a blast. We were in Port Washington which is such a nice little town. Tomorrow is the last day of vacation, not sure what we are doing, but it will have alot to do with getting ready for the first day of 1st grade. : ) M

Weekend so far

Sweet Evelyn Grace....

To get you up to speed on the weekend doings, here we go.....

It is the last official weekend of summer vacation. Friday we went bowling with friends, I took a meal to a family with a new baby and then we went "moonlight" golfing with Matt and Amy. Simon has been asking to do that for 2 years now. It was fun.

Saturday, I took some photos of a new baby this morning. He was SO tiny and SO adorable. Then we helped Aunt Jane and family move. I had the VERY hard job of watching Evelyn most of the day. She was very sweet and no trouble at all. We rocked and went for walks. M

Sick boy

I caught a grasshopper!

Simon had a trip to see Dr Hegmann today. Infected salavary gland. He had this once before.

His face gets sore and swollen and he had a slight fever. The first time he had it I thought it was the mumps. There was a surprise shot we were not prepared for. Needed to get caught up for school. So needless to say, we had a day of rest. Hopefully tomorrow he will better. M

Community Service and Catch up

Unbelievable how fast time goes. It seems like just yesterday it was Friday... To get you up to speed, we have been having fun. Saturday we spent the day with Madeline and Julie, going to lunch and seeing "Fly me to the Moon". Cute movie, but costly. Saturday night we went to Richfield days. Simon and Randy rode rides, over and over, played games, over and over, then we watched the fireworks.

Sunday, we took Rene for Lydia to the parade. It was fun, then he played here for a while. I had to work at church.

Monday....we played with Rene again. We went to the park so they could ride scooters. SImon got stung by a bee. Not fun, but a trip to Pops for ice cream helped ease the pain!

Tuesday....Simon and I cleaned up the park we were at Monday. It looked a mess and I thought it would be a good community service project for us. He did a great job, I was very proud of him. After that we went to a 7 hour birthday party!! YES, 7 hours. It was fun, starting at the spray park and ending at their house. Long day.

Wednesday....meet your teacher day at school. We took in all his supplies, filled his new desk and met Mrs Otzelberger-Held. Very nice lady. SImon was excited about his desk, he is sitting next to his good freind Matt Kohn. I signed up to be class room photographer!!! Yippeee, I also will go in as a class helper. I am looking forward to that as well. So, now I am up to date. The remainder of the week is fillled with more plans to see friends and enjoy our last days of summer vacation. Hope you enjoy yours.... M

PS I also joined SnapFitness today!!

Tastefully Simple

I had a Tastefully Simple party tonight. What fun. We sampled lots of really good things. We had a little margarita and lots of laughs. Otherwise the day was pretty uneventful. Good day at home. Not sure what the weekend holds, Richfield days and the fireworks tomorrow. I have to work Sunday night. I'll update on more on Monday.

Friends and fractures

Poor Lydia!! ; (

Really, really good friends!

We spent the day today with good friends. We started off taking photos of Evelyn, our great niece. She is a month old already and growing really big. Danielle is doing a great job being a mom. After that we picked up the kids from Lydia. She fell yesterday at the mini golf. She went to the dr only to find out she has a fractured bone in her foot!! Poor Lydia. Teri and Paige invited us over to play and have pizza. It was really fun. One last hoorah before school starts. Lydia needs to wear this big brace on her foot for about 4-6 weeks. Beware of mini golf, it can be dangerous. M

Putters and Paintings

But that's my house!!!! : (

Little Putters, Paige and Justin are missing from the photo.

Today was the last day of our Little Putters golf league. It was a fun season, I think the kids really enjoyed it. After that we spent the day running errands and cleaning house. We did take the dog swimming tonight. Anyway, when we came home from errands, we found 2 painters in the driveway next to the barn. They set up shop there and were painting pictures of the barn and house. I walked over the see a beautiful painting of my house. I BEGGED the guy to sell it to me, he said it goes for $750, can you believe it???? I offered him $100, no, and asked him to paint me a 2nd one, no. I kept saying, but that's my house!! Did not matter, he would not budge. I was upset by the whole thing, but he did allow me to take a photograph. Randy said I should have told him, either hand over the painting or get off of private property! I am not that bold....but seriously....that's my house!!

A day at Stonefire Pizza

Simon on the frogger ride. He went on about 4 times. It goes up and then drops!

War paint.

One of the things I promised Simon was a trip to Stonefire Pizza before school started. Today was the day. We went with Lydia and the kids. We arrived at 11:30 and left at 5pm! It truly was a DAY at Stonefire. They met a nice girl named Peyton who they played and played with. If you are unfamiliar with Stonefire, it is lots of yummy food (all you can eat) arcade games, play rooms, face painting (as in the photo) a few rides and just all around fun.

Sunday-no photo forgot my camera

What a busy day....after church today, Simon and I went to an open house for Bounce and Beyond. A new place opening in Germantown. At LaFleurs to be exact. For 3 hours we played there, there were tons of people and they all had fun. Lydia and the kids took him home with them so the fun could continue. Allowing Randy and I to do something we never do....go on a date. We went shopping for new shoes for him (my favorite thing to do, shoe shopping) : ) and then to Applebee's for a nice dinner. Thank you Lydia.

Frog Pond

Matt with the biggest bullfrog in the world!!! Ok...maybe the biggest in West Bend.

A VERY dirty Simon with his frogs....about 20 in that little container.

