Category Archives: preschooler

Glamping

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During the second weekend of September, we went on QUITE the glamping trip with friends. We packed up the kiddos and headed off on a 3-hour journey to a Jellystone Campground… but not for your average camping… because let’s be real, life is just a little easier with running water and a kitchen. And with 4 children under the age of 5, we were looking for easy & relaxing.

SO, we rented the grand Villa for the weekend and enjoyed all of the luxuries Yogi Bear & the Jellystone Park had to offer us, which was a bit less than normal, as we were a week or so past season.

The park-ground was a bit of a ghost town, but that made it all the better!

Our villa was a two-bedroom with a loft, full kitchen and a bathroom. See, glamping! AKA glamorous camping. To add to the hilarity, we actually had the kiddos stay in the bedrooms (our kids in one, our friends’ kids in the other) and the adults stayed upstairs in the loft, which featured 4 twin beds. This setup made our late-night camp fires easier.

The Jellystone theme for the weekend was “A weekend at the farm” and was filled with tons of activities from candy bar “horse races” to finding a needle in a haystack. We had such a great time!

The weekend itinerary:

I loved the early mornings strolling around the quiet campgrounds. It was one for the books!

Needle in a haystack:

Candy Bar Horse Races:

Swimming:

Craft Time with BooBoo:

ICE CREAM!

Playing with Friends Near the Villa:

Egg Toss & Playing on the “Foot Pool” Field:

Dinner, Smores & Spooky Stories Around the Campfire:

Bedtime Story with Ranger Smith:

Random Fun:

The Crew:

A little lunch & Yogi Bear upon arriving home:

Finter 2019

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Somehow summer FLEW by and it’s suddenly what Wisconsin is calling, “Finter”… aka what should be fall, but is being overtaken by Winter. School has started and my sweet Char is deep into Kindergarten. Full-day school and the beginning of her true “childhood years.” I’m not crying, you’re crying!

Before too much time has flown by and I fall WAY too far behind, I figured I’d post everything from the first day of school until now. SO, prepare yourself for an overload of photos from my sweet crew…

First Day of School:

I don’t know how it’s possible, but despite the crazy, every moment that passes seems to get better and better. The kids are amazing. This summer we switched them into the same room, which has been wonderful and psychotic. They love the shit out of each other, which tends to get in the way of sleeping. Their routine is essentially to stay up late playing one night and then crash hard and early the next night… and repeat. We definitely have to figure out a way to get them more sleep, but I will say, I don’t hate hearing them giggle all night.

Halloween was a blast! Charlotte refused all of my ideas for family costumes with her BIG DREAMS of being a “beautiful princess who is beautiful and fancy with real magic circles on her dress”… I couldn’t seem to find real magic circles on Amazon, but we did the best we could! And, Mr. Henry went from requesting an “Owlette” costume (from PJ Mask) – because she’s so beautiful – to Blippy. In the end, he was transformed into even more of a cartoon character and should never wear anything besides that damn costume ever again.

As a side, it should be noted that we FINALLY let the kids pick some candy to eat from their trick or treat haul… this morning… first time. Let’s just say that Mark and I got busted for eating so much of it. Somehow C seemed to remember specific pieces of candy she had received… oops. Noted for next year.

After the most perfect day for trick or treating (and a weekend FULL of birthday parties for C), Finter kicked in and we had our first snowfall. Literally days later, on Halloween. It was bananas… and magical! The kids loved it!

For Halloween, we made a SPOOKY feast and had the best night!

Other Halloween Highlights (C’s classroom Halloween party & “Bring a Friend to Dance Class” – C picked Henry as her friend)…

& Here are some pics from more fun since the beginning of the school year!

Charlotte’s Fun Run to raise money for school:

Charlotte’s Farm Field Trip (& Mommy’s first time as a field trip chaperone… note: riding a bus at 34 is not amazing):

Henry’s Farm Field Trip:

Apple Picking with Grandma & Grandpa & Public Market Lunch:

Uncle Matt & Aunt Hannah Come to Visit:

Charlotte’s Dance Class:

Henry’s Robot Class:

Mommy & Henry Facetiming:

Fall Backyard Fun:

Family Date Night:

Taste of Mequon & the Color Run (Mommy’s first 5k):

Family Photos – Behind the Scenes:

Miscellaneous Fun with Friends:

Family Love:

Adult Fun:

Goodbye School, Hello Summer

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While Charlotte is still in her 4K school program with the public school, the kids’ Montessori school recently had their last day. Can you believe how much they’ve changed???

It should be noted that both of my children want to be parents when they grow up. Little sweeties. Specifically, Henry would like to be a “dad like my other dad”… aka like Mark. haha And my sweetie Charlotte’s favorite thing is her whole family.

And here are some other cutie pie pics from the morning…

The Baby Hem is THREE

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Henry is officially three years and three days old. How has this happened? My baby’s feet are slimming down and starting to smell, his hands have lost their pudge, he is pretty much a grown adult. The gist? Time is flying and my baby is getting old.

Despite my internal tears being shed for the manner in which time is just flying by, this birthday has been so exciting. For about a month before Henry’s birthday, he started really getting excited. Asking at bedtime, “when I wake up from this nap, will it be my birthday?” and waking every morning asking, “is today my birthday??” The anticipation was really building.

In pure Melissa/Mark fashion, the night before Henry’s birthday consisted of a ridiculous amount of toy building and house decorating. We ran around like crazy people making sure everything was perfectly placed to give Henry a great birthday surprise when he woke up.

I set my alarm for 615am in hopes of waking up before Henry so I could see his reaction. However, the bugger beat me. At around 6, I heard his tiny voice, “Charlotte, look!!!!!”

I popped up and ran to catch Henry discovering each Thomas the Train decoration, piece by piece. Then the balloons and his GIANT, tablecloth-covered gift.

He was overwhelmed with excitement!

The kiddos played for the next couple hours while I got everything ready for our birthday breakfast. Our favorite little friends (neighbors) were coming over to enjoy a celebratory breakfast and some playtime.

After breakfast, our friends went home and we hopped in the car to go downtown to ride the new streetcar (which we called the train for excitement purposes). We took the “train” to the public market and ate a yummy lunch and ice cream outside, then took the streetcar back to our car. It was a great little adventure!

Then, nap time and a movie night picnic back at the house. We set up the projector and watched about an hour of cars before the tiny tots got bored and we moved on to playing with Henry’s new toys.