The Dorwin Doings

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-25T07:53:00.001-08:00

Christmas morning......

We had a Star Wars Christmas morning!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Happy Birthday Bradley!

2009-12-24T20:37:00.000-08:00

It was party time at the Dorwin's today. We took Bradley and his friend to see the "Chipmunks Squeaqual" movie in town. Carter and a friend had a sleep over last night at our house, so the boys were busy playing nerf guns all morning. After the movie, our neighbors came over for cake and ice cream to celebrate Bradley's 4th birthday.

Blowing out the candles............

The birthday boy...

Time for our Christmas gift exchange.

Two little boys are excited to open presents.

It was a great Christmas Eve for the Dorwin's.

Our plans are to travel up north tomorrow on Christmas day after spending time together as a family. I hope the weather forecast settles down for us to get there. We will see you all soon!

Graduation and Klimek Christmas

2009-12-22T19:08:00.001-08:00

We had a fun trip up north last weekend. It was a busy one with graduation, Klimek Christmas and Bradley's birthday party.
Saturday started out bright and early with graduation at UW-Stout in the morning.

What started out as a 3-year cohort ended up to be 7-years for me!! I thought this day would never come.

What a relief it is to be done with graduate school. I graduated with a master's degree in Family Life Studies and Human Development.

It was so great to spend this special day with the people I love.

My dad and mom came to my graduation. They took us all out to eat afterwards (my stomach was growling during the ceremony). :-)

Bill & LaNita attended the ceremony and lunch with us. It was so nice they could join us. The boys had a blast at the Klimie cousins that day. Uncle Jamie met us in Menomonie to pick up the boys for us. Thanks Uncle & Auntie for helping with the boys.

After a fun morning with the Klimek's and the Dorwin's, we headed to Independence for the Klimek Christmas at Grandpa Ken's and Grandma Deb's house. It was wonderful to have Grandpa Ed with us this Christmas. He was loving up Bradley for his birthday!

The boys could not wait any longer for opening of presents. One picture before we tear in....

Austin, Uncle and Andrew before we open gifts......

(The nephews are all grown up!!)

Grandpa Ed and mom at Christmas....

My two sweeties - Abz & Chad. ;-)

Abz missed out on Auntie's special french braids!! I'll get you next time, Abz!

Auntie Shana where we see her most.....

The good-looking Grandpa Ken....

Carter was sooooo excited to get his magic kit from cousins. He absolutely loves his special magic bag that Auntie made for him, along with his magic stick (that was recently painted) :-)

He looked like a real magician with the hat and the bag full of tricks!

We were looking for the rabbit in the hat...

Abz on the laptop

Bradley's little body just shook with excitment when he opened his Playmobil Sphinx set with the little people and mummy's gift set from cousins.
Auntie helped him put it together.

Grandma and Grandpa gave the boys a Wii game. Wii has been much fun this week!!

So much excitement. We also had cake and celebrated Bradley's 4th birthday, which is on Christmas Eve.

Carter begging Uncle to let him light the candles.....

Uncle says.................NO WAY................

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADLEY (chapped lips and all)!!

For Bradley's birthday on Christmas Eve, we are taking him to see the "Chipmunks Squeakquel" movie.

Cousin helping Carter with his magic tricks.

What a wonderful Christmas. Grandpa Ed with all the grandkids.

We had a good time staying at Grandma Deb's and Grandpa Ken's house. Thanks for a fun Christmas, Klimies!!

We look forward to another fun weekend coming up with the Dorwin cousins and then to the Plaza on Saturday. Hopefully, we can get through the snow!!

The snow storm started this morning (Tuesday) and it has been snowing ever since. We are supposed to get hit again tomorrow night all the way until Christmas day. Stay safe everyone!

Cub Scouts Christmas Project

2009-12-17T04:01:00.001-08:00

Carter's cub scout den group made a neat Christmas project with a bowling pin.....

What a cute idea for a Christmas project!

Carter's Christmas Program

2009-12-13T13:41:00.000-08:00

We went to Carter's Christmas Program last week, which was held at the Lake Geneva Middle School. After the program, the kids were surprised to see Santa. Santa had come to visit the kids and pass out candy canes. My pictures turned out terrible of Carter on stage. The stage area turned dark and I was able to lighten them a little. Carter is on the top row; third person from the right.

