March 2020 Photo Dump

Getting some playground time in at the Washington St. playground, our first 50 degree day! Still snow on the ground but metling.

LOVES her wubbas, doesn't get to have them at bedtime and "they are just a toy, right?!" "RIGHT?!"

She's getting really great at taking pictures of everything using my phone.

Elsie's first pony ride at the Madison Kids Expo during the first weekend in March, before life went to lockdown.

Enjoying time with cousins, and grandma and grandpa at the water park, what a fun weekend!

They're ready! They both LOVED to swim, though Elsie was sick. Grandma got them matching swim suits and some water shoes.

Akshith Madepaly, Rebecca Gillis, and my undergrad Mike Kuehne presenting their work in the lab at the capital in Madison, WI. Way to go!

At the Kid's Expo this was her favorite by far! And the line went fast.

Love my Elsie!

These two love eachother to death, she loves to dance and carry him around, and Arthur just loves the attention. He never runs away if she gets too aggressive.

Enjoying some sensory play with some cloud dough and plastic animals. Lots of fun!

Dad invented the dad-powered driving around in a car, which of course Elsie LOVES.

Playing the animal game, where Elsie pretends to be an animal and runs to hide and we use our binoculars to find her. Lots of lion roars!

She face planted and bit her lip so she wanted to put a band-aid on it :)

Helping dad make cookies :)

Remembering life during coronavirus pandemic

💙Just so I NEVER forget-April 2, 2020 

Gas price a mile from home was $1.65

School cancelled - yes cancelled

Self-distancing measures on the rise.

Tape on the floors at stores to help distance customers (6ft) from each other.

Limited number of people inside stores, therefore, lineups outside the store doors.

Non-essential stores and businesses mandated closed.

Parks, trails, entire cities locked up.

Entire sports seasons cancelled.

Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events - cancelled.

Weddings, family celebrations, holiday gatherings - cancelled.

No masses, churches are closed.

No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, now 10 or less. 

Don't socialize with anyone outside of your home.

Children's outdoor play parks are closed.

We are to distance from each other.

Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our front-line workers.

Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill.

Panic buying sets in and we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towel no laundry soap, no hand sanitizer.

Shelves are bare.

Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their lines to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer and PPE.

Government closes the border to all non-essential travel.

Fines are established for breaking the rules.

Stadiums and recreation facilities open up for the overflow of Covid-19 patients.

Press conferences daily from the President. Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths.

Government incentives to stay home.

Barely anyone on the roads.

People wearing masks and gloves outside.

Essential service workers are terrified to go to work.

Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families.

This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, declared March 11th, 2020.

Why, you ask, do I write this status?

One day it will show up in my memory feed, and it will be a yearly reminder that life is precious and not to take the things we dearly love for granted.

We have so much!

Be thankful. Be grateful.

Be kind to each other - love one another - support everyone.

We are all one! ☀️

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WI Dells 2020

We got to spend a lovely weekend with Lena, Laura, Ron, Elsie, and Nathan in WI Dells. Because of coronavirus lock-downs, the Great Wolf was only open one of the nights we planned to stay there, so the next night we went over to Kalahari. The two girls had an amazing time together! And everyone enjoyed the water parks. It was fun exploring a new water park, but I think the girls enjoyed Great Wolf a bit better. It was good to get out and be together before our planned isolation for the next couple of weeks.

As far as COVID-19, literally EVERYTHING has shut down, libraries, schools, restaraunts, most businesses. It's a horrendous disruption to life as we knew it, and I'm feeling a little nervous about the whole thing, but we plan to stay pretty secluded from most other people. It's hard though, because Mary just had little Hayden and we want to go see the new baby cousin, so maybe in a couple of weeks. So far it seems the symptoms are mild, and it is mostly a problem for the immuno-compromised and elderly. However, now that I'm a bit immuno-compromised myself I'm especially going to steer clear of the public. How long will it last?!? I am kicked out of my research lab at UW-Madison Chemistry for 8 weeks. Madison College will have us instructors move to online instruction for the remainder of the semester. I had to say good-bye to a good lab friend under these horrible circumstances, will probably never see her again becuase she's moving to Pittsburg after her April 7 defense!

Anyhow, we had a lovely time together at the WI-Dells and I look forward to doing it again soon!

Cousins were happy to see eachother and both graciously wore their wolfie ears so I could take a picture. Lena (18 months) and Elsie (2.5).

The girls were ready to go swimming right away! Grandma got them matching outfits and swim shoes :)

Lots of fun playing with everyone in the water! Little E likes to run and splash the fountains, and swim in the shallow toddler pools.

Swimming with dad and a life jacket, though she's fine on her own at this point.

Lena loves the slides.

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Celebrating Dad's 60th! Mary made him a compilation of 60 photos!

Gma E was a favorite to swim and hang out with in the water.

 Monkeying around in the hotel room together:

Gma E bought them a bunch of stuff, including these giant clown fish pillows. They spent the next 20 minutes rolling around with them on the ground.

