Vacation at the cabin

Karyl and Norbert informed us a couple weeks ago that H and B were wondering when they would get to visit the cabin again for a little vacation. Before I knew it, the long weekend was planned and Jay and I were left at home to fend for ourselves.

In a nutshell, they had a blast! Sledding on the hills, hiking on the frozen lake, snuggling in bed with Grandma and Grandpa (who let them watch a little TV), watching a movie, eating out at restaurants and being spoiled:)

Below is Henry's snake made from poker chips.

And who wouldn't want to hang with Grandma and help make homemade ice cream sprinkled with those "N and M" things they don't get to eat at home.

Bryn taking a ride down the hill.

Thanks for giving them these memories that will keep them reminiscing for years.......

Time to try it on their own.....

Spanglish, Henry style.

Both kids are intrigued by hearing people speak Spanish or any language other then English. They are mesmerized whenever one of my Spanish speaking friends comes over which has them making up their own words for days afterward. Henry was on a roll the other day and I had to grab a couple video's of his new found language.

The part about his taste buds just cracks me up! Where does he get this stuff?

Please forgive Bryn's mouth full of trail mix as she garbles a bit.

I keep kicking myself for taking French as my foreign language, what was I thinking?

Happy Valentine's Day

Introducing....... Bowser! We have been eager to meet my parents little puppy, but lately B and H are just a tad timid around dogs that display more energy than our Finny (doesn't take much). Lost track of how many times Henry said "Grandma can Bowser go outside now?" and " Down, Bowser down." He stayed off to the side when the whirling dervish was showing his moves and managed to get closer when little Bowser was chillin.

Bryn warmed up to him and reveled in her job of holding Bowser's leash........

Just not TOO close.....

Getting some lovin from Grandpa.

Valentines day at our house meant we ate a RED lunch and followed that with a Rocky Rococo heart shaped pizza for dinner!

My favorite pictures of the day are below! I snuck into their room to wake them up from their nap and was surprised to find them both in Henry's bed snuggling together. Bryn tries every chance she gets to convince Henry to sleep with her so she won't be lonely(at least that's the excuse she uses). Sometimes he obliges but usually changes his mind right before he climbs in and they go their separate ways.

Not today. I asked Bryn how she managed to talk her brother into it. She told me that "Henry said I could sleep by him for 2 minutes..... But I told Henry that I wanted to sleep with him for LOTS of minutes (with her arms outstretched)"





Wishing you all the warmest of snuggles!!!! If we could all be this peaceful.........

Grillin' 4 Peace gets a little wet

What do you get when the 2nd Annual Grillin' for Peace event coincides with near record temperatures? Well, this picture kinda provides some insight. It's not all that often you find yourself hauling a grill and all your stuff out onto the ice (which was covered with 4 inches of water) to set up shop and cook out with about 150 other people for peace. Needless to say, these bold Wisconsinites weren't fazed. It just added to the story we'll all have to tell.

The nearly submerged Weber wheels give a sense of the wetness.

Here's the whole group starting to get things set up. I think everything we brought started to float away at some point during our adventure.

Our grill team...neighbors Mr. Bruce and Miss Elspeth, Peter, Richgels, H, B, mom and dad. See you out there next year!

Thanks to all the grillin', Savory Sundays will be serving up a feast of grilled goodies for their meal tomorrow!

Bryn's Week

To start of Bryn's special week we hit the ground running. First things first, we needed to make the treat to bring to preschool. "Bugs on logs" mmmmmm.







Next order of business was to glue down the poster pics. It's funny how they seem to fall in love with certain pictures. Bryn's favorite is the pic of her reading the paper on J's lap when she was about 10 months old or so. She just kept talking about how cute she looked reading the paper in her diaper.



Above pic was taken by one of the teachers as Bryn, sitting on Miss April's lap, told her preschool friends about all her pictures. Below is Bryn with Miss Sally.

Bryn asked me to come in on Thursday to read to her class and requested the book "The Bear Snores On." We also took along a couple Todd Parr books since he is the Author of the month and the kids asked me to read those too. Best comment came as I was reading the "Okay Book" and read the page about "It's okay to have freckles." I asked the kids if they knew what freckles were and when most seemed confused I tried describing the spots to them. One little girl said "Oh, I know, freckles turn into zits!" Well, that's all it took for more hands to shoot up hoping to tell their own story about their parents zits and something about how itchy they are.

Making cookies to take to Finn's vet and to a new mommy of twins.