Carter's 2nd grade class:

They sang: "Pat a Pan"; "Do You Hear What I Hear?"; and "Sing We Now of Christmas".

At the end, the kindergarteners and 1st graders joined the 2nd graders to sing:

"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and "Feliz Navidad":

After the program....

We recorded the Christmas program and will show it when we are up for Christmas.

We will see some of you next weekend!!

Have a good week everyone!

Snow Day!!

2009-12-09T17:43:00.001-08:00

We love snow days!!

Bradley could hardly walk through the snow......

He gave his snowman a pickle nose....

"All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth"

2009-12-08T17:56:00.000-08:00

......and the toothfairy comes again....

Christmas Time

2009-12-08T17:35:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again - taking Christmas pictures in front of the Christmas tree!
These two would rather look like this on Christmas pictures, than smiling nicely!
:-)

On Sunday, we went to a birthday party for Brenna.

Happy 7th Birthday Brenna!

Blowing out the candles...

Patiently waiting for cake!!

Prayer....

2009-12-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

Jesus, bring your healing touch to us. We believe that life begins at conception and that Jacob is now with you. Still, the pain of loss is great. We loved Jacob from the moment we knew of his existence.

We know Jacob will never experience the joys of life on this earth. Yet our hope in eternal life remains firm. Help us to remember Jacob in prayer often, whom we will one day meet in heaven with You. Jacob will always be special to us. Please dry our tears and strengthen our faith in You, who are the source of all goodness and love. Amen.

Baby Jacob Gabriel Dorwin
12/4/07
10 oz.

Odds 'N Ends....

2009-12-01T19:35:00.000-08:00

Opening hunting weekend, the boys and I visit friends in West Bend. Carter & Bradley play with Brenna, Ava & Gracie (not pictured)....

Happy Thanksgiving to family and friends. We had a delicious meal at the Dorwin's house. Thanks Bill & LaNita!
My only picture of Thanksgiving day is of little Brennan and Shana. It was so nice to finally meet little Brennan!

When we returned home on Saturday, the boys were anxious to get the Christmas bins out. They unpacked them and had lots of fun.....

Toby in his new winter sweater from Grandma Deb and Grandpa Ken....

We were able to see many family and friends on our visit up north. It was great to see everyone! Lots to be thankful for!!

Savvy Dad

2009-11-07T18:22:00.000-08:00

Our Savvy Dad... Our church hosted a Savvy Dads Conference this weekend, presented by Dr. Ken R. Canfield, Ph.D., author of a variety of effective fathering books. The Friday evening session was for couples (moms and dads), where we met Dr. Canfield. He gave an amazing presentation of how family history impacts family dynamics, processing marital interactions, and developing a strategy to complement and support each other as moms and dads.

The Saturday session was for Dads only and was based on Dr. Canfield's book, "They Call Me Dad". Dads left the conference with strategies to incorporate in a fathering plan to strengthen their fathering skills. It was a phenomenal conference!

***

These pictures of the boys were taken on Sunday before church.

Now for the silly picture......

While Chad was at the conference on Saturday, the boys thought it would be cool to put on a celebration or party for their dad. We ran to the Dollar Tree for some balloons and streamers, and the boys got busy and decorated the house!

A party would not be complete without cupcakes.

Just look at all the fun two boys can have with balloons.......

They decided to pop them after the party.....

We had beautiful weather this weekend. After the conference and party on Saturday, we walked the beach. I was disappointed that I left my camera in the car.....Bradley decided he wanted to go swimming ---- in his clothes!! Burrrrrrr -- the water was cold. It was great to get out in the warm weather (60 degrees) this weekend.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Halloween in Lake Geneva

2009-11-03T16:18:00.001-08:00

Bradley's Jack-o-lantern: Carter's Jack-o-lantern....Yuck - it looks scary!

The boys are all ready to do some trick-or-treating for the first time in Lake Geneva. It was a cold Halloween, which can sometimes defeat the purpose of your "dressing up". Carter is ready to go as "Indiana Jones" and Bradley, for some reason, woke up that morning and decided to be a "Knight" (the same costume from last year's Halloween), rather than "Indiana Jones".

Carter and Bradley's friend, Spencer, who lives next door, joined us along with his mom, Angel. We had a good time going from house to house, walking quickly to stay warm!

