Happy Earth Day!

Mother Earth is getting an awful lot of lip service lately, and deservedly so. Henry has been asking when Earth Day would be here for the last couple weeks and this morning he was relieved to hear that today was the day! We started off our Wednesday with an impromptu art project designed by Henry. Ingredients : colored paper, FULL glass of water and scissors. Then you soak the colored paper in the water without ever wringing it out, let dirty water drip all over the house while you parade your art around, then you layer the pieces on top of each other to make "foam" for Mother Earth and when it's a sticky wet mess you cut it up with scissors. Provides an hours worth of enjoyment for all, especially mom.

Off to the coop to give the chickens some fresh air in their run and feed them some yummy grape tomatoes.

Then for the grand finale..... garbage pick up. I overheard Bryn tell Henry "Mother Earth is happy when kids pick up trash, just like mommy and daddy are." We took our wagon and off we went in search of litter to pick up. Below is Bryn's best "treasure", a shoe insole! She squeeled every time her little eyes spotted more garbage and even dug up a canister she was that was partially buried in the mud. Go girl!

I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a tad difficult to find enough to fill our bag half full. Plenty of cigarette butts which spawned several conversations about what people do with these objects and why they get thrown on the ground instead of the garbage.

It was our lucky day, the streetsweeper was doing it's thing in our neighborhood and it ended up riding past us many times. Henry said "That Zamboni thing is cleaning on Mother Earth Day too!" We had planned on inviting some friends to join us but Bryn's nose was a nonstop sieve so we decided against infecting others. I'm sure we will do this again and again.

Only disappointment came when we got home from our trash pick up and Henry grabbed the wind vane and started wacking at the bark of a new tree we planted last fall. He really didn't know what possessed him to do that but after I screamed "Why would you do that to a tree on Earth Day?" he later reasoned that a little bit of watering and the tree should be just fine.

Egg time

We were excited to hear that Jen, Shawn, Allison and Mia were hitting the roads and heading to Madison for a long weekend. Henry and Bryn are always getting updates on what the girls are up to but it's much more fun to see them in person. Bryn and Aunt Jen playing in the kitchen.

Ready to scramble for some eggs on the Capitol lawn. The nice weather made for at least 5 times as many kids as last year when they foraged in the snow for eggs.




The below shot is definitely a milestone in the making. As many of you know from past posts, H and B have been terrified of "dressed up people" . So much so, that they typically ask on our way to an event whether or not there will be any mascots milling around. Slowly over the last several months Henry especially has started to shed his fear and warms up to these dressed up adults fairly quickly! He was in love with the bunny at the Capitol last weekend. No kidding, he just stood there hugging a leg or burying his face into his tummy until I repeatedly asked him to let go. Bryn wasn't quite as enamored, but did manage to give the bunny a couple high 5's as long as she was still touching me. Better than the screaming fits of before, that's for sure!

Mia and Allison got their hands on some eggs too, before heading into the Capitol and completing a circuit of stairclimbing!

Back at home we enjoyed some Spring like weather and watched the kids play it up in the backyard.

Of course Bryn was the first to pull the gang. Nothing stands in her way. Allison and Mia may be having second thoughts though.

Up close and personal with the chickens!!

Sunday we all drove over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. The backyard was full of eggs and the hunt was on!

Counting their loot! The Easter bunny was very health conscious this year. Raisins and goldfish crackers, nummmmm.

Allison wishing Henry would let her go.....

Grandma made them each their very own letter shirt for Easter, and they were a HUGE hit! Thanks Karyl, not only for the letters but for a day full of mouth watering eats too. We then needed a photo shoot of course to show off the new T's. Not easy trying to get 4 kids to look in one direction. This was the best we could do!

Spring Break Daddy style!

Since I would be home during Spring Break, Sarah took advantage of the opportunity to get away for a few days with her mom and they flew to Santa Fe. While they were away, the kiddos and I tried to create our own Spring Break adventures back here in the midwest...

No, Bryn was not driving the four-wheeler out at Pickhardt's cabin. They did get a chance to ride on it (notice their bike helmets) and we went VERY slowly.

Here's Mr. Pickhardt making them hot chocolate on the woodstove.

Here we are after we helped load the four-wheeler with firewood.

Henry sharing his carrots during lunch after they stacked more wood on the pile (kind of).

Watching Mr. Pik put up a new Blue Bird house on a fence post.

The next day we headed to Chicago, where Henry got to spend a while staring at his recent obsession...jellyfish. We spent the morning at the Shedd Aquarium, and then pretty much spent the afternoon running around, then napping in Grant Park.

