First Days of Fall

As the leaves fall the boys continue to sprout. Niles puts multiple words/vocalizations together to communicate and Jonas facilitates with patience and guidance.....(most of the time.) It has been fun to watch them grow together as Niles always wants to do everything that Jonas does. We've had a wonderful time enjoying the most wondrous and simple things in life and I hope that can continue forever.

Here is a link to the photos in the movie.

Birthday 4

6 days -------------- 1 year

2 years -------------- 3 years

Jonas had an amazing 4th birthday. This was by far the most excited and proud he has been about having a birthday and growing up. It is beautiful to sit back and picture year by year all the amazing changes that kids go through, especially when they are your own. I hope that the proud anticipation of Jonas growing up crawls along simply because we love the kid so much. Thanks to everyone that helped him grow up to this point, wouldn't change a moment.

Expressive

The boys' faces are so expressive, you can read their minds by catching a glance.

Bay Beach GB

The boys had a great time at Bay Beach in Green Bay. Niles got a chance to get on some rides by himself and Jonas was enjoying the last fleeting days of being a 3 year old. Niles loved the rides so much that at the end of each ride there was an instantaneous cry, but luckily his big brother came to the rescue everytime as Jonas would rush out of his car to comfort Niles and get him out of his car, bug, boat, etc..

Little Engineers

Jonas and Niles took a trip with Cory and Ben up to the Mid-Continent Railroad Museum on Monday for a steam train ride. Normally the Museum runs their diesel trains, but for just this week they had a little steamer running. We had a great time riding the train, listening to its cute whistle and watching it spew black smoke from the funnel. Afterwards we looked at all the restored train locomotives and cars at the museum. Some of them were very intricately detailed and beautiful. The boys had a great time!

A few fast summer pics

Adventure Galore

The kids have been cranking things out. Niles is now in full gear with his walking officially started on 6/15/11. He is officially running and jumping at this point, what a difference 2 weeks makes. The kids got a chance to take a ride on jet-skis on Lake Mendota, play at a bunch of parks, fly some kites, wrestle with each other, build a bunch of things out of 'trash', and sing protest songs at the capitol. It was another great father's day just being in the presence of these great young humans. I had a blast, (as usual) and really enjoyed all the treats, surprises, and the ignorant lobster puppet show. Along with all of his kids songs that Jonas has been singing, this one below has been a frequent song choice, but it always is sung at a very loud volume...

Spring is almost over...

The last couple of weeks have been filled with the normal adventures, but with the nice days the kids have had a chance to get some playtime in the water. Not only in sprinklers, but lakes, splashparks, and pools. We got a chance for the kids to go out to the cottage for the first time to celebrate Grandpa getting a little older....they had a blast. Jonas also got a chance to go in the medflight helicopter which often flies overhead on the way to saving people's lives. Below is a great video of a recent splash dance session. Props go to Jonas's offscreen choreographer who can be overheard giving Jonas the motivation and direction to make those dance moves happen.

I had to add this video...How long would would you last with all this action going on? Props goes to mom on this one!