This is where we found Joel a few days ago. What is that he has in his hand and in his mouth? It's a delicious dog biscuit! I guess he thinks what's good enough for Puff is good enough for him, or he was too tired of waiting for us to feed him! No not really. Joel is just so curious about the world around him now especially that he's very mobile. He's taking five to six steps and getting into everything. What a happy little boy!
Aly ran in the Waunakee 5k on Saturday. Kris ran with her as a last minute request. Not only did Alyson run fast and come in third in her age group, a fourteen year old and an eleven year old came in ahead of her, but she had a personal best of 24:20, that's 7:50 average per mile!
Then get this. Alyson ran 2.2 miles with me this morning and then ran a 6:40 mile with her track club this afternoon beating all the girls except a thirteen year old girl by 4 seconds and 4 boys! Holy cow! We've got a racer on our hands!
Here are some pics of the race and of the fun we had at Waunefest. What a great weekend!
Turns out Ellary had to have surgery on her broken elbow after all. We took her to St Mary's Hospital in Madison early this morning, 6 a.m. Then she went in for surgery around 8 a.m. The surgeon repaired the supracondryal fracture. Basically her humorous broke near her elbow and bent backwards separating her humorous from her forearm. She needed 3 pins to put the pieces back together. She'll be in a splint for one week and then a cast for about 6 weeks. Poor girlie. We are just glad the surgery went well and that Ellary is on the mend. Still, it's difficult to see her in so much pain and not being able to understand what's happening like we do. She is a tough girl, and we love her so very much.
Pictures are of Ellary before surgery, just after surgery, and Kris carrying Ellary out of the hospital.
Kris spent most of Monday helping a person from our ward move. When he got home at 3 p.m. we were all anxious to go get out of the house. Keegan wanted to go swimming so he put on his swimming trunks, his goggles, and his Middleton pool Pass. His ensemble cracked us up! Ellary on the other hand was very disappointed that she would not be able to swim. So we decided to go to Governor Dodge State Park instead. We were pleasantly surprised by the park and the beauty of Cox Lake. It reminded us of a Colorado lake.
Alyson, Koco and Keegan swam while Ellary and I took Joel in the stroller and fished. We also played old maid. Ellary kept forgetting what the game was called and called it Little Women. That made me smile. After we finished fishing we joined the family on the beach and watched as Alyson and Kourtney kicked their way across the lake on inner tubes and Kris swim across the lake with them. You can see Kris standing on a rock and the green inner tubes the girls used on the far side of the lake in the last picture.
We left the beach just in time for a huge lightning storm to fall upon us. We drove to Spring Green ate dinner. Then we drove the rest of the way home. What a fun trip! We hope to get the chance to camp out at Governor Dodge State Park before the summer is up. We will see.
Alyson, Kourtney, Keegan, Joel and I drove to Cross Plains this morning so Keegan could go to a friend's birthday party. Cross Plains is about 10 miles NW of Middleton, so we decided to have a picnic and fish in Cross Plains while Keegan was at the party.
We found a beautiful place to fish at called Salmo Pond. Unfortunately, we didn't catch anything but seaweed (11:30-12:45 pm isn't the best time of day to fish anyways). We still had a great time though as demonstrated in the pictures below.
Ellary learned to ride her bike without training wheels this week. She is quite the little pro! Unfortunately, she won't be riding her bike or swimming for 4 to 6 weeks. Ellary got down from a tree in our backyard today and broke her elbow. We took her to the urgent care where they x rayed it and put it in a splint. She has an appointment Tuesday and will most likely get a cast at that time. So far Ellary has been a trooper. She's sad she can't swim or bike ride but she has learned her lesson that when mommy and daddy tell her not to climb trees that she shouldn't. I'm just glad it wasn't her head. I love that girl so much!
Last Saturday Alyson, Kourtney, and their friends Lauren and Lydia had a lemonade stand in our front yard. They made cookies for it as well. Then they sat outside for about 4 hours under the canopy Kris put up. Business was very slow the first two hours but in the end they made $18.25.
Keegan received his new bike in the mail on Saturday too. So when Kris got home from work he put it together, and then Keegan took to his bike. In just a few short hours Keegan learned how to peddle and steer. Now he wants to ride his bike everyday.
Kris also helped Ellary on her bike. She has been learning how to ride without training wheels. She can ride now without them and even make right and left turns. Maybe in a few weeks we will go on a family bike ride and she can ride her bike downtown. I will post a video of Ellary riding her bike very soon.
Ellary is on her first daddy daughter date ever. She was so excited because her older sisters have had daddy daughter date for years now and finally it is Ellary's turn. Kris is taking her to Chipotle, his favorite place to eat, and then they are going to get mathematics books for Aly and Kourtney. They are also planning to eat some frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf. Here are a couple of pre-date pictures and some pictures Kris has sent me while he and Ellary have been out. What a big girl she has become!
The kids and I met Kris on campus for lunch again today. We ate in front of the union by Lake Mendota and discovered that the kids can swim at the University of Wisconsin Swimming Pier. Theyey are very excited to give it a try next week. We also took a couple of pictures, and here they are.
I forgot to post that Alyson ran her longest run to date. On Saturday she and I went for a seven and a half mile run to Pheasant Branch Conservancy and then back home. We didn't set any records for our pace, but we had lots of fun. I can't wait to get a chance to have another long run with her again. Hopefully this hot and humid weather will pass soon so we can get that chance.
Alyson had her last day of Middleton City track today. The coaches put together a track meet for the kids. Alyson chose to participate in the mile, the half mile, the relay, and the long jump. She did very well taking second place in the mile and half mile, each time behind a boy. And a very close 2nd place in the relay. Next is the Waunefest 5K in 2 1/2 weeks. Go girl!
Joel began cutting his first tooth about a week ago. Now he has another one coming through next to the first. Our happy little guy is a little more fussy than usual. Night times have been especially difficult for Joel. Here is a picture of him laying in his daddy's arms. Kris is a pro at putting Joel to sleep.
It seems that our yard is always in bloom. A couple of weeks after we moved to our new home, plants began to sprout out of the ground everwhete. First came the daffodils. Then peonies a bloomed few weeks later. They were beautiful shades of pinks and reds. And then a type of flower we have never seen before grew and grew and grew. A lot of them ended up being a taller than Kourtney and some taller than Alyson. The flowers have big round ball looking flowers that turn into the most colorful dandy lion-looking seeds when they go to seed. You can see a picture of Keegan standing in front of a lilly still yet to bloom. Then we had beautiful lilies sprouting out of the ground too. It was during one of these weeks that a man walking past our home approached Kris while we were outside. He told Kris that he called our house the Magic Garden because he never knew what kind of flowers would be sprouting up next. To be completely honest, we never know what we are going to get either! The previous homeowner planted bulbs all over the place. He even told us so but couldn't remember what kinds he had planted. We are very grateful for the beauty he left us. Here are a few pictures of my favorite lilies and dafffodils. Hope you enjoy.
