October, November and some of December!

It's been a long time since the last post, and we've been busy! There are lots of pictures in this post.

I wanted to get a picture with all the grandkids in it. This was the best attempt. Maebel is too busy to sit for a picture, and Sam is too silly!

Sam just loves Linus. Linus is so calm and happy with whatever situation he is put into...including Sam holding him.

We helped Grandma Rikli with a project in her backyard. Sam got to learn how to use a drill.

I had an HR conference at the Kalahari in October so the boys came up and we stayed an extra night.

Breakfast at Paul Bunyan.

The silly side of the table...

We went to Timbavati Wildlife park which we had never been to before. It wasn't the nicest day out, but we had fun!

I got to chaperone Joey's trip to the Overture Center to see "My Father's Dragon". Here's our group: Joey, Cedrick, Chris and Finley.

Joey and Sam both continue to like swim lessons. They keep on learning, and it's amazing the confidence they have in the water.

G&G Hyland had an Optimist convention in Barneveld, and we got to go for the day and take advantage of the water park area. We had a blast! Basketball was definitely where we spent the most time this trip.

We took a walk at a park in Mount Horeb to kill some time before G&G were done and we could have supper with them. It was a nice little walk and the boys enjoyed throwing rocks in the water.

We went to Waldvogel's again this year on the same weekend we went last year. We had a blast again, and they added even more stuff so we didn't have time to do everything.

This was the boys' favorite thing this year. A pumpkin shaped jumping pad.

The boys got to celebrate their birthdays at Toys R Us with Geoffrey. We hadn't done this on the exact day they had the party so it was fun to see Geoffrey and get to enjoy the other little events they had going on.

They did a parade through the store with Geoffrey leading the way.

I'm not sure where my pictures of Joey's actual birthday went!

Here are a few of Sam's day of birthday. Since we had a birthday party this year, we kept the day of birthdays low key.

They day they had been waiting for was finally here. This is where they had their 9th and 6th birthday party. Legacy Academy!

Jett, Joey and Landin...

Trying out the pinata. The 9 year olds were pretty strong, and it didn't take a whole lot to get a big hole in it!

Linus tried out the swing and loved it!

Maebel had fun playing all the games...

Sam could not wait to do presents. He opened everything so fast, we could barely keep track of who brought what!

We didn't have enough time before the party time expired to unwrap G&G Hyland's presents so we went to their house the next day since there wasn't school to open them and play.

Sam lost his first tooth on November 26th!

We went to the Optimist pancake breakfast and got to see Santa and Mrs Claus.

Then we got to got to Brunch with Santa in Monroe. It was still early for Maebel so Joey held her for a little bit.

Maebel wanted nothing to do with Santa. Linus was just fine with him :)

Joey and Sam were happy to see him...

They got their faces painted. So festive!

Sam had to hold Linus a few different times.

We tried to get a picture of all the grandkids together. Who would have thought that would be so difficult?!

My work had Santa come and then there were cookies and hot chocolate. Sam told Santa he wanted a giant bear for Christmas. Not sure where he got that idea from...lol!

Next up is Christmas...and it doesn't look like it is going to be a White one this year!

Time flies when you're having fun!

Hard to believe that summer is over now. Here is a recap of the 2nd half of summer.

We went to the Monroe Farmer's Market and the boys got Pikachu hats with the gift certificate we had. We have worn them Pokemon hunting multiple times already!

We checked out the storybook characters around the square.

Sam went to a Superhero night. He made his own mask, did some superhero tricks and captured some villains!

We didn't get to use our pool as much as we wanted to since it didn't stay all that warm this summer. There were some fun times in it though!

A trip to the zoo with the two Joeys.

Train ride selfie!

They had a cool new exhibit where you could move sand around to build mountains, make lakes, etc. The boys were both fascinated with it.

The boys made a robot for vacation Bible school. Sam was not thrilled for it to leave the house.

Linus snuggles!

The boys and Grandma played "Patty Cake" with Linus. He was smiling and loved it!

John and I got to make a weekend trip to Door County. First trip without the boys since 2011!

Fish boil...

The boys took a karate class through the Park and Rec. Can you see Sam in the front leading the warm-up exercise?

Maebel turned two! We had so much fun celebrating with her!

First day of School! 3rd grade and Kindergarten...hard to believe!

Walking to school...

Sam was nervous until we got in his classroom, and then he was ok with being at school!

Joey got to fly in an airplane through the Young Eagles program. He first learned about the parts of a plane.

Then he got ready for takeoff! He got to fly in this plane with Dan Wegmueller (pilot) and 2 other kids.

He had a great time. He loved wearing the headsets to be able to talk to each other, and he saw downtown Monroe out the window.

It feels like I missed lots of stuff we did this summer, and the summer flew by as usual. On to Fall!