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Lately when I've been waking up Spencer before I leave for work I say, "good morning Spencer!"

Then Elsie chimes in, "good morning Dad! It's ok if I jump on you?"

Spencer always says yes, and Elsie goes down and plays in the bed, and jumps all over Spencer. Good morning indeed ♥️

March 2020

Singing her babies to sleep and tucking them in with her Mao.  Still loves babies jj Emma and Mao. Also needs water bottle, usually green one, and pink Teddy to sleep with also.

Doing great with potty training! Wears pull up to nap and bedtime and it's been working great! She was a breeze to potty train 👍

Especially compared to last year it was a mild but snowy winter, and spring is already on the way, though I'm sure we'll get some more snow. We discovered a couple more indoor gyms and playgrounds which has been great to try and add to the other good places we have found to do stuff indoors. 

Spencer takes her swimming at least once a week, children's museum once a week, she loves her Kindermusik class with Miss Debbie Monday nights with me, we go to the library once a week, and some form of indoor playground at least once a week. Starting to explore preschools and I'll excited and I know she's excited to hang out with kids her age and learn new things. 

Plan to stay in Madison regardless of my job situation for the immediate future, so Spencer has been hitting the real estate hard to great effect and I've been moving in a teaching direction which has been really fun. We are going to buy our first rental property in the next couple of months once we decide on a financing situation (lots of options) and get the business up and running!

Arthur and Olive are doing great so far. We had a big scare from Arthur when he was gone 5 days in a row at the beginning of the year but thankfully he came back! I was gearing up to go all out to find him but I think the trick was putting litter and things that smell like us in the back yard for him to smell and find his way home. 

She's getting great at taking pictures with my phone.

I found some old pics from the wedding that I thought were worth re-sharing.

Dad and Mom having a great time!

Tim and Conner come to visit!

I thought it was a cute body shot, not her best face haha, but she's getting tall!

Playing at the new gym we found:

Lovely 45 degree Sunday so we went to the park, still some snow but lots of neighbors for her to play with.

Grabbed from my mom's phone, thought it was cute of Grandma Betty with little Mary and Betty. Doesn't Elsie look like me?

This was a Christmas gift from Gma Elsie and I finally remembered to have her try it on.

Arthur still her buddy. And that quilt was a gift from my Mom.

She's now willing to pose and smile for pictures which is super cute and fun! This is at the Madison Children's Museum.

Another fun indoor play place is the East Towne Mall, it has this little area with cars and a little play place that's usually PACKED with kids.

Olive snuggling on the couch. She's still hesitant to let Elsie touch her, usually a few pets then runs away.

Those two get up to some shenganigans!

Happy Birthday Gma Melanie

We spent a day and a half spending the night at Gma/Gpa M&M's Feb 21/22. We first met up at the Sheboygan children's museum and it was a big hit! Three levels with a circus exhibit, two playgrounds (1 dedicated to toddlers), life size fire truck with costumes for kids, big pirate ship that you could steer and go fishing off, but Elsie mostly cared about the slides. It was fun for us adults to explore a new children's museum since we go to the Madison one once a week.

Then we drove back to the farmhouse and on the way back to Grandma's house Elsie kept saying,  "if we get lost grandma will rescue us!" Haha ok, yes she will! We didn't get lost.

Then Miles, Odette, and John stopped by for a couple hours and Odette and Elsie had a blast playing together. Elsie just loves having someone her age that she can talk with, especially babies. And they played baby dolls for a good half hour. There was a hilarious time when Spencer grabbed one of the two doll beds from upstairs for the girls to use.

Spencer, "Here's the doll bed. There's only one you'll have to share." 

Both girls simultaneously, "Awwwwwwwwww!"

Spencer, "Ok, I'll get the other one."

Then there was another time the girls were playing and Elsie came in from the other room and did a jump stop, then put her hands out (like "stop") and yelled, "Odette! I need you!" I don't really remember what for.

After lunch we headed outside to enjoy the 40s weather. Elsie and Odette made a running circle and ran for a good 20 minutes. Then we played hopscotch and drew with chalk, and of course visited the animals (chickens, sheep, goats).

The rest of the time was spent catching up, playing a quick board game (Dominion), watching Pets 2 movie, and Spencer and Mark chatting it up about politics, life, and real estate investing. He convinced his mom to start drawing/painting some houses for some of his clients, and he plans to pay $100 each, and give an extra $100 to put in an inherited Roth for Elsie. We just got the first couple today and they look really really damn good. So much so that we also plan to start an Etsy site for her to see if we can get more clients, I think everyone will want one!

There was a giant push pin WALL at the museum and all the kids were putting their faces in it.

Miles was really happy the girls wanted to give him a hug.

Watching a movie all cuddled up together.

Happy Birthday!

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"I want to go down the slide"

"I am not a slide"

"Awwww, please!"

"I am NOT a slide!"

A couple seconds later, "ow ow ow ow my nuts!"