wysereeser + 3

This summer has been a big one in many ways for our family.  We had a wonderful time at the pool, hanging out with friends and being with family. We also said goodbye to our long time furry friend, Bailey.  We love you Bailey!

The number 2 is a theme for this summer.

Chloe turned 2!   Many people continue to tell us how cute she is. It seems like we hear it abnormally often. Of course we agree with these comments but we could be a bit biased. Chloe seems to be able to say whatever she wants. Her vocabulary is huge.  She is quite the chatter box. She loves to sing and is very much still into singing happy birthday.  She also makes up her own songs.  She is really into girlie things but is not afraid of getting dirty and playing with all sorts of bugs. She loves to dance, hug and kiss.  And oh boy do those hugs bring sunshine.

Mitchell had 2 injuries. He got bit by a snake while at Grandma and Grandpa Wyse’s. They have window well that he was playing in while we were visiting.  He liked the window wells because of the many frogs that mistakenly found there way in them.  On the last day of our visit Mitchell made his way into the window well to find a garter snake.  He said he had some play time with the snake before it bit him. His second injury was while we were fixing up the duplex for the next tenant. Scott was removing some glue off the floor and had some adhesive remover on it. Mitchell came downstairs and went right to where the remover was and fell on it. He had some decent size burns on various parts of his body. The worst on his inner leg. 3 weeks after I can honestly say it has healed pretty well and all the scaring may eventually go away. Scott told me about a sweet interaction that happened just the other day.  Scott was missing Bailey. Scott told Mitchell that he missed Bailey. Mitchell proceeded to put his arm around Scott and say “I miss Bailey too daddy.” Moments later he brought Scott a little stuffed dog and said something like, here is another dog for you daddy.  Every day Mitchell asks about getting another dog.  He continues to be Mr Social. Just this past Sunday we took honey to the church for people to buy. Mitchell took it upon himself to go person to person and ask them if they wanted to buy honey that was made at his house and then would take them over to the wagon of honey, proceed to ask if they wanted a taste and after the person would taste it he would proceed to ask if the person wanted to buy some. Mitchell learned how to swim this summer. He was a fish in the pool. He loved it and even enjoyed jumping off the diving board.

Nate is now in 2nd grade!! He is so big and so mature. He can be so helpful, but his siblings don’t always allow for him to be as helpful as he would like to be when it comes to them.  He has learned some cleaning skills. He cleaned the bathroom on his own. He has also taken a great amount of pride and responsibility in taking care of his fish and frog that he got for his 7th birthday this past spring. He may be one of a very few kids his age that don’t mind me hugging him when I drop him off at school. It is exciting to see him excited and energized about school every day.  I love that he is still really into cuddling and hanging with mom and dad. He really likes soccer and had fun shooting of some rockets with Scott this summer.

We feel so blessed each day with how great all 3 kids are. They are very different but all just so great!

I can’t believe it has been 5 months since the last blog. The kids have grown so much and I am so proud of all of them.

Nate continues to do well in school. His teacher says he can always rely on him listening and taking the lead and being a good role model for the rest of the class.  Currently is is looking forward to his Lego themed birthday party. He has made his most detailed birthday list ever and is struggling with how to only keep his invite list at 7 kids.  He is still very much into crafts.  Nate is really into sports right now. He likes playing soccer. Just the other day we played tennis due to Nate’s insistence. He is looking forward to tennis lessons this summer along with hanging out at the pool and with his friends.  Recently Nate and I (Angie) had the pleasure of joining some friends at the Fireside to see a production of Annie.

Mitchell is becoming a great communicator. For a long time he had a hard time fully vocalizing his feelings with words. He is growing tremendously in this area.  His sentences are becoming very detailed. It is so fun to see and hear his thoughts and what he is thinking about. His thought is becoming so much more independent.  He is on the verge of being potty trained or he is but still has periodic accidents. He doesn’t like to be told when to go to the bathroom. As of late Scott figured out that if we use a timer, Mitchell is more receptive to being “told” to go to the potty.  The beeper has a strong voice. Most of Mitchell’s friends are 4 year olds and people who don’t know he is 4 assume he is 4.  He is such a big boy.  He loves doing things with his hands.  He likes to cut and tear paper, play with playdo, color (he can color in the lines fairly well when he tries), basically do anything with his hands. He also grabs a chair and pulls it over to the counter anytime he hears the mixer. He loves to help. When I ask for something to be done, like let Bailey out, he jumps to the task. He loves feeding Bailey.

