Where does time go???

Wow, can you believe it, it's half way through May!!!  Sorry I forgot to post in April so this might just be the longest post I've had so far.  We have had a very busy last two months, so check out what has happened.

We went golfing at Winnegamie for an afternoon of fun.  I ended up hitting one of my balls on the edge of the woods to find out a wood chuck was gaurding it...think he gets to have that one!!!

Easter Morning after searching high and low, we had to make a list of where we all looked for "the basket".  Boy oh boy, the Easter bunny was tricky this year...

And here is where it was...hidden in the hope chest...never know where that Easter bunny hides the basket!!!

Jayden loves to make goofy faces...usually he borrows my camera on my phone to take them.  Instead this time he asked if we could do a photo shoot with the real camera...this is my favorite of the 20+ pictures we took.

Practicing a little baseball with Grandpa Stoffel...what out...we have a real hard hitter in our family!!!!

For Jayden's 6th birthday we wanted to do something really fun...we headed to Wisconsin Dells and had a blast.  Here is Jeff and I trying to see who is going to have to pay for dinner (who ever lost playing mini golf had to pay)...it was me!!!

Jayden got a hole in one on this hole!!!!

We enjoyed the indoor water park and loved swimming.  The bigger the water slide the better for Jayden....

Fun and games in the arcade!!!

Birthday Party Time!!!!  A turtle pinata was the highlight of the party Jayden later told us.  Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Stoffel.

The loot from within the pinata...can I have some?

Checking out his new pole with Unkie (Uncle Chad).

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY JAYDEN!!!!!  Thanks Auntie (Aunt Nicole)

for the yummy cake!!!!

My friend Amy and I decided to do something better for ourselves this year.  In February we started to train for the sole burner (a 5K run).  Neither one of us a big runners and never have been.  It was for a good cause...we were on my cousin Dan's team ("the Dan-O-Mites")...  It was a great turn out with 97 team members, most walked, but we ran.  We both crossed the finish line within the 38 minute mark and we were so proud of ourselves!!!!

Here is Amy and I and Nicole and Mike after we were done.  We cheered everyone from the team when were finished...notice the walkers behind us.   What a great time and a great accomplishment!!!!  It may seem pretty slow for some, but we were really proud of ourselves.  Our average time before the race was 14.5 min/mile and the race was a little over 12min/mile.

Hope to have more to share soon and hope everyone is enjoying the great weather...until next time!!!!

Heather

Spring Has Sprung!!!!

Wow...March sure has made a good impression so far.  Can't complain about the beautiful weather.  We have enjoyed the outdoors a lot lately especially at night; what a treat to sleep with the windows open (besides the recycle truck at 5am and the pop can picker at 1am).

We have been so busy with so many things lately and want to share all our fun with you...

We had my parents over for dinner and game night.  Had a blast!!!

Of course Jeff won almost every game.  He's a natural.

The chalk came out and we made a few great pictures.

We spent the most time on the fire breathing dragon.

With the warm weather, we loaded the bikes up and headed to Memorial Park for a ride.

We managed to make a few loops and found a few mud puddles too.

On one of our adventures we decided to hit up the driving range.  Good old reliable Bob Burns was open and was lots of fun for both Jeff and Jayden.  Jayden was doing pretty good and shows a lot of interest in the sport.  Not the best swing, but we are working on it.  :)

The volcano has been in the works since the day Jayden received this from Santa for Christmas.  First Jeff and Jayden built it, then Jayden and I painted it and finally we all erupted it.  Not as impressive as we hoped, but still worth it.

Jayden has been quit busy digging in the garden.  Don't quite know what for, but he is loving it.  Every day after school for 4 days straight that is the first place he would go to.  I asked him if he was trying to dig to China(thought we'd visit Lindsey, Josh and the kids), but he told me that wasn't possible.  Guess he is one smart boy!!!

