Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

The holidays are now over and we've settled back into our normal routine. What a crazy, festive end to 2016 it was! 

We started taking the kids to curling with us. They like to opportunity to get out on the ice, which is good for all of us. We're doing okay this year. Sometimes we're on, sometimes we're off, and sometimes I'm cold. 

The kids keep us entertained with their band performances. The costumes are exquisite! It's only a matter of time before they start asking about pyrotechnics...

We participated in a few holiday gatherings of family and friends, which were a lot of fun. We had to miss out on at least one due to sickness, but that seems difficult to avoid this winter. :) The kids got lots of fun presents. Felix got several Lego airplane sets. Space-crazy Iris got an astronaut costume, a rocket play set, and a trampoline. And the kids got tablets and a telescope to share. 

I had quite a bit of time off around the holidays, and made the most of it, catching up with a friend and getting appointments out of the way. The kids spent a couple of days with Nick's parents and the rest of the week at the Y. Peace, quiet and The Crown for me. :o)

The kids stayed up later than they ever have on New Year's Eve. Iris watched the ball drop and went to bed shortly after 11. Felix made it until 12:30! The 1st was a sleepy day at our hour.

And now, we look forward to 2017. The kids are going to start ice skating lessons again, and we have a spring break trip coming up!

Felix: 7 yrs & Iris: 4 yrs

Thankful

I am thankful for so much this year!

Photos: Photographic Memories
By the Oberstadts

• • My wonderful family, who always support me and give me a reason to smile. 
  • My beautiful, amazing, smart, healthy children.
  • My wonderful husband, who works so hard to make things better for me and the kids. 
  • My circle of friends, ones from years past and new acquaintances. 
  • Nick's great job, that keeps him busy and gives him new challenges daily. 
  • My job that gives me the chance to make a difference on a statewide level. 
  • All of the opportunities I've had and continue to have. 
  • My health. 
  • My education and experiences at UW-Madison, and great teams for which to cheer. 
  • And, since the season just started, curling! 
  
  
  And, I'm also thankful Felix has had many opportunities with the local Boys and Girls Club, even being interviewed with other kids for his perspective on bullying. 

Felix: 7 yrs & Iris: 4 yrs

Fall

It seems we've skipped right past September, and are hurtling headlong toward November. Egads.

So handsome! 

Catching up on things, Felix started 2nd grade and really seems to have turned a corner. His behavior has improved (even he has noticed he's gotten into less trouble this year than in the past), he's more cooperative, and he's doing great in school. Single-digit math is a breeze and he's doing well in reading and spelling.

Making apple pie with Grandma
at daycare

Iris started 4K, and is doing very well as well. She's really on a space kick right now. Forget "to the moon and back." We expanded past that to the Sun, Neptune, the Kuiper Belt, the middle of the Milky Way and as of yesterday, Andromeda. We're still dealing with tantrums, but there are moments like the one last night that make her just delightful:

That face. . . 

Scene: dinner time, all four of us eating around the table. Nick was telling me that Iris tried eating their faux playdoh at daycare and they had to scrub it off her face, leaving her pink-cheeked.

Nick (to Iris): So, you learned something today, didn't you.

Iris: Yes, we learned about the letter T!

And then she was amused and bewildered by all the laughter.

It shall hang in a museum! 

Nick and I have been keeping fairly busy as well. I did my first paint and sip in September, and now have a masterpiece that has yet to find a permanent home. :o) We went to a family wedding (Congrats, Alissa and Cam!) and had quite an adventure staying in a 50+ year old single-wide trailer. We got wonderful family pictures taken by a dear friend. Nick's sister, Natalie, came back to Wisconsin and we got to host her and their folks for an early Thanksgiving dinner. I got to spend two days in Madison training, spending the night and seeing Cassie 3 times and her new house once. We went on a "cranberry crawl" and learned more about the cranberry business in the area, while I was unfortunately under the weather with a bad cold. And finally, I took some time off to help chaperone Iris's daycare trip to Altenburg's with my mom. Fun stuff!

Interests right now: just finished Stranger Things (Awe. Some.), really into this season in Poldark and The Durrells In Corfu, impatiently waiting for the election to be over.

We have many plans for Halloween, so I hope I get my next blog post in a little sooner!

Felix: 7 yrs & Iris: 4 yrs

August Heat

This month has been hot! The Community Picnic at the beginning of the month was sweltering; my cousin's bridal shower was steamy. At least the corn and hummingbirds have enjoyed it. Don't get me wrong - I love a good 85° day. 95 and humid? Not so much.

We got together with Nick's Dad's side for a cookout mid-month. Everybody but his sister in DC made an appearance. Quite impressive! The kids had fun playing in a sprinkler and the endless grazing from the buffet. We enjoyed chatting and playing bags.

