Circus World

Grandma and Grandpa Affeldt planned a surprise trip to Baraboo to hang out at Circus World for the day last week. They got there early and hit every show their was with time for a picnic lunch along the river.

Henry's favorite was the monkey in the circus show "who acted just like a person" and Bryn loved volunteering to play the part of a dog in the Kid's circus show. They dressed up and did dog tricks for the audience. And from what I hear Jessi Wonderfool is quite a hoot.

Henry came home with even more clown attire to add to his mix, including rainbow hair so watch out people a clown is on the loose.

Thanks to Norb and Karyl for a perfect day at the circus!!

Gardening time

Along with helping me get our plants and seeds in our garden out back, they also decided to plant their own secret garden. The secret garden is full of brussel sprouts and broccoli plants with plenty of native worms!

Simon's birthday

Henry and Bryn's friend Simon had his 5th birthday at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center which was perfect since Simon LOVES animals, habitats and nature in general. The kiddos were about 50/50 on touching the snake and other "pets" on display. After a scavenger hunt through the prairie they reconvened in the Nature Center for cake, ice cream and a little balloon volleyball with the neighbor kids. An awesome way to turn 5!

It actually resembles swimming!

The Starfish class, Miss Sue and Ted E. Bear from preschool who came to cheer them on.

Happy Mother's Day

I awoke this morning to find two videos made for me. The below is a Mother's Day dance choreographed by none other than Jay. The serious looks that they managed to hold for awhile were part of the routine..........

The second video had me crying in seconds. Jay made a 13 minute video full of pictures of me with the kids from when they were babies until now and it's absolutely beautiful. We won't bore you with it, but I think I will be pressing play over and over today.

I am so thankful for my sweet, spunky, thoughtful and silly kids that make me laugh every single day, I couldn't ask for anything more.

Happy Mother's Day to every woman who has loved a child.

Heritage Hill

We just happened to be at my parents when the annual Spring celebration at Heritage Hill was going on. Since the kids have acquired my love of Little House in the Prairie books, they were more than thrilled to go check out this park set back in the times of Laura, Mary and Carrie. We were able to watch them shear sheep with scissors, try our hand at milking goats and making butter and stepped back in time to a one room school house.

The quotes of the day as we headed back to my parents house from Henry: "Brynie, what did the goat's teat feel like?" and also "Hey guys where was Pa?". Bryn determined that he was most likely out in the fields working.








After the haircut, they let the sheep run into the pasture and Bryn ran over to watch.

Lessons with the teacher in the one room school house and trying to write on the slate boards.

For those Little House fans, remember this hoop game they would always play? I was so excited to join them but not sure anything more than beat upon the hoop with the stick as it careened down the hill.


And it wouldn't be a springtime party without a Maypole to dance around.

We were up at my parents so Jay could help my dad and friends re-canvas a canoe and here he is showing off his reupholstering skills.


While the boys were hard at work my mom and the the rest of us took off for garage sales. Henry found this truck and once we were home, convinced my mom into various racing games down the front driveway with Bowser in hot pursuit.

The below pics are a typical Tug-o-War between H and B on my parents front yard. She just reels him in......







You may remember this stick teepee that we built last summer. Not sure how, but the structure survived the winter and windy spring and is still standing. They decorated it with flowers and wood drawings with my mom.

Thanks for a fun weekend!

Shin guards.

Well, the kiddos kicked off their soccer careers two Sundays ago. As expected, when a tiny herd of four year-olds assemble on the field it isn't exactly pretty just yet, but it certainly is fun to watch. Check this out...



I especially like the skipping after the goal.

Here they are working on their cheering skills. They were so pumped about getting shin guards that they wore them to preschool for a day, and despite being offered multiple pairs of soccer shorts to choose from for her first game, B Bop of course opted for a skirt instead. Kids will be kids, or rather, it seems our kids will be exactly who they are at all times.

No training wheels!

After getting the kiddos bigger bikes with training wheels, just for fun we took the training wheels off their little bikes as an experiment. They saw their neighbor buddy Simon rolling without training wheels last week and it was obvious they wanted to do it too. After a couple hours of non-stop practice on the driveway (Henry in his cowboy boots dangling from either side and Bryn coasting from foot to foot), they both taught themselves how to do it. We never once had to run behind them holding the seat but rather sat on the stump and watched their determined little selves figure it out. The next day they had the Mallot pharmacy parking lot to themselves and since then they race each other to their bikes to do laps on the driveway. Mr. Sam even made them a course with chalk.