We went to the shooting range to break in Jeff's new toy and we finally let Jayden try out is Red Rider BB Gun(with our help of course).  He had a pretty good shot, but think we'll wait awhile yet to practice.  :)

Jayden surprised my mom on her birthday with a gift of Silly String.  We had a lot of fun having a silly string war.  We donated all the string that we could salvage for the birds to build nests.  Think that would be a pretty colorful looking nest if they chose our string.

Can you believe this? The ants are out already!!!

And lastly, the lovely dandelions are growing in our yard already.  Where is the weed-be-gone?

Until next time...

Heather

Lucky???

As we all know, St. Patrick's day is just around the corner...we'll see if we can have the luck of the leopracon this year.  I don't really believe in this, but I have been having some weird dreams about winning the lottery lately.  Hmmm, maybe it is the year...

So February was pretty busy for us and we didn't really get many pictures taken, but I will post a few.  Hopefully we will have better luck taking pictures this month to post next time.

Jayden managed to get a little play time outside with the little snow we had.  It was sad watching Jayden every morning, "no snow".  But we made the most of the little bit we had.  This is of our sand box which is being used for hills and mountains for his truck.  Love his imagination.

 Valentine's Day was a blast.  I was able to help out in Jayden's class for their very "sweet" party.  We made pink popcorn.  Lots of fun!!!  We decided to share some with the squirls and birds...

A few hours later this is what was left...guess they were hungry.

Uncle Ronnie was so nice to invite our families for a nice warm home cooked meal.  The weather was nice enough to go for a stroll down in the flats by the river.  This is the view of the back side of the barn...so many wonderful

memories here...

The Embarrass River slightly frozen, looking into the little town of 400+

Before we headed inside, we seen that the tiny creek was flowing slowly and took advantage of it.  Jayden raced sticks through with my cousin Nash.  Such a serene place to be; so peaceful!!!

This is all I have for you this time, hope to be more productive for the next posting.  Have a great St. Patrick's Day...hope the luck comes your way!!!!

Heather

6 MORE WEEKS OF WINTER!!!!

Happy Ground Hogs day to everyone!!!!

I am sure a lot of you didn't enjoy what the ground hog predicted, but at our house there were many cheers!!!!  Sledding is something we really enjoy doing, but the guys only have gotten out twice this whole winter...

so bring on some more snow!!!!

We will miss the Green Bay Packers!!!!

I was able to find some tickets to the Playoff Game so Chad (Jeff's brother), Jeff and I went.

We made the most of it, even though it was a pretty quite game.  Before the game, they took a 360 degree photo of everyone there...I will try to link the web address here.

http://www.gigapixelfancam.com/fancams/football/packers/20120115/

We were on the opposite corner of the Packer's tunnel, 18th row.  If you follow the end zone that has "Green Bay" on it, follow the white corner up on the "G" side...see if you can find us.  (hint:  camo and only faces)

Here is our silly guy...on a field trip that I was able to chaperon.  We went to 1000 Island Nature Center.  It was cold that day, but were still able to go explore outside a little and check everything out inside.  Pretty sure the talking parrot was a favorite.  If you haven't been there,

it sure is a fun place for the kids.

If you haven't figured this one out by reading it, here is the scoop.  Jayden was awarded at their monthly assembly at school for being a positive student.  Crazy thing, the neighbor boy Beck was awarded on the same day!!!  Great job Guys!!!!  So this is to a new experience at our house...let these keep rolling it.  We sure are proud how great Jayden is doing in school and the boy that he is turning into.  YEAH!!!!!

Bringing back the 80's!!!!  At school a week or so ago, the kids got to dress in any era that they wanted.  So we tried to do something with the stuff we had...our best try at being a 80's rock star!!!!  If you look closely, you will notice the Mohawk tips are blue!!!!

Hope you enjoyed your visit...until next time!!!!

A New Year!!!!

Well, welcome back to the "Kraus House"!!!!

