IT has been a busy fall for the Wismer family. Ben and I went to Italy for 2 weeks, and thank you to my Mom and Aunt, we were able to go kid free! The kids enjoyed having 2 weeks with Nanna and Aunt Pam, even letting us know that they were more fun sometimes. We spent a week by ourselves in Rome and Venice and then joined the Stein clan for a week in Londa, a small village outside of Florence. The time was very fun and relaxing, we can't thank all those that helped with the kids enough!

October started with Nettie's 4th birthday which was of course a week long - if not a little more celebration. Unfortunately for Nettie, she caught a stomach bug for her birthday, so we had a quiet day, but she was feeling better by the following day. Nettie enjoyed her birthday this year, a little more than other years. She has started to understand that this was all about her! She has turned into a great kid overall. She loves her brother, which is always great to see. She has a great time a school and loves her teacher Ms. Ruth (the feeling is mutual). Nettie is Ms. Ruth's shadow during the day, even during nap time when all the other kids are sleeping. Tiffany's college friends came into town for our 10 year reunion. I wasn't able to go to the game, but it was fun to see everyone for a brunch on Sunday.

We were also able to spend some time with cousins during the month, Paige and Luke, Ollie and Noah. We missed Abbie and Mia!

Right before Halloween we welcomed the newest cousin, Lily Cribari to the world. She is a beautiful little girl who is a great addition to the family. Nettie is VERY excited to have a new baby cousin and I have a feeling will love to watch over Lily in the future.

Halloween was full of parties, 4 nights of events and the finally Nettie was able to wear the Dorothy costume every day. For those people who have had us over with the Dorothy costume, I apologize for all the sparkles all over the house!

John is doing well. He is definitely close to 2. He has started to communicate more, using both words and signs. He loves to read, play with cars and trucks. His favorite time of day is anytime he can play outside, so there are definite times that we bundle up and head out even when it is cold outside. He is still a bit of a Momma's boy, and that is an understatement. We are working on trying to break him of that habit, but that will take time.

So far, November has been a great month. WE spent last weekend jumping in the leaves at Geema's and Geepa's house to celebrate Geepa's birthday. The kids had a blast and can't wait until next year.

We are getting ready for the holidays, it is hard to believe that we have another year almost over.

A Princess Cowgirl

Ben has been in San Antonio for work all week, and returned just in time to celebrate Nettie's birthday. In th mean time, Nettie stopped throwing up later in the afternoon in time for Daddy to help her celebrate! When he got back he had brought her a little bit of Texas. This may be her new favorite crown!

Nettie turns 4

It is hard to believe that 4 years ago tonight our beautiful little girl joined our family and changed us forever. The poor little thing has spent the day before her birthday throwing up, but trying to convince me that she is going to feel better in time for tomorrow and I believe her!
Nettie has gotten to be such a big girl, it is truly amazing. Ben and I recently returned from a 2 week vacation in Italy and we both agreed that of the kids Nettie had changed the most over the time we were gone. She is enjoying school, learning new things everyday. She has transitioned to her new classroom with Ms. Ruth rather well. She and John are starting to play together more and LOVE to be around each other. This would be a different experience for me as Paul and I played together sometime, but we were nowhere near as close as they already are. Nettie is patient with John most of the time - unless he has her Cinderella brush.
We are looking forward to a weekend of celebrations for Nettie's birthday and looking forward to the birth of Lily Grace sometime in the next few weeks. Hope everyone is doing well!

I will post pictures soon

Fun July Adventures

So the month of July was full of things going on for all the Wismers. John is fully walking now, not just doing it when it suits him, he is working on running! John's picture is my example of why you never feed a 17 month old beefaroni on his own. He was having fun and I was home by myself while Ben was playing softball, so I figured "what the heck!". HE was taken immediately to the bath tub and enjoy a good scrub after that dinner.
Nettie enjoyed having her cousin Cindy paint her face with a butterfly at a local church feast (a weekend of food, gambing and fundraising for the church). She loved having the butterfly on her fave and was careful not too mess it up. She is keeping us busy as she gets excited for her forth birthday. She has already picked up about 100 things that she would like and has decided on a cake. I have a feeling it will be a Cinderella themed party!
Ben and I finished out the month with a trip to NYC with my family for one last game at Yankee stadium (on Ben's birthday)before they tear it down. The weekend was fun and the kids enjoyed the 5 days with Geema and Geepa. We saw lots of sites, and enjoyed a day with Ben's cousin Jen and her husband Ted. It was nice to have a couple of people who know the city bettter than us take us to a few places off the beaten path. But een better to get to spend a day with 2 such wonderful people!
We hope that everyone is having a terrific summer so far!

John finally decides that he may want to walk

We had all decided that John could walk he just chose not too. He can cruise crawling and so why try! Yesterday he walked while we were visiting friends - the most he has ever done about 10-20 steps. Today, after he got up from his nap he suddenly started standing up (unassisted - he has been doing the for a couple of weeks) and just walked over to me. We had him do it several times and as you can see in the video, he can do it just as we thought.

Just an update

Nettie and John are having fun so far this summer. We have been busy with trying to get the yard ready for the summer and getting the house ready. It is always nice to be able to open the window and breath fresh air all day long! John is getting 2 molars right now which explained his bad mood earlier in the month. He also decided that he would try a few steps over the weekend. He has since rethought that, and continues to happily crawl as quickly as he can. His knees are beginning to show a little wear from crawling across concrete, but he is tough!
Ben has been playing golf a little bit and is enjoying being able to work on his game some more this summer. He will be playing at least once a month with the men in Tiff's family. This weekend he put together Nettie's big girl bike that Geema and Geepa gave her for her first birthday. After just a short 2 1/2 years, she is finally on it! She flys around the hot tub in the backyard.
Not much else is going on with us, just enjoying the warmer weather and watching the kids grow. Hope all is well with everyone.

Isn't it better to mow the lawn as a princess

Nettie loves to help John mow the lawn. She made this crown at school, but Deedee and the Cinderella dress make mowing the lawn so much better!