trip to the farm

one of the things i love about madison, is that there are so many opportunities for the kids, well, and parents, to hang out on a farm! The animals, the smells, the produce, the endless space to run, and all the farm equipment to climb on! On a beautiful autumn day, this was a perfect place to be!

 baby animals are our favorites!

 we made it through the corn maze, whew, i totally had to pee the entire time:)

quinn is making her way through the super awesome obstacle course.....the kids were laughing so hard. 

ballet

quinn started ballet today, she's been waiting all summer for it to start up again. so excited!!

ballerina buddies.

another year at NMNS

quinn is starting another year at her preschool, NMNS. she will be going 3 afternoons a week, with some of her closest friends....this is going to be a wonderful year for quinn;)

second grade

can't believe we're here again....a new school year, and a bigger kid! this is ryder's last year at midvale, so that makes him the "big guy on campus", and then he will head to the partnering school, lincoln, for 3-5. i can't wait to see what ryder discovers this year. my wish for him is to have the confidence to be himself, to always be inquisitive, to see the beauty in mistakes, to be brave, make sure to be silly, and to always know we (his super cool parents) are here for him, always! 

geez, it's so hard to let them go:)

last dance

since we were all getting a little nervous for the first day of school, we decided to let some good ole music get the nerves out. a spontaneous dance party at 8am is so fun!!

we put on ryder's mix (which was our favorite for this summer) and the kids both picked their favorite song.

they danced so hard...ryder totally forgot about being nervous! 

mad scientist

our neighbors, don and patty, have taken quite the interest in our children, and visa versa (our kids are always chatting with their friends, don and patty). every day they exchange some sort of greeting, discovery, witty comments, jokes, advice....the list goes on! one of the shared interests between our neighbors and the kids (well, and jesse and i) is the love for science and nature. don is a retired middle school science teacher, so is an endless pit of useful information and experiments. he had one that he wanted to share with the kids called "water rocket launch".

we pumped. 

we measured

and we launched (and also calculated flight time)

and we learned lots about air pressure (and also humidity). it was so fun! science in our backyard:)

go-pack-go!

jesse and ryder were invited to go to a preseason packer game at the end of august, they, of coarse, went..duh:) it was the first packer game for both of them....what a wonderful experience to share as a father and son!!

view from the seats

leaving lamdeau. 

this is totally how a little boy becomes a life long packer fan...for sure;)