Bryn had a busy week and I managed to forget the camera so no pics. We did make valentines at Miss Kristi's with a houseful of their friends, and delivered them to Sunny Hill nursing home residents on Monday. We also squeezed in a a visit to Memorial to watch their production of "The Sound of Music" and they went to Ella's deli with Grandma and Grandpa on Friday for lunch.

Looking forward to the warm spell that is predicted for the next several days!!

Henry's week

Henry was the "special kid of the week" at preschool. Even though they are only there 2 days a week, he took advantage of his celebrity status. Their teachers ask them to bring in a poster of their favorite pictures. That can be a difficult task when you have parents that have taken tens of thousands of pictures, but he got most of what he wanted squeezed on the board. He made sure we didn't forget the pic of him singing in front of Bruce the Spruce Christmas tree. Above pic is Henry with Miss Sally and the below pic Miss Sally took of him while he was telling his classmates a little something about each picture. Bryn informed us that when Henry forgot what he wanted to say about a couple shots she took over and added her two cents! Not a big surprise here.

He brought his preschool friends blueberry muffins that we made for his special week and on Thursday Jay came to school and read one of their favorite books "Night Driving" to the class.

Bryn is gearing up for her week next week.

To top off the week, Grandma and Grandpa Affeldt took them bowling on Friday!! Now you can understand why Henry asked me if Grandma and Grandpa could come take my place at home on Mondays and Wednesdays. I thought parental rejection was years away........

Showing off their game print outs. Each rolled 3 spares!

Remember lincoln logs? I so loved the old fashioned toys that we used to play with. Aunt Shannon and Uncle Bruce bought them a set of lincoln logs and I recently won a huge load on Ebay. This week I was helping Bryn make a cabin and I looked over to find Henry's "hotel" that he did all by himself.

Complete with a little dude taking a nap on a first floor hotel bed!

Now I need to find them tinker toys.

Lake Mendota Igloo

Since Richgels lives within blocks of Lake Mendota, the kids were anxious to check out the frozen lake when we stopped in for a visit this weekend. New winter sport.... stamping out pieces of crusty snow and ice and seeing how far or high you can toss them and then watching 'em shatter.

We spied a huge pile of snow in the middle of the lake and of course had to race over to investigate.

It took awhile to realize that this was an igloo and it was inhabited! They were skating on the ice patches and we were all rather surprised to see 3 adults slither out of a back door. I should have noticed the wine bottle opener and bottle of red sitting on the ice but I think I was too cold. The igloo makers were very friendly (sure the wine helped) and they invited us inside. It was big enough for both kids to stand in although Bryn's face was a look of horror (see below pic). I think she was thinking what I was thinking.... (escape route for when the ceiling falls in on us). It is a tad disconcerting to be completey surrounded by several feet of snow and ice.

Once Jay and Richgels joined us with the dogs the kids were psyched to show them the igloo.

By the afternoon's end I was finding it difficult to form words due to my freezing lips and I could no longer feel my toes. When I asked H and B if they were ready to head back, they both shouted "NO" but at some point the bitter cold caught up with them too. I'm sure the fact that we forgot their snowpants hastened the departure.

It only makes sense that they sleep in an igloo at home too. Finn has been loving the tent, as you can see he takes up most of the space with B and H shoved off to the sides but noone seems to care.

Henry, Bryn, Maya and Jocie having a blast on the beds. No injuries to report from this session, other than Bryn wedging herself between the bed posts. Thanks to Sandra for prying her free.

...and then they took to the hill.

The kid's obsessed

I really didn't think it was possible.... I'm getting glimpses of life in 10 years from now, and it scares me.

We were out at the Pickhardt's to watch the Rose Bowl, and all the dads and kiddos spent a chunk of time taking advantage of the Pickhardt sledding hill out back. The dads, for old time sake, kept trying to "surf" down the hill standing up. Henry must have definitely taken some notes. Ever since Jay brought up a plastic sled from our basement that loosely resembles a snow board, it's been non-stop chatter from Henry regarding his future goals of carving some hills. The second he wakes up from a nap he asks me about his "surf". Kid keeps confusing surfing/snowboarding and as he says "cwoss cwountry" skiing. He wants to know when it's supposed to warm up (anything above zero would be nice) so he can start surfing. Miss Kristi also happened to mention to Henry that Mr. John snowboards. Well, lessons are already planned out in Henry's head so Mr. John better dust off his board... I mean" surf".

This is how things seem to work these days. One track minds. Just a few days ago they were crying because we denied their request for hockey pads, helmets, stick, pucks, etc... and now it's all about snowboarding? Bryn is excited too (but not so intensely addicted to it as H) but she just goes along with the hoopla, and knowing her, she'll probably end up figuring it out in one day and be an expert.