We are well off to a good start of the new year.  With the new year brings all kinds of new adventures which our family loves.  Do you ever look back at your childhood and wonder "Am I going to do this or that with my kids someday?"  I often think about all the fun things we did growing up and I can remember all the simply things; playing board games, crafts, watching movies, sledding, going on a bike ride, going for a picnic, fishing...ect.  Now I look at what we have been able to do for our son Jayden...amazing.  We feel very blessed to be able to go and do the things we have done with him already and continue to do.  So where am I going with this you may be wondering...well, with a New Year can bring new opportunities so I hope that we can share all those fun adventures and memorable things with all of you.  Hope you enjoy!!!!

Here is one of our fun adventures that we were able to start the year off with.  We were gifted tickets to the Packers vs. Lions game on New Years Day.  As you may notice, we were able to sit indoors which was great for Jayden...yes, he got to go to his first game.  We had a lot of fun.  Our favorite seats though are definitely outside, even if it is freezing...guess that is why they call it the "frozen tundra".

Chad (Jeff's Brother) would not partake in the photos, but here he is posing in the background without even knowing.  :)  Of course, we all were digging how comfortable the seats were and the warmth.

Guess when you say "CHEESE" for the camera, it makes you have to giggle since there was a little "CHEESE" on someones head.

Crazy as it may seem, my Uncle Ronnie was there too (along with others we knew too, but didn't see).  His seat was actually only a section away from us.  Jayden was pretty excited to share this fun day with him too.

Hope all of everyone had a great time ringing in the New Year where ever you may be.  We hope that we can share in a new adventure with those that can... you'll have to watch for upcoming postings.

Until next time...

Happy Holidays!!!

Happy Holidays from our house to yours!!!!

The holiday season has been quite busy for us and lets say not the luckiest so far.  We are hoping our luck changes so we can enjoy the next few weeks.  I really don't have a lot to share for pictures, but I will try to share a video of Jayden's Christmas Concert at school.  Hope you enjoy!!!!

So those are all the songs they sang, hope you have enjoyed the christmas concert.

We hope everyone enjoys the holidays and there will be more to come.

Here is the proud Grandparents enjoying a little cookie and milk snack after the concert.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

GIVING THANKS...

It is that time of year where the hustle and bustle of the holidays begins.  With that, it seems we forget to think about what the meaning is behind the holidays.  In our house, we are every day reminded of all the things we need to be "thankful" for.  We have been blessed with good health, stable jobs (and school), wonderful family and friends.  Hope your home has been blessed too with good fortune too.

 Here is the reveal...Cobra Ninga!!!  The official Halloween Costume of 2011.  Guess you can guess why he liked the costume so much...to try to scare me again.

The fam...notice the sword had to be out for this one.

The reward...too much candy!!!  You could say it was a sucess this year.  We had a lot of fun.  Tried out a new neighborhood.  It was funny, when Jayden would go up to the houses he wouldn't say trick-or-treat...he would just stand there is silence (since that is what a snake does).  When they would say "what do you say?", he would whip out his sword from the shealth and they would either laugh or where quite surprised!!!  What a goofy kid!!!

I took an afternoon to visit my cousin Natalie and her four kiddos.  Yes one is missing here, I was holding her.  This is her three oldest, such a fun time.  (Gretta 4, Silas 2(almost), Sammy 3).

Here is Leila.  What a precious little girl with lots of wave to her hair.  Looks like she'll have good company growning up.

This picture can go down in the Kraus history books...the snow was the highlight for a few days.  I have never seen a kid roll around and play is the snow as much as he did with only a little on the ground.

To wrap up this edition of the "Kraus House"...

My cousin Dan was diagnosed with a brain tumor about a week ago.  The doctors here felt it was best to go to a specialist in Madison since there was not a lot that they could do here in the Valley.  Today (Thursday 11-17), he is traveling to Madison to find out what the next road will be.  Please keep Dan and his family in your prayers.

Lord, please be with Dan and his family as he going through an adventure that no one wants to endure.  May he keep you close during this time.  Please give him the strength and courage to fight through this and his family the faith, support and love to be there by his side.  Amen.