Trick-or-Treat!

It was definitely a fun Halloween 2011! Tessa was so into everything about it. Nolan started to get into it too but still a little confused what was going on :) We purchased Nolan this adorable cow costume (since cows, tractors, barns are his favorite things EVER...still not sure why!?!?) but he wanted absolutely nothing to do with putting it on. It was a full body costume and all he wanted to do with it was walk around like it was a stuffed animal. Our little cow turned into a football player which worked out perfectly. Tessa wore her favorite dress up costume - Tinkerbell - that she got from Aunt Cinders and Uncle Mikers last year. She was decked out and loving every minute of it.

The Lane/Pertzborn crew...love these kids. What in the world would my kids do without M, M, and M in their lives?

The girls. A little snuggle before we started trick-or-treating.

Having a little heart-to-heart conversation while going house to house.

Tessa being a goofball and Nolan still trying to figure out what this whole pumpkin carving, take outside, light a candle in the inside of it thing is all about.

Tessa so carefully cleaning out of her pumpkin and Derek using his sawzall. The butter knife I used worked just fine :)

Look at that concentration. Good job working hard Tessaroo on painting your cute, little pumpkin.

The next three pics are from Stephie's Halloween party. We are so lucky to have her in our lives and are so lucky to have her help raising our children while we are at work. The kids LOVE going to Stephie's..Nolie no longer says Beppy :(. She had adorable Halloween games set up for the kids to play and they had so much fun.

Making a spider web. Even Jennings, aka Nolan, joined in on the this one. Not sure which he was more excited about, playing the game or sitting by Mitchell, but either way he loved it.

The kids signing and acting out a song for us. Super cute!

The beginning of the Halloween show :)

Nolan loves tractors more than almost anything else in the world. He was in awe to be so close to this tractor, and even more importantly the tractor's wheel! He was in heaven and telling him it was time to leave that day was not pretty.

Cheeeeeeese!

Playing outside while we can. Loving playing around in the leaves.

Nolan loving the leaves too. Man the slide goes quickly with leaves all over it!

Fall

What a beautiful fall. We couldn't have asked for a more wonderful week and weekend. The nights dipping down to 55 degrees with highs during the day in the low 80's. Perfect! It would be great if this could stick around for a long time but I know this is not a typical fall in WI so the weather will be changing anytime. The tree colors right now are gorgeous and changing everyday.

We've had a great start to the school year. It's hard to believe we are beginning week six of school already and right in the swing of things. Derek is still really enjoying coaching football this fall and only has one game left before playoffs begin. Man that went fast (at least for me)! Tessa is loving school and still loves going to Stephie's or Grandma's when she's not at school. And Mr. Nolan is changing so much. He talks all the time, is so goofy and silly, and also loves going to Grandma's and Stephie's (aka Beppy). He usually gets out of the vehicle and sprints to whichever house he is going to for the day. It sure makes a mommy feel good when her kiddos LOVE where they spend their days. We are lucky to have two of the best babysitters ever.

We had Tessa's first parent/teacher conference last week. I've had hundreds of conferences over the past seven years but this is my first on the parent side. It was the cutest thing ever. Derek and I didn't know exactly what to expect. We were obviously hopeful that things were going well but you just never know. Her teacher is so sweet. Things are going great at school for Tessa. She's helpful, polite, loves reading and writing, and seems to be right on track for her age. Good job Tessaroo :)

Of course I also have to mention how extremely great it is to be from WI this fall. Go Badgers, Brewers, and Packers!

Mr. Serious just waiting to devour that apple.

Tessa being silly and Nolan being such a big boy swinging all alone.

I don't think I ever recall playing in the leaves with shorts on...but I'll take it!

Thanks Marah girl! Love the bunny accessories that you bought for T. You two are too cute together :)

Duckathon

The Lodi Duckathon - my first ever triathlon. It was the 9th annual Duckathon this year and my first time participating. It's a mini tri (125 m swim, 7 mile bike, 3.75 mile run). I feel like it was a great race to have on the list of "firsts" and maybe I can work my way up to a longer race next summer. Jess, Beau, and Rick all participated as a team in the relay and mom was also going to participate until she hurt her foot at workout a week before the race. Hopefully next year we can all participate in it again - it was a great start to a beautiful fall Saturday.