Here are two videos from when they awoke from an afternoon nap.

My creative boys

Henry first. The other morning we were sitting around the table having coffee and he started talking about his pontoon boat. We had no clue he had a pontoon until we looked at his little project. Little dude found one of Bryn's barrettes and clipped it between his two boats (made by Grandpa Affeldt) so it resembled the double hulled boat that he wanted.

Jay next. Yesterday he placed the signs below on Bryn and Henry's door and it stayed shut until dinner time. The three of us kept ourselves busy sledding with friends in the a.m. and then spending the afternoon at another neighborhood ice rink.

The finished product!!!

Now let's give credit where credit is due. Karyl made the valences to pick up the brown polka dots in their comforters and said adios to their duck themed ones. Love them!

Can I just say how hard it is to find boy/girl bedding that kinda matches? It's either super girly or covered in mean looking cartoon characters.... Anyway, Jay spent the day painting some pretty cool mountains that completely wrap around the room and covered up all the bright orange/blue and green walls they used to have. The kids love it and so do I. If we can't live in Montana we may as well have a painted version upstairs. The peaks have been named. Bryn's is Avocado Mountain and Henry's is Mt. Sled. Thanks Jay!

Yes, that is Henry's rear end sticking out from under his bed.

When all you have is a driveway of ice..

...you turn it into an ice rink of course. We made the most of the frozen rain that coated our entire yard and have been skating on it for hours. Jay and I figure we weigh just a tad too much to slide oursleves around on our skates so H and B have the driveway to themselves. It's been a twice a day activity and I heard rumors that we have more of the stuff coming later this week. That will be perfect to fill in the spots that they have cracked through.

Poor Finn, he HATES the stuff and spends his time laying on the crunchy snow.

Bryn showing off for Richgels.


Yes, they do manage to fall, but not as they would without the skaters. It's hands off for mommy and daddy. They refuse any help getting up, turning around and have been seen attempting tricks already.

Who knew the guy could do splits too?

Jay took them to a Badger womens hockey game with the Pickhardt kids so they will sponteously shake hands during their trips up and down the driveway and say "Good Game" to each other.

Now they want a Zamboni to come spruce up the ice........

Making the most of the Holidays

Whew, what a couple weeks of activity for this family. Now that we are back home I figured we needed a post to show all we did. You won't believe it when I say that the majority of us were sick at some point and we had coughs that wouldn't stop and noses that kept getting wiped but it didn't slow us down until Bryn had a fever up in Green Bay. Plans changed and Jay (who remained healthy during all this) and Henry drove to the cabin and I hung out with my parents until it looked like Bryn was fever- free and then we joined up with the Affeldt gang. Thanks to everyone who put up with the hacking coughs and running noses.

The festivities began at home with a little cookie decorating. Then we watched as H and B struggled to remember who was supposed to be "on stage" with their new puppet theater from Grandpa and Grandma A.

Shannon and Liam passed by on Christmas on their way back home so the kids exchanged gifts and played for a bit before they headed back to Iowa. Shannon made them each play scarves intended for their dress up box. Not a chance; they have been wearing their "fancy scarves" every time we go outside since.

Shannon and Liam playing with his new fishing pole.

And more dress up clothes!! Henry as the UPS man is a pretty good fit. He delivered us all boxes once he was dressed in brown. Bryn was the Queen Bee, of course.

After Henry told us that he wants to skate EVERY morning we spent time at a rink not far from my parents house and skated, skated, skated.

Grandma's birthday!! Happy 64th mom.

My mom found her tea set from when she was little girl. It's just like the one in a Frances book they have love so they were pretty stoked to sip some tea (hot cocoa) with Grandma, complete with fruit and little sandwiches!

Belting out "Jingle Bells" in front of Bruce the Spruce at the Green Bay Museum. They were holding hands and their scarves as they sang, I wish I captured it in the photo.

Baby Allison, bundled up and ready for a ride in the sled.

Toboggan run with Grandma and Grandpa Affeldt at the cabin. No worries... we never made it onto the pier, but we came darn close!

Aunt Jen showing Henry how to fold and make a paper box.

Henry sitting on Santa Norbert's lap most likely discussing the North Pole and such.

Bryn sitting on Santa Henry's lap.

Baby Mia, seeing if she can solve the cryptoquote before Grandma does...

Our other sliding hill we found at the cabin. I lost count after about 2o runs. Uncle Shawn is doing head injury prevention duty.

Photo shoot with Mia and Allison, takes 50-53......















Thanks to our parents for hosting our drama-filled family. At least it's never a boring trip when we show up..... We loved the time spent with our families eating, skating, sledding and just hanging out.