Happy Birthday Mia!!

My baby is 4!!  How did that happen!!??  She turned 4 on August 20th and we had a nice relaxing, low key birthday.  I think she enjoyed it though.  When she woke up Udine was still home so we let her open her presents, which she was thrilled about.  So she spent the whole day playing with cousins and with her new toys. 

 She loves taking care of her babies.

 Alessandro made her a baby carrier so she was trying it out.  What a thoughtful big brother.  :)

Her new scooter...so excited.  :) 

 

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit in the afternoon and that is always a special treat.

In the evening we went to Build a Bear so she could make her own little stuffed animal.  It was cute to watch her.  She picked out her bear and her outfit and then the sales lady put in her mind the bear needed shoes so we said that would be fine.  But she was picky about what shoes!!  haha  It was so funny.  Her brothers would bring her shoes as well as the lady that worked there and she would try them on, step back and look at them on the bear and say "nope".  Then when she tried on the white sandals she looked at them and said "perfect".  So after about 5 different shoes she found the "perfect" ones.  I thought it was hilarious. 

 

I failed to get a good picture of her with her bear.  It has a hello kitty dress with white sandals.  Quite fitting for my little girl.  This was her on the way home very excited about her bear.

Really the main reason we got a bear was to try and help her sleep.  Yes, my three year old still slept with a pacifier and we kept telling her on her 4th birthday she had to stop sleeping with them.  So in order to help her sleep she could hold her bear instead of sucking a pacie.  The first night was HORRIBLE!!  Lots and lots of tears before she fell asleep...but we weren't going to give in because she was way too old to go back to that.  So she finally fell asleep, but then woke up like every hour whimpering and looking for her pacie.  And since we are all in the same room right now I woke up every time she did.  It was terrible.  The second night we put her to bed and after like 10 min of crying she seemed to have fallen asleep.  Awesome!!  We thought she was adjusting well!!  Until we went to bed and checked on her.  She was laying on her back with her little blanket over her head.  We thought it was so cute and were chuckling about it until I pulled the blanket off her face so she could breathe better only to find a pacifier in her mouth!!  What!!?  I took it out and she only woke up a couple times at night.  In the morning we asked her about it.  Apparently she found the pacie in her pillow case and she put the blanket over her head so we wouldn't see.  hahahahaha  Too funny.  I wish I had taken a picture of it.  :(  Oh well.  After that she was good to go without the pacie and fell asleep just fine with her bear instead.  She even undresses her every night to go to sleep.  Too cute.  Girls are so different than boys!!  ;)

 

We also had some cake and ice cream that night.  She wanted a My Little Pony cake.  And of course she needed Fluffy to sit by her.   

Mia is a fun little girl.  She likes to be independent and do things on her own.  But at the same time she always wants me close.  She often thinks she is the boss and gets all upset when things don't go her way.  :)  She loves to play house and is always taking care of her dolls.  Now that we don't live on a hill she has mastered the art of pedaling a bike.  :)  And she loves to ride her scooter.  She still enjoys wrestling her brothers but also loves the girlie things like hair accessories, jewelery and making sure she has the right clothes on.  It doesn't matter if the clothes match, in her eyes they do and there is no changing her mind. :)  Her favorite colors are pink and purple.  Her favorite foods are pasta and chicken nuggets...oh and candy and chips.  :)  She is still in speech therapy but is making progress.  She is a very loud talker, it almost sounds like she is yelling, but she's not.  She just talks really really loudly (only when she is in a familiar setting with familiar faces.  Otherwise she is as quiet as a mouse and won't even talk).  :)  She is in preschool this year and couldn't be happier about it.  She LOVES it.  We love our little Mia and the different perspective on life that she brings to our family.  Happy Birthday!!!

 

School

School has started and we are finally getting into the swing of things.  It always seems to take a few weeks before the kids (and I) adjust. 

 

Mia started preschool and she was so excited she could hardly contain herself.  When I dropped her off she went running towards the classroom door.  I had to call her back to get a quick picture.  And then she took off running again.  I have never had a child do this before.  The boys always had to stay right by me until I walked them to the class and dropped them off.  Oh the independence of a little girl.  It has its perks.  :)

 

Luca started kindergarten this year.  His teacher is Mrs. Crockett.  Lucky for him he is in the same class as his cousin Packer!!  He also knew Packer's neighbor Lucie, so he was excited to know a couple kids.  :)  He was very excited for school to start but a little hesitant at the same time.  I walked him to the door and waited for the teacher to come get the kids as they waited in line.  He showed little emotion, but that is how he is. 

