Practicing for three

The boys and I got a chance to go visit miss Sloane (and Shannon and Brian of course) today. For the most part, they were both great with her, and even got to hold her! And to be fair, Sloane was great with both of them too! 

Arjen didn't skip a beat before asking if he could hold her. Poor kid has been waiting her whole life (two weeks)!

Getting a kiss from Gus. 

Getting a kiss from the bump. 

Welcome baby Sloane!!

On Sept 12, Sloane Marie Crossman joined our family. We were able to take the boys to the hospital to meet her. A few pics from that afternoon:

Not loving her first bath

Arjen was very curious about the new baby 

And very gentle too!

Gus was curious for maybe 2 seconds

All the ladies. :)

We couldn't be happier for Shannon and Brian and their newest family member! Thank you for sharing her with us!! Time to pay you all another visit...these pics already seem outdated!!

Go Badgers!

We celebrated the college football season kickoff last weekend with an impromptu family gathering to watch the first Wisconsin game. Good thing the company and the food was great, 'cause the game?? Not so much. 

Getting set up for dinner on the patio. 

The boys needed to get a closer look at the score. Didn't believe their eyes. 

We also did an early celebration for Grandpa Wayne's birthday. 

Baba and Gus cozied up for a bedtime story. 

Big and Bigger

Ha! Probably the only time she'll ever be bigger! And yes, this means there will be baby cousins come Feb 2014!!

Gus the builder

This kid has quite the imagination and ability to think outside the blocks. He built a road this morning. With a gate. And a bridge (the part over the tape measure). Love watching him play. :)

Greetings from Minnesota

We took a minor detour on our way out of Wisconsin, to visit Adam, Shannon, and Alex, at their beautiful new home in Eagan. It was a great start to our road trip!! Alex was very kind in sharing all of his toys with our boys, even if he didn't really know what hit him with these crazy monkeys taking over his space!

Some outdoor fun with the water table

I guess 1.5 kids looking at the camera is better than none!

Good times with the Geerdinks

Summers in Wisconsin have taken on a whole new meaning.  We've lucked out for a few summers over the past years, and managed to time trips to WI at the same time as our friends, the Geerdinks, who we used to call our friends from San Francisco.  Well, last year, they up and moved themselves to none other than Wisconsin!  So now, we get to see them every summer from here on out!  

They made the first trip from Madison to Elkhart Lake to visit us for a weekend.  Arjen was so excited the whole week leading up that he kept asking "is it Friday?  My friends are coming on Friday!"

Frits, Gus, and Nina strolling along

We had plenty of fun boating, swimming, and playing at the beach! 

This picture is to show the four towel bumps sleeping on the boat, not the 3 adults staring off at something else!

Watching the vintage car parade

All of the kids were sad to say goodbye to each other in Elkhart Lake.  What they didn't know, was that we'd be reversing the trip a few weeks later to go visit them in Madison!  We had fun seeing their new home and neighborhood, and of course spending our first evening at the Terrace for brats and beer, then wandering down State street!  Our big outing the next day, was to the Madison Zoo.  The boys were sufficiently worn out, that they both fell asleep in the car on the way to the zoo, and stayed asleep while we put them into the stroller!

My tired babies

Arjen woke up in time to see the sleeping Tiger, then Gus magically awoke to see his beloved Giraff-es (he pronounces it with two syllables, kinda cute).  

Of course, nothing was quite as exciting for all the kids as watching the bulldozer in action on a new section of the zoo!  

my silly monkey

I couldn't help but let this pillow fight happen.  The kids were having too much fun!

We rounded out our stay with a delicious backyard bbq at the Geerdink's, before heading back to Elkhart Lake.  We look forward to spending many more summer days and nights with our friends here in WI!