Today was a day spent with friends at "frog pond". We have been there a few times with these guys, but have not ever seen many frogs. We thought the stories they told were legends and we would never see what they were talking about. Well....let me tell you. There were frogs EVERYWHERE. I think Simon brought home about 20. His buddy Matt and his super cool mom, Amy, caught 2 of the biggest bullfrogs I have ever seen in my life. It was very exciting!!

Tonight I worked at church and am now watching the Packers play the pre-season game. It is just not the same without Brett. M

A day at the beach

Today we spent most of the day at Menomonee Park. Always a fun place to be. Fishing was first, Simon caught 2 little ones. Vanesa caught a really BIG one. It was fun to see her so excited. BUT....the big catch of the day was a huge painted turtle. He has always wanted a turtle so he was thrilled to have one. Terdy, or Fred (the name keeps changing) will live with us for a while, but the gal at the pet store said they are much happier in a pond. So we will set him free soon. Have a great weekend..... M

Summer beauty

Summer flowers are so beautiful in August. I was grateful that this flower bed was far enough away from the roof that they were unharmed. Randy cut the grass tonight and the yard looks so nice. I love our yard. M

Thank God and Halleluia!!

Today the roof is complete. It is a good day. After nearly a month of ripping, and hammering the roofing project is done!!! The crew Randy hired worked hard yesterday and today to finish up just in time before the rain came. The clean up is still yet to be done, but now we can take our time and do that. Randy is off all week so he can get that done. It will be nice to have life back to normal. Whatever that is : )

Simon and I got alot of his school shopping done yesterday and today. All supplies done and some new pants, shoes and lunch box. All day school will be a big adjustment for him, so pray it all goes well. We spent the rest of the day doing major cleaning inside and going thru closets and toys making room for all the new things he received from his birthday. Then we rented Nim's Island, popped popcorn and enjoyed a nice quite night. M

Brewer's

Nothing like a good bubble bath after a hard day's work.

Simon and the sausages

Today, Monday we spent with friends at the Brewer game. It was a welcome relief from all the hard work we did on Sunday. It was another exhausting day of picking up shingles all over the yard. Thank God for Grandpa and Grandma Z....our "work crew" Simon and I burned alot and tried to help as much as we could. Tomorrow the shinglers come and hopefully the end is in sight! While this is going on tomorrow, Simon and I plan to do school shopping and make a stop at Chuck E Cheese~ He has been such a good helper thru all of this.......FYI the Polish sausage won the race today. We sat in the bleachers for the first time. We met some interesting characters is all I'll say. It was alot of fun. M

Always a day behind.

Randy working on roof side 5 & 6. We have hired a guy to do the shingling

Helping Grandpa clean up shingles.

the newest funest place to play....the dumpster.

Friday was full of fun. Tutoring in the morning. Ms Hetzel is wonderful with the kids and is making this summer learning super fun. They had scooter races while doing math problems. We stayed at Madeline and Julie's for lunch and swimming. Our friend Anthony came home with us after that to play. AND after that we went our cousins for a combined birthday dinner at McDonalds. What a day.

Saturday was a work day, roofing. : ( It really cooled off this afternoon which was a blessing for Randy up on the roof. Simon and I helped by cleaning the garage, burning the garbage and picking up shingles. We are all tired and headed to bed. M

Brett the Jet

Well, it was a sad day. I know everyone in the world has heard about Brett Favre and his being traded to the NY Jets. I never thought that would happen. I have mixed emotions about the whole thing. I am sorry to see him leave and I hope that he has his best season yet. I will continue to watch him and cheer him on no matter where he goes. .... ; (
As for us, Simon had a dental appt, no cavitities! We took Aunt Linda to lunch for her birthday and spent the afternoon at home catching up from being gone. The dumpster arrived yesterday and we are gearing up for another "roofing" weekend. More later M

Fun at Holiday Hill

the biggest ice cream cone they ever saw!! Do you think they ate it all?? : )

Oh yeah, there was a hot tub too, I enjoyed that a time or two

Miss Kim took the boys, then me for a fun ride around the lake

the boys on the biggest tube ever!

Simon on one of his 300 jumps off the diving board.

We returned last night after 3 fun filled days at the Whitburn's Holiday Hill. It is a beautiful place on Long Lake up near Waupaca. One day, Simon and Nathaniel went into the lake at 9 am and did not come out until 6:30 when Grandpa promised them ice cream. Simon mastered the diving board, practicing his dive, but mostly just doing cannonballs off the end. They went on the jet ski, the 4 wheeler, we had lots of fun boat rides, a rescue mission to save Grandma and Miss Kim and a campfire. Grandma and Grandpa Whitburn were excellent hosts. The weather could not have been better. T All is good.... M

Weekend Update

Roof #3 & #4 are done. We counted. There are 12 roofs on our house that need to be redone.

SO 8 more to go. It is such a huge undertaking. I am worried about Randy pushing himself too hard. Simon and I are off to Nathaniel's grandparents lake house for a mini vacation and some

much needed R&R. We will return on Wed night. I will update with photos then. M

The fun never ends

The gang threw a party for Simon at McDonald's last night. It was fun to hang out and catch up. Summer has gone by so fast it is hard to keep up with everyone. Today was spent at the beach with Lydia and the kids. I forgot my camera, can you believe it. Our new tenants are all moved in and are settling in their new home. Looks like more roofing will be going on tomorrow. Happy weekend. M