New Soccer Season

Friday night was the start of the new fall soccer season. Olivia is on the Black team this year and very excited to be in it. The first night is always focused on getting the shirts handed out and pictures taken so they practiced a little and played a little on a gorgeous Friday afternoon.






All the teams seem smaller this year with just 6 kids on Olivia's team. This is good because she will have more time to play and they only have 3 on 3 so she has to do more work than just chasing after the group of kids trying to get the ball.

She actually made her first goal! The whole group was packed in front of the goal with the ball but it was her final kick that actually got it in the net.

Lot's of fun and good exercise.

First Day of Full Day Kindergarten

And we're off to school. Today is Olivia's first day in Kindergarten and my first day home all alone in a long time. It feels very strange right now but I think I will get into the groove soon.




She was so excited for school to start, she was up and running around the house at 5:00 am this morning! I think it will catch up with her this afternoon and she will be getting to bed early.



She is growing so fast and changing so much my head is spinning today. I'm so thankful I have my Mary Kay business in full swing or I would be wandering around the house today running into walls.



And so, a brand new chapter in our lives has begun.....

Fun-Fun Visit

It's been a while since we last got together with Marilyn, Eleanor and Wesley but we finally were able to do it today. We've all been so busy this summer we almost didn't get it in before school started.




Even though they haven't seen each other for a while the girls go right to playing. And Eleanor's little brother Wesley tries to to keep right up with them.


Eleanor and Olivia are both 5 years old and are both starting Kindergarten soon. They are excited to start and are looking forward to it.



The girls still get along great and play hard when they finally get together. This time, Marilyn's Mom, Mary, was able to join us at Grandma Manning's home. The kids played for a couple hours during the morning while we all visited. Then we had lunch because the kids got "sooo huuungry!".



After lunch they had a little down time and watched a movie while the adults all kept visiting. Then later in the afternoon we all went outside to walk around and the kids got their second wind and ran for a while.



These visits always go way too fast but we had a great time with them again. Thank you Marilyn, Mary, Eleanor and Wes for coming out for a visit again. Already we are anxious to arrange another visit!!

A Grandma Weekend

Olivia had a great weekend and it was all about her two Grandmas. We spent Friday with Grandma Manning at the County Fair. Although it was pretty hot, we had a great time walking around during the morning and then after noon it was wristband day so we took her on all the rides she could handle.




It was nice to sit and relax in the park area in the shade when it got too hot in the afternoon. There they also had fun things for the kids to do like face painting, she got a fake tattoo and also won a t-shirt by throwing bean-bags through a hole. It was a great day and we really wore her out between the heat, the walking and all the rides.






Sunday we all got together with the Pitz side to celebrate Grandma Pitz's 80th birthday (which is actually today). Olivia's aunt Barb held the party at her house and it was another beautiful day. The kids went swimming in the pool and we had a great time visiting all afternoon. I think the swimming really wore Olivia out and she slept most of the way home. Happy Birthday Grandma !!





Coming this week......our next visit with Eleanor!! Watch for pictures!

Summertime Fun

Since June seemed more like March this year we all seem so busy now trying to fit all of our summer activities into August before school starts again.

We've been doing a lot of things but have not always had the camera with us so I have been slacking when it comes to updating the blog.


The end of July I had a Mary Kay booth at the Washington Cty. Fair on Friday and Saturday so Steve and Olivia came both days. Olivia is now hooked on roller coasters, tilt-a-whirls and even the ferris wheel (where she had to try to reassure ME there was nothing to be afraid of!!)

July 31st we went to Steve's work picnic which was held at the Milw. Zoo. That is always fun (when you have a little kid). We got in to the zoo, parking and many activities for free. Not to mention stopping at the company picnic site at lunchtime to eat, drink and visit with Steve's co-workers. Then it was off to more of the zoo. It was a long, hot day but very nice.

The next weekend we spent all day Saturday at the Milwaukee Air Show. That was also hot but is always a lot of fun to sit back an relax by the lakefront.




The following Monday, Steve took off of work and we went down to the Milwaukee Art Museum. Steve's cousin Sally works there and gave us the grand tour of the China Exhibit and some of the regular part of the museum. She and her husband Paul then grilled steaks for us at their beautiful condo overlooking the lakefront. It was a very enjoyable day.






This past Saturday we had tickets through the Civil Air Patrol to attend the Brewers Game. To help payback just a little bit of babysitting we had tickets to take Grandma and Grandpa along too. We tailgated before the game, had a great time watching the Brewers win against the Pirates and then we stopped for dinner on the way home.

Lot's of fun!! Now it is time to start thinking about getting ready for school and all-day Kindergarten!!

Camping with a new twist

This year for our annual camping outing at "Grandma and Grandpa's campground" we had a special treat!

We camped from Thursday through Saturday (before the heat hit us) and on our first afternoon there we were joined by the West Bend Civil Air Patrol and a team from the National Guard. Jenny joined this CAP squadron two years ago along with Steve who is a senior member. Steve has worked hard to bring more training and experience to the squadron and this latest event was an experience we all got to enjoy.




Steve had been planning months ago to have the CAP join together with the Nat'l guard that is based in West Bend to do a training mission and suggested Grandma & Grandpa's wide open fields at their home to hold this one. It was really cool to see the cadets get ready to be "injured victims" while Steve called in the "emergency" and we waited for the Nat'l Guard Blackhawk helicopter to come to the "rescue".



Not only did the cadets and Sr. members get valuable training but it was also great training for the medical crew with the Nat'l Guard. Once they landed the Blackhawk they came out to assess the injuries and the cadets got to load up a "dummy" on a board and take him to the helicopter (just like the movies!). Then the Blackhawk took off to land at the Beaver Dam hospital, pretended to unload the "victim" and then flew back to our "campgrounds". Not something you can see everyday!!





The crew then landed the Blackhawk in the field again and shut it down so they could join the CAP cadets, Sr.'s and us for a cookout. We cooked a ton of brats and hamburgers with all the fixin's to feed everyone and they all seemed to enjoy it and were very appreciative.



The only hitch was that Jenny was not able to see all of this with her fellow cadets as she is spending two weeks in Maryland for a CAP color guard training. She was one of the lucky cadets to be picked to attend this encampment out east. There were many many applications from across the US and she was the only one chosen to go from Wisconsin. Quite an impressive accomplishment but she did miss the Blackhawk mission. Oh well, we have plenty of pictures and video for her to see what happened.




Thanks Grandma and Grandpa once again for letting us use your home for our campout and the training mission!!! Hope you had fun to!

Graduation Party

We got a big job behind us with getting a double graduation party done on Sunday. Kyle and his cousin Cory both graduated this year so Nancy and I decided to have a party together. This worked out really great. Working together took a lot of pressure off of both of us and it turned out to be a really nice day for everyone.





Of course Olivia loved being with everyone again and even went right up to guests she didn't know to greet them as they arrived.

The party was at Nancy and Pat's home and they have a big house with lots of land and room so it was great having it there. They also have a swimming pool which worked out well for the hot-hot weather. Olivia loved the pool and a big "Thank-you" goes out to her sweet cousin Kate who took care of her the whole time in the pool and helped her to "swim". It was fun to be in the house getting dinner ready and still hear her laughing so hard playing in the pool. Her cheeks had to hurt from laughing and smiling again all day.