Chloe, our wonderful redhead has such a great personality. Yes at times she knows what she wants and will let you know it but she also seems ok when it doesn’t work out her way. She loves to smile and be social.  She has also become quite the verbal communicator.  It is amazing how observant she is.  She doesn’t just try to copy what her brothers are doing or I or Scott, but she gets every detail when copying.  It is so fun to see her greet her brothers in the morning when they wake up or any one of us when we come home. She says “hug” and “kiss” in the cutest way.  If she does something that hurts someone accidently all it takes is for that person to say “ow”. She quickly says “kiss” and proceeds to give the injured area a kiss. She may also quickly proceed with a hug.  If one of the family members is not with us or trailing far behind on a walk she will let us know and be concerned.

This winter seemed a long one and spring has been just around the corner for awhile.  We had took the opportunity to go ice skating various times. We hadn’t made it to see family since Christmas so our Spring break consisted of starting out hanging out with the Reeser family for a nice long weekend. We headed straight from the farm to the Science and Industry museum in Chicago for the day. The following day we went to the Great Wolf Lodge in the Dell’s for an overnight. Then on Friday morning we headed to Ohio to visit the Wyse’s and complete our week long journey. It was fun to hear Nate say that it was the best week.

This past weekend, we as a family took our first family of 5 bike ride. Yes some of us have ridden bike over the past few years, but not all together. The two youngest rode in the burley and Nate on his very on bike. Nate did a wonderful job. The trip was at least a 6 mile trip.  Nate did not complain at all. He is definitely going to force us to be more active (hopefully).

This summer we are looking forward to a long weekend at some cabin with friends, destination not yet decided, a week with family in Ohio and more than likely time with family in Illinois. We may even attempt a camping trip?  We are planning on having Nate visit the families again this summer on his own. Perhaps Mitchell a weekend alone? We can’t wait for the days at the pool, the garden that is waiting to be planted etc.

This year we decided a new format for our Christmas letter. Why not just snail mail the link to our blog?

We will see how this goes. What I miss in the letter, you might be able to find in an earlier blog post. Have fun if this is your first visit to our blog. I can’t say I am the best blogger. When Nate was in preschool, he learned the following saying that we continue to use: “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.” Enjoy!

2010 treated us well. Mitchell turned 2, Nate turned 6 and Chloe turned 1. They all have their different personalities that make them who they are and they are all awesome.

I will start with travels. It feels like we didn’t travel much this past year. We spent spring break in Jonesboro, Arkansas visiting Chris and Alyssa and Ainsley. We also trialed one night as a family at a nearby campground. The mosquitoes were horrible and we realized that camping may not be for us this summer due to family size and the ages of our children. This is something we hope to try again next year since this is something that both Scott and I and Nate enjoy. Mitchell and Chloe have so little experience camping that we can only hope they will enjoy it as much as we do. We also spent time visiting family in Ohio and Illinois at various times this year. This summer we all enjoyed the neighborhood pool that is a block away and all that goes with it; friends, swimming lessons etc.

One big change that happened to us this past summer is that after 6 years of child sharing, we are now officially paying for childcare. Our friends who we child shared with for the past 4 years moved to Kansas. How dare they. =) We contemplated trying to find another family to share with but decided we would try to go the route of paying someone 3 days per week and on our days home just being with our kids. This has been nice and not so nice. Financially it has been quite a change, however, it has been nice to be able to put all our attention on just our kids during the day when we are home with them. It has also allowed me (Angie) to get work done when they are napping, get into the habit of making bread on a weekly basis and

take them to things like the music class at the Children’s Museum.

I, Angie continue to work as a Support Broker at Teamwork Associates. I support adults with disabilities who live  and work in the community. I help them strive for what they hope and dream for. It is difficult to say what all my job encompasses so if you don’t know and want to learn more, I am always happy to talk about it. As you know, I am always willing to just talk. =)

Scott continues to work at the University of Wisconsin. He works at the same place but this past summer he changed positions and is working under a new supervisor. This has been a positive change for him. He continues to aid in the process of long distance learning (online courses) but he doesn’t work directly with the professors like in the past, but more programming.

Nate continues to be the best cuddler around. He is super helpful and we think he’s pretty awesome. Nate is now a first grader. He was very excited to move up a grade and to start school this past fall. His kindergarten year was wonderful and his teachers were most excellent. It can be hard to beat it. Nate

however seems to again like his teacher, school, learning and everything else that comes with it. Nate also really enjoys projects. He can’t get enough of them. He is always trying to make something. We mentioned this to his teacher, so his teacher challenged him to make a learning project for his classroom, so Nate did. He spent a few evenings on it. The learning part were addition and subtraction problems. Nate continues to enjoy playing soccer. His coach has commented many times over that he is a good dribbler. Nate somehow managed to score every game (I believe or close to it) this past fall. Sometimes his goal was the only goal and sometimes there were 5 or more goals. There is no official tracking of goals at this age in his soccer league. This was the year for Nate to try things. He took tennis lessons, played t-ball, took ice skating lessons, swimming lessons, took spanish and played soccer. The hope is that he is given the chance to try things and then figure out what he really wants to focus on. I think Nate enjoyed all of the things he tried but he seemed the most excited about soccer. He is starting to talk about piano lessons. You can see what might be added to the list of what he tries in 2011. Nate spent a week at each set of Grandparents this summer. This was his second summer of weeks away. He always does a great job and is on his best behavior (so we are told).