After a short break back at the hotel we wandered down to Millenium Park where we met Sandra, Eliot, Maya and Josie who were also in Chicago for the day. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out (and taking pictures) at the "Mirror Bean" and the faces waterfall/fountain things...it's kinda tought to explain of you've never been there.

We finished the day off with some deep-dish Chicago pizza, where Henry almost feel asleep in the booth. Little guy was really spent after all the walking. The next morning we headed home to check on the chickens, who were ready to officialy move out into their coop. We'll post more pics of that and of Easter weekend with Jen, Shawn, Mia and Allison, and Grandpa and Grandma A in a day or two.

March Madness

It's been a busy month thus far and here are some random pics to prove it!

Having some fun at a gymnastics gym where they also did an Easter Egg hunt for our local mothers of multiples group.

Bryn's new "baby pouch" which is a sweatshirt worn backwards. She carries her baby around and covers her head with the hood when the poor thing has a headache.

Whoo hoooo! Go Badgers! The Badger womens hockey team once again won the NCAA tournament so the three of us headed over to the Kohl center this past Monday to slap some hands.

Bucky doing his thing. Henry was crying on the way home because he didn't get to slap Bucky's hand. That is definitely progress, since months ago they still screamed bloody murder at the sight of the big headed badger.





We had a great spot for B and H to slap hands with every member of the team, except those hoisting the huge trophies.

It's amazing how big the chicks are already! They have quickly become awkward teenage like chickens and the soft fluffy chick stage is far behind us. Crazy that they are not even 1 month old yet. They seem to be outgrowing their plastic home so we took them outside for some fresh air. No air time, but they did try.

Below, we let them burn off some steam in the outdoor greenhouse. Miss Cucumber did manage to fly over the 2 foot chicken wire and was prancing around the green house until we grabbed her.





Bryn and Henry trying out the new chicken coop that Jay is building. They pretended it was a stage and were singing to me as I worked in the yard.



Later Abbey and Sam came over to see the coop for themselves.

It's dress up day just about every day at our house. Here are two of my recent favorites. Henry is busting out of the top but he still insisted on wearing it, although lately it's his UPS outfit or his camo pants and red tie.

Bryn kinda looking like some 70's style super hero?

Happy Birthday Grandma Grace!!!!

3 carloads of Hinsa folk all headed north last weekend to help my grandma celebrate her 94th birthday. Bryn and Henry couldn't wait to get to "Grandma Grace's hotel" since they think she lives in Holiday Inn Express pool area. We did get that straightened out on our long drive to Superior and then waited for everyone to show up.

When Shannon, Bruce and Liam arrived, the fun really started! Shannon and Bruce had been hard at work making dress up clothes for H and B. Recently Henry had asked my sister to make him a witch costume and they came carrying a bag full of colorful clothes!!!

Here each of them is wearing a piece. Henry's got a vest , with red tie, and then his purple witch cape. Bryn has on an Asian inspired red dress and Liam is sporting the purple version!! Thanks guys!

Bryn explaining one of her pictures she drew for Grandma Grace.

Uncle Bruce and kids (copying him) reading some Roger Hargreaves books.

We talked my mom into trying on one of the dresses. She did eventually get her arms in and modeled it for us.

A game of "run from the fox" with Grandpa in the hotel room! They even turned Gandma Hinsa into a human basketball hoop until she decided the backboard shots were getting too much!



Then on to the pool, where we spent hours of our weekend. The kids did not want to get out of the water and loved showing Grandma Grace their tricks!

What bathing beauties....... My cousin Wendy's twins Peri and Neve hanging out in the rocks with Bryn.

Birthday cake with Grandma Grace and the gang.

My cousin Luke's son Dillon. Is he cute or what. Unfortunately my pics of Luke and Katie didn't turn out ;(

Henry was pretty much one big splash in all the pictures I got. The relatively low depth of the water on one end of the pool made it perfect for nonstop jumping and splashing. I do have to say, it was nice for me to get out of the water and warm myself up and just wit and watch them go at it. Then next day Liam (of course he takes after my sister who is part fish) was the first to start jumping off the edge without any help from us adults. Eventually they were all doing it over and over and over.........



Several rounds of "Ring around the Rosie" later and they were still going strong!

Visit to Uncle Greg and Aunt Sheila's house outside of Superior with the kids.







My favorite picture of the weekend!!! We love you Great Grandma Grace.