Tomato Haiku

As I was processing my bounty from the garden today, I wrote a Haiku:

Box of tomatoes
Hot sweat dripping down my back
At least it's not cheese

The story behind this is that 2 years ago, my dear friends Jen and Barb let me talk them into learning to make mozzarella. Jen, who works at a dairy farm, got the milk and on the hottest day of the summer, we made cheese. Wait, it gets better. The twins were all of 8 months old and wanted to be held AND we were at Jen's house where the A/C was either not on or was broken or they don't have it, we've never really discerned which one. When you make fresh mozzarella, it involves a lot of heat. Not just passive heat, you have to touch hot cheese to knead it and you have to stand over boiling vats of milk waiting for the right things to happen at the right times. So we did the standing and the observing and the kneading all without A/C, on the hottest day of the year while slinging 8 month old clingy, whiny twins. Getting the picture?

We somehow had a ton of fun doing all of this and when we were all finished, I packed up all of my children (because I'm the lady with the bunch of kids), the sitter who had been outside watching the older kids in the pool, my cheese, and headed out the door. We got everyone into the car and....it won't start. Seriously? So, I go back into the house where my dear friends, who are not as happy to see me as they were a few hours before, assist me in calling a tow truck and a car rental place so I could get my car to the shop and get everyone home. It took awhile but they finally arrived, we got the car seats strapped into the rental car and headed home while my car (which of course started at the shop just fine) was towed.

What a day. It definitely lives on in my memory and those of my dear friends and when I'm processing a big box of tomatoes on an 85 degree day without my A/C on while sweat drips down my back I think, "at least it's not cheese!"

Toddler Photography

This is what happens when the toddler gets hold of the camera

The End of the World as We Know It

I have a feeling that the relative quiet that we have come to know and love in our house of boys is about to be shattered. The boys had the opportunity to go and check out some drums and electric guitars at a friend's house today. M came home with a set of sticks and a practice pad and they drummed all the way home. We're going to have our very own garage band soon enough!

Say Cheese!

This was the scene at breakfast this morning. Cute.

MMA Belts

The boys earned their yellow/white belts this week at MMA. They didn't know that they were going to get them but we did and mom was there with the camera to watch it. Their instructor was testing them throughout the class but they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. My favorite was when he chose 2 teenage girls to sit on them during grappling. In a few years, not something I want to see but at this point, very funny to watch your sons get their butts kicked by a couple of girls.

First Week of School 2010-2011

Well, we started school this week! It was a warm-up week in it's fullest sense. We all got up at our routine time (the boys by 7:30, mom usually much earlier) and got back into our morning routine. They also did a few academics each day and just started to get their sea legs under them. This coming week, we're adding more in and everyone seems to be ready and as excited as any school child gets to be back in or at or doing school. Of course our week next week includes our annual homeschool group's "back to school" ice cream social, a party for our co-op and a class about bees at a local nature center. Rough. We've decided that we're going to celebrate everyone else going back to school by spending the day at the Science Museum on September 7th. We'll have the place to ourselves and we're very excited about it!

Also next week, G-man finishes his No Treats, No Screens challenge issued by his MMA instructor that he's been working on since June 1. Indeed, he has gone the entire summer without regular treats or screens. There were exceptions made along the way such as birthday parties and family movies but he definitely had many more days without than with. It's such an amazing accomplishment for a 9 yo. I heard him talking with his friend today who also did the challenge and they were reminiscing about how hard they thought it was going to be and how the first 2 weeks were the hardest but after that it was really not a big deal. Mom and dad have loved it too. We have removed from our household daily questions about treats, video games, shows, and computer time. We've enjoyed it so much that we talked with the boys about how we could keep some of these things in place in a reasonable way. The boys came up with a plan where they watch up to one show a day after their responsibilities are all done, video games only on the weekends, treats are reserved for sometimes on the weekends and on special occasions. Hopefully, that will help keep all of those distractions at bay. I was impressed at how they put together the plan and I hope it works out in practice as nicely as it looks on paper! Any way you cut it, though, we're so proud of our G-man. It's quite an accomplishment and we'll be watching with great pride when he gets his belt next week.

