Happy Halloween

Another year came and went and we missed Grandpa and Grandma again this year! We miss our traditions with them!

Halloween 2011 brought not much change in personality...

Madi always has several ideas for costumes... this year she settled on being an owl. I have to say it was fun to actually make a costume this year. We should have done face paint for the mask but our makeshift mask turned out pretty good even though it was last minute.

Then there is Drew who changed his mind a couple of times and then announced the other day he didn't want to dress up at all. After finding out that he couldn't trick or treat if he didn't dress up at all, he decided to be a baseball player... yes AGAIN! So from my last post to this one not much has changed... here is my little Riverdog.
All ready to trick or treat!

Happy Halloween!!!

Riverdogs... Fall 2011

One more season of t-ball down and very possibly only one more to go...

Drew had another fantastic season for baseball. For the season, we can definitely tell that he is getting more comfortable playing on the fields and understands the concepts and the rules even better. He has far surpassed my abilities and can catch, throw and hit way better!!!! He made a lot of hits for douubles this season which made him quite happy!

He also still loves to play at home... since the beginning of the season he has been banned from taking a full swing in the back yard. Fortunately no broken windows but a couple of houses have taken some hits. He has started catching the ball a lot more consistently. He also loves to play pitcher with Marty... He makes me laugh as he told Marty (the catcher) one day that he needed to stand up and put his glove off to the side. Why, Marty asked... well of course they were intentionally walking that batter. He will also tell Marty that he needs to flip off his helmet and come talk to him when he has thrown too many balls. I thought this was the last of his major league baseball watching antics until the last game... At the last game, I watched him out on the field see a runner lead off of second. He literally went to cover the base and held up his glove as if someone should throw him the ball so he could catch the runner stealing! This one made me laugh out loud a little.

I love that he has found something he really loves to play. He is definitely having fun out there despite the crazy lunatics that we always have to play against.

Didn't take pictures when we were on the other side of the field. So here's my cutie from behind getting ready to hit... :)

Love his expressions on the field!

Action shot... running to second!

"Pitching"...

I LOVE it when he does this "pose" before he throws. Getting ready to "pitch" one out!

Second Grade AND Kindergarten

The first day of school has come and gone and both Madi and Drew did awesome! It was so much better that Drew's Kindergarten teacher let them in the room these first couple of days so far to play play dough as opposed to sitting in the crazy hallway watching a ton of people walk by. He amazingly smiled and waved at us as we walked away and the even bigger smile on his face when he walked out of the building made me a little teary eyed! We knew Madi would love the day -- she LOVES school just not getting up so early. She had an awesome first day and is super excited to be upstairs! So here's to another school year!

Madi and Drew before leaving for school!

Madi - second grade

Drew - Kindergarten

Drew & Mrs. McBurnett

Madi & Mrs. McGhee

Crazy Summer...

This summer was not supposed to be the summer that we were off like crazy but somehow things never quite end up as planned. I would have to say that we were gone more than we were home and that the ever so sacred summer days are now numbered. So much for counting down to summer, the countdown to school has made it's presence. As our final major galavant of the summer, we headed back to the one and only great state of Wisconsin! We had a ton of fun as always and the days FLEW by! We had so many fun times again and Marty was extremely happy to get in both games of volleyball and a softball game while we were there.

We spent one whole day at Jellystone in Caledonia, visiting the die hard camping Poehler's and Francis'. The kids had a blast doing endless water balloon wars, jumping on the Jumping Pillow, adventuring off to find Yogi's cave, chasing down Boo Boo, swimming in the water park area, having fun at the parks and making Smores by the campfire! The day flew by and we were all tired our come the end.

Water balloon refill time...
Launching balloons!


Drew having a BLAST jumping on the Jumping Pillow

All six kids jumping away... at least most of Friday we had this all to ourselves. Later on that changed and I heard Saturday was a little crazy!

The next morning it was off to the EAA Airventure airshow, apparently now the largest airshow in the world. We received VIP treatment from Marty's cousin who works for EAA. He drove us around on his golf cart to show us the highlights and provided us with an air conditioned break spot, complete with fully stocked refrigerators of soda, gatorade and water as well as an entire cooler of ice cream treats. Boy were we spoiled. It ended up being the perfect venue to "crash" in when the 40 mph + winds blew in out of nowhere! It completely cooled the day off at that point and made the evening quite enjoyable. We were able to watch the evening airshow which was AMAZING. The airplanes lit up the night sky with either lights or fireworks trailing and shooting out of their wings. We finished off the night by cramming 9 of us on a 4 seater golf cart en route to 2 different parking lots. We laughed so hard, Drew thought we were a bit looney but we sure had fun!

Yes... we waited an hour and a half to go on a 737 Southwest plane, the same kind of plane we fly ALL THE TIME! Madi and Drew thoroughly enjoyed their time in the cockpit though!

This F-18 was super cool. We saw him flying around in formation with another plane and when they split off, he gunned it and believe me the entire airshow heard him! He landed a few minutes later and taxied in to park right where we were standing.

"Gotta" love M&Ms! And I "gotta" love my goofy Drew-Man!

No pictures would do this show justice!

The next day was pretty much the entire purpose of this trip. Marty's dad was being placed on the Memorial Wall at the airshow grounds in Oshkosh. His dad LOVED being a pilot and flying and therefore this was a perfect tribute. The missing man formation flyover was definitely heartfelt for many... After the ceremony, Marty, Madi and Drew all traced his name onto the memorial paper. A huge thanks to Marty's cousin, Trevor, for making this happen in memory of his dad!

