Bryn's debut as blogger

Hi this is Bryn and my mom is typing what I want her to write. This August me and my mom were having a day together before school started. We were together for the whole day because it was our day to be alone with our mom and dad separately. This is what I did with my mom. I went biking with my trail along bike hooked to my mom's bike, we went swimming at Vilas and we went miniature golfing where I won a free game for next time! For lunch we had subs and I love Milio's subs. My favorite part of the day was going swimming because I get to play in the sand and water.

The next day I had Daddy Bryn day. We had breakfast at Lazy Janes and I like their steamers.


I went to Mr. Pickhardt's cabin and I rode on the 4 wheeler. My daddy was mostly driving it and I sometimes got to steer it but my daddy was helping me.

We stopped in Mineral Point to eat a pasty for lunch at the Red Rooster cafe, after that we went to a cool place (Governor Dodge) where I hiked to a waterfall. Then we went swimming.





I love having Daddy Bryn day and Mommy Bryn day!

catch up time!

OK, birthday post is done, albeit 6 months late. Thanks to suggestions we will have a highlight reel, kids will pick their favorites from each month and help me decide what to post. August, here we come. I should mention how surreal it is to be sitting here looking at the snow on a day when the high didn't quite reach 20 degrees and we are looking at pictures from the dog days of summer.

FInally, they turned 6

I think the favorite topic of conversation among kindergarteners is chatting it up about your birthday, really. Every week one of them would tell me something different they wanted to do when they finally turned 6. It was a long year to wait as the parties started shortly after school started and they had to wait until the middle of July to get their party on. Many things were tossed around but we decided to host it at our house once again. They each had a request for a pinata (which is now tradition after the 4th time) and dance party. They invited the kids from their class plus other special friends and made a video that was emailed as their invitation. It was of course a sunny, warm day but that didn't stop them from dancing to some hip hop in our garage.

I had to include a picture of their old school cake that was made at Lane's Bakery. Hula hooper and skateboarder circa 1960!


Elspeth made a fun game of pour water on the steamy red faced boys!

Jacob giving a whack to the pinata while they all waited patiently for their turn.



Most of the birthday crew, but we are missing a few that were either in the house playing legos or working on a cup tower (see below) in the garage.


When Jay came home from a birthday party shopping trip and was all excited about the stacks of paper cups he bought I thought he was nuts. Nope, turns out the favorite game of the party was stacking up cups and seeing who could build a higher tower before they all collapsed! Cheap fun for sure!



So proud that H and B decided to forgo gifts once again and both wanted to ask their friends to bring donations for a food pantry. I got choked up when I watched kids arrive with bags of food, it was beautiful. Here is the all the food. I had a laundry basket that the kids colored and hoped to fill it. Well, they did that easily and then had 6 additional grocery bags full.


Goodman Community Center food pantry was so gracious and let the kids put all the donations in their proper spot. It was great to see how there seemed to be many more organic, low sugar, healthy options then I remember in the past.

Although our parents weren't at the party, they did celebrate the big 6 with them. Very excited to get big kid fishing poles and vests!


The day of their actual birthday we drove up to Green Bay since they were spending the week with my parents. And a birthday is not a birthday according to my dad, without an Dairy Queen ice cream cake!

we're back

I have taken a rather extended vacation as the blogger for the middles. First a week went by then two,and it suddenly became that much easier to just push it down to the bottom of my to do list. I started questioning why I was blogging, was it for me when my long term memory sputters a bon voyage and this is my way to relive my past? Was it for our parents and friends who enjoy seeing what these two little people are up to? Or was I doing it for them so when they are my age they can sit at the computer (if such things still exist) and read these posts and know that Jay and I tried our best to let them become the people they long to be. I realized that not a day goes by that I don't think how lucky I am to have been given Henry and Bryn who teach me daily how to be a better mother, challenge my perceptions of the world and show me on a regular basis the true meaning of loyalty, love and pure happiness. They of course keep us grounded as we try to fumble our way through parenting two extroverted, loud(as in volume for Henry and attitude for Bryn) and determined...yet at most times twins with completely opposite personalities that challenge us to be better people, better parents and better humans.