Tomah

We had a wonderful visit to Tomah this weekend to see Tim's sister Deb and her family. We went for a visit and to help celebrate Miss K's 6th birthday. We all had a wonderful time.

On Saturday, we visited Grandpa Nick's farm which is a petting farm experience with tons and tons of different kinds of animals. They are clearly passionate about what they do and were very gracious to show us around the entire farm.

The kids had a great time playing with their cousins, even in the heat. It was really fun to watch them. G-man even got to stay for a couple extra days and he's thrilled about it.

Thanks Deb and Tony!

Whitewater Camping Trip

5 moms, 13 kids, high heat, stifling humidity, soaking rain...that was our camping trip. We arrived on Monday and we knew it was going to be hot and the weather didn't disappoint. By the time we got everyone's camps set up, we were all drenched in sweat but after a little while, you kind of stop noticing and just go with it. It's easier to just be out there than to be in and out of A/C because then you really know how hot it is. We made dinner and it was just too hot to make a fire, much to the disappointment of the kids.

My night royally sucked to put it mildly. The heat wasn't the issue. It cooled down enough that sleeping on top of the sleeping bag with a sheet on was just fine but we learned just how persistent raccoons can be and just how dang long it takes them to break into a bag of chips...a long time. Needless-to-say, we lost some of our food and learned a very valuable lesson: lock things up in the car before going to bed. I went out a few times and stood there shining a flashlight into the food tent and although it worked for a little while, the bugger always came back. In the morning, we realized what a royal feast he truly had: 8 ears of corn, 1 bunch of bananas, 1 bag of corn chips, he tasted the pancake mix but passed on it and completlely made away with the bag of homemade granola. We didn't find a single piece of it nor did we find the granola bag. I got about 4 hours of sleep.

Tuesday morning, we awoke to some rain and cloudy skies but we managed to salvage most of the pancake mix and made some really good pancakes for breakfast which the kids scarfed down in no time flat. Then, we packed up for the day and headed into Wabasha for some sight-seeing. We left just as the downpour started - luckily, we were able to make sure that our tents were closed up tight before we left.

We spent the day in Wabasha and Alma, WI visiting the National Eagle Center, a lovely cheese shop, Dam No. 4 on the Mississippi River and a gorgeous view of the river valley from Buena Vista Park in Alma. We ended our day at Lark Toy store which is well worth the trip just for that. It's amazing and the hand-carved carousel is awe-inspiring. It was great. We headed back to camp and started making dinner when we started to hear the faint rumblings of thunder heading in again. 2 of our party had left during the day because of a sick kiddo so we were down to 4 mamas and 12 kids and soon, we lost another family who took off for home before the rain started. That left 3 families. This happened to be the one night that we had planned to cook our meal on the fire itself and the fire was built and meals were on by the time the rain started and once it started, it came down hard! One family decided to head for home and come back the next day to de-camp which left us and my friend Barb's family. We were rather undecided as to what to do and we had the meals cooking on the fire. We finally decided that having the kids in the car was the right place for them to be. Luckily, I had packed up the food and already shoved it into the car before the rain started but then had to shut up the tents and get the kids into the car amongst a veritable barrage of questions: what's happening? Where are we going? When are we going to eat? Are we going home? Where are we going to sleep?...it kept going...cue closing the car doors.

Barb, meanwhile, was standing over the fire with a large umbrella to protect it and our food. Once the water covered our feet and the lightning was over us, we decided that we had to leave. We tossed the foil dinners into the back of the van and jumped in. We knew we had to feed everyone and had felt rather dejected when we checked one of the dinners and found it to be raw. All that work and it didn't even work! I had an idea, popped my mom's address into the GPS and discovered that we were only about 40 miles away. That sounded like a nice, warm, dry and safe place for us to spend the night. I ran back to the tent to grab a few necessities and we took off leaving our camp behind us.