What made this even sweeter was the fact that for the first time in their lives, they learned something at exactly the same time! Bryn didn't beat him to the punch on this one. Maybe it was his lucky cowboy boots.

Anyone who gets within 50 feet of our driveway has heard.... "Hey Miss Kathy (insert Mr. Frank, Mr. Bob, Miss Bridget.......)guess what we can do ? " And without a pause.... "We can ride on two wheels!!"

April run down

As the days of April fly by I need to recap the last couple weeks. The kids did enjoy an Easter Egg hunt (all 56 eggs strategically placed by Grandma and Grandpa Affeldt) and then had fun hanging out with their cousins Alli and Mia. Bryn still wants to "mother" them as much as she can get away with and Henry enjoyed dunking the basketball with the future all stars.

Below is Mia trying out her soon to be new bike.

The kids had to goof around with Mr. Sam and the last dirty patch of snow from the infamous Snowwoman. A neighbor snuck over and planted a bunch of daffodils right where she had held court.

Henry and Bryn hard at work cleaning out the chicken coop! They are the perfect size for the job!!

Last week on Friday, Jay's parents took our two adventurers to Cave of the Mounds, where they learned about stalactites and stalagmites, followed with a lunch at the Grumpy Troll restaurant which was a repeat performance to a field trip with their grandparents 2 years ago!! I found this pics from their initial trip to the cave when they were a mere 2 1/2 years old!!!


Fast forward two years and look at them now...........

Oh, and I can't forget about the french toast breakfast Bryn made for us the other weekend. From cracking the eggs to dipping the bread and carefully placing it on the griddle, she did it ALL herself, while up on her little tip toes!

This past weekend will be posted soon since they have HUGE news to share. Well, most of you already know since they can't keep it to themselves.....

Chi Town

We took off for Chicago for the start of our Spring Break. Last year I was in Santa Fe with my mom while Jay and kids explored the Windy City so they were anxious to show off their favorite spots and finally get back in a cab for a ride without their car seats! We visited the Museum of Science and Industry and the Field Museum and spent the rest of the time eating out at some great restaurants, walking our way down Michigan Ave. and just hanging out as a family away from all the projects that surround us at home.

Henry got up close and personal with a mastadon relative at the Field Museum.

Enjoying a steamer at a cool little breakfast place not far from our hotel.

Pretending they are statues at Millennium Park.

Below they were checking out a mummy from above.

The Museum of Science and Industry was SO much fun. They stood in front of a screen and waited for butterflies to land on their heads.

It shouldn't surprise us that they would rather be snapping photos of us for a change of pace. They didn't bring their cameras along so they used ours and wanted to each do something silly with us. The below pic is my favorite since Henry focused on his sister rather than us and rightly so!

Bryn took this one of Henry with us in front of the "bean".

The lights of Chicago from our hotel room on Michigan Ave.

Feels like spring!

We have all been taking advantage of the fantastic weather lately and only go inside if absolutely necessary. The kids are back to tree climbing....

and parades in the driveway among other things. I was inside cleaning up and looked out to find them taking turns pulling each other in their wagon while the rider threw out gardening toys to the kids instead of candy. There were rakes and shovels and bowls flying all over the place. See the plastic chairs precariously sitting atop the container? Turns out they were sitting on them while being pulled by each other. Thank God no one fell off (maybe that's why they were wearing helmets) while I wasn't looking.

The Pickhardt kids had fun in our neighborhood "Rock Canyon" this past weekend. Henry and Eliot were showing their strength and throwing some branches around.

We then had to go check out the duck pond and found some grass snakes, ducks and plenty of rocks to jump on.

Maya found herself trapped on a stone and needed some rescuing from Peter.

And of course the loads of summer toys that were stashed up in the garage were taken out and re-discovered again. That meant rotating through playing baseball, shooting hoops, riding bikes, digging in the dirt and drawing on the sidewalk.

And what is better than a baseball player in a purple leotard and tights?