Strawberry Picking time!

Strawberry picking came a bit early this year due to our weird Wisconsin spring. We each brought a bucket out... except all berries that Audrey picked went right into her mouth.

 Luckily, Daddy was there to help fill the third bucket.

Half way through picking, Tony and Harper came out to join us. The girls had a lot of fun fitting all of the berries into their mouths and getting them all over themselves.

The flavor of the berries was phenomenal. They have been a treat to have around and are disappearing fast.

Loving all that Green Bay has to offer...

My Dad and I took Audrey to the Wildlife Sanctuary and to Bay Beach. We brought some sliced apples which are normally a big hit with the deer, but this day they were more into corn than apples. Grandpa Pat showed Audrey how to feed the deer the corn out of her hand.

 This was one of my favorite candid moments I caught..

 Audrey led the way at the Wildlife Sanctuary - while we trailed behind.

 We stopped to feed the ducks and geese. They were very hungry, but some of the big geese were very sassy with each other. Audrey did not like that...

Then we went to Bay Beach. Poor Grandpa's legs barely fit in the helicopters. It made raising and lowering the bar to fly higher and lower difficult. :)

We also went on every ride she was able to: boats, train, ladybugs, the carousel, and swings. Audrey wanted the pink horse, pink boat, pink ladybug, etc.  Thankfully they make the horses pretty strong, too, because they held out with Grandpa and me on ours - except with a bit more creaking. :)

New camera... new pictures....

Mario bought me a new camera for my birthday in May (SOO needed as our other camera would turn itself off the first three times you turned it on, which meant we missed a lot of great shots). Luckily, we've had many great things to take pictures of since then to practice using the new camera.

Above Audrey had her Kiddie College Academy graduation. What did she graduate from? Nothing... but she has been at the same daycare since she was 3 months old, and same with several members of her class. Many of them are off for the summer as their parents are teachers, and in fall, they begin a new journey by starting a formal 4K program, which will be a half day. Luckily her daycare offers the 4K program put on through the school and she will be able to attend that program and then do the other half day there as well. We've been soo happy with them - their staff, the development and the comfort in knowing our child is well taken care of....such a relief for working parents.

On Memorial Day weekend, Mario had several guide trips so I took Audrey up to my dad's cottage, where Ben and his girlfriend, Lynn were also. We had such a great time - Audrey loved the campfire and going down to the land to put her feet in the lake.

A highlight of the summer was my sister, Erin & her husband Ryan having their second child - a healthy and very adorable little boy, Wyatt on June 1st, 2012. Our entire family is in love with Owen, their two year old, and can't wait to spend more time with little Wyatt, and see his personality develop as well.

Below is Mario (proud Uncle) holding one day old Wyatt.

My sister Erin with her precious new little boy.

...and an up-close shot of my new little nephew.

Audrey LOVED holding Wyatt. I think she would've held him the entire time if we let her.

Here's a picture Erin shared with me once they got home of big brother, Owen, and Wyatt in their matching tie shirts I made for them. What cute little boys.

We attended the Brown County Breakfast on the Farm again this year - after enjoying last year's so much. This year, the Posley family joined us: Tony, Kristen and their two year old daughter, Harper.

This year, Audrey was not shy about wanting to ride on the tractors.

She got her face painted which she was soo proud of and loved.

and she got to pet this little calf.

We had a great time there, but there were THOUSANDS of people and lines were extremely long. We were thankful to get out fishing for a few hours after this to enjoy the serenity of the water.  Audrey caught 13 fish that afternoon and was reeling them in all by herself.

it's been a while....

So, it's been a lonnnnngggg time since my last blog. I wasn't sure why I stopped blogging or providing fun updates and sharing our adventures and great memories... but when I look back at my last posts, I can see how happy we were then. That was such a great weekend and time - at the pumpkin patch and then shortly after that we went through a few really, really tough times...

After my last post in October, my dad was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent a very tough surgery to remove the large tumor within a week of identifying it. It was a shocking diagnois for how healthy and active he is, but surgery went well and they were able to remove it all. The recovery and time spent in the hospital, seeing him in so much pain was the hardest part, but thankfully, he has made a full recovery and has a clean bill of health.

I believe it was the day after my dad got out of the hospital, we received more devastating news: Police showed up at my mom's door to inform her that her brother - my uncle, my Godfather, had passed away. . Hearing this news and what had happened, hurt our entire family's hearts so deeply. He had never married and did not have any children, so the family - his remaining six brothers and sisters and the nieces and nephews- pulled together and put together the beautiful memorial service. His passing left a deep sadness with many of us that was difficult to pull out of...but we are moving on and finding wonderful ways to remember him, honor him and know that he is at peace now with his parents in Heaven.

With a few tough months, we also had some wonderful things happen for the family too and those are the things that make you feel thankful and blessed. My sister, Erin, shared she was expecting her second child in November and due in June, and my amazing friend Jackie had her first baby in December - a beautiful and healthy little boy. Through everything, our little Audrey was always a bright spot- putting smiles on our faces and making us laugh every single day.

I believe everything in life happens for a reason, and that what you go through in life makes you stronger. So, with that, I wanted to share why the break in the blog and help understand what happened during a few of those months.

Delzers Pumpkin Farm

Mario was gone this weekend, so I took Audrey to meet some friends (Dawn and her daughter, Kaitlyn) out at Delzer's Pumpkin Farm near Oconto Falls. We had a great time.

Audrey was soo proud of her first face painting - a kitty!

CHEESE! or should we say "Pumpkin"

Here is a little kids corn maze that Audrey and Kaitlyn ran through probably close to 40 times. It was non-stop giggles.

We got to see a puppet show and then put our faces behind this fun sign.

Audrey picked out all of our pumpkins. A momma pumpkin, a daddy pumpkin and an Audrey pumpkin.

We also went to the petting zoo they had. It was a really cute & neat place!

More Summer Pictures

We went to my cousin, Jason's, wedding this summer in Milwaukee. It was a kid friendly wedding so it was so fun to see all of my cousins' little ones. Audrey's leading the bunny hop at the wedding.

While in Milwaukee, we took a family trip to the zoo there. Audrey got a lot of close looks at the tiger.. she was unfazed at his circling the cage and staring her down.
Here she is showing Owen where the bears are.

Here, Daddy is helping her get a closer look. Uncle Ryan and Grandpa Donnie & Owen are also checking out those bears.

We got to see Maddie and Jessica and spend the day at the Resch Aquatic Center. The girls had so much fun playing & swimming there. They're pretty adorable together.

The friend pool keeps expanding... we got the chance go get the girls and kids together. Below is Maddie (Jessica's - 2.5 years), Jack (Kristin's-2 weeks), Braylon (Sara's-4 months), and Audrey (3 years). This was taken the last weekend in July.

Another thing that's kept me very busy in Spring and summer is the Humana Associate Garden I helped start at my work. It consists of 18 plots that are each 18' by 5'. One plot is produce all donated to a local charity. It's been a lot of fun, a lot of work but very rewarding in terms of produce and donating to people in need.

We also took a lot of trips to Bay Beach this summer. Audrey's starting to love all of the rides and seems to have the best times when she gets to go with friends. Below are some of the girls from my friends at work.

RRrraaaaaarrrrrr....

I had put a mask on this night.... Audrey saw it and said "Mommy, I want my face to be a monster too". So we put a monster face on her & she ran around the house trying to scare her Daddy.