We arrived at mom's house to a warm and dry welcome and to the quite lovely realization that most of our dinners were actually cooked and all was not lost. We got everyone dry and fed and shipped them off to bed. When I heard the next raging storm come through that night, I was really glad that we were under a solid roof in a nice, comfy bed!

After breakfast on Wednesday, we headed back to camp to check on the damage and to pack up. When we left, Barb's tent was sitting in about 3 inches of water so we knew that we were done. Our camp fared rather well. The tents were slightly damp (the boys more than mine) but not drenched and nothing a little airing out wouldn't fix but we were determined to just get home. We spent a couple of hours packing up and headed out. We figured that even though it wasn't ideal, it was still fun. It was all made worth it for me when, as we were pulling out, M said from the back seat "thanks for bringing us mom. I really had fun."

We decided to end things on a positive note and got together last night to eat the meal that was already prepared and divide up the remaining food. It really was a good way to end things and everyone had a good time and even some laughs about the whole thing. We did agree, however, that camping in August probably isn't going to be our thing. We may try September next year :)

Fort Snelling Part 1

This week, we went to Fort Snelling and we had a PERFECT day for it. It wasn't too hot but yet sunny with a nice breeze which was a major improvement from 2 days before when it was stifling. The kids had a great time exploring all of the different spots and interacting with the characters. We also nearly had the place to ourselves which was a real treat for summer touring when things can get so very crowded. We truly could have spent the entire day there but had to go home for baby nap time. It was really a great day.

Fort Snelling

Our G-man turns 9!

G wanted a relatively quiet birthday this year ON his birthday but then a big bash later...and he got it! On his birthday, we went out for breakfast, then went swimming and finally had some family over for a pizza party with a sinful ice cream cake. Joni (his birthday buddy) approved too! For his party, he had a bounce house, tons of friends and an ice cream sundae bar. It was great fun! Happy Birthday G-man!

M's Baseball Tournament

M decided to play baseball this year. Not YMCA, once-a-week, hangin' out baseball but the real deal with uniforms, practices, games...you know, baseball. He had a great time and improved so much over the course of the season. His team was undefeated and won their league championship. They were so happy and proud. Their trip to the State tournament wasn't quite as successful but they played well and had a good time nonetheless. Go Rays!!

First camping with mom trip

On our first mom and kid camping trip, we went to Nerstrand Big Woods State Park with 2 other families. It was so much fun. The kids had a blast playing together, whittling by the fire (a newly acquired skill and hobby), hiking and more. It was just great. We have another trip coming up very soon and we're all very excited about it! Mom power!!

Pukefest 2010

At the end of May and extending into June, we celebrated Pukefest 2010 with 4 weeks of rotating illness. It went through our entire family and peaked one night with 3 of 4 kids lying on the couch taking turns being sick. We ended up taking G into the ER because he just couldn't stop and was totally lethargic but the rest of them recovered on their own. I think it was perhaps rotovirus because of the symptoms and duration but I'm not sure. It was definitly NO FUN!!

New Kitties

Papa and Joni have had kitties on the farm for many years but little Nika was in an accident and didn't make it. Her sister, Bluebelle, was pretty devastated and so mom and Wayne decided that new kitties were a good solution. Here they are with the boys on the day they got them. The boys had a blast with them. S was very good with them and loved cuddling them up. C would hold one for about 2 seconds and then drop her. It's definitely true that cats land on their feet!

Fire

Inspired by my brother-in-law's mother, I decided that I was going to learn to be a camper and take my boys camping with our without daddy. There were only a few obstacles in my way and so I tackled them before we headed out. This was my "how to build a fire" trial. It went pretty darn well I'd say! I love that the big boys sat by the fire and read. It makes me happy.