Fall 2019

We took a trip to Milwaukee where the kids enjoyed the Children's Museum and hanging out with Guster (which required several doses of Benadryl for Johanna). 

Wayne and Millie celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary with a party at the Worthington Community Center.  And the rain held off long enough for us to play at the park a bit.

Michelle and Tony got a day off to take a beautiful hike at Devil's Lake.

And for Thanksgiving we stuck with our homemade pizza tradition.  We also made competing pumpkin desserts - Tony's pie won.

Michelle also got to have a day trip to Madison with the girls.

Halloween 2019

Johanna dressed up as Uma from The Descendants and Walter dressed as Iron Man, although he wouldn't wear the mask.

We had a interesting Trick or Treating night with snow and cold.  Mom got to stay home and be "on call" to pick up Walter when he got too cold.  Johanna and Tony stayed out the entire time.  Grandview was busy, as usual, but Tony mentioned that when the sun went down, things really cleared out.  The cousins got together a few days later to show off their costumes. 

Prior to Halloween, we went to a pumpkin patch and Melissa got to come too.

We got pumpkins which Walter opted to paint and Johanna opted to both carve and paint.

Walter also got to show his Halloween costume off at school with their annual parade and party.

Johanna turns 7

Favorite to eat: angel hair pasta
Favorite to do: going to swimming lessons
Favorite to watch: Duck Tales
Favorite to read: Fudge -a-mania, Brad Meltzer “I AM... “ books
Favorite to help with: Help by getting out of the way and watching TV
Favorite to learn about: science (explosions)
Favorite to hang out with: my whole family including the main cousins and aunts and uncles
You are good at: remembering stuff
Want to get better at: remembering stuff
Makes you laugh: Walter doing his finger and head shake to music, and his other funny stuff
Makes you upset: Walter saying “it’s MY grandma and grandpa”
Favorite happen this year: my birthday
Look forward to next year: my birthday
Future adventure: to Alaska
Future learn about: Explosions
Future where live: Sheboygan
Future want to do: Work as a scientist
Future not want to do: Have another younger brother
Future spend time with: Daisy

She is not afraid to get dirty, or cheeto-y.

Johanna is always a good helper, here she is wearing her great-great grandmother's apron.  

She likes to be silly.

And taking trips without a little brother.

For her birthday she wanted to go to Texas Roadhouse and sit on the saddle.

Not a real birthday until you get to celebrate with cousins!

• When in season, as soon as Johanna gets to Grandma and Grandpa Arnold's house, she runs straight out to the raspberry patch (and "ouchy" berries) as soon as the car stops.  
• The night before the first day of 1st grade, I saw Johanna's light was still on in her room and checked on her.  She was writing and solving math problems for herself because she was worried about the "summer slide".  
• Johanna really likes Ycare after school, especially since the teachers are offering more and more art projects.  She dives into every project and gets upset when we pick her up "early", sometimes even ignoring us so she can finish her project.

First Day of School 2019/2020

Johanna began 1st Grade at Bryant Elementary with Mrs. Weiner.
Walter continued at Mercy Child Development Center and began 4K preschool with Erica and Jacki in the Red Room.

1st day of school, couldn't get them to stand still.

1st day in his new room.

New year, new school pictures.

The Friday before the first day of school was Orientation Day.  Tony had the day off to take Johanna to orientation.  After, they had a Daddy/Daughter Fun Day and bombarded Mom with photos all day long with all of their fun adventures.  Both daddy and daughter were pooped by the end of the day.

Kids Sports 2019

Walter got to try out a sport this year.  We entered him into a short gymnastics camp and were glad it was a short camp because he wasn’t quite ready to follow instructions.

Johanna had another great softball season.  Although still in T-ball, she enjoyed the opportunity to try coach-pitch as well.  The rest of us enjoyed hanging out at the game with family and friends.

Rain, rain go away

Both kids took several weeks of swim lessons through DASH at Divine Word.  Walter loved being in the water and even listened to the teacher sometimes.  Johanna was an excellent student and made huge progress. She is able to stay in the deep end swim across the pool back float or front float.

Family Vacations 2019

Our family of 4 took a little vacation to the Chicagoland area.  We wanted to check out the theme park Santa’s Village that Tony went to as a kid.  The park was a big hit.  Johanna went and enjoyed all the rides.  There were a few Walter couldn’t go one but that was OK.  One of the big ones Walter did go on, he didn’t like and he said “it hurt his heart”.  Walter’s favorite was a tie between the spaceship that he could control going up and down while mommy pretended to be scared, and the car he got to drive.  Johanna also really enjoyed driving the car and had a special treat riding a real horse..

Dad wanted a picture by the van, just like he had when he was a kid

Johanna and Tony went to LegoLand while Michelle rested (due to a bad head cold) and Walter watched TV (his favorite pastime). We were also able to visit Bison’s Bluff park in Schaumburg and the Heritage Farm.

The Arnold Extended Family Vacation to Galena marked another record heat wave and another broken air conditioner.  Luckily, the AC didn’t break until the last day so the final evening was relocated to our house with plenty of food for both Arnolds and Kluesners.  In addition to hitting the pool, the adults took a pontoon ride while the grandparents babysat and then we surprised the kids with a water fight.  We ended the weekend with a nice brunch (and nice view) at Timmermans.