Family Time in Madison

We took our first mini trip as a family of 4 right after July 4th.  We only ventured a little over an hour away to Madison, WI, but it was perfect!  I don't think we stopped smiling the entire time.  Seriously.great.memories.made!  Okay, well except for the speeding ticket on the way home.  ;(

We started by meeting the Saylor Family at one of our favorite spots,  the Madison Children's Museum.  They were vacationing at the Dells and met us over in Madison for the afternoon.  The kiddos had a fun time playing together!

 Happy to be at the children's museum!

 Charlotte was even able to enjoy the baby play area this time!

After lunch with the Saylor's, our family headed to check into our hotel.  I'd found out about a hotel in Madison, through some local friends, that has a water play area geared towards little ones.  I've been dying to take MJ there for the last several months, and was so glad we could finally make a little get away out of it.  It did not disappoint, to say the least!

 MJ was quite at home in the hotel room playing with his beloved choo-choos.  Thanks, Miss Meg for this awesome take-along track.  Now we're never without trains!  ;)



Little miss hanging out in her baby jail crib.  :)

 I told ya we were all smiles!  The kids were so happy, which of course made us so happy! 

After settling in, it was time to gear up for the pool!  Who's ready for some swimming?! These two cuties!

 This was Charlotte's first time in a big pool, and she seemed to love it.  She happily played in her baby raft and enjoyed splashing in the water. 

 Mat and I were both shocked at how comfortable MJ seemed to be in the water!  Last summer he was extremely timid, even with swim lessons, but this year it was quite obvious he was ready for the challenge!  He started out with this water slide in the kid area.  It was perfect for little ones!  Lots of small water slides, fountains, and areas to climb about and wade around in.  He was in absolute heaven, and we were loving every minute of watching him! 



I was one happy mama!

We hadn't been there all that long when MJ really surprised us by asking us to go down the bigger water slide in the regular pool.  He had tried one last year, with Mat, at Dubuque's public pool, and was not a fan of it at all, so I didn't really think he'd even be interested in this one.  He insisted though, so we encouraged it.  I thought after going down one time, he'd be over it.  Not the case at all though.  I can't even count how many times he went down this slide.  The first day there we had a little system of Mat being at the bottom of the slide ready to catch him and me being at the stairs ready to watch him make it safely up the stairs.  Look at my boy go!!

After lots of water play time, we freshened up and got ready for dinner.  We were given such great deals at the hotel restaurant that we couldn't resist!  Free appetizers, two free drinks, and kids eat free?  Yes, please!  It was awesome food nonetheless as well! 





Charlotte was cracking me up at dinner that night!  Her hair was like a wild woman after the pool and she had worked up quite the appetite!  She was pretty new to eating baby food and puffs and I couldn't keep the food coming fast enough.  Loved this pic of her little personality coming out!

This was our first time all sleeping in a hotel room together, and we had no idea what to expect, but it went pretty well.  MJ started out on a sofa bed and Charlotte in her crib.  Both kiddos actually went to sleep okay, with a little coaxing, but in the middle of the night MJ ended up in our bed.  Charlotte did fairly well.  The next morning we geared up and got ready for the pool again!

Sportin' her first bikini and ready for the pool!

After sadly checking out of our hotel, it was off to lunch and then for a grocery shopping stop at Trader Joe's.  Love this store, and look forward to shopping there a few times a year at least when we visit Madison!



MJ agrees that it's pretty cool, too!

Then, it was back home, and back to reality.  This was an amazing weekend spent together as a family though.  There were many times I teared up just watching my kids and enjoying our time spent together.  I think one night away was perfect for them.  It was long enough to be different, exciting, and fun, but not so long that we got cranky or over tired.  We'll definitely be visiting this hotel again, and I see some annual family fun in our future in Madison!  

Baby's First Fourth!

It was hotter than hot, but Charlotte celebrated her first 4th of July just a little less than a month ago. 

 Our little firecracker at 6 months old! 

Flashback!!  I still love this picture of MJ on his first 4th of July 3 years ago. 

Our Independence Day was very low key.  We took the kids to the aquarium.  It was packed, as I guess everyone was trying something fun to do that didn't require being outdoors.  Did I mention it was super hot?! 

 The girls,



and the boys before heading to the aquarium! 

No fireworks even this year.  The kiddos were in bed and we were relaxing on the couch by the time they even started.  Our new house is one of the hot spots for one of the local firework displays, so hopefully our future 4th's include some fireworks!  

