Wisconsin Summers

I love summer in Wisconsin. A couple times a week it seems, we have a big thunder shower in the evening, following a beautiful warm, sunny day. No one has sprinklers because you don't need them. No one has fences, because your neighbors are your friends (we have a fence, but we're not the ones who put it up ;)). We have a nice large porch that we can sit on while we watch the boys play in the rain. I have really fallen in love with Appleton, WI this season in our new house. Now, ask me in February and I my have to reconsider.
The past couple of weeks have been really fun for us now that we are settled after our move and our trip. Ben has been learning so many new things that I am amazed at how quickly he picks things up now that he is 5. He has finally learned how to swing on his own, now that we have our own swing set. (We let the boys play in the rain in their underwear in the backyard)

The same week he has learned how to ride a 2 wheeled bike all by himself! He loves biking around our court and in the process we have met all of out new neighbors.



Ryan is frustrated that he can't quite pick it up as fast as Ben and so doesn't like to try that much any more. But he seems just fine riding his tricycle along the same path as Ben and his Bike.

We have also worked on reading this summer and I am constantly amazed at their capacity to learn. Ben is already 5 pages from finishing his Kindergarten reading work book, and he doesn't start Kindergarten for 7 more weeks! Ryan is picking it up just as fast and isn't far behind, yet he'll still be in Preschool. Every morning they wake up before 7AM and they can come out of their room as long as they sit at the table and write their letters A-Z (Ben uppercase and lowercase, and Ryan just uppercase), and they write their numbers (Ryan 1-10, Ben 1-20). They also have a love of MarioKart on the Game Cube, so everyday before they can play we have our reading lessons. I love hearing them beg me to read with them!
I am so grateful for the blessing of my children and husband, and that we can spend as much time together as we have been able to this year. It's such a sweet feeling knowing that we are where we need to be, and our children are able to be in such a great place.