We are getting there.

Nothing like putting the kids to work. They actually are really good helpers, Bryn typically watches us do something once and then is trying to take over within minutes. It didn't matter that the wheelbarrow weighed at least 4 times her weight...... Henry helps for a while but quickly finds other fun projects that seem to dismantle our progress. Then B sees how much fun he is having and either has to prove that she is stubborn (like her mom) and will finish her job, or she folds to the pressure of giggles from her brother.

Here is an example of Henry's "projects". Don't worry, it's not poop, just pine cones that Henry stuck in a line in the compost. He claims he is an artist, modern organic art, I guess.

So, here are the gardens sans vegetables. Aren't they pretty? Jay said that they will never look this nice again so we may as well get a picture. Yes, Jay was out in the dirt with a level while he was building the walls of the gardens and made sure they are identical to each other. Darn things will be sturdier than our house with the sloping floors! Hopefully they will be full of veggies amongst the weeds sometime this summer. Fence is coming and then once our plants look a tad sturdier, we will be gardeners again. All Henry talks about is the carrots he is going to grow. In his world, he will plant them one day and will be ready to pick the next. It will be a study of patience this summer.

Our little drama queen

No nap means what?

Yesterday Bryn and Henry decided that they would much rather throw blankets, babies, and pillows out of the crib while partying it up inside during naptime. Jay had heard enough so he rushed in with all his authority to issue his punishment . This was after I had given them two warnings to keep their stuff inside the cribs and to quiet down.

Here is what he said.... "Since you two can't take a nap and are not listening to us, then you don't get a nap. I am taking you to the Badger game."

I think I did a double take, so did they. What kind of a punishment is that? Regardless, it was a the annual Badger football scrimmage and they open the gates for bleeding heart fans to come take a look. And it's free, another reason to load them up in the Burley and head down Monroe St. I waved them farewell and left in Foxy Lady to get my unruly hair cut.

When they returned home, they needed to fashion their own bike trailer and pull each other and some stuffed animals around the driveway.

The pictures are deceiving. Due to a lack of napping, they morphed into two little terrors as the afternoon wore on and we were all looking forward to putting them to bed. You can only take so much whining, crying, and carrying on for no apparent reason. In their nap deprived state they undid our work in the vegetable beds and tried to empty out one whole stall of the compost. We were both so sick of telling them to listen to us that we all gave up and called it a day.

You know you're in Wisconsin...

Well, it was that kind of weekend. We kicked it off by pumping a couple inches of water out of our basement. I guess the frozen/saturated/record snow-ridden soil finally met it's match, and let the overflow into our basement. Saturday was still wet and rainy, so the kids opted to pull on their swim caps, yank all their clothes off and dance. Go figure...I guess that's what we get when they're two and half. Sunday was bright and sunny, so we headed off to the annual Breakfast on the Farm over at the UW Stock Pavilion to support the Women of Agriculture. It was a blast...Bucky Badger, UW Band, pancakes, sausage..the works. Of course we ate outside, even though it was about 30 degrees and gusty. After breakfast, we headed into the barns for some big time farm animal cuddling, etc... We closed the deal by watching the Prairie Thunder Cloggers clog to Rocky Top. A classic Wisco weekend.

That's the Pickhardt fam at the North end of the table.

This is how you eat pancakes when your (bright red) hands are frozen.

Note the instructions on the sign.

Their first baby chicken.

Maya and Eliot holding bunnies.

And a picture with the WHA (that's Wisconsin Holstein Assoc.) princess, no less.

The whole bunch of kiddos hanging out curbside with their pudding cups.

The Prairie Thunder Cloggers

Backyard projects

Now that we got some trees cut down in the backyard, we have a sunny half - yard ready for a vegetable garden and compost. We basically spent last weekend in the yard, moving their swingset and helping Jay build us an awesome compost bin system. We were able to empty out our plastic compost tumbler that we have been filling up for the last couple years and it was pretty cool to see beautful black soil pour out. We are definitely not experts yet in the compost business since we had our share of whole corn on the cobs that didn't get broken down one bit. B and H had to be involved with the projects too and helped shovel leaves, climb the piles, and be Daddy's little helpers. Next project....... raised vegetable beds.

Bean Bag training camp at the cabin

Jay and his dad also began the process of introducing the next generation to this yard game tradition. The little guy is actually pretty good...and the "end zone dance" isn't bad either.

Kites on Ice, cabin style.

While I was busy working at the Mothers of Multiples Resale all day, Jay, Norb, Karyl and kiddos were all having some fun outside at the lake. They loved flying the kites and I heard all about their adventures when they returned on Sunday morning.

The resale was a success and I managed to pick up most of their summer clothes at next to nothing prices but there was one problem...... Henry had one request that I completely forgot about during my one hour mad scramble. He wanted a pair of tights like Bryn's and the the first thing he asked me on the phone was whether I found some for him. I felt horrible, and tried to get him excited about the Curious George T-shirt I found but it didn't quite make up for those tights.

Here are some pics of their Kites on Ice with Grandpa and Grandma Affeldt.

Good riddance to walnuts! (at least in the front yard)

In between keeping an eye on the "man in the bucket" at home, we also headed to a park to play with their friends Abbey and Sam. After watching them cut down our huge walnut out front I can't believe I was trying to talk Jay into doing it ourselves. With all their fancy equipment it took them most of the day to get it down while carefully dropping all the branches and keeping the trunk intact to mill some lumber for us for new projects!

Don't remember who out of the bunch decided we needed to feed the green dinosaur but they all chipped in to toss him sticks, stones and snow.

Sam and Abbey got reacquainted with their favorite park toys after a much too long winter. Ahh, the days of hanging out at a park without all the layers is hopefully coming soon.

Happy Easter!

Well, we started getting ready for the Easter Bunny's visit last weekend with the coloring of the eggs. Check out the look on Bryn's face as her blue/green? egg emerges from the dye.

Other random faces during the egg project.

Despite the snow storm and true to Wisconsinite form, the annual Egg Hunt on the Capital lawn went on as usual. The foot of snow made the eggs kinda hard to find in some cases. Consequently, the kiddos ended up with a pretty light haul. Luckily they were able to trade in their eggs for a goodie bag full of fun stuff.

Then all of a sudden they got super klingy. We were touched that in the midst of all the chaos they wanted to give us hugs, but we realized their burst of affection was actually complete and total fear of...the Easter Bunny. They still have not found a way to be ok with people in costumes, including Bucky, Bruce the Spartan, or in this case Peter Cottontail. They did, however, make it clear to us that it was still cool for him to come to our house while they were sleeping, as long as it was a "little Easter bunny".

And the celebration culminated with a good old-fashioned egg hunt Easter morning. It was so much fun we might do it every weekend!

Ugh...it's official.

Well, we finally made it. Sometime last night, Madison set a new snowfall record that is more than double the normal annual snowfall...100.4 inches. The warmer temps last week had us actually feeling kinda springy, but we should've known better. The picture below was taken on the first full day of spring, as yet another winter storm dumped on us.