Coming home!

After being stuck in the NICU for 3 weeks, my younger sister & I were able to help my youngest sister & two new nephews break out! It was a fun afternoon, visiting with my sisters and getting a few more snuggles in with the little guys.

My sister was so glad to be back home after being away for almost 4 weeks! There’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed again…even if it’s only for 2 hours at a time.

"W" in his car bed
(the boys had to ride in these for a few weeks after
coming home from the hospital too!)

"K" in his car seat

4 miles!

5Ks have kind of been my thing since last October. They have been the perfect distance for me to run to keep me motivated & in shape; along with being a do-able length to still push the boys in the stroller (although this may be the last year). I was comfortable with not pushing for a longer distance but increasing my pace instead. Then a local race came up that Cory & I wanted to run but my running options were 1 mile, 4 miles or ½ marathon. With the encouragement of my hubby I decided to challenge myself with the 4 mile run! I’m so glad I did.

My parents participated in the 2-mile walk pushing the boys in the stroller so that Cory & I could both run the 4 mile solo. They had a great time and the boys even walked/ran a majority of the 2 miles (you never know how far they’re going to walk/run, depending on the day). I am happy to report that both Cory & my run went well for both of us. Cory beat his goal time & I finished it feeling great.

The boys also participated in a 400-yard kid race, but we were a little late to the starting line and had to help the boys start mid-race. Wyatt took off running; he ran all the way to the finish line. Colton walked…walked slowly. I walked with him, encouraging him to run. When the finish line was in sight, I asked if he wanted to run with me the rest of the way but all I got was a “I just have zero energy.” from him. A few steps later & he tripped and scraped his knees so I ended up carrying him over the finish line. Oh well, he just wasn’t into it that day.

I love being able to do things like this as a family & having my parents get involved as well!

The 2-mile crew!

Showing me their muscles.

The 4-mile crew!

Family run day!

Wyatt & mommy after the kids race.

 

So proud of his medal.

Wyatt playing in the trees after the race.

Colton playing in the trees after the race.

A daycare summer picnic in the park

We had a beautiful night to enjoy the boys’ daycare summer picnic at a local park. Their whole class made these “sandpaper crayon drawing” shirts the week-of & wore them that night, which was kind of nice to be able to pick out their fellow classmates!

A night at the ballpark

The boys, especially Colton, were disappointed that we didn’t take them with us to the Brewer’s games in Milwaukee. I made a deal with them that instead, we would take a night & go to a local minor league team to watch them play ball instead – they agreed!

We lucked out that my parents had free tickets for the deck area of the stadium, which included free food & drinks. Our night scheduled to enjoy the game looked a little spotty for showers but we braved it anyway. Soon after we arrived & got into the deck area – it started to downpour…and continued to downpour for almost an hour. The boys were such good sports about being stuck in such a small area with a ton of people, huddled together out of the rain. The game was cancelled, of course, but we still got to enjoy some free food & drinks while we were there. Lucky for us, they gave us all deck tickets to be used at another game instead…so a few nights later we returned to watch some ball on a perfect sunny, summer night.

It was a much nicer evening all around. We sat in the bleachers for the first couple innings to be a little closer to the action. The boys loved seeing it up close & asked a ton of questions (even though they watch the Brewers play on TV all the time). We enjoyed a little bit more of the deck area, more yummy food and finally made it over to the “kids’ area” with inflatables, a ball throw & playground equipment.

The boys had a good time and did pay attention to the game quite a bit. I’m sure it’ll still be a year or two before we take them to a Brewers game in Milwaukee but I know we’ll make more visits back to our local ballpark next summer!

Watching the players warm up.

Pitching warm up too!

This kid has quite the arm!
(Colton)

Wyatt was excited to have a try too!

Mommy & Colton post-game.

Celebrating 10 years in Milwaukee

Another part of our 10 year anniversary celebration was a weekend spent in Milwaukee – kids free – taking in some baseball. It was the same way we had spent a few days after our wedding 10 years prior (we honeymooned in October but took a few days off after the wedding to relax & recoop). We had good seats for both games and really enjoyed our time away while the boys enjoyed a weekend with Grandpa & Grandma (they even went blueberry picking for the first time!).

Cory with Bernie Brewer!
(the boys love watching for him when a home run is hit!)

Game #1

Beautiful Miller Park!

A little tailgating before game #2.

Game #2

First movie!

We had been waiting for a “good” movie to come out to take the boys to in the theater. One we hoped would hold their attention & when I read that “Planes 2” was coming out this summer, I knew it was perfect for their first movie theater experience.

Bad mommy forgot the camera but we all had a blast! They loved the movie, as did Mommy & Daddy, and were so well behaved.

We were going to split a large popcorn as a family but found out with ordering the large popcorn that the kids got their own free small bag of popcorn, so everyone was happy. Colton ate his popcorn throughout the entire movie without barely moving (or blinking) once (we knew he would have no trouble sitting through a whole movie). Wyatt ate a bunch of his popcorn before the movie started & then saved the rest of his for a couple of small snacks during the movie. He got restless a couple times but standing up proved to be enough of a break for him – he really did great. The theater only had 2 other families in it with us, so that was nice for a first time experience.

We all agreed that we’ll be buying this movie on DVD when it comes out – we’re a Dusty-lovin’ house!

I’d say our first movie theater experience went very well – which makes me excited for the next one!

Building Olaf!

Our good friends’ little girl “P” turned 3 the week after the boys’ birthday & had a “Frozen” themed birthday party to celebrate. One of the party favors sent home was an un-assembled Olaf snowman kit – super cute! The boys had a blast making their own Olafs!

Colton taking out all his snowman pieces.

A little help from daddy...

Wyatt taking out his snowman pieces.

A little help from daddy too...

Colton, eating his finished Olaf!

Wyatt with his finished Olaf!

Mommy & Colton Lunch Date

After Wyatt’s first summer speech appointment, he & I grabbed lunch at a local Subway since the appointment had taken place over daycare’s lunch hour. Ever since that day, Colton has been asking to have a lunch date with “just mommy” too. I love spending that one-on-one time with each of them and he was sooo thankful for it as well (he told me thank you multiple times that day!). He requested a place with corn dogs but settled for mac ‘n cheese instead…he didn’t mind though; it was just him & his mommy!

2 New Nephews!

I’m the proud auntie to two more incredibly cute little boys. “W” & “K” came into the world a little earlier than we had expected but they are healthy, gaining weight & growing!

"W"

"K"

10 years = 10K

Cory & I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary toward the end of July – crazy! I had actually made it a goal that we would celebrate 10 years together with a trip to Hawaii…well, maybe we’ll do that for 15 or 20 instead!

Cory & I celebrated our 10 year anniversary by running a fun 5K race together (5K + 5K = 10K)…well, by together I really just mean that we both ran it – I can’t run anywhere near the pace my awesome husband can so we each run at our own paces & meet up at the finish line!

The morning was cloudy & temps were cool for this time of year (with this crazy, cool summer we’ve been having, the only place I won’t complain about it is when we’re talking running!). It was a big, busy 5K but we both still managed to finish around our normal pace time. It’s Wisconsin, so there was free water, hot dogs & beer for all race participants afterwards!

I’m so glad running is something that I can share with my hubby. We can support & encourage each other in training & races and use it to model an active lifestyle for our boys.