Pictures with my parents

Isn't he the cutest? He's 4 months old already!
Caught a great pose in the midst of their playing.

All together. Isn't this sweet?

A closer look at the tent

I had a couple questions about the tent and a friend who was looking for the pattern. So, since I love this kind of thing, I took some more pictures and some measurements. Obviously this is just a rough sketch and you'll need to add seam allowances to the measurements. Click on the pictures for a closer look. Thanks again, Emily!

You gotta see this tent Emily made!

An early birthday party

The day started with a charity walk. Mom and I took the twins in the strollers and walked 2 1/2 miles to support The Bridge. Afterword, we picked Dad up and met Andy and Jenny at Portrait Innovations for a photo session with the grandparents and grandkids. I'll post those as soon as I figure out where the pictures went when I downloaded them to my computer.

Let the celebration begin! We went to The Rainforest Cafe for expensive cheeseburgers (veggie for Andy and Jen, of course.) Grandpa got lots of hugs from Catie when the gorillas started making noise. Nick thought it was so much fun! He was fascinated by all the animals. But not too fascinated to eat 4 chicken nuggets, an adult-sized portion of fries, AND his complimentary 2 scoop birthday sundae.

After a nap, Nick and Catie woke up to a birthday party! I chose a Sesame Street theme, which they loved. (The next day, when I got Nick up, he immediately asked for a birthday party.) My cousin Ethan and his wife Emily came with their nephew who is just a couple months older than Catie and Nick. We were disappointed that Grandpa and Grandma Herzog weren't able to come, though.

For dinner we had homemade pizza and salad. And for dessert we had cake, ice cream, and brownie bites. Yum!

Catie and Nick got some great presents including fun socks, a remote controlled Lightening McQueen car, princess dolls, puzzles, cute outfits, and a handmade tent (made by Emily.)





The twins are going to be disappointed when they find out that birthdays usually only come once a year!

Apple Picking

Last Saturday we headed out to the Wisconsin border to The Royal Oak Farm Orchard to pick some apples. The weather wasn't promising, but it turned out to be a beautiful day. We ate a yummy and filling lunch at the restaurant (including an apple dumpling) before we headed out to the orchard, wondering if we would be able to try any apples while we were picking since our bellies were so full, but we needn't have worried. :)

The tractor was a little scary, but Catie soon loosened up and enjoyed the ride.

Nick, on the other hand, wouldn't sit on my lap because he was too excited about sitting on his own on the bench. (He's behind my dad in this picture.)

Yum! What's better than an apple that you picked yourself?

Catie likes to take little bites all over the apple. :)

Grandpa and Aunt Jenny entertained the kids while we were waiting for the tractor.

You might have noticed that Wesley was crying in the tractor picture. He soon took a little nap in the fresh air.

We had to rent a wagon to carry all those apples.

Then we picked out a few pumpkins.

The farm also had a petting zoo, a playground, train rides, an orchard tour, and a carousel.

Here's Catie telling the goats to "get down!" just like Grandma and Grandpa Herzog's puppies.

Nick loved feeding the little goats.

They both ran around singing, "Old Mc farmer had a farm. EIEIO!" What a fun day!

I can't resist posting this video

I promise I'll get around to posting more about what we're up to when it doesn't include sentences like "We're still at my parents' house" and "No new news."

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Under the Big Top

On Friday night we went to the circus with the twins for the first time. It was one of those small travelling circuses. (The juggler was also our ticket taker, and the Roly Boly guy sold us a program.) We had "box seats" meaning that we had a sectioned off spot right next to the ring. It was trouble right away when the clowns came out. Catie and Nick started shaking like I've never seen before. Mom and I scooped them up onto our laps and tried to distract them with food and drinks. Then the tigers came out. They were the laziest tigers I've ever seen. It took them 10 minutes to do the act and the highlight was when one tiger jumped over the backs of three other tigers. But, the kids liked it and calmed down. The juggler was excellent, the dog trainer was even more pathetic than the tigers, and the other performers wouldn't have made it on America's Got Talent. We decided to leave during intermission because we had company. As we were leaving, Catie said, "The circus is fun!" She could have fooled me while we were sitting there, but I tried to encourage her good feelings so that we would be able to enjoy it more some other time. They both talked about all the things that they remembered (which was more than we thought) the whole way home.