Happy 2nd Birthday Nolan

Happy Birthday Nolie. To look back two years ago and to look at Nolan now is truly amazing. Even in the last few months he has changed so much. He says so many words, makes it very clear if he wants something, gives the best running hugs that are out there, and is still so snuggly (when he wants to be..not as much as mommy would like). He is so much fun and makes us better people for having him in our lives. When I was pregnant with Nolan I had those natural thoughts which sound so ridiculous now to even say. How could I possibly love another child as much as I loved my little Tessa? To even think about that seems so silly but I remember just not knowing if I could love my second baby as much as I loved my first. Well, it's possible. And I think that I not only love them the absolute same amount (which by the way is a TON) but I love them even more because of them being a pair, a little team. We are so very blessed. Look at our little 2 year old football player. Happy birthday buddy :)

Winding up to throw...of course making Daddy proud :)

First Day of School

It was the first day of school today for three out of the four members of our family. Derek started today with his new group of freshmen, I started with my 7th graders, and Miss Tessa had her first day of 4K today! I was soooo nervous thinking of my little munchkin getting on that school bus. We went to visit the school buses at an open house last night and she wanted nothing to do with them. Nolan was all about it and so mad that we weren't going to actually get on one, but Miss Tessa just wanted to leave the bus open house and go home. The poor girl is like her mommy...loves being home where we feel comfortable. Anything out of the ordinary scares us a little :)

So needless to say I was a little nervous today. Okay, so I was a lotta nervous today. She doesn't get picked up until 11:30 so shortly after that I called our "God-send" Stephie (the kids daycare provider). She took tons of pictures and spent about five minutes describing every move that happened and every little detail of the bus arriving and Tessa getting on. Tessa loved it. Of course I probably ended up being more nervous than her. My baby is growing up. I'm so proud of her that she did so well. Hopefully day #2 goes just as well but this time she'll get picked up from Grandma's. I'll be calling you at 11:31 tomorrow mom...hope the report is the same as Stephie's was today...that Tessa got onto the bus full of excitement.

Below are a few pics of Tessa's first day of 4K. The first one is at home because on the first day of school everyone needs a photo of their child on the front step, right?!? The rest of the pics below that are from Stephie's. Tessa has a friend from daycare, Ryan, who goes to school with her. They are cute little buddies. Good job today Tessaroo.

Tessa on the front step before heading to Stephie's.

Ryan and Tessa waiting for the bus on Stephie's front step. (Isn't Ryan the cutest thing!?!)

Here we go Ryan. Man that bus is big compared to us. The bus is about the same size as our gigantic backpacks!

Here we go on the bus. These steps are huge too, like the bus and our backpacks! Save a spot for me Ryan!

Thanks for saving me a spot Ryan!

Stephie, we are home! School was sooooo much fun!

Tessa's first picture from 4K. There will be many more I'm sure but I had to at least take a picture of the first one:)

Summer fun

Summer fun, that pretty much sums up what our summer was like. It was a super fun summer. The summer consisted of tons of swimming, going to various waterparks, playing at the park, going for bike rides, getting together with friends and family, grilling out, eating tons of ice cream, going to parades, playing in the garden, and building sand castles. Those are just a few of our favorite things we did this summer. I know I always say it, but this summer sure did cruise by! We know how lucky we are to have this time with the kids. Derek was very busy this summer with summer school and various odd jobs so he didn't see the kids much more than he does during the school year but I spent the majority of the summer doing what I love best...playing with my two munchkins. Soon we'll be heading into another school year. We always get excited to start another year. This year will be a little different than in the past because Derek and I aren't the only ones starting school. Tessa will be heading to 4K four days a week for half days. Hard to believe that starting on September 1 my baby will be getting on a school bus. The weather seems to be changing a little and it's definitely starting to feel a little more like fall. Cooler nights, getting darker earlier, staying darker later. I suppose we'd call this perfect football weather.

Tessa's first Brewer game

Thank you again M and C for the awesome brewers tickets. Last Monday Derek, Tessa, and I spent all afternoon in Milwaukee visiting with Cindy. We enjoyed a nice lunch out and a nice walk around the lake before heading to Miller Park. It was a super fun day, I'm so glad that it worked out for us to go! Nolan stayed back with Grandma and Grandpa, which I'm sure he LOVED! It was crazy how "easy" the day was just having Tessa along with us. It's a completely different mindset to not have a toddler along. As much fun as we did have, I couldn't wait to get up the next morning to get Nolie to give him a good morning snuggle. The game was so much fun, Tessa loved it. She had so many questions about everything and she lasted until the 8th inning. She got extra excited whenever Ryan Braun or Prince Fielder would be up...two people that Mason talks about all of the time. So I think she felt like she knew them :) A great start to August!