The scary trick-or-treaters....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

HOPE EVERYONE ENJOYED THE EXTRA HOUR OF SLEEP! :-)

Pumpkin Carving

2009-10-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

The boys and I have Thursday and Friday off this week. Our school district has teacher's convention, but teachers are not required to attend. The boys had fun carving their pumpkins. Carter especially enjoyed pulling out the "guts", as he calls it.

Carter also had a Halloween cubscout pack meeting tonight. The kids were able to dress up in Halloween costumes. Carter went as a pirate and Bradley went as Spiderman. They walked on a spooky trail and roasted S'mores around the campfire.

Happy Carving!!

Pumpkin Patch with Cousins

2009-10-22T19:13:00.001-07:00

We had a blast on our annual Pumpkin Patch adventure last weekend with the Klimie cousins.

Bradley was finding the most unusual gourds......

The Klimie crew.......

Abby loaned us her awesome "puppy purse" so that Toby could stroll along with us at the pumpkin patch. Toby loved joining us on our fun.

The Klimie cousins.....

Bradley taking a break on the $14 pumpkins.....

The cousins: Andrew, Austin, Abby, Carter & Bradley....

Mr. Toby peeking out.....

"It's either this or stay home with Sophie and Jack"...................

A pumpkin with hemorrhoids...

This was crazy -- trying to get these boys and a dog all looking at the camera at the same time....

The corn maze......

Thanks, cousins, for all the fun. Can't wait to do it again next year......

After the pumpkin patch, we headed to Independence and Grandpa Ed joined us for supper. He was happy to see the boys! We also had cake for Grandpa's 97th birthday this month!

We went to Aunt Lou & Uncle Louis' house for supper Tuesday night. Leah and Erik were also there as Leah and Aunt Lou were attending a Women's Retreat together, along with Betsy. The boys loved all the cubby holes in Aunt Lou's house. They also hit a few balls around with Erik in the backyard. We had a nice time at their house.

Little Erik is the cutest little boy ever!!! I just loved his smile and his own little language. He is adorable!

The boys loved playing with Erik.

Now for the silly picture......

Thanks for a great time and a yummy supper!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Happy Birthday Shana

2009-10-14T04:34:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Auntie Shana! Shana celebrated her birthday on October 9. If you are wondering, she shared with me that it was her 25th birthday! :-)
Love, The Dorwin's

Happy Anniversary Paul & Tara...

2009-10-14T04:29:00.001-07:00

Paul & Tara shared their first anniversary together on October 11! Happy Anniversary!!

Love, The Dorwin's

Weekend Visits

2009-10-14T03:47:00.000-07:00

We had a nice trip in Northern Wisconsin last weekend visiting family and friends. We left Lake Geneva Friday afternoon after work & school. We stayed at Grandma Deb and Grandpa Ken's house Friday night. The boys had fun playing and running around after our 4-hour drive. The next morning, we baked bread, as it was day #10 on my Amish Friendship Bread, and we left for Durand. Chad was scheduled to meet the individual who was planning to buy his semi.

We visited at Grandma LaNita and Grandpa Bill's house Saturday afternoon. Uncle Paul and Shadow were also there. Carter had fun playing on Grandpa's trailer outside, and Bradley helped himself to the toys in the house. We also stopped at our old house to pick the pumpkins and the many gourds in the garden. The new owners were doing some painting. We were able to see the new wood floors that were placed in the kitchen and dining area. It looked very nice.

We then went to our good friends, The Zenner's, in Eau Galle. The kids had a blast playing with each other. They were so happy to see each other (I think just as happy as I was to see them).

On Sunday, we stopped in at Paul & Tara's house. We were able to see little Alaina and give Evan, Autumn & Paige their birthday presents. Chad and Carter went up to the shop for some visiting.

Here are some pictures of our weekend fun.....

Bradley, Carter, Luke, Alexis & baby Ryan (The Zenner's)

Chad and baby Ryan.....

Playing with Evan and Autumn......

Carter was able to play with Dylan, Paige & Cruz on Sunday. He was happy to see all his cousins.
Bradley, Carter holding little Alaina, Evan & Autumn.....

When we returned home Sunday night, the boys were extremely happy to see that their Halloween costumes had arrived. Their Indiana Jones hat and whip were waiting for them at the front door. Now all we need to find is an old, worn-out leather coat and maybe a satchel bag. We thought Goodwill might be a good place to look.

Carter wanted to share with all of you the gourds that he planted himself in the garden. He brought home a great big garbage bag full of gourds and Indian corn. He, very nicely, spread them around the deck to display them for our Halloween decor.