Mitchell continues to win people over by his personality, including us. He can be quite the silly guy. Most recently we have asked him to give us the crazy eyes and it is something he is quite good at. He likes to do whatever his big brother is doing. He also seems to have an artistic side. I know that the boys did not get it from me. Scott is the better artist of the two of us. Mitch loves playdo, drawing, playing with legos with his brother. I guess I would say he is a guy who likes learning with his hands. Mitchell took swimming lessons this past summer at the pool. He is a boy who isn’t afraid of much and it shows in his swimming. He was very comfortable in the water and would often tell us to let go. At first it was scary because he would just kind of flail underwater for a bit. We would pull him out and he would say “again”. By the end of the summer he would periodically be able to propel himself forward. He would still struggle with pulling his head out of the water, but he had the underwater swim going on.

Chloe has been a wonderful blessing. It has been fun to see her grow this year. Yes, her hair is still red. I mentioned earlier how Mitchell loves doing what Nate does. Well Chloe loves doing whatever her brothers do. She just lights up when she sees them. I love her expression in the morning when she sees them for the first time that day. She does a jumping jig and squeals and say “hi” over and over. Her vocabulary is growing every day. She isn’t the easiest to understand but she knows how to get her point across. As far as her personality, Scott has mentioned lately that he thinks she has turned into a mix between Nate and Mitchell. She has a bit of each of their personalities. I would concur. Mitchell and Chloe have been going to a music class at the Children’s Museum this fall. Chloe has a blast and is one of the only kids that actually gets into it and dances in the middle of the circle. Mitchell joins her from time to time, but he would rather play in other parts of the museum. Chloe is always up for a dance party. Chloe is just great.

We are excited to welcome 2011 in and see what all it holds for us.

Ok so again I am going to blog with no photos on the camera for my computer. I NEED to get my hands on it before the photos are taken off and on Scott’s computer. My forever excuse.  If only I had access to his computer or he would add photos to my posts… sigh

I can’t let that hold me back from updates that are long overdue.

School is in full swing. Nate is loving it. He likes his teacher and still likes school. Nate has again been playing soccer this fall. When I told him it was canceled tonight due to wind he said, “God could you stop blowing already, really you can stop blowing now.” It was very cute. He does seem to enjoy it. He has scored at least one goal every game. He is our soccer superstar. He is also taking another round of ice skating lessons.  We just wanted him to have the basic skills of skating down. If he would want to take it further, so be it.  He loves helping his sister out and when he doesn’t want to pick on Mitchell =), he too loves to be a great big brother. He is into projects, projects, projects. He can’t get enough drawing and coloring, taping, glueing, writing in.  Recently Nate has started to try to sing along in church.  This is exciting for me, his mom who would love to see all my kids enjoy singing as much as I do. Nate still is really into Batman and again wants to be Batman for Halloween. This has inspired us all to be superheros this Halloween. Nate has become a great reader, he was counting backwards today, which I didn’t even know he could do! I guess I never asked.

Mitchell continues to be wonderful as well. He has his moments of great emotion around transitions that he is not into (there is no amount of prep or warning that makes the transitions any easier) The other day on the walk to school it was pretty cold out. Mitchell’s hands were really cold. I asked him if I could hold his hand to warm it up while we walked. He agreed. At the end of the walk he said “thank you for holding my hand mom”.  He is always concerned about others in the family and where they are at.  This morning he was very excited to tell me that he got to say goodbye to dad today. Usually Scott leaves for work before the kids get up. Mitchell also loves being a great helper. He likes to share with Chloe and again has general concern for all.  His language has blossomed to the extent that all the sudden he is using all these words and his sentences are complete and and and.  Pretty amazing how things just happen and how kids are like sponges of learning.

Chloe is becoming everything her brothers are. She loves them and gets so excited when they enter the house, room or whereever she is. She loves doing what they do even if it isn’t quite physically possible. She will do her darnedest to try. She even enjoys getting in the on the wrestling matches.  She has learned how to say several words. I am not sure I am going to remember them all this moment, but I will throw as many out as come to mind. Baba for sippy (mitchell’s word), hi, bye, shoe, sock, up, this, that. She follows simple instructions now like get your shoes or coat.  She is also starting to have a mind of her own. Some mornings on the walk home from school Mitchell wants to walk, well of course Chloe has a fit if she can’t walk too, so the 10 minute walks has taken us 30 plus minutes if I have allowed the time. Sometimes unfortunately we just don’t have the time.  At church this past Sunday she would draw a few seconds and then show Scott her picture for approval. She did this over and over. I am sure this is something she learned from her brothers who also like to draw and show us the results.  It seems that from time to time Chloe is struggling with the pain of her teeth coming in. Currently she has 6.5 teeth. 4 on top, 2 and part of one on bottom and part of a molar coming in. Not the typical order I would have guessed but slowly but surely her teeth are popping through. It feels as if the other 3 molars are not far behind.  This past week she was weened from night feedings. She and her mother have had a couple full nights of sleep.  Why, I wonder, am I not feeling more rested? Probably because I am staying up later knowing that I am going to get a better night sleep. Well I should really head to bed even if I have more to say….

