The Circle of Life

Hola!  So many more adventures to catch you all up on.  Let's rewind to two weeks ago when the little guy and I traveled north to Luxemburg to visit my parents for their 39th Wedding Anniversary.  We headed up Friday night and spent time with my parents.  On Saturday my mom and I headed to Green Bay to go to the mall and fabric store.  I needed fabric to recover the dining room chairs on the new dining room table set I got (new to me).  I was able to find an adorable vintage flower print for the side chairs and then stripes for the two head chairs.  If I have enough fabric left over I will make curtains for the small window that is over my dining room buffet.

Saturday night I took my parents to the local country club for dinner.  Because it's a small town my parents ran into quite a few people they knew and they all ooh'd and aww'd over Nixon who was his regular happy smiley self.

Nixon snuggling with his Gramma Dietsch

Sunday we had to head home early to get to my girlfriend Dana's to help her set up for her husband Matthew's surprise 35th Birthday Party.  The weather was amazing and Matthew was very surprised when he pulled up and saw us all there.  The food, friends and conversation were all wonderful as usual.

The week was very low key for all of us, Kyle worked and I spent most of my time getting ready for the up coming weekend.  My Aunt Linda and Cousin Heather were going to be in town on Saturday and they wanted to meet Nixon so we planned for a family brunch.  My mom, Grandpa Lorenz, Aunt Vickie and her boyfriend Scott were coming down to visit as well so I was beside myself to host a family brunch.  All week I scoured the internet for a menu, planned the grocery shopping and then prepared most of the ingredients in advance.

Dubs in the Valley car show was that weekend so Kyle headed up to Oshkosh with all his buddies for the annual weekend up there...in fact, it is the very show, the exact same weekend last year that Mr. Nixon was conceived.  Nothing says class like making your baby at a crappy hotel in Oshkosh during a car show!  Since Kyle went up to the show, Nixon's Auntie Aimee came over to hang out with him while I was at work.    Normally I would have gone up to Oshkosh with him Friday as well, but I had a friends wedding to go to Friday Night and then as I mentioned earlier the family brunch the next morning.

While Aimee was watching Nixon she took these two super adorable pics of Nixon.

Look who holds his own bottle!

Happy Kind of Guy

That night I went to my friends Erica and Rachael's wedding and had so much fun.  The decorations were an awesome vintage book theme which turned out so cute, and my favorite parts were the speeches both ladies said to each other, especially Rachael's speech to Erica's two kids.  Let's just say they were all tear jerkers!!!

The Brides!  

I was originally planning on taking Nixon with me to the wedding, but when my Aunt called to say that she would be in town and wanted to meet Nixon, I was pretty excited at the idea of taking advantage of my own family to watch Mr. Man.  When I asked my Aunt Linda and Cousin Heather if they were interested they didn't hesitate.  They took Nixon to his first Wisconsin Fish Fry where he was the main attraction...Ironically, I've never even been to a fish fry!  Linda reported back that in traditional Nixon Style, all the ladies in the restaurant fell in love with him.

On Saturday morning I had to run Jack to my friend Carrie's since she was going to babysit him for the night, and then I came back home to prepare the best brunch ever.  I made a Spinach Quiche with onion, swiss and cheddar cheese, a Zucchini Fritata with tomatoes, onion, basil, mint and goats cheese, A dozen raspberry jam filled almond muffins, Lemon bread and a huge bowl full of fresh strawberries, blueberries and raspberries.  Everything turned out so delicious and I was filled inside with so much happiness to have my family over for a great breakfast.  It is rare that my family is at my house so this was such a cherished event.  We were able to take a bunch of photos with them all too which are so special!  I love the four generations shot we took, it's so crazy to think that my grampa is a Great Grandpa!!!!

Great Grampa Lorenz

Four Generations

The sisters and their daddy - My mom, Aunt Vickie, Aunt Linda with my Grampa

My Cousin Heather and I...I Like Her Style!!!!

I had to kick the family out at 2:00 so that Nixon and I could head up to Oshkosh for the car show.  We got there perfectly on time and found our group of friends.  It was funny this year because as we all joked about Nixon being conceived there, we were all rooting for our friend Collin's wife to go into labor.  She is due next weekend, but we thought it would be cool to close that circle of life and have their little boy Bennett be born on the same weekend we made Nixon.  We can't wait for next year when the boys can play in the Kid Spot!

The show was a huge success, there were over 150 cars there - all Volkswagens, BMW's, Audi's and a few other sprinklings of European cars.  I'm proud to announce that Scooter continued the tradition of wearing the crappy T-shirts that Kyle and I buy him when we travel - this year's stunner was a nice Manatee Menage a Trois that was a huge hit with all of our friends.

Scooter, Keeping it Classy

I'm also extremely proud of Kyle for yet again taking first place in his car class!!!  GO BABY!!! The Milwaukee guys cleaned house and took home one 2nd place and 3 first places!  Woo Hoo!

Kyle and Jon, Both Full of Winning

Oh, what's that?? You're freaking out about Kyle's haircut???  Hahaha, yeah, I forgot to mention that last Friday he surprised me with a hair cut.  It totally beats the nearly shoulder length hair he was sporting for the last year.  My handsome husband is back!

The Harlequin wasn't the only star of the show...of course Nixon was too!

Already has the Ladies all over him...Nixon and Shannon

Chris couldn't put him down, he even rocked him to sleep!

And, because I'm sure you're wondering what the Harlequin looks like, here you go...yes, the paint job is stock.  If you ever have time on your hands you can google the history of the Volkswagen Harlequin, but basically there were a little over 200 made as show samples to show customers the colors they could get the Golf in.  Kyle's put a ton of work into this car to clean it up, add a ton of power, and make it look nice and I'm very proud of him!  I'll throw in a pic of my Jetta too for fun.

My Jetta with the Porsche Rims Kyle Painted Teal...I know you're jealous!

Yep, stock paint.

His license plate says Rubix Cube...seriously  (RUBX QUB)

I want to send a big thank you out to our sitter Kellie and her husband Nathan for watching Fred for us while we were in Oshkosh, and also to Carrie for watching Jack.  Without great friends like them, we wouldn't be able to go on weekend trips like these!

After the show we went out for Pizza with our friends and then met up on the parking ramp to consume adult beverages and tell stories with all of our friends.  Sunday morning we all did another tradition which is all of us going to the Golden Corral in Oshkosh for breakfast...all 29 of us!  Hahahaha...we always make quite a scene, but where else can nearly 30 people go to get fed in a decent amount of time???

So that brings us to today.  We've been letting Nixon lay on the floor a lot, and much to our happiness the boys are letting Nixon lay there without bothering him too much.  Fred is just big and dumb and leaves his baby alone, but the "baby" that's still in Puppy Jack makes him want to play with Nixon the whole time.  Nixon is THISCLOSE rolling over so we're hoping that by letting him lay on the floor a lot more he'll be on his stomach before we know it!

I WANT THOSE TOES!!!!!

So Freaking Close!

And, because we always for get about her, I actually have a photo of Pinki with the baby.  Pinki is my cat that I was given as a birthday gift nearly 10 years ago from my old roommate Py (pronounced Pie).  When he gave her to me I was a little shocked because I didn't really care for cats, but she turned out to be the most social, sweet cat I'd ever met so I ended up adoring her and she became my baby...until I had Fred...and he was my baby...until I had Nixon...Jack is just a daily challenge.  LOL.  Anyway, here's a pic of Pinki trying to help me give Nixon a bath, or rather, she just really wants his towel to snuggle.

OOh, this hand could be tasty!

Thanks for putting this blankie out for me mom!