GiGi Time

Back at the end of June, yes I realize that was over a month ago, and yes I'm still trying to get caught up, Mat had to travel to Texas for work.  He was taking his business club to their national competition, so that left me home with the kiddos for four days.  You know what that means?  Gigi to the rescue!  I'm so thankful my mom was able to sneak away from her life for a bit and come lend a hand.  I'm a big fan of man on man defense rather than being outnumbered by two little ones.  ;) 

We kept very busy while she was here and had a GREAT time!  Great memories were made...

We visited the our local aquarium, the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium.  We have a family membership so that we can go frequently.  Totally worth they money!  We saw the Dolphins and Whales movie while there and MJ was happy to pose with his new whale (little did he realize he picked out a shark) that Gigi got him after the movie was over. 


We also went to the Arboretum.  I've wanted to take mom (and dad, too) here for a long time.  We took Mat's grandparents when they visited early this summer, which was also the first time we'd explored it very much, and I knew that taking mom was a must for her next trip.  We had a beeeautiful day to go!  We picked up some sandwiches, and headed to Marshall Park, where the Arboretum is, for a picnic and playtime first.  MJ was happy to play on the playground at the park, and then we took a stroll over to check out the Arboretum.  My only regret is that we hadn't fully explored this area sooner.  It is so gorgeous!!  Besides beautiful flowers all over the place we discovered a beautiful pond where you can feed the koi fish, waterfalls, tons of walking trails. 

 Gigi and her grandbabies

 Feeding the fish with my little man

 Love this pic that Gigi took of Charlotte!  Look at those beautiful blues, and you can see her first tooth poking through on the bottom. 

 Feeding fish with Gigi

 So peaceful!

Love this boy!

There wasn't a ton of down time, but when we were at home we spent time just playing and loving on the kiddos.  Mom got to spend lots of time playing trains with MJ and helping with Charlotte...

 Gigi feeds Charlotte prunes

What?  Did you say that was prunes?!  Uh oh...

Thanks for all your help, mom!  It truly was such a great visit!  It reminds me how much I wish we lived closer. 

Hotel Keyes

We've had so much company lately!  It's been great to have the non stop entertainment, but I think MJ has gotten a bit spoiled.  He wants to know who's coming to play with him next.  :)  Any takers? 

We're quite blessed with family and friends who travel often to see us and love on our children.  Since Charlotte has been born we've had both sets of parents, Uncle Jeff, Grandma and Grandpa Keyes, The Backes Family, Aunt Kelly, Meg, Mindy and Derek, The Walmsley Family, The Saylor Family....okay, I'm going to feel awful if my tired mama brain left anybody out, but I think that sums it up. 

I haven't been the best picture taker at all of the visits, but it has been wonderful to have so many friends and family visit us.  We are SO thankful!

My dear friend, Kelley, and her three children drove from Lakeland, FL to meet Charlotte and spend some time with our family.  One mom driving from FL by herself with three kids?!  She's crazy, but I love her for it!!!

 Kelley and I met while teaching together in Lakeland.  We'd only known each other a very short time when something just "clicked".  She is such a gem and I am incredibly blessed by her friendship.  I think making friends as adults can often be challenging, but our friendship has been quite effortless from day one.  Working together was an absolute blast!  Her, along with another one of our friends and colleagues, were quite the trio at our school.  We were usually inseparable, and the two of them were by my side and so helpful as I went through IVF and then faced MJ's challenging beginning.  When I think back on that time I wonder how I would have gotten through it all if it wasn't for them. 

I digress though (as always), so back to their visit...

Kelley loves her some baby cuddles!



 Kelley's girls, Abbey and Aubrey, were my little babysitters for the few days they were here.  They were more than happy to hold and entertain Charlotte the entire time and Charlotte was happy to oblige!  When I left Lakeland, Abbey was just preparing for 2nd grade and I was supposed to be her teacher.  Now she's going into 5th grade!! 

MJ is used to having to have "quiet time" (aka nap time on a good day) every afternoon, but he was way to in love with the non-napping big kids to oblige, so the compromise was quiet time on the couch each afternoon while watching a movie.  They were all so cute camped out on the couch.  Robby, Kelley's youngest, and MJ played cars all day long!  They all played so well together and Kelley's kids were great about taking a little break so MJ could be forced to rest.  We had such a wonderful visit and made some great memories!  Kelley and I spent her last night here sitting out on the back deck just chatting and visiting.  How I miss that!! 

I'm already looking forward to when we can all meet up again!  Oh, and I'm also curious to see who will be the first guests at Hotel Keyes, new location.  ;) 

Our New Home

If you're reading this then you probably know us well enough to know that we don't stay anywhere for too long.  Our current home is the longest we've lived in any one home since we've been married.  That just seems crazy to me because I still feel like we just moved here.  In fact, I even say it all the time when meeting people for the first time.  I guess 3 years doesn't classify as just moving here, huh?  I swear, time moves way faster once kids come into the equation!  But, annnnyways moving this summer was certainly not on our radar.  I was planning this fun filled, relaxing summer (which it mostly has been), but we always seem to like to keep things interesting and keep our plates full! 