This is one of my favorite essays of Kahlil Gibran from the book The Prophet and was read to me by my late friend Kathy Bell when I was pregnant with B and H. I think of her and this essay often. Our children are not OUR children.........

On Children
Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Now on a much lighter note, how does one "catch up" on 6 months of life with B and H? Suggestions welcome.

Sarah, you are amazing.

Hey all. This is Jay. I just spent yet another chunk of time scrolling through the six years of life Sarah has archived here on the pages of the blog. The pace of life at the 806 has somehow sped up and it's nearly impossible to keep up with certain things. Many of you have no doubt noticed that the space between posts has grown from a few days to a few months. I'm really not sure if this is the end of it or not, but it's time for me to publicly acknowledge the hundreds of hours Sarah has spent making sure there are some things we'll never forget.

Sarah has asked me many times over the years to write down certain things the kids have said, or to make a note of so many funny things or milestones, and I've completely failed. I guess I'm more of a live for the moment guy, or maybe just a guy. On the contrary, as you've all seen, Sarah has carefully noted and posted for all to see the birthdays, the first days of school, the first bike ride and first time on skates, hugs, vacations, smiles, holidays, seasons and in the background of all of it, us. Our house, our family and friends, Finn and all the people in our lives.

I'm sitting here with tears running down my face, as I often do, when I look back through the years at how much H and B have changed, how much they've done, and now how fast they are growing up. In a snap they'll move on and among the memories and things we'll have to look back on, for me I will cherish this blog maybe more than anything.

Thank you Sarah. You are amazing.

A look back before we go forward

Over the years...

1 Day Old

1 Year Old

2 Years Old

3 Years Old

4 Years Old

5 Years Old

............................coming soon, our two new 6 year olds!!!!

Our Brew Crew

Kids have been to 2 Brewer games this year. Jay took them after our July 4th celebration(while I wallowed in our kiddie pool decompressing from the day!) for their first trip. They sat through 9 innings and LOVED it, heat an all. Jay got a nice shot of Bernie doing his slide and Prince Fielder at bat.


A couple weeks ago on what seemed to be one of the hottest days of the summer, we spent the day at Miller Park with a tailgate and game with our friends Jill, Ted and their kids Ellen and Sara. I think the thermometer read 95 degrees on the way home. The kids were red faced most of the day but all held it together, thanks to plenty of liquids, through the entire game. Sara even had some cotton candy permanently attached to her sticky chest but made use of the handiness of the sweet stuff!

Family pic on our way into the park.

Below is my ALL time favorite pic of J and B as they celebrated our bottom(or was it top?) of the 9th win. Can you feel the heat emanating from them both?

Who would have guessed that I ( not known to be a fan of baseball) would have two baseball fanatics? I think they take after their dad and great grandma Joyce! Maybe someday, they too will be putzing around their own house while listening to a Brewer game on the radio.

Fourth festivities!

Kristi and I surprised ourselves at this year's July fourth when we estimated we had 200 people attend our neighborhood party. It is a whirlwind of craziness for about 3 hours as we try to stay on top of the activities from decorating bikes, to water balloon games while we keep an eye on the chips and salsa and dwindling supplies of frozen custard and try to catch glimpses of our kids enjoying the fun with their friends.

Sam adjusting Henry's hat while he fancied up his bike.

B bop rounding the turn in the parade on her patriotic pink bike.

We were lucky to be visited by some fun loving Madison firefighters who turned the hose on and let the kids take turns with the hose and cool off.
John not only filled up hundreds of water balloons but he also made huge bubble wands that were so fun.
Yes, Henry did get interviewed by a local tv crew. They asked him what his favorite part of the day was and he said it was the fireman's hose.

Bryn and Abbey

It didn't take either of us long to decide to jump into our pool, clothes and all after we cleaned up the park and headed home to relax.