savoring fall

fall in wisconsin. i didn't realize how much i could enjoy this season. the colors are amazing. the weather is, well, mostly nice. festivities everywhere. you just can't beat that. i've been taking advantage of this awesome time of year with plenty of photos of katelyn. probably too many, but that's a parents job i guess. the weather has been so kind these past couple of days. up into the seventies. we couldn't resist and had to get out. we spent time at the zoo, played at the park, took a nice long walk and played in the leaves. here are some pictures of our adventures in the leaves.

preparing to toss...

definitely her favorite thing to do in the leaves.

experimented with crawling around. wasn't quite as fun.

wishing she could play in somebody elses backyard.

the crunching noise was a favorite too.

very rare, a posed picture.

now we're just waiting on the season's first snow that the weatherman claims is coming this weekend!

trick or treating is offically done

every year the medical college of wisconsin hosts a great trick-or-treating activity for the medical students and their families. i guess we didn't think two trunk-or-treats was enough candy already, so we put katelyn back in her costume one last time.

i guess katelyn had forgotten that we had already practiced this trick-or-treating thing because she was a little hesitant at first. it was fun to watch as she realized there were big bowls of candy waiting for her at each stop.

we saw a number of reactions from katelyn as she realized people were handing out free candy and that mom and dad were letting her take it. at some of the bowls she was very polite and only took one piece, at others she grabbed handfuls, and at some she just stared into the bowl laughing.

i think she's getting a little too comfortable with trick-or-treating. here she decided to just stay and sit by the candy.

she even made some stops to admire the decorations.

by the end she was worn out and had a bag full of candy. or maybe i should say that tyler and i had bag full of candy.

our last stop was in the cafeteria to munch on some yummy donuts and drink some delicious apple juice. we found this cute little set up and had to take a picture. katelyn was all too willing especially because there was a little chair set up just for her.

side note: nobody trick-or-treats on halloween day here. they have set dates and set times when everyone is supposed to trick-or-treat. our set day was october 26th (sunday) so were unable to go. so weird.

pumpkin patch

we had the perfect excuse to head out to a pumpkin patch on saturday. tyler had completed his FIVE tests (phew) this past week. with another test week under our belts, it was time for all of us to take a break. and what says relaxation better than a pumpkin patch? can't think of anything, can you?

it turned out to be the perfect day. the sun was back, the temperature was just right and this was just the place to take a little kid who wants to run around.

there was a little petting zoo and lots of pumpkins to touch and run around in, a hayride and a cornmaze.

we had a hard time pulling her away from the animals. she loved looking at them.

i've wanted to go to a pumpkin patch with katelyn since her first halloween. i was dying to get some cute pictures of her amongst the pumpkins. i realized though that it is very hard to get that perfect shot when chasing a running toddler. we still had a ton of fun though watching katelyn in the pumpkins.

there were lots of little cutouts like this to take pictures with. katelyn didn't quite understand that you are supposed to stand behind them. she just kept playing peek-a-boo and laughing at herself.

happy halloween!

company

we had our first visitors out here in wisconsin! my sister and brother-in-law, erin and thomas, dropped by for a quick little visit. erin just happened to have a conference in chicago, so they decided to pay us a visit. it was fun to have someone here to experience a little taste of wisconsin. they flew in to chicago, so we headed down, spent a wonderful evening at my cousin's house (thanks joy!), and headed out the next day. my cousin joy got us into this great museum called the science and progress museum. it was huge! we literally could have spent the whole day there. instead, we stayed about 3 hours. there was just so much to see, but we had to get back to wisconsin.

erin and thomas were pleasantly surprised at how beautiful wisconsin was. they weren't expecting much. i wasn't either though. imagine their surprise when they saw more than just farm after farm. it really is a very charming area. we spent our first available day exploring the wauwatosa/milwaukee area. we found the first lighthouse built in wisconsin, looked at a dirty part of the beach of lake michigan, and drove around and enjoyed the beautiful architecture. we even got to see some of the first signs of fall. i can't wait!
the last day they were here we went to old world wisconsin. this is a place where they have restored a bunch of old houses, shops and farms just as they looked long ago in wisconsin. you walk around from house to house and get to meet the people who "live" in them. then you learn all about their life style. the adults were all very interested in this. katelyn on the other hand just wanted to walk around and watch the animals all day.

all-in-all we had a great time. feel free to get really jealous about how much fun we had. maybe it will encourage you to come visit next.

invasion of privacy

our little one has always been a mama's girl. but since we've moved out to wisconsin, she's slowly switching sides. no hurt feelings here.

when tyler comes home katelyn runs to him and showers him with hugs and kisses and follows him around the house. pretty cute. no lie.

on one of these daddy days, tyler had to take a little bathroom break. naturally, he closed the door. i guess katelyn didn't want to miss anything daddy was doing because i found her like this...

trying to take a little peek under the bathroom door!

dear sisters,

i miss you. i wish you were here. i could always count on you to do dumb things with me.

(i'm sorry two of you are missing in this picture).

love,

brooke

oops

living in a new place you expect to encounter some new people and some new places to visit. well, in our place we have also unexpectedly been greeted by these new little guys.

i happened to walk into the room both times and did a very good job of screaming for tyler's help.

after doing a little research i found out that these critters are called house centipedes. wikipedia claims they are considered beneficial because they eat household pests. Yeah right, they are the household pest! I guess that they can bite, but their bite is not harmful in anyway.

last night katelyn woke up at 4:00 a.m. crying. we helped her calm down, got her a drink of milk and put her back in her crib. as i was laying her back down, my finger brushed something bumpy underneath her back. i reached back under and felt it again, so i quickly grabbed it and threw it at the wall.
when i got back to bed i mentioned to tyler that i thought i had just thrown a bug from katelyn's crib, and i was pretty sure it was one of those centipede things. of course, after that i couldn't get to sleep. i kept worrying that katelyn must have been bitten.
in the morning i went to investigate to see if i could find that bug. i was looking in the area i threw it and looked down and saw one of katelyn's hair elastics that wasn't there last night. i picked it up and rubbed it between my fingers and realized that my "bug" was actually one of katelyn's hair elastics! Oops. at least she walked away without any bites from the hair elastic.