There's a street in our town called South Grandview.  Since we first laid eyes on Dubuque, we loved this street.  It's a main drag through town and seems like it's right out of Mayberry.  It's so "Americana" and full of foot traffic.  Any time of day there are people out jogging, walking, sitting on their big front porches, etc.  It's known as the mecca of trick-or-treating, a very friendly and safe area, and zoned for a great school.  We have day dreamed about the possibility of one day living on this street if we lived in Dubuque long term.  Last summer when I was pregnant with Charlotte, we'd take walks together on that street and talk about what kind of house we'd want one day and how we'd decorate our porch, etc....all just kind of a fantasy for the long term if that were to come. 

This year, Mat has kept his eye open for jobs that would allow us to move closer to family and friends in St. Louis as well as a couple areas in FL, too.  Things just didn't pan out though and there was never the right opportunity that was tempting enough to pursue much beyond an initial interview.  Mat loooves his job and is totally happy to commit to being here long term.  While I do really like our town, I'm the one that struggles with that commitment.  But, after this year of constantly looking for jobs on his part, continuing to feel somewhat unsettled, we made the decision this summer that it was seeming more and more like Dubuque is where we are meant to be, and stay, for now.  I'm really wanting to feel settled and put down roots and I feel like God is calling us to stay here.  Ya never know what could change over the years, but I'm trying to trust in this plan and have faith that it will all work out for our family and our happiness staying here. We knew that if we stayed here we ideally wanted to be in a new home before MJ begins kindergarten.  We still have time of course, but we do not want him to attend the school we're zoned for, and so we'd begun just keeping our eye out or exploring different areas and neighborhoods a bit more closely. 

There are houses for sale on that dream street of ours, South Grandview, from time to time.  Many are too small or don't have a garage, or way over our budget, but there had been on the market for quite some time...in fact, off and on for the last couple years that was catching Mat's eye.  Once the price began dropping and dropping, it was looking a bit more intriguing.  We went to an Open House quite some time to look at it.  Lots of space?  Yes  Great area?  Yes  Move in ready? Nope....so I kind of brushed it aside.  I was determined our next house would be move in ready and NOT a fixer upper. Famous last words! Fast forward, another open house, more drop in price, a third viewing of the house, some serious discussing, negotiating, inspection, worry, fear, and prayers, and here is the house that we'll be calling home come August...

Helllo, South Grandview; I can't wait to sit on that big front porch and enjoy you! We ended up settling on a price (got an AMAZING deal) and will be closing by August 6th. We're then going to take a couple weeks to remove some very awful wall paper and carpets....case in point:

our future master bedroom

The plan is to remove wall paper, and carpet, and then paint have hardwood floors refinished before we move in.  Luckily there are no huge projects.  No walls to be torn down, no rooms to be gutted, but just lots of cosmetic worse.  Mat's good at seeing a vision, but I'm usually not.  This time though, I can.  I can imagine how pretty this room will look when the wall paper is gone, the floors are shining, and that window bench seat is calling my name! 

Another room I'm very much looking forward to is this part of the finished basement which will become the kid's playroom:



I can't wait to have a centralized place for the toys and for them to play as they grow bigger.  Mostly, I think we're looking forward to much more space (over 3,000 sq ft.), a big porch, and a family friendly area.  I look forward to raising our kids here!!

We're going to be continuing to own our current home and are going to rent it out to college students.  We've already lined up our renters and have our fingers crossed that our first year as landlords goes smoothly. 

There is A LOT to be done in the next month.  We'd already planned to be in St. Louis for 2 weeks, so we're still taking that trip as planned, then coming back to try to pack up our current home, do some major cosmetic changes to the new house, and move all within a couple weeks.  I'm so tired already, but really hoping it all pays off and will be so worth it.  I'll look forward to sharing some wonderful "after" pictures in the months to come!

The Baby Daddy

Mat is so much more than that title.  He is more than I could have ever imagined as a father to our children.  We were so glad to celebrate him on Father's Day!

We had just said goodbye to the Walmsley's that morning, after a wonderful visit (more to come) and were looking forward to a rather low key day, so we spent the day with a homemade breakfast by yours truly, an Open House on a home nearby (more to come on that, too), and a lunch out at Chammp's.  Mat's present this year?  A griddle!  Almost as bad as buying a woman a blender, huh?  He's been wanting one for quite awhile though!  He's our breakfast maker and loves to make french toast, pancakes, omelets, etc. so it's already gotten quite a bit of use.  No complaints from me! 