Goodnight

Poor Chloe.  She is almost a month over a year and I am just now sitting down to post pics and update everyone.  So yes August was a big month. Our little girl is 1!  Here is a photo of our little birthday girl.

Here are a few more cute shots of her.

At the end of August we had one last hurrah before school started. I (Angie) took the last full week off and Chloe and I started the week vacation by heading to Iowa for our first official girls’ weekend.  Chloe and Ava truly enjoyed each others’ company.

On Tuesday I took the 3 kiddos to the Circus World Museum. It was a fun day had by all. Mitchell and Nate even had the opportunity to ride on an elephant.

On Wednesday morning shortly before we we were ready to head out to Minnesota, Mitchell fell off the bunk bed and gave himself a nice open wound. Poor guy! He handled it well. We all headed to urgent care. He was awesome!! He (on his own) started talking about no more monkeys jumping on the bed and how one fell off and bumped his head and had to go to the doctor.  Here is a nice photo of his lovely head.

Minnesota was again a wonderful time. I think this is our 4th year to head up to Sugar Lake.  It is a nice weekend with friends, food (Norske Nook pie), sauna and lake.

We all had a few days to adjust back home before Nate headed back to school on Wednesday. When I asked Nate what he liked about 1st grade his response was “I love everything about 1st grade!”

Nate is gone yet another week this summer. In June he was visiting the Wyse clan. This week he is visiting the Reeser clan. His uncle Andy took him out to purchase his own birthday present. I think he enjoyed just spending time with his uncle but a present was definitely a bonus!!  It sounds like he also had fun playing with his cousins Katie and Grant. It is fun to hear that Grant seems to love watching and playing with Nate. I am sure Nate loves it that his cousin looks up to him. I am sure Nate also has enjoyed all the wonderful doting that Grandma and Grandpa have done.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for giving Nate a wonderful week!!

I am always amazed at how thoughtful both my boys can be.  Nate was sad that he was going to miss my birthday so he drew me a picture before he left town for the week.  He made me a vase and wanted to make sure that we got flowers to put in the vase because he knows I love flowers.  Mitchell will quickly run to someone when he knows they got hurt. He will just kiss Chloe as he is passing by. Sure he has somewhere he is going but the guy always on the go most certainly has time to give a kiss as he is walking by.  I love my boys!!!

As Chloe rounds the corner of being 1 I am going to take a few minutes to reflect. The other night I felt probably one of the strongest pains in my heart. Chloe is almost 1, she is a walking maniac and she is eating big people food and nursing less.  She is pretty much a toddler.  I don’t recall if a toddler technically starts at 1 or 2 but since she is toddling around it only makes sense to call her back. Anyway the vision that causes such a pain was of me carrying her in my maya wrap. The tiny baby bundle that was always so peaceful, sweet and cuddly. The baby that would fall asleep almost instantly when inserted in the wrap. The almost tiny (never was tiny) baby.  I think it is more difficult this time seeing her get to be so big so fast knowing that she is it. She is the last of my babies.  This stage is almost over in my life.  That said, she is still wonderful, easy going, sweet etc. She loves the ergo (though she doesn’t fall asleep as easily in it). She has about 6 teeth now. They are gradually coming in. She has more teeth than Mitchell at this age, I think but less than Nate. She is walking. Like really walking. She has been doing this for a couple weeks now, though it seems like this week is when she decided that it was going to be her primary mode of mobility.  Remembering back, Nate walked on his 1st birthday and Mitchell was just over 10 months. So again Chloe is right in the middle of that being just over 11 months when she started. She says bye bye and waves. She can sometimes be caught saying “up” when it is requested of her. It seems she is attempting to say other words too from time to time, so I think she is not far from a talking explosion. Oh and she says Uh Oh!  Her hair is coming in thicker and I had fun putting a barrette in it the other day even though it didn’t really do much other than decorate her beautiful head.  This is Chloe at one. She is really starting to imitate her brother’s and she loves to laugh at them and make them laugh. She likes blowing on my belly and saying “ah” while putting her hand to her mouth and taking it away and doing that over and over. She is good at making her lips vibrate and make that sound. I am sorry if there is a name but I can’t recall what it is called. I will just have to get it on video.