Grandma Nola Visits

While Daniel was away, Grammy Nola came to visit us in Rhinelander! It was the best! Nola arrived on Thursday afternoon and picked up Roman from day care right away. They went right to the library. Romy was so happy to spend time with Grandma!

We wrapped up the week at work and school by going out for an early dinner on Friday evening.

 

 

We had pizza at Brown 151 in downtown Rhinelander. Delicious!

After supper we headed to the movie theater to see Small Foot. It was so cute! 

It was a very chilly morning at soccer so we had to bundle up! The kids were so happy to have Grammy in the audience. :)

Despite the cold weather we still had ice cream with our lunch!

 

We made our way to Wausau and visited the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. Lucy and Roman love jumping on the giant hippo sculpture in the garden.

 

 

Here is Lucy sitting on our favorite frog. :)

 

 

It was a perfect day to snuggle with grandma under the willow sculpture.

 

We made our way through the annual Birds in Art exhibit and spent some time at Art Park. The kids enjoyed some feather art.

 

 

 

 

Lucy and Roman would rub their crayons over a raised feather stamp to copy the image on the paper and then they would cut out the feather.

 

Roman used a stencil to make this sweet penguin!

 

 

We stayed overnight in a hotel and Roman and Lucy were overjoyed to have some time in the pool.

 

 

We had dinner, watched some movies and called it a night. The next morning we headed down for breakfast when we ran into Senator Baldwin in the elevator!! I am sure she was out on the campaign trail ... too bad I had just rolled out of bed, was wearing my glasses and pajama pants otherwise I probably would have struck up a conversation! Haha! Leave it to me to be looking like a hot mess when I run into a public official. ;)

 

We all ate breakfast and the fruit had inspirational messages written on them like, 'Have a great day!' and 'Do your best!' etc. Roman picked out a banana with the inspirational message of 'Go Pack go!' We all loved it!

 

 

Of course we hit the pool again before checking out. :)

A big thank you to Grandma for swimming with the kids as I am not really fitting into a swim suit these days.

 

 

Before going home we stopped by Rib Mountain State Park. This is always one of our favorite places in the fall. There happened to be a wedding going on ... Roman especially was captivated by the ceremony! Seriously, this kid did not want to leave!

 

 

We managed to pull him away and made our way to the rocks for some climbing.

 

 

These pictures were taken on September 30th and the leaves were just starting to turn in Wausau.

 

Lucy and Roman are my little mountain goats!

They would rock climb all day if they could! :)

 

 

We climbed up the observation tower and snapped a picture on top! It was a little overcast on this day so we could not see as far as we normally can from the top deck.

 

We climbed a bit more and then headed north.

 

 

The children introduced Grandma Nola to one of their favorite things - The Greatest Showman movie while I went to pick up Ranger and get groceries for the week.

 

We decided to have breakfast for dinner on Sunday night! These guys love making pancakes with their grandma. :)

 

 

After supper we finally heard from our guys!! They had been off the grid for a week on their elk hunt but made their way to cell phone reception range by Sunday evening. They were excited to tell us that their party got 2 elk during the hunt.

 

 

On Monday, Lucy headed to school and I went to my 28 week OB appointment. The baby was measuring at 30 weeks (!) at this visit and had a heart rate of 148 bpm. Any guesses as to whether it is a boy or girl? :) It is going to be a big kiddo - the femur was at the 90th percentile. I guess I don't care how big the femur is as long as the baby's head circumference and shoulders aren't measuring off the charts! Hahaha! We are excited to meet you, baby!

 

Meanwhile, Grammy and Roman headed to Crescent school for a special 4K apple event. They did lots of crafting, taste testing, and reading together. They had a great morning!

 

Just look at this cute family tree that they put together. I love it!

 

 

Grandma and Roman spent the rest of the day baking and crafting until they picked up Lucy at school and gave her a ride to dance class. :) A huge thank you to Grammy Nola for coming to Rhinelander to spend time with our crew! We always enjoy our visits with you and I was so happy to have another set of adult hands after many days without Daniel. We love you very much!

 

Sunday Funday

Daniel, his Dad, his Uncle Chuck, and cousin Aaron spent the end of September in Wyoming hunting for elk. We worked to hold down the fort while we was away! ;)

 

After our apple orchard adventures, the kids slept in for a bit on Sunday morning and we had a big brunch together!

 

 

Lucy needed lots of energy for a big Girl Scout event that day. How cute is she in her little Daisy Scout apron? Love it!

