Hair Raising Pictures

Ben's hair was getting sooooo long! So I finally broke down and took him for his first haircut. I thought it would not be a big deal, JJ sat nice for his first haircut and he was only 12 months! Boy was I wrong! Ben screamed and cried and hated every minute! I had to hold him in my lap for awhile, while she cut. Then we tried sitting him in the car again, he did okay as long as I distracted him with toys every minute!! I did not get very many photo shots, but it was still a memorable experience!Before the haircut.....

During the haircut....

And the final result!!!

This was Ben's hairdo the day after the haircut!!! WILD HAIR!!

Whoaa! How did this picture of Stacey's crazy hair get in here??? HEE!HEE!HEE!

A Day At Mirror Lake

We had a fun day at Mirror Lake state park today! JJ's class had gone to Mirror Lake on Thursday for a field trip. Mark also went along as a chaperone (this was his first time going on a school field trip). They had such a great time that they wanted to go back! So we took off this morning and spent the day there! We started off by renting a pontoon boat to cruise the lake! It was so much fun! We stopped at one point to eat lunch and explore a little bit. JJ thought he could find some buried treasure:) By the time our rental was due back Ben had had enough of the boat and was ready to get back on dry land. After the boat ride we walked the Echo Rock trail and stopped at the beach to cool off! It was a great day and we can't wait to go again!

This is JJ getting ready to start our adventure!

This was at the beginning of our boat ride when Mark and JJ were trying to figure out how to restart the boat. The first time we turned it off we couldn't get it started again, but luckily we figured it out and got going again! PHEW!!!

JJ thought is was so cool to drop the anchor! We had to stop two times in the middle of the lake just so JJ could drop the anchor and pull it back up. The picture above shows him trying to haul the anchor back onto the boat.


This was a picture I took as we were going down one channel off the lake.

Here is the spot we pulled up to so JJ could go exploring! We also ate lunch here! At one point the boat dislodged from the sand and started to float away, but luckily Mark was on board and could drive it back up to the bank. While we were here, JJ was hoping to find buried treasure along the rock wall!

Back To School

It has been a LOOOONNNNGGGGG time since I last blogged. Jeremiah and I are back to school! JJ was not too excited about going back, but he is having a good year in first grade. He wishes he was back in kindergarten though,because first grade is proving to be a little more work:) Now that we are back to school our lives are getting a little busier. JJ has homework to do every night, he is also part of Cub Scouts for the first time, and he also just started swim lessons! We are not used to having so many commitments during the week, but I am sure we will adjust! Here are a few pics from the first day of school. I cried like a baby when I walked him down to class.

New! New! New!

Here is the one shot I have managed to get of Ben in his new shoes. As many of you may know, I have had a TERRIBLE time finding shoes that will go on his feet! They are sooooo chunky! Anyways, after buying and returning at least two pair, we finally find a pair at the Shoe Box in Black Earth. It was quite funny watching him try to walk in them at first, but he does pretty well now! Another new thing in our house is our deck! We finally have a deck that Ben can go out on safely. Our last deck had benches along the edge that left huge holes above the bench and below, where Ben could easily topple off of. But now we have a safe deck and the workers even installed a gate for at the top of the stairs! So for the past few days Ben has enjoyed coming in and out as he pleases!

Finally, our last new event is bubbbles!!! Ben had his first bubble bath and JJ willingly hopped in to have some fun too! The boys had a good time! JJ had picked out the bottle at walmart and I didn't look at the scent. But when I got it out for the boy's bath it was mariner musk! Interesting!?!?

On Sunday we ventured out to Spring Green and various stops from there to Madison. We first stopped at Peck's and enjoyed the deer farm! Then we went on to the junk store, down to Madison for lunch, and then on our way back we stopped at the Shoe Box and found shoes for Ben (finally)! It was a hot day, but we had a good time! JJ took a wagon ride around the farm. Ben and I were in the gift shop so we missed out on going:(

This was the highlight of our time at the deer park.....the big bouncer! JJ of course bounced around and Ben made attempts to walk around, but gave up after a few moments and wanted out!

Fun At Grandma's!

We were up at my mom's to celebrate the fourth (a few days late) and the boys of course had a great time! Mom managed to get her reading glasses on Ben and I caught a few memorable looks.
Ben is trying to knit!
My brother made a sandbox for the boys and mom filled it halfway with colored sand! JJ thought it was pretty cool to have purple, blue, green, and pink sand! Ben just loved to play with the toys!

My mom and brother have flowers EVERYWHERE in the front yard and back. I tried to get a few pics by the flowers with the boys. Ben just wanted to run all over the yard, so he was not too cooperative.

And here is Mark and Bobby with the truck full of fireworks. They were just counting down the minutes until it got dark so they could start! Men and their need to light things off and have them explode! I don't get it! :)

Off to the Fair!

We took the boys to the Sauk County Fair last week! Everyone enjoyed looking at all of the animals! Then we were off to the rides and games! We bought a wristband for JJ so he got to go on a ton of rides. Luckily he met a few friends there so he was able to ride with them on some of the rides. But he did not mind going on most of them by himself. Ben was a little bored since he couldn't go on the rides with his brother! But he did get to play the pick a duck game. We finished the night with a few snacks and then home to bed!

JJ, Bo, and Elizabeth on the Dragon rollercoaster!

JJ in the Mystery Machine ride! He was so excited to go on this, but it was not a very thrilling ride.

JJ decided to go on this big kid ride! Luckily he found two friends that were going on too! We thought he would get scared, but he loved it! He went on a second time!

Ben decided to try out the pick a duck game! And for $3.00 he picked one out and won a baseball bat and ball! Woo-hoo:)

Sprinkler Fun!

It was a nice warm day out today so I brought out the sprinkler for the boys to play in!
Benjamin enjoyed carrying around the Elmo sprinkler and the nozzle throughout the afternoon!

The boys both enjoyed the fan sprinkler!
JJ taking a break in the sun!Big boy footprints and little boy footprints! Aren't they cute:)