Kyle's set

Here's one on of Kyle showing that he's 4 with a butterfly on his hand.

We asked Kyle to get dressed before he came outside because we were going to take pictures. He didn't want to get dressed and if Kyle doesn't want to do something he doesn't. He's very opinionated and very stubborn. He knows all of our limits and he loves to play right on the edge of reason...he's a handful!
Reeve was quick to remind him that he'd be in his underwear for the pictures. He still didn't want to go in and get dressed so he decided he could hide the fact he was only wearing his undies...

He's 4 and he still sometimes thinks that if HE can't see it then nobody else can see it either. Here he is covering his eyes with the butterfly, so the rest of us can't see he's just in his undies.

He also had the idea to lean far forward, so that you can't see his lower half. He's such a goof. He hates these pictures by the way. He's seen me cut and crop other pictures and he couldn't understand why I wouldn't just cut and crop his body out. I told him I thought they were great pictures. Don't they just make you laugh?

The last one is of a monarch on our Black Eyed Susan... our only really successful flower group from my Mom and Dad. Next year though I'm hoping the Irises will also bloom.

Neighbor's Monarchs

Our neighbors went on vacation and brought over their Monarch chrysalises before they left. They have a milkweed patch in front of their house and they collected a ton of caterpillars! I don't even remember how many hatched out while they were gone, but it was around 10.
I picked out 10 of the best pictures that will be in this post and the next.
The first set is mainly a Reeve set.

In this next pic Reeve wasn't feeling too great. He had a fever of about 101.60F and we went to the Dr. shortly afterward. I thought for sure it was Lyme's again, but they couldn't test him again because it had been too soon since he had it in June. Ugh! Whatever it was it worked out of his system in a couple of days. I don't think I mentioned that Kyle had Lyme's again and he was still on his antibiotics, but feeling good. Poor kid had a fever off and on for a couple of days and a headache and limb pain...Ugh!

Here they are together...

and together again

They decided it would be pretty funny to see our cat Cosmo walking around with a couple of butterflies on his back. Cosmo is such a good cat, he didn't mind at all, but we didn't let them stay there for long.

Locked out at the air show

As we were getting our gear out of the minivan someone (he shall remain nameless) locked the keys in the van!! We decided to worry about it when we got back. At the airshow Tommy was able to find a coat hanger.

Luckily we had left the windows cracked. Tommy set to work breaking into the Toyota Previa with a coat hanger. Reeve couldn't believe it...

About 15 minutes later Tommy had succesfully unlocked the vehicle :-)
The kids were exhausted from the day and had a peaceful ride home.

More pics from Oshkosh

Reeve got to make a plane too, but wouldn't you know it BOTH planes are now broken...that didn't last long.




We saw a LOT of really neato looking planes, but they were really out of our price league. For example a couple of the ones we liked were around 500k!!!!! YIKES :-)

We briefly went to the actual air show, but it was EXTREMEMLY noisy. Reeve DID NOT like it at all.

We left after about an hour. As we were leaving it looked like bombs of billowing black smoke were added as special effects. It was nasty...we felt like we were leaving a war zone.

Experimental Aircraft Show in Oshkosh

Last weekend we went the the Experimental Aircraft Show in Oshkosh, WI (about 2hrs west of us). It was VERY hot, but the kids had a great time!
So did Tommy,

They had motorized mini planes on wires that you can fly around in a circle. The kids went first...here's Reeve

Then it was Kyle's turn

They get pretty dizzy spinning around in a circle

After that we went to the Kid Venture tent where the kids got to make their own wind up planes.

We learned about a pretty cool free website that is a flight simulator game. I can barely get Kyle away from the computer to eat. When he start he doesn't want to get off. I've limited his time to Friday afternoon and Saturday morning ONLY. Here is the link... if that doesn't work just google fms.

Visit with Friends

We had a very nice visit with our friends Mike and Elena and their children, Quinn, Riley, Sophie & Eli.




They live about an hour and a half south of us, but own property about 13 miles away. It's always a treat when they come to visit. Reeve and Kyle absoultely LOVE their kids. They all get along so well and have so much fun together. We went berry picking and took a walk through the woods.

PLEASE HELP!

I need to print out flyers with my black & white pic on them...which one do I choose??? Please help me out and vote in the poll. I need to know ASAP. Think who would you trust to get you the best rate for your mortgage, refinance, home equity line of credit, construction loan, etc...

A few pics from Mom's camera

Today Tommy gets to stay home with the kids while I go off to work. He starts his new 4 day work week this week. Yay!
I worked my last weekend at the gas station. It was tough to say goodbye to all the nice people I work with, but I am SO relieved I stopped working there.
My Mom sent me the pics that she took while she was here.
Here I am in my office at Affordable Mortgage:

and here I am on my way to work one day:

This is a really cool pic of Reeve caught "walking on water" as he was jumping off the diving board into the deep end...he's favorite part of swimming class.

