The first official "summer" weekend

Well, I'll start by clarifying that those are pretzel rods. Ok, so Sarah flew out for a PA conference in San Antonio for a few days, which leaves me with the kiddos. Well, Grandpa and Grandma invited us up to the cabin to kick off the summer at the lake. The Pickhardt fam drove up to spend the day Saturday, and when you mix sunshine with two sets of twins, some fishing, tubing, waterskiing, bean-bagging, etc... you have all the fixins for a classic Wisconsin summer weekend.

Nothing like a little Johnny Cash to get 'em on the dance floor.

Here's the whole crew hanging out lakeside.




I think we have a little fisherwoman on our hands.

The kiddos enjoying a picnic lunch.

Here's Eliot wetting a line.

Sunday moring was little cloudy and breezy. Henry caught a few fish with Grandpa, and then gave up his spot to Bryn for some of the action. He took a spot next to Grandma at the picnic table.

Here's Grandma showing Henry how the "hooks" work.




Snuggling in the boat on the way to the Lodge for lunch.


The fearless Captain of the ship.



Enjoying some skim milk, in a world that also includes access to Wisconsin's "other" favorite beverage.

Mommy, we miss you and love you. Wish you were here...

Suamico weekend

We spent a long weekend in Suamico and have loads of pics to prove it. Grandma did her best at garage sales before we got there and landed two kids basketball hoops. Since we knew that the basketballs hoops were going to be there, Bryn and Henry were talking about playing bball all week. Once we got there that hoop was all consuming so everytime they woke up either from a nap or in the morning, they would run to the windows upstairs to peek outside to make sure the basketball hoop was ready to play. Grandpa gave some instructions on shooting technique while they listened very carefully.

We even took the kids to a neighborhood garage sale on Saturday and then stopped over to visit Uncle Jerry and Bunnie so they could show off their goods and see how Uncle Jerry's knee was feeling after surgery.

One surprise, how easy it was for them to sleep in twin beds for naps and at night. Of course Grandma had the floor all padded just in case the water noodles(another garage sale deal) stuck under the sheets didn't keep them from the edge. No worries, they never fell out and probably would have had too much fun if they did. Bryn got to sleep in Aunt Shannon's old bed(above pic), made by Grandpa and Henry was across the room in another twin bed. Now they want them at home, so sometime soon we may finally get them out of their cribs. I never thought they would sleep in them so long but they have never tried to climb out and it's the only way to contain my early morning risers.

For two bucks we found a great garage sale treasure! This cash register came complete with a beeping scanner and all. They grabbed all sorts of things laying around G and G's house to see how much they cost and they made up amounts on everything.

Lots of fun playing with Grandma in the woods and finding piles of pine cones under the trees. Just makes me think of all the fun we can all have building forts when they get a little older.

Made use of all grandma and grandpa's yard. A new game they coined "tree basketball" is handing me their rubber balls and seeing how high I could kick the balls into the air or tree and then running them down and bringing them back to ask me to do it again. They must have run miles.

Now you see where I get my silliness. This is grandma's trick she calls loop de loop.

And following is Bryn and Henry trying their best at imitating her!

Thanks for all the fun mom and dad!!

Twinville

We were so excited to finally let Bryn and Henry meet and greet their twin cousins. Due to their preemie status Allison and Mia were forbidden to have contact with kids under 12 until now so we have tried to keep track via Jen's blog and some internet Skyping. None of that compares to having a weekend to just hang out.

I think Jay and I were amazed by how quiet these two babies were. Even their cute little cries are soft, at least by B and H standards. Allison and Mia were just the snuggliest, happiest, little twins I have ever seen. Henry and Bryn adored them of course as did Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Scott, Aunt Barb and cousin Jim.

No, I cannot tell them apart. Everytime I thought I had figured it out and was calling one Allison, I was softly told by Jen that it was Mia. Girls, I will try harder next time.





Henry with Jen and the girls at the Farmer's Market.

Henry was trying to imitate Mia (or was it Allison) with her little squeals and ended up making her(and me) laugh instead.

Grandma's lapfull.

Aunt Barb with Allison (thank God for the green sweater).