In preparation for Father's Day, MJ answered some questions about daddy and gave it to him on the big day.  Granted some of his answers are a tad off (like his age..haha!), but it's so sweet to see how he's starting to understand more and more and give sincere answers that are so heartwarming and such an illustration of Mat as a father. 

MJ's answers are in red: 

My dad is 1 years old. 

His hair is brown and his eyes are blue. 

My dad likes to wear jeans.

He likes to eat spaghetti. 

He is smart because he knows play.

My dad works hard at work. 

Daddy always tells me "go night night."

It makes me happy when daddy plays.

I really love it when my dad hugs.

If I could give my dad anything it would be a kiss. 

My favorite thing about my dad is he plays.

Guess Who's Baaaaack?

Seriously, I've been gone so long I don't even know where to start.  I use to like to blog anytime we did some type of family fun activity, a milestone was reached, or there was just something fun, in general, to share.  Well, I guess it's a sign of a great summer, but I feel sooooo behind that there's no possible way to catch up on every fun thing we've done or company we've had, so I'm going to have to lower my blogging self-expectations, I suppose. 

Let's back WAY up to the end of May, so I can share how this summer got started...

MJ wrapped up his last day of school at the end of May, before Memorial Day week.  What a great year he's had at DMS!  He's come a long way since starting the 2 year old class.  He went to preschool 2x per week for 2 hours each day, and it was a great fit for him.  For his last day, parents were invited for a special celebration. 

 MJ showing off his coloring skills on his last day.

 Hugging his best friend, Allison.  MJ adores this little girl.  Their teachers say they are 2 peas in a pod.  They stand at the door and wait for the other to arrive each morning, and spend their entire morning playing side by side. 

Showing off his certificate with mommy. 

I've been so pleased with his school that I decided to run for the Board.  I figured it would be a great way to stay involved in education, while contributing to his school.  I'm now a board member and the  secretary.  I'm looking forward to playing a more vital role in the school!

We then kicked off summer with one of MJ's favorite activities, riding the ferry, or the "car boat" as MJ calls it, which crosses the Mississippi River from Wisconsin to Iowa.  He was so excited to go for a ride this season.  Charlee enjoyed her first ride on the car boat, as well! 



It was a very hot day on the water, so we were glad it was only a short boat ride.  :)

One of our favorite cities to visit is Madison, WI.  Madison is one of the closest large cities.  Lots of diversity, plenty of fun activities for the family, and more amenities than Dubuque.  We also enjoy going there at least a couple times a year, so it also seemed like a great way to spend some of our summer family time together.  We made a day out of it and visited the Henry Villas Zoo and then the Madison Children's Museum.  Talk about MJ's dream day come true!  It was an absolutely gorgeous day...high of 70, which was perfect zoo weather!  We didn't even think about it being the very end of the school year and thus lots of school field trips being there.  Needless to say it was quite crowded at first.  It didn't seem to phase the kiddos though, and we still had a fabulous time! 

 Looking for the animals with daddy.

 MJ took a ride on the train ALL BY HIMSELF.  I'm not sure why, but this brought me to tears.  I can't believe how big and independent he's becoming. 

 Grizzly bears!



Charlotte wanted no part of just riding around in her stroller, but she was happy as can be to be worn in her carrier throughout the zoo. 

Next stop was the Madison Children's Museum.  We love this place!  It's so well designed and just big enough to have a lot to offer without being too big to be overwhelming.  We're actually going back in just a couple days.  MJ always has such a great time, and before long there's a lot Charlotte will be able to enjoy once she's upright and crawling. 

This is by far MJ's favorite spot at the museum.  He could play at this car table for hours!

 Little Miss Charlotte Noelle just hanging out.

 Petting chicks!

Hanging out in the carrier on the rooftop deck of the museum. 

As you can see our summer was off to a great start!  Sometimes I almost feel guilty about all the great family time we are able to share together in the summer.  There's no doubt that we are very blessed.  During the work year, we already are able to spend quite a bit of time together as a family, but summer time is even better!  The end of the school year was quite busy for both Mat and I, so we were really looking forward to reconnecting as a family and enjoying lots of time together.  Mat's teaching summer school on Tuesdays through Thursday, but that leaves four day weekends each and every week.  It's a huge help to have him around the house so much.  It makes it easier for me to keep up with my work load while teaching online, stay on top of the housekeeping (although I still seem to procrastinate in that area), and of course having two sets of hands to take care of two kiddos.  I'm quickly getting spoiled with this new schedule and just enjoying it while it lasts. 



Just hanging out at home on a summer evening.  How lucky am I?