Carter saved all the seeds from last year's gourds that he then had planted in our garden. He did a great job growing these awesome gourds.......

I would like to say our trip home was uneventful, but we were actually hit in the back end from the vehicle behind us. We got off I94, as it was starting to get backed-up. I think we were on Hwy 51 when a bunch of tractors were in front of us and the line of cars slowed down. The vehicle behind us rammed us in the back. Thankfully, we were all o.k......just a little shooken up. The individual's car was in tough shape, but our Impala handled the collision well (Good choice of a car, Jamie). We were able to drive away after the accident report. The other person, however, had to get towed and her mom showed up to take her home. We all thanked the good Lord for keeping us safe!!!

Thanks everyone for a great weekend.

God Bless!! Have a great week.

Carter loses a tooth

2009-10-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

Carter could hardly make it up the stairs yesterday; he was so excited to share the news that he lost his tooth at school today. The stubborn tooth has been bothering him all week and it finally fell out on Friday. Carter said that he was just sitting in class when he felt it in his mouth. He yelled, "Mr. C., my tooth fell out!!!!"

Mr. C. sent him to the office to get the little treasure box that says "Tooth Saver" to get his tooth home safely.

Carter was relieved this morning that the tooth fairy found our new home!! :-)

Apple Orchard

2009-09-28T19:41:00.001-07:00

Grandma Deb and Grandpa Ken came to visit us over the weekend. We were happy the weather turned out as nice as it was. The forecast had rain showers for Lake Geneva, but we lucked out. Grandma Deb & Grandpa Ken showed up Friday afternoon and we took them for a drive around town and gave them a little tour. We were admiring the lake front properties.

Saturday turned out to be a nice day. We went on the bike trail that morning. Mom brought her handy-dandy little scooter with so that she was able to join us for the bike ride. Bradley had fun riding with her.
We then went to the Apple Orchard to spend the afternoon. The boys really enjoyed this!
We went for a wagon ride around the apple orchard and pumpkin patch. Here is Carter peeking at me just before the wagon took off.
The wagon stopped in the apple orchard and we were able to eat and pick as many apples as we wanted.

Bradley had fun running through the trees and Carter had fun climbing the trees.

Grandpa lifts the boys up to pick an apple.

The boys with Grandma and Grandpa....

The next stop was the pumpkin patch. The boys could only pick one pumpkin since we will soon be going on our traditional pumpkin patch visit in Rice Lake with the Klimie cousins. They can't wait to go!!
Boys in the pumpkin patch...

The wagon ride back down. Chad is talking to Aunt Lou on the phone. They had invited us to church, food and activities on Sunday.

The wagon ride.....

Picture of the Apple Orchard....

Grandpa and Grandma treated the boys to a pony ride afterwards. Carter wanted to go again....and again.....and again....

We went out to eat on the way home. Sunday morning, we met Mom and Dad's good friend that lives in Lake Geneva for breakfast. It was great to see Beaa! We did a little window shopping down town and then out to see Beaa's house. It was a beautiful home. Mom and Dad had a safe trip home and made good time.

Thanks for visiting Grandpa Ken and Grandma Deb. We had lots of fun!! Come again...

Circus Wagon Celebration

2009-09-20T19:31:00.001-07:00

Badgers had another win at the football game Friday night to Wilmot. The boys were cheering them on!

We had a tour of the Circus Wagon Celebration, a public display of historic circus wagons on Saturday. The boys thought this was very exciting, learning about all the wagons in the circus and the types of animals that were in the wagons.

Here were some historic pictures of the actual circus and the performances that were put on.

Carter found this event to be very exciting. He went around and took pictures that he wants to share with everyone.....

Bradley is pretending to be the lion in this cage on the circus wagon......

We listened to an air calliopes performance and a steam calliopes performance.

On Sunday, we went to Ava's 2nd birthday party in West Bend. Ava is Kirsten's youngest daughter. The boys had fun playing at their house. The guys watched the Packer game. We had lots of good food!

Happy Birthday Ava!!

Have a good week everyone!!

Cub Scout Pack 239

2009-09-14T04:30:00.000-07:00

Carter had his first Cub Scout gathering on Saturday. He will now be in Pack 239. They have a pretty nice set-up for the boys. It was a nice family event that included hotdogs & munchies, a trail walk down to the pond, and making S'Mores by the campfire.