Here's a pic of all of us at the Elroy pool:

and a pic of Kyle practicing his back float

Reeve walking Brenda's goat Dolly

and Reeve lost his 4th tooth...it was acciedently knocked out of his mouth while he and Kyle were playing. Kyle was the one to find it on the floor.

Myrick Park Zoo in LaCrosse, WI

Last Wednesday Reeve and Kyle had a dentist appointment in LaCrosse, so we made a day of it. Reeve and Kyle LOVE going to the dentist. I love this dentist! He's also trained in Orthodontics and has started to correct the crowding in Reeve's teeth. Kyle's teeth are totally different and are very nicely spaced. They love this dentist because his office is loaded with video games and a free gift when they're done. They were cavity free this visit...Yay!
After the dentist we decided to surprise them and took them to a free zoo in LaCrosse.

There is a free zoo like this in Madison (Henry Vilas Zoo), but I've heard from several people that they like this zoo better. The spider monkey island was pretty neat to see. It is tough to see the animals behind bars and in cages, but overall I'd say they do a good job with their living spaces.

They had "Bucky" Badger there. He was a real badger, but he was eating with his back toward us, so no pic of him.

There were lots of Peacocks, a couple of Bobcats, some grey foxes, goats, donkeys, ducks, and deer.

The kids went on two kiddie rides. Reeve was way too big for the motor cars. We're thinking we definitely need to make a visit to DisneyWorld in November. Reeve is 7 and has never been to the Magic Kingdom...I think they're at the perfect age for a first visit.

Swimming Graduation was on Friday. My Mom was there to watch Reeve and Kyle Graduate to Level 2. That'll start in a couple of weeks (Jul 30th - Aug 10th). The teacher said Kyle was a little fish, and Reeve was the only kid in the class to start practicing his Freestyle stroke. We're so thrilled that they both love to swim now. I remember a time when Reeve was around 2 yrs old and he hated to even see me in the pool. He would cry and yell at me..."Mama feet out! Mama feet out!"
After swimming Graduation we had to say goodbye to my Mom. She really helped us out! During the 2 wks she was here she read the Nurse Matilda stories to Reeve and Kyle...part of their book club reading for the library. Friday after Nana left we went to the library to watch "Nanny McPhee"...the movie based on the Nurse Matilda stories. In the movie and book Nanny McPhee (aka Nurse Matilda) says that she will be there for the children when they don't want her but need her, and she must leave when they want her but no longer need her. Reeve couldn't help but notice the similarity with his Nana. Nana came when we needed her, but then left at a time when he really wanted her to stay.
Nana will be back in October to help when Billi Jo will go on vacation and has asked me to help with her loan applicants while she's gone.

Swim Lessons at the Elroy Pool

For the past two weeks my Mom has taken Reeve and Kyle to their swimming lessons everyday. It's been a great diversion while I've been at work all day. I labeled these pics with their names by them...just click on the pic and it will appear bigger then when you want to come back to this page hit the back button on your browser.

They start out the lesson by jumping in. Kyle can barely touch the bottom...Reeve can easily touch the bottom.

Then they warm up by bobbing up and down. They're supposed to count how many times they can bob up. Reeve's record in a minute is 24..he's very proud of that since he started out at 7 or 6. Kyle diligently did his bobs while hanging on to the edge.

Wheels on the bus is another favorite part of the lesson...


Next is the kickboards...Reeve zooms around the pool on the kickboard. Very easy for him. Kyle is getting the hang of it. He has a very nice helper named Katie that doesn't leave his side. They all love Kyle's humor...for example they asked Kyle to do a front float one day and Kyle thought he was doing a great job, but his head was out of the water. Katie (the teacher...white hat...there are 2 Katies...blond Katie and teacher Katie) asked him to put his head in the water. Kyle looked at her very confused and said "Why?" They think he's a little "hottie" and he's doing a great job for being the youngest in this Level 1 class.

One of their "tests" is to see if they can float on their backs un-aided. They can both do this no problem now. Today they'll find out if they can move on to Level 2 that starts in about a week. I know Reeve will, but I'm curious to see if they'll let Kyle pass on to the next level.

They end the class by jumping off the diving board. Reeve absolutely loves this part and races off the board with a life jacket on.

I'm wanting him to try to jump off without the life jacket. The life guards will catch him and assist him to the edge. Kyle actually jumped off the board twice yesterday without a jacket because they ran out. This was a major step for him.

Last Friday I resigned from my gas station job only to be guilted into working only on Sundays the very next day. There's a limited amount of people that can do the opening bookwork and there's only 1 other person besides the boss that can do the bookwork on Sunday. Well today I'm so worn out from my mortgage job that I can't imagine working the weekend Sunday shift on a regular basis. I'm going to resign again and this time it will be final. Here's a pic my Mom took yesterday as I was rushing out the door to get to work on time.