 

 

Alessandro is in 4th grade this year.  His teacher is Mrs. Bell.  He seemed pretty indifferent about starting school.  He cruises through his homework and then complains that he is bored and there is nothing for him to do.  Maybe I need to come up with more chores.  ;)

 

Diego is in Ms. Pulley's 6th grade class.  He gets to be in his cousin Cody's class which is fun for him.  He was the child that was the most unhappy about starting school.  He claims it has ruined his life because he has no time to play anymore because homework takes him too long.  In his defense, he does have to work really hard at it and it does take him long, but he is learning great work ethics.  :)

 

 

 

Idaho

We usually go to Yellowstone with my Aunt and Uncle once a year.  This year we did another camping trip.  We stayed just outside of Yellowstone at Cave Falls.  We did hike in Yellowstone but didn't camp there so we didn't see as much wildlife as we usually do.  Although, the kids were perfectly happy with seeing all the chipmunks.  The older boys left on a Monday to stay with Lloyd and Colleen and then the rest of us met up with them Thurs evening at camp.

On Friday we went on a hike and as we hiked Lloyd, my cousin Kirk, Diego and Alessandro would stop to fish every now and then.  It wasn't a very difficult hike, but it took time and it definitely wore the little ones out.  (which isn't really a bad thing)  :)  The biggest highlight of the hike was finding huckleberries and eating them.  They were so good and the kids became experts at finding them.  So we took lots of "breaks" to eat the huckleberries whenever they were spotted.  I think they will always remember that.  It was fun to see. 

 Finding huckleberries  mmm

 

 As the boys took a break to fish, in order to keep the younger ones content I let Luca have the camera and he had a blast taking pictures of Mia and me.  He'd tell us what kind of faces to make and snap away  Here are just a few he took.  I won't bore you with them all.  ;) 

 Lloyd loves to take pictures of insects, butterflies, flowers, etc and Diego has learned that he enjoys it also.  On his camera you will often find these kind of pictures.  Some are really quite good for the cheap old camera he uses. 

On Saturday we played in the river that we camped by and some of us went tubing down it a ways. (Colleen bar far being the most daring.  hahaha)  The water felt like ice so I had no desire to go in and neither did Mia once she touched it.  But all the boys did and they had a blast.  After playing for most of the day we packed up and went to Lloyd and Colleens for the evening. 

 Mia refusing to stand in the water with me

She even cried when we forced her to go in the boat 

 But then she realized it wasn't so bad.  :)

 Kirk and Colleen trying to boat down...didn't work too well.  hahaha

It is always a good time and we are so grateful to have family close that is willing to put up with us non-campers who try to be.  :) 

We love Wisconsin

In July we were lucky enough to make the trip back to the Midwest for our Nettesheim family reunion that happens every three years.  It was so much fun.  It always feels good to get back to Wisconsin.  Although, I have to say, I usually love all the green there, but this year because of a drought I was shocked to see how brown the grass was.  Still, though, it's a beautiful state. 

We started our long drive on July 3rd and it was relatively uneventful (thank goodness!!)  No carsickness this time which is great!!  But our AC did stop working which was absolutely unbearable at times.  We were driving through 100 degree humid weather with no AC.  I was dying in the front, I can't imagine how bad it got in the back for the kids.  Luckily though, after suffering for a long time, we realized every time we filled up with gas it would start working again.  But then stop about 2 hours later.  So we ended up stopping and filling the car more than we would have liked, but it was worth it to keep the temperature comfortable in the car.  It was the strangest thing.

We arrived at my brother Rick's house on the 4th and went to see some fireworks.  But a little fire started and they cancelled them right in the middle.  So it wasn't the longest fire show we've been to, but the kids still had a good time. 

Look at how red Mia's face was!!  She wasn't even running around, that is just how hot it was.  haha

The next day we went to a Brewers game!!  Woohoo!  I haven't been to one of those since I was a kid, so it was a lot of fun.  Besides the heat, it was great.  I don't think my kids have ever sweated so much in their lives.  Mia was beside herself that her back and bum and pretty much everything on her was wet from sweat.  It was soo hot and humid those few days we were at Ricks house!!  Anyway, my older boys made it on the mega tron two times and thought that was the coolest thing ever!!  The first time it was a close up of Alessandro and Diego sitting back in their chairs with wet towels on their heads while watching the game.  The second time was of them and some cousins cheering.  It was pretty cool to see. 

 After the boys were on the big screen the first time, Udine grabbed the camera and was ready to take a picture in case they got on again.  He captured it.  :)

And of course we just had to go to Kopps Custard.  Mmm mmm good!!  And I am not ashamed at all to say we went there three days in a row.  It was soooo good.  It is honestly the best custard I have ever had.  Loved it.  I wish I didn't have to wait three more years to get some more!!!

 Mia, Luca, Cali Rose

Packer, Benji, Phoenix, Diego, Alessandro, Marek

After spending time at Rick's house and hanging with the fam,we headed to Door County WI to stay at the Rushes.  I will post pictures about that in my next post though because I'm sure I'll have lots of pics to add.  :)