The wall!...

Tracing his name...

After the ceremony, we all went back to visit Marty's grandma, had lunch and visited. Tara or Taresey as she is lovingly known as in our house stayed and played with the kids for the rest of the day! Madi and Drew LOVE her... well they love all of those VanStippens!

We finally headed back to Racine later that night and the next day was filled with more fun filled hangouts at Grandma and Grandpa's finished off with the Grand Finale of one Giant Sleepover! I love that all these kiddos, old and young, want to spend the night with Madi and Drew when we are there! We love you Michaela, Hollie, Zach, Hannah, Kaitlyn, Samantha & Caleb! Can't wait for the next time!

So there's the super long post... if only I put this much time into my homework... it would actually be done! :)

Horseshoe Bay

We had SO much fun at the Horseshoe Bay Resort... who knew such fun was so close by. The few days spent were covered by Marty's work which made it even nicer. We got there later on in the afternoon and they had maxed out of regular hotel rooms so they put us up in a two bedroom villa. Madi and Drew were ecstatic that they had their own bedroom and bathroom and that all the rooms were upstairs! Downstairs was a kitchen, another bathroom and full living room. Needless to say this "hotel" room had more space than any apartment Marty and I lived in before moving into our house. The first day, we hung out at the pool and how could we be at a resort without a Bahama Mama... the only problem -- I think the bartender was laughing while I explained how to make one and they are even better in Mexico when they are free! None the less, we thoroughly enjoyed our Bahama Mamas.

After getting settled in... we got ready for dinner at the Yacht Club and then swimming at the beach area, pool and hot tub later before catching some of the movie on the lawn.
Relaxing in the lake...

Drew floating in the bucket...

And then Madi...

Madi hanging in the very cool "Volcano" hot tub!

Drew enjoying....

The next day... we spent some time both at the hotel pool(Madi's favorite) and then at the Yacht Club Pool (Drew's favorite as well as my favorite too).

Madi loved this waterfall -- the reason she liked this pool.

My sweet boy....
Once the "storms" rolled in, we headed out of the pool and relaxed for a while then went to the putting course. It was perfect for golfing as the cloud cover kept us cool enough to golf all 18 holes. We all had a ton of fun and the course was beautiful.

Loved this waterfall wall...

Drew golfing...

Madi golfing....
After golf, it was a quick get ready for the celebration dinner. There was lots of dancing after dinner and Madi and Daddy got into the fun for Dynamite -- Drew sang his little heart out at the table -- dancing in public isn't so much his scene.

Once the awards portion past, we headed for another night swim and warm up in the hot tub -- the room for dinner was FREEZING!
Last day was more mini golf and a quick swim before heading out back to home and again back to reality.

Again -- I loved this waterfall!

Happy Birthday Madi!

In the true tradition of birthdays around here! The birthday person gets to pick t he fun for the day! Madi picked Schlitterbahn this year. It is great to do all sorts of fun things with the kiddos. I have to say the tradition also helps me remember those precious days as each year passes by. So in the true spirit of birthday season ans before I forget some of these moments... I am going to reminisce a bit because even 7 years is somewhat of a stretch at this point.

Year 1... the year of the 3 birthday parties. Madi celebrated her first birthday with her cousin Hannah in Wisconsin about a month before her birthday -- Auntie Khris was kind enough to share Hannahs party and even let Madi smash around in chocolate cake on her carpeting!!! She had a party planned for her actual birthday but we ended with a trip to the Dr. -- she had a virus and we had to cancel the party for all the kids invited -- the adults were still okay so we had a family party instead and redid the other group a week later! So the spoiling began early.

Year 2... Drew was born shortly before so Grandma & Grandpa were here for Madi's birthday celebration. For her actual birthday, we spent the day at the Pflugerville water park. She loved that place!

Year 3... I'm a blank -- see that's why I am reminiscing -- SO SAD! :)

Year 4... Sea World

Year 5... Sea World with the Ms. Katie & the boys in Texas but it was a pretend birthday day as we were in Wisconsin on her birthday and she went to Rainforest Cafe, took pictures with the giant tortoise and snake, Went to Fired Up! in Racine for a pottery party with all the cousins and then back to Grandma's for a Royal Ball! Whew... that was a lot!

Year 6... Spoiled Rotten Disney Princess for a day -- need I say more! She had a blast!

And Year 7... Schlitterbahn -- It actually wasn't terribly too hot and she was more excited about Rainbow Ice Dippin Dots than anything else!

So sad that the Dippin Dots are gone!

Happy Birthday Madi!!!!

All sorts of fun & lack of sleep eventually must end!

The fun continued for many days after the Brewer game. Travel around the state began with a trip to Boyd. A day spent visiting some very special Aunts, Uncles and grandma went by really quickly. Then it was off to Appleton to visit another very special Aunt, Uncle and grandma as well as cousins. Swimming in the pool and going to Build A Bear topped day 1. The next day was a ton of fun swimming in the lake, riding in the tube and taking a nice boat ride to end the night. It is alway so hard to say goodbye but we will be back soon so we reserved most of the sadness. I wish I could say the same for our next departure, though we know we will be back in a couple short weeks, we also know how quickly the time will fly by. So here's to another year, another couple weeks of sleep deprivation (and I don't seem to be helping my cause) and lots of anticipation for our next visit! The crew Madi and Drew can't get enough of... They LOVE their cousins and love playing with them non-stop.
Matching 4th of July attire compliments of Grandma & Grandpa! They all look pretty darn cute!

Oh boy... leave it to Drew to give quite a face!