We had a quiet weekend to regroup, then BAM! It was time for Nick's and my first actual trip in over 5 years. We drove up to Green Bay on Wednesday afternoon, left the kids with his parents, and flew out on Thursday morning. We spent about 2 and a half days visiting his sister in Washington, DC. Nick had never been there before and I had been there several times, so I let him pick what we saw. We walked the Mall (also sweltering at ~95°) from the Smithsonians to Lincoln and back, and spent a couple hours in the Air and Space Museum. The next day, Nick and I went to the International Spy Museum, which was fun. We ate and drank a lot - sushi, seafood assortments, raw bar, bottomless tapas-style brunch... all so good! We flew back home early on Sunday morning. Had a 3 hour layover in Chicago, but  made it back to GB and then to Rapids in good time.

Summary:
- 11 different types of seafood, over 20 different preparations all told
- Ate at Legal Sea Foods (twice!), Elephant & Castle, Zengo (bottomless brunch)
- Drank at Lou's City Bar, Meridian Pint, Penn Social, E&C, Old Ebbitt Grill
- 35 different state license plates, plus 6 bonus plates (Canadian, government)
- 48,500 steps (20.3 miles)

Iris turned 4! With the recent visits with family, we decided not to throw a party for her this year. We will have fun as a family instead. It's a busy day, with school open houses for both kids, as Felix starts 2nd grade and Iris starts 4K on Thursday. Iris got a My Little Pony sweatshirt, pony plush, jewelry box, indoor/outdoor pogo jumper, kid binoculars, and a board game from us this year.

The 31st is my mom's last day of work. Happy Retirement, Mom! Enjoy this time with Dad!

Felix: 7 yrs & Iris: 4 yrs

July Highlights

Short and sweet highlights of our summer so far!

Felix turned 7 and had his first sleepover! He invited a few friends over. They had a silly string fight, had pizza, watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Half of the party fell asleep around 10. The other half had to be told GO TO SLEEP around 11:30. Naturally, they were all up and raring to go around 6:30...

We were invited over for an afternoon get-together with one of Nick's coworkers. The boys went fishing on the river, and caught a couple catfish and carp. Iris ran shrieking from the flopping fish a couple of times. But now they have new friends with whom they played in the kiddie pool.

We went to a family cookout on my side, and introduced the kids to the joys and pains of tubing down the river. A few beers had to be rescued while one or two were sacrificed to the river gods. We took our inflatable kayaks, while the rest of my folks did the traditional tubing. Complete with traditional slowly-deflating tube.

Iris got a black eye! From the slides at daycare! Again! Quite the shiner this time, all from "being silly on the slide". As it heals, it's turned many glorious colors, making half her face look like she's had gaudy makeup applied.

We got to be super social with friends at the end of July, with two nights of babysitters in a row! We had classy cocktails, fondue and dominoes one night, and 1 1/2 innings of a Rafters game in between thunderstorms. Yeah, not wise to be on a big metal structure with cloud-to-ground lightning.

Stay tuned for next time... More fun with extended families! A trip to DC! Iris's birthday! Hooray!

Felix: 7 yrs & Iris: 3.5 yrs

Felix is 7!

Felix turns 7 today! Wow, time has flown! Let's go back in time...

And bam, 7 years ago I became a mama. We had Felix's family birthday party last week with far-flung family. Friend sleepover coming up!

Felix: 7 yrs & Iris: 3.5 yrs

On To Summer

Usually, I try to get in a post per month, but it seems like lately that either there's not a lot new to report. Then I wait for a bunch of updates. Like today! 

Felix's second school year has come to an end. Grade 1 is done! He did very well academically-speaking. Things have been a little challenging on the behavior side, but we have recently been advised a cause: Felix is on the ADHD spectrum. He's on the lower end, so no meds, but it's going to make us change how we communicate and react to him. That's probably going to help us all out a lot. Felix was in soccer in May (scored a couple goals!), and is starting his t-ball season with Nick as an assistant coach. He seems to like both a lot.

Iris is everywhere, as usual. She is currently obsessed with WordGirl, riding her bike, and throwing tantrums when I drop her off at daycare in the morning. *sigh* It's just a phase, it's just a phase. She's been singing a lot lately, which I find charming. We're trying to work with her on being nice to the kittens. They're pretty good about it, but there's only so much manhandling they can take. 

The family gave me a nice birthday/Mother's Day. I got my "present" a couple weeks before that - a brand new car! Gone is the micro-van that couldn't be trusted in a dusting of snow. Now, I've got a safety-feature-packed AWD Outback that makes Nick very jealous. (He'll content himself with driving the family in it until his Tesla 3 arrives).

Last weekend, we left the kids with the folks and headed up for a mini-getaway/family wedding in Minneapolis. We had a nice time visiting friends, having a grown-up dinner, and having a ton of fun at the wedding. It definitely helped us recharge our parental batteries. 

We've got a lot of fun stuff coming up this month, so I'll likely update the blog more often! Hope you have a great start to the summer!

Felix: 6.5 yrs & Iris: 3.5 yrs