 

At 1030 we dropped Lucy off with her leader and the girls headed up to Arbor Vitae for a Safety Day event. They visited with police officers, met medical professionals, took a self defense class, etc. The weather was perfect and Lucy had the best day.

 

Here is Lucy with her fiends Charlee and Trinity in the back of a police car.

 

 

The girls learned a lot and Lucy was exhausted by the time I picked her up at 500!

 

Thanks to Stevie for sending lots of great pictures our way. Lucy is loving her Girl Scout group lately. :)

 

Meanwhile, Roman and I had a wonderful afternoon of one on one time. This guy loved having Mama all to himself. :) We had a great time walking the dog and riding scooter down the road.

We also played a lot of dress up!

 

 It was such a fun Sunday!

 

Apple Orchard Visit 2018

The kids and I made our annual trip to Helene's Apple Orchard this fall! We lucked out and got a beautiful, sunny, and crisp Saturday afternoon. We finished up our usual Saturday activities - soccer and music class - and had a picnic in the Big Field before heading to Merrill. Lucy and Roman were excited to don their Halloween clothes!  

 

 

Here are my sweet little apples at the orchard.

 

There were a bunch of new activities at Helene's this fall - including a new pole barn with a giant jumping pad. The kids loved bouncing around!

 

We climbed on hay bales.

 

We went on a tractor ride together - here is a selfie!

 

 

The ride was a perfect way to do a full loop around the orchards and the pumpkin patch. 

 

Lucy and Roman went for a ride in their favorite cow cars. :)

 

 

 

 Then it was time to pick apples! We harvested 30 pounds together and I am pretty sure that these two ate a couple pounds as well. ;) As you can see, we needed a wheelbarrow to cart all of our produce back to the car. Mama can't carry 30 pounds anymore! Haha!

 

We wrapped up the day with warm apple donuts. They were delicious!

 

It was a perfect afternoon!

Goodbye Grandpa Great

On September 18th we lost our dear Grandpa Great - Dan’s grandfather. Daniel happened to be in South Dakota at the time, getting ready to leave for an elk hunting trip, so he was able to be there when Grandpa passed away.

 

Grandpa Storm was 99 years old when he died! He was married to Grandma for over 70 years. What an incredible life!

 

 

I just love this picture of Grandma and Grandpa at sweet Lucy's Baptism. I never met any of my own Great Grandparents and I feel so lucky that my kids have had Grandpa and Grandma Great in their lives. :)

 

 

Here are 4 generations of Storm boys!

 

 

This is another one of my favorite pictures - we visited Grandpa and Grandma on Veteran's Day weekend. Lucy and Roman were spoiled with treats and cuddles! :)

 

 

We are very grateful for the life and legacy of Gerhard Storm. Daniel has so many wonderful memories of his Grandpa. I lost both of my Grandfathers when I was pretty young so Grandpa Storm was in my life for more years than either of my biological grandpas. We will miss him very much!   

 

 

Life Lately - September Edition

Here is what we have been up to lately at the Storm household! Even though it wasn’t quite October ... we busted out the Halloween pajamas. The kids have been watching Peanuts Halloween, Room on the Broom, and Max & Ruby’s Perfect Pumpkin DVDs on repeat. I love this time of year!

I went to the big Fall children’s consignment sale is mid September! As the kiddos get older it does seem to be harder to find stuff but I still managed to get some treasures! I also found a few sweet things for Baby Storm - including that adorable Packers winter hat you can see in the picture. :) Baby will be here in time for a few Packers games and the Super Bowl so we have to be prepared! 

We continue to spend our Saturday mornings at the soccer fields. This is one of the last weekends where the children were very hot during their practice. 

 

We soaked up the last days of summer and had one last magical day at Buck Lake this season. Our family loves that spot! Next time we head to the beach we will have 3 kids! 

While Lucy and Roman splashed, I was reading my fall magazines! 

The children continued to catch toads late into the month. 

 

We spent our Monday evenings at the dance studio this month. On this night Roman was occupied with a Halloween activity book. 

 

Roman has had apple units at both daycare and 4K so this is the type of artwork that is filling our home lately. 

Lucy kicked off another year of Daisy Scouts. This is an activity that she did to remember the Girl Scout law.

  We dropped by St. Augustine’s for a keyboarding class with Ms JoAnne and friends. 

We have been playing with Roman’s Birthday toys this month! This game is called Don’t Rock the Boat. He got it from Grammy Sharon and Grandpa Glen. You basically stack as many pirate penguins and things on this ship as possible and try not to knock anything off. This is Roman proving that all of his creatures (plus a Bowser toy) could balance on this boat. :)

 

 

  Happy Fall!