As per the Twins sweatshirts, it was a deckfull of multiples.

Jen has the keepers posted on her blog at http://www.miaandallison.blogspot.com/ if you want to take a peek. This first pic is my fav and the next couple are outtakes!

Not one of us thought the photo shoot would be a cinch but it honestly was. Apparantly the planets were aligned and not one tear was shed. And, it even happened over lunch time. Who woulda thunk it......

I LOVE having a houseful especially for Mother's Day weekend. Lots of good eats thanks to Jay and Karyl, with a special nod to the Jam man who set us up with some mighty fine onion rolls and jam. The company was pretty sweet too. Thanks for making the drive guys.

Mother's Day

Above are the one- of- a- kind flip flops made exclusively by Bryn and Henry (with a little help from Grandma and Grandpa) for Mother's Day.
Below is what has now become a tradition ..... Mother's Day video which I love! Thank you Jay for making me cry. Jay also felt I needed some other gifts to update my look with a new work bag that holds my glass jar drinking vessel which can clip around my waist for easy biking to work and an ipod case to protect it the next time I accidentally drop it. He knows me too well....

the best part is the "I love you a bushel and a peck" which is a line from the Karyl's Spring Harbor musical "Guys and Dolls" this year.

My favorite part of the weekend was the fact that we had a full house of family. B and H are not cooperating at the moment so I will post more later.

Peace and love to every mommy who has loved a child.

Are Grandma and Grandpa coming over today?

Now you can see why the first words out of Henry's mouth EVERY morning (weekends included) are "Are Grandma and Grandpa coming over today?" If it's one of the 3 days I work, he gets a huge smile and says "oh", with a sort of relieved look on his face. If I tell him that he gets to hang out with me he looks a little disappointed and asks me why they aren't coming over. I keep secretly hoping that some day he will jump up and down and squeel when I tell him he is stuck with me but I am not holding my breath. His next question after I tell him why they aren't coming is "Where are we going today?" I guess he can deal with the fact that grandma and grandma aren't coming over if he gets to go somewhere fun. Luckily he is easily convinced that a trip to the backyard sounds like a good time.

You can take a look at just a few examples of why they adore Grandma and Grandpa Affeldt. Not only are they showered with one on one attention, but they fill our house with fun projects that they make together and they get to go on excursions to just about anywhere in town. When a play area was closed for a day, they quickly changed gears and ended up at Gander Mountain. Who would know that there are hanging animal heads to look at (glad I didn't have to explain the field of taxidermy to them), suspended airplanes to talk about and boats to pretend play in.

We have all been so lucky this year to have Karyl and Norbert gift us with their time and love and for making this year so incredible for Bryn and Henry.

Chilling with the gigantic fruit at the zoo.

Doing their computer work at the library.

Testing out Grandpa's new wheels.

Enjoying a lunch on the sunporch .

Our magnolia tree has been bursting with blooms this week so I asked Jay if he would get some pictures of it before the storms were scheduled to arrive.

No, Bryn's forehead scrape is not the result of a sibling disagreement but rather a head first free fall off the swing. It was horrible to witness as I watched her head snap backwards as the rest of her body flipped over itself. I guess it comes with the territory at this age and for years to come. Ugh.

Barbershop quartet

Is this a pic of two excited kids or what? At least Jay was happy. Bryn made up a "haircut" song that she sang on the way to Hilldale but as soon as she entered the door it was ALL business. I have NEVER seen her SO serious and sit SO still for SOOOO long. Once she saw the final product she was her typical boisterous self.



I even had to hold little miss independent's hand for the first 5 minutes or so. Yes, Blue baby was underneath the apron sitting on her lap. She asked me if Miss Michelle could cut Blue baby's plastic hair too.

Henry was sitting on an extra seat cushion just staring up at his sister! He brought along his notebook to take notes of this event.

Not only did B girl get bangs again (so excited to be done fighting her to wear barrettes) but she even got some layers!!

Henry decided that he wanted in on this hair cut fun but he needed all of us to know that he was getting a "trim not a haircut". How in the world does he know the difference?

He really liked sitting up high and checking himself out in the mirrors while his sister walked around below him checking on Michelle's progress.

The finished product........