Ellie at gymnastics

Listen to her comment after she hits the blocks.

I'm not very good at this...

I'm not very good at keeping up with this blog, so I'm going to start trying harder, I promise!

Things around here are busy. Ellie and Jaymeson are both taking swimming lessons on Monday nights. Both girls are in the same class, which is a toddler class, but Jaymeson has a blast anyway. We have our last class on Monday, and will get our underwater pictures back that night. I'm excited to see them!!! Jaymeson and Josh had their pictures taken together first, then Ellie and I had ours. We rounded it out with a family underwater picture, which is a pretty cool thing to have.

Ellie has gotten really good at going underwater, and holding her breath. She loves wearing goggles and trying to get the rings at the bottom. Jaymeson loves splashing and trying to drink the water. She squeals with delight every time we get in the pool and usually until we leave. We're hoping to get both girls in outdoor lessons this summer at the Holmen pool. Ellie loved her outdoor lessons last year!

In baby news not much is new. Baby Buxton is expected to arrive around June 15. Since both girls were late I don't anticipate anything different this time around. I would be okay with a quicker delivery though! We had the ultrasound in January, and know what we're having. Most of you know too, but there are a few people out there who don't want to know, so try not to spoil it!

I'm done with my bowling season since Josh or I have conferences the rest of my bowling nights. That frees up our Tuesdays for the most part. Ellie started gymastics a few weeks ago, and is loving it. Her classes are on Wednesday nights at UW-L. They get to do lots of fun things, and she really seems to enjoy it. She has a few more Saturdays of Pee-Wee bowling left, and then we won't have so much going on.

So, hopefully I've justified why I haven't posted for a while, but again, I'll try to do better. Hopefully the pictures will help!!!

Happy Birthday Jaymeson!

Happy Birthday to our little girl who turns one today!!!

It's been a while

Well, it has been a while since we last posted, but we've been busy. In early October we found out that I was pregnant again. While it came as a bit of a suprise, we are excited. I have an ultrasound scheduled for Jan. 16th, and we'll hopefully be able to find out the baby's sex.

We celebrated Jaymeson's first birthday today at Chuck E. Cheese. While her birthday isn't until Saturday, Josh has class on Friday and we just didn't know if we'd be ready to party on Saturday. Jaymeson at two pieces of pizza, ripped her cake to shreds and had a blast. She followed it up with a 2 1/2 hour nap. Very nice.

Ellie is still Ellie. She loves running, jumping, dancing, playing, you name it. She gave us our first school-made Christmas gift, a wreath with her picture in it. She really got into Christmas this year, and enjoyed all of the gifts, even the clothes, she got.

School is keeping both Josh and me busy. We both wrap up the first semester at the end of January, which means the year is already flying by. We're enjoying our Christmas vacation, and head back to work on the 5th.

In family news, we bought a mini-van on Monday. It is a 2006 Chrysler Town and Country Touring. Ellie says that it is "totally awesome", and we agree. There is so much room for the girls, as well as the stroller, groceries, etc. We are pumped about the stow-and-go seating as well. Jaymeson has moved into the forward facing position with her carseat, so it's a whole new world for her!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Catching Up

So we haven't posted in a while, which goes to show that we're back in the full swing of school and life in general.

Jaymeson is growing like crazy, she's crawling, standing, and has now started standing without holding onto anything. She'll be walking in no time. She has four teeth on the top, and four on the bottom and has started to eat some big people foods. Finally, teeth!

Ellie is loving school, her sister and pretty much everything else. She's such a happy kid. She had her preschool pictures taken a few weeks ago, and has been working on doing things independently, as well as learning about fire safety! She's got a great little song to sing if you have a few minutes.

The girls enjoyed their trick-or-treating as well. We had a beautiful day to head out and visit some family and friends, and wrapped up the night with a trip around the neighborhood. Ellie is loving all the candy, and Jaymeson is trying to steal it, with little success.

Josh and I are good. We are going to watch Josh's cousin, Ashley, play volleyball next weekend. She plays for the U of M, and the Badgers and Gophers square off in volleyball on the 14th. We're going to have an adult weekend and hit up the Badger-Gopher football game the next day since I scored some tickets from one of my co-workers. We're really excited, since we missed hockey this year, and haven't been to football for a few years.

We hope that all is well with everyone!

Oktoberfest

We have all enjoyed celebrating Oktoberfest over the past week, and may even wrap it up with a visit to the North Side Fest Grounds on Saturday. We attended the Maple Leaf Parade last Saturday. It was a beautiful day, even a bit warm for a Branson, and we had a great spot. We sat on the north side near Copeland, so we didn't have to wait for the parade to get to us, and there weren't any breaks in the action.

Ellie loved all the bands and was doing what we like to call "the booty shaker" most of the parade. Jaymeson started getting into things, and bopping up and down in her stroller as well. At one point she was even clapping her feet!

On Wednesday we ventured down to the South Side Fest Grounds for some dinner and rides. Ellie scarfed down her dinner, and was ready to ride before anyone else was done. Our friend Jason took her on the spinning strawberries, and she followed that with a trip on the kiddie roller coaster, and then a ride on the carousel with Josh. The picture of her filled with excitement were taken as she exited the roller coaster.

Jaymeson loved all the sights and was perfectly content (what's new) to hang out in her stroller and look around. She even posed for some adorable pictures.

Thursday night we bundled up for the Torchlight Parade on the north side. The brats were delicious, the weather was cool, and the girls had a blast. Jaymeson zonked out about half-way through, so I held her/she kept me warm. Ellie attempted to hula-hoop with her glowing necklace, which was pretty funny. We didn't get home until nearly 9, but it was worth it.

Tomorrow we're off to Pee-Wee bowling, Pumpkin Fest at Festival, Frank Bahr's 50th Birthday party, and possibly a little festing.

Five Years

Josh and I celebrated our fifth anniversary yesterday. Hard to believe we've been married for five years, and together even longer. A lot has happened in the last five years, both good and bad, and we've gotten through it together.

We spent our anniversary at Pee-Wee bowling...I tried to post a video of Ellie throwing the ball into the lane next to hers, but for some reason it wouldn't post. The video is very Uncle Don-like, but it is hard to hold the camera still when you're laughing so hard. I'll give it a shot again one of these days.

After bowling we went to La Crescent where Ellie walked in the Applefest Kiddie parade with the kids from her preschool. It was a short parade, just a trip around the block, but the weather was warm, and the meeting spot was the blacktopped school parking lot. Needless to say, both of us were sweating.

Josh and I rounded out our day with a trip down memory lane as we attended the wedding of one of my high school friends. I'll never forget her anniversary. The reception was at the Waterfront, and they had the UW-L Screaming Eagles band perform in front of the deck. It was pretty awesome.

The only thing I'd change about yesterday is the fact we didn't have any pictures of the two of us taken...oops! We have many more years for photos though!