Waldvogel Times

Welcome to my idea of a simple way to stay in touch with more people. I was inspired by an old friend who has done a great job keeping friends and family posted on her everyday life. As our schedules get busier and our family gets bigger, I want to make sure that friends and family are informed!

: Name: Kristie; Location: Germantown, Wisconsin, United States

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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Max is here!

Max is the horse pulling the sleigh.

The horses in this picture do not come with the carriage! Well I did it!! With mild rejection from Mark, I purchased Max and the carriage you see in the picture. The carriage was too good of a deal to pass up on ebay so I jumped on it. The snag is it is in Craig, Colorado. So it is a good thing I work in the shipping industry. I hope to have it here the 2nd week in October and then it needs a little work. My goal is to offer Thanksgiving rides, so book your ride now! Payment in the form of apples, carrots and grain will be gladly accepted by Max!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Brett's Adventure Club

Brett goes to an adventure club for 1 1/2 hours. I signed him up because he loves playing outside so much. And it works well, it is at Camp Minikani and follows his pre-school class. So far he loves it and is never ready to come home. Yesterday they discussed bird migration and how the birds go south for the winter and then they made bird feeders using cheerios and pipe cleaners and another one with a pine cone and honey. So we came home and hung those up for the birds to enjoy. Brett is very proud. And now that I like to take pictures of the things he does, he insisted I take a picture of him hanging the picture he colored. I've created a monster, I always need my camera ready now. And even though I didn't sleep all night, because habits are hard to break, Barrett went down at 8:45 and slept through without eating until 7:45. Of sourse he acted as though he was starving, the poor thing. Mind you he is a big boy.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Bath Time

Finally, Barrett likes taking a bath. Until a couple weeks ago it was a little bit of a struggle. He never liked laying in the baby tub and was always trying to sit up. And he really didn't care to much to splash around. Now that he can sit up, he is a different kid. He must have a different perspective. He loves playing in the water. And now I just put his infant tub in the big tub, and what a time saver for me, two baths down in half the time! The boys have fun together. In reality Barrett just keeps splasing and Brett tries to keep his toys on his side of the water.

1931 Ford Model A

Saturday was such a beautiful day out! Oh wait I think that was the morning I turned on the furnace. I started the day photographing my favorite subjects and was actually able to get some smiles from Brett. Lately I typically get closed eyes and silly looks. And it was a good thing the cold weather came, I changed the boys closets over to winter clothes and found all kinds of clothes for both of them including these matching shirts I got on clearance last year at Janie and Jack. Yes I know they aren't twins but it is cute anyway, and with so few opportunities to get cute boy stuff, I'm all over it. Later in the morning my grandfather on my dad's side, Maynard came by for a visit. He was driving by and decided to stop so my boys could see, and sit and pose in this 1931 Ford Model A. What a great back seat, hmm, where is the latch system on this??

Garden Spider

This is not for the faint of heart, continue scrolling down at your own risk. I was at my mom's today. Barrett had spent the night to get some quality time with grandma & grandpa. As most of you know she lives way out in the country, a little town called Cedar Grove. Well you find all kinds of stuff out there, (and by stuff I don't mean stores and other people) including this enormous 'garden spider' There were two different flower gardens with such critters. I'm not scared of spiders, but seriously this one could carry away my baby!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Haricut

BEFORE...... This is his own styling job this morning, he loves that hair wax!

DURING......

AFTER......

PATIENTLY WAITING......

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Brett's Faux Hawk

Hmm.... guess who needs a haircut? With the busy days of summer, and mini-school starting, and tumbling on Wednesdays, how will we find the time. Well since we haven't, Mark decided to do a little styling for Brett on his own. Brett was very proud but wanted it 'combed out' before going to bed. Brett loves Camp Minikani! I'll have to get a picture up quick of Barrett, he now has 5 teeth. Both front top teeth are through and pushing fast. I'm trying to wean him off of that 10:30 snack and get him to sleep from 8 or 9 at night until 6 or 7 in the morning. The first two nights were perfect, then a night that was awful and then an OK night, so we'll see what happens tonight.

I'm still considering a horse. Sorry the picutre is so small, but this is a picture of Max working last winter. Mark is still opposed, but it is a passion I have had since I was little and I think it is time I followed that dream of mine again. I'm not 100% sure on the Percheron, Max, I've been looking at, but we'll see. As some of you know the bonus with him is the carriage rides I could give to people in addition to me riding the horse. However I'm finding that a carriage, even used, may be more money than the horse himself. Although I think I could buy a lot of carriages if I sold that yellow car??

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

More Pics!

Well I just had to take a few more pictures today. And as you can see even though Brett wasn't dressed for the occasion he decided to sit down for his photo shoot too. And if you look really close with a magnifying glass you can see Barrett now has tooth # 3. I'm suprised to report it is a lower tooth just to the left of the two he has. I didn't feel it a few days ago so it is pretty new. And literally today, because it was not there yesterday, his first tooth up top. His left middle front tooth just poked through. He is not wasting any time growing up.

Ceiling Fan

How could I forget, Brett got a ceiling fan in his room this weekend. I love the fact that he is three, we can get some of the tacky stuff and it's OK, he is a kid! Because yes, those are race cars on the fan.

Preschool, carseats and smoothies!

Today was the first day of Pre-school for Brett at Camp Minikani. He did attend a 2 hour minischool last spring for 2 hrs 2 days a week. Now he has graduated to pre-school two days a week for 2 1/5 hours! And Tuesday is his long day, he will have lunch there and stay for an outdoor adventure class. He was tired and slow to go this morning but stayed with no problems and cried he wasn't ready to leave when I came to pick him up this afternoon. He got his cool new backpack from Grandma Waldvogel. While I can't believe he is growing so fast, there was a sense of relief when I dropped him off that he is growing. I'll have mixed feelings when he rides a school bus, part sad, part glad - I'm guessing he won't be chronically 1-3 minutes late then.

Barrett is my big boy. He has already reached the 26" and 20 lb limit to the infant carrier car seat. So we went this weekend and got him his new seat. It is just like Brett's, only he of course still sits backwards. I hate to say that now with 2 cars seats strapped into my car dare I say the word mini-van. I don't even want to go there, I think I'll look into little SUV's with third row seating, any ideas let me know.

Barrett and I shared lunch today, he loved my smoothie!

He should be crawling any day now, he can really rock.

Wildlife at the Waldvogel's

As you can see there is a lot to enjoy out here, and all from my office window. How lucky am I. If you look back to some pictures I posted a while ago you will see Red Bee Balm that stoood about 5 feet tall. Unfortunately as summer is ending the blooms are fading, we have cut it back to encourage a little more bloom, but let's face it the days are shorter and the season is coming to an end. Well I was saddened to see the hummingbirds still hovering over the dead blooms. I could only imagine they were hungry, so out went my feeder. I have had a little luck in the past with a hummingbird feeder, but this is amazing. While I can only get one bird to pose for pictures at a time, I have seen as many as three little hummers fighting over the feeder at once. It is nice they can actually take a break and eat. I've tried to explain to them that there are 4 spots so no need to be pushy, but, I'm just kidding! They are here at least every 30 minutes or so during the day, it is fun to watch. And I let Scooby outside this morning around 7 AM to see 10 turkeys in the yard across the street. It was hard to tell but perhaps it is a mom and dad with babies? I don't know for sure. And I'd like to think in my mind that is was the same turkeys in the last picutre that visited in spring. Our lone single female has moved on, I haven't seen her in a while. If anyone wants to give me some of their turkey knowledge, please do.