Carter liked his new Cub Scout friends.

A lovely frog that Carter caught down by the pond. The pond is full of them!!

Kirsten and the girls came to visit this weekend. We went swimming, to the beach and out for ice cream. We enjoyed the sunny, warm weather!!

Have a good week everyone!!

Happy Birthday Cruz!

2009-09-11T04:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Cruz! We hope you have a great day!

Happy Anniversary Bill & LaNita

2009-09-10T04:38:00.001-07:00

Happy Anniversary Dad & Mom, Grandpa & Grandma, Bill & LaNita...
A nice Fall Anniversary.... Hope you enjoy the day!

Labor Day

2009-09-10T04:17:00.001-07:00

A day at the beach.....

Bradley trying to serf.....

Carter diving underwater to find seashells....

Bradley playing in the sand and Carter diving underwater with his goggles.....

Playing in the sand.....

Chad digs a big hole for the boys....

Boys playing shark and chasing after me......

Carter finds a crayfish limb.......

Brothers playing together.......

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day!!

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-07T06:32:00.001-07:00

Go Badgers!! The football game Friday night kept us on the edge of our seats. West Allis was ahead (10 to 7) for most of the game, until the last 3 minutes. Badgers scored with less than 3 minutes that put them ahead 13 to 10. It was a good game to the very end! The boys had fun showing their Badger spirit with the rest of the crowd.

The boys thought it was pretty cool how a helicopter came over us to film a good portion of the game. They thought they might get themselves on TV if they jumped high enough and waved hard enough. No luck....when we watched it the next morning, they did not see themselves on TV. :-)

We were disappointed to have missed Cruz' birthday party on Saturday. I was back-up with curriculum work for most of the day on Saturday. Due to our move at the end of the summer, I didn't spend much time on my curriculum before school started. When the first week came around, I had a hard time keeping up. I got behind in my work and needed a day to prepare for the coming week. Happy Birthday, Cruz!!

I worked until early afternoon and then enjoyed our visitors later that afternoon. It was a joy to have Lou & Louis come to visit us! They were so kind to bring us a warm meal, drinks, lots of goodies, and even a few treasures for the boys. We had such a good time catching up and hanging out together.

During their visit, we had a hot air balloon right outside our deck. The boys have seen them before, outside our deck, but never this close! This was quite exciting for them!

I just love this picture of Bradley and Uncle Louis! The boys had a good time with Uncle Louis, as he let them perform a movie on his video camera. After watching the video, I don't think I would admit that they were my boys.......those silly kids! They had fun doing it, though.

Carter took this picture of us outside. It was already getting dark, so the quality of the light didn't come out very well. It is still a nice picture of Lou & Louis' visit! If it looks like Lou is saying "...four....", well, she is!!! She was counting to five for Carter to take the picture and she only got to "four". Cute!! :-)

Thanks for coming to visit Lou & Louis! We loved having you here and look forward to another get-together!

SUNDAY -

Sunday was a lot of fun for us. We attended a new church called Mt. Zion Christian Church. We absolutely loved it! I was so moved during the service. God was definitely leading us here!! We have also attended Lakeland Community Church and Calvary Community Church. We enjoyed these services, as well, but we left Mt. Zion feeling, "WOW".

After church, we headed to Elkhorn, which is about 8 miles from us, to enjoy the Walworth County Fair. The kids had fun at the carnival, playing the games and looking at all the animals. Carter's favorite animal at the Fair was the ducks. Bradley's favorite animal was the rabbits.

That night, we worked on Chad's resume to get it ready for the recent jobs that were posted. Please pray for Chad, as he found a few more job openings that he is very interested in. They are also local jobs, which he wants. He will be out next week again on his job hunt!! He has become quite computer savvy through this process. :-)

I took some picture of our apartment/condo for you to see where we live.

Living Room...

Kitchen....

Dining Room....

The hallway goes down to the laundry room, the boys' room, a bathroom, and a our bedroom with a master bathroom. If I can ever get these rooms cleaned up, I will take pictures. I am sure the boys would like everyone to see their bedroom.

The stairs come up from the foyer below.....

Pictures of the outside....

This was just before bedtime.......Hi Carter.....

HOPE EVERYONE ENJOYED THE LABOR DAY WEEKEND. HOPE TO SEE EVERYONE SOON!! Love, the Dorwin's