Skiing, anyone?!

Trevor and Erin are season pass holders for Nordic Mountain this year. After purchasing the passes EARLY (like August!!) for an awesome deal, we recently went to a Ski Swap and found a terrific deal on used skis for Erin. Then, while talking with sales person about boots for her, we learned that Nordic Mtn has a special for season pass holders....they can rent a pair of boots for $25/season and the boots are their own for the entire season. Needless to say, Erin has her skis and boots here at home....and they get tried on FREQUENTLY with comments thrown in for good measure that it should be able to snow anytime now. How about we wait for another month.....or so?! =-)

Spiders and Chocolate

Anyone who knows me at all, knows that I do NOT like spiders in any form. However, when I came across these little guys, I thought they were actually cute....and chocolate!! Emily, Erin and I made them for a treat to share with their class. Of course, the girls liked the chocolate and the boys liked the spiders so all was good! Mmmm-Mmmmm!

2011-2012 School Days

Trevor - 7th Grade

Erin - 4th Grade

Emily - 4th Grade

There's something to smile about here!

This picture was taken 12/09 the day before he got his braces.

Today has been a day that has been on Trevor's mind for the past....well, probably since the day he got his braces on 22 months ago!  The result, though, was definitely worth the waiting and going without certain foods to ensure that the results were what we were paying for AND this helped him get his braces off at least 2 months early.  Some may have thought we were being overly cautious and maybe too much too, BUT he didn't want to have negative results that were shown and described to him. 
This morning he said all he wanted was a big glass of ice cold root beer after he got the metal removed and then a flossing party tonight!  The orthodontist that we selected is absolutely awesome in so many ways....they gave him a gift certificate to A&W when they found out what he wanted!  Needless to say, we enjoyed a lunch together there before heading back to school. 
After getting the metal snipped off his teeth, he just couldn't believe how different it felt and how much better it looked!  What an awesome smile, Trevor.  All that work paid off, buddy!

Fall Festival & Music

While Terry and Trevor were selling their goods on Saturday, the girls and I headed out to Neshkoro to enjoy the beautiful fall day in a quaint little town. We took mental notes of the many fun crafty things that we decided we could easily make ourselves, ate some yummy "fall" foods and then sat and enjoyed the sun while listening to some of the best live music and visiting with some pretty terrific people. What a wonderful fall day!

Look What The Mailman Brought!

The kids went to school this morning wearing these new shirts that came in the mail on Saturday! Thank you, Auntie Al!

Country Beauty

This is the scene that we see each morning on our way into school.......what a gorgeous way to begin our day.

Go, Berlin, Go!

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE volunteering in the girls' classroom?! This week, I was able to help four students make a football banner for this class to hold up during the Homecoming Parade in honor of the team playing tonight. The banner turned out cute and the students holding it up during the parade looked so proud! I was able to sneak into the classroom this morning for a class picture with their banner. Also shown are Emily and Erin intently watching the parade and proudly pointing their brother out to their new classmates! (Yes, they are proud of him....they just don't like to show it often!)
As part of the homecoming celebration in the 4th grade, their teacher incorporated a writing assignment into it....they each wrote a friendly letter to one member of the Cross Country team to encourage them in their next meet. They also each made a pennant that they were able to get autographed by eight players from different Berlin sports. The 4th grade students were just SO proud after the autograph session.
This was probably our last homecoming game with the Indian Mascot....a sore spot in the town right now. But, no matter what our mascot will be in the future, I'm positive that the next homecoming week will be just as fun.....and the students will be just as proud!

Berlin Indians Homecoming Week

Like any school during homecoming week, the Student Council came up with some fun ways to make Homecoming Week a little more special! On Monday, they had Opposite Day (Trevor wore his sweatshirt backwards....but only until 2nd hour as it was too "uncomfortable"!), Tuesday was Duct Tape Day (Trevor wore a duct tape shirt and sandals!), Wednesday was Twin Day, Thursday was Mustache Day and Friday, of course, was Spirit Day.
In honor of the game tonight, the students watched a Homecoming Parade put on by the High School students with the Middle School band also marching. Trevor was so excited to march in the parade instead of "just watching it"!

"Corn"fusing Mazes

After the Berlin Tractor Parade, we headed down to Ripon to walk through a corn maze. When we got there, we learned that there were 14 little pit-stops to locate along the way and get your card punched to show that you had found each one.  We learned upon our return that we were only the 2nd group that day to find all 14 stops.  We had a lot of good laughs along the way...mostly at my expense!  The map was drawn out in maze form so it was hard to wrap my brain around the idea of following the LINE and not the space BETWEEN the lines!  After we made our way through the three different mazes and found all 14 stops, we found a little photo op that we took advantage of before heading out on a 20 minute wagon ride

around the farm.  What a great fall day of fun!  

The punch card to use to record the "pit-stops"
that we found.  There were 14 stops to locate.



Emily getting her card punched along the way.



Erin is getting her stop recorded.



Terry-our map reader!  If not for Terry and Chris, we
would still out there in the 5+ miles of corn mazes!




I SPY.......MASON!




Our family picture.....minus Jake.




All in a good days' fun!  I just love this picture of the sun through
the corn. 



Marching To The Beat....

Here is the main reason we even went to the Tractor Parade on Saturday. Trevor was so excited to march in his first parade! Trevor is just loving band and the trombone practicing isn't something we struggle with. It has been so awesome to see how quickly they moving from just beginning in 6th grade to memorizing/marching just one month into 7th grade! They all did a terrific job.....all that practicing is paying off, Trevor!

Thanks for coming to watch, Auntie Al & Uncle Chris. He was so excited to hear that you were coming all the way down just to watch - it meant a lot!

Putt, Putt, Putt

On Saturday, we went to the annual fall festival in Berlin and Alicia, Chris and boys came down as well. Mason had fun trying to get the "perfect" picture, watching for Trevor and then waving to all the tractors as they went by.....and his face lit up when he saw the John Deere's putt-putting down the street! And what perfect weather it was........