The Grandparents Come: Sylvia's Baptism and More Fun

   Sylvia turned 8 this June, so in our church (LDS )  she was old enough to get baptized.  It was wonderful that both sets of grandparents could arrange to travel across the country for this event.
     Here is Sean and Sylvia outside the church before the baptism.

 We had lots of Sylvia's friends come, and their older siblings and parents. It was wonderful to see such a show of support from our friends.  Here is Sylvia with her best friend, Laura.

 A very talented lady from church made this beautiful cake for Sylvia's special day.  After the service we enjoyed cake and other snacks, as we sat around tables laughing and visiting with friends and family.  It was a wonderful day.

      The day before the baptism, we visited one of our favorite local spots - Olbrich Gardens - with with our company.  They have a tropical conservatory, along with acres of beautifully landscaped gardens.  The roses smelled beautiful!
     Here is our crew in the tropical zone:

 And here is Noel, looking lovely beside a mini waterfall.

 Sean was so patient with Ephraim, who was just learning to walk.  They toured the gardens at Ephraim speed.

    Ephraim was in a constant state of nervousness during the whole grandparent visit, never sure when a strange looking grandma might sneak a kiss on his chubby cheeks.

     Sylvia loves Olbrich.  She likes to park herself by a beautiful plant and sketch it.  She has lots of patience and a good eye for color.  She gets both traits from Sean.   Sitting by her in this picture is Sean's mom, Liz, who is also an accomplished artist.  I am sure Sylvia's artistic gene comes from her.

     Sylvia also has Sean's goofy sense of humor, as seen below.  (I think humor is more environmentally influenced than genetic, and I trace the goofy humor influence in our family to Sean's dad, Brad.)
       I'm not sure what this statue was supposed to be, but it was in the Thai garden, and Sylv thought it was pretty funny.

 Little did Sylvia know that within 2 days, she would be riding a real elephant...but for now, the statute would have to do.

After touring the gardens, we had a picnic lunch in the park nearby.  My mom loves to swing, like Sylvia does.  They had a good time together while we got lunch ready.

     Brad and Liz (Sean's parents) left first, but not without trying to get a picture with Ephraim, who wasn't taking his eyes off these strangers for a minute.

     The last day my parents were here, we traveled an hour north to Circus World.  It is a site that used to be the wintering ground for The Ringling Brothers Circus.  It has a beautiful collection of old circus wagons, hand carved and painted. It is worth the visit to just see the artistry of the wagons.

They also have the only working cannon (that used to shoot out clowns in to a net) from 100 years ago. 

      Last year, we visited Circus World in the off season, and only saw the grounds and wagon collection. See that post here: http://hinkypunks.blogspot.com/2013/10/circus-world-and-beyond.html
      It is way cooler during the show season!   They had  Big Top circus shows, magic shows, clown shows, and music demonstrations. Here is the crew, waiting skeptically for a circus show.  It was actually really good! - Dog tricks, beautiful ponies, elephants.. it really was amazing.

\
     I loved the clown show!  Usually you just think of clowns as those scarey guys in parades, but this clown did a full show on his own.. and I was cracking up laughing.  Here is my mom, with her alter ego.

 Sylvia got her face painted...

  She was so excited!

      Grandpa bought the kids a ride on Kelly, the elephant.  It was pretty amazing.  Sylvia was terrified the saddle would slip, but Noel thought it was a blast.  My favorite part of the day was seeing her face light up laughing when the elephent first took off, rocking back and forth.  When she got down, she said "I think we need to get an elephant."

I think Sylv as nervous because she was sitting in front.. maybe she is not cut out for circus life.

    Another highlight of the day was the cotton candy.  My kids love the stuff!  I keep trying in, but every time am reminded why I don't like it.  Maybe this is another genetic preference from Sean's side.

      We saw a funny scene play out as it was closing time.  The elephant's keepers took them down to the river to cool off and drink water after the Big Top show.  We watched the elephants splash around for a bit, slowly wandering farther and farther away from the men.  The man in khaki started shouting at them like a dog owner would.  "Kelly!  Come here!  Come here now!" with the same exasperated tone that I hear at the dog park.
      When he realized that Kelly-the-elephant was ignoring him, and heading farther upstream, flipping water over her back insolently, he started calling for the more obedient one.. Violet.  "Violet, Come!  Come Violet!"   When Violet reluctantly turned around and started heading back to the man, you could see his relief.   Kelly, the rebel elephant, splashed a little more, then followed her buddy back.  It was really a fun scene to watch play out!

      One of my favorite little gems of the day was the concert given on old musical instruments from the past 150 years of circus shows.  There were some weird ones!  For a finale, they played a medley of Mary Poppins tunes on the different instruments.  One man stayed at the organ, while the other ran from instrument to instrument.  It was a cool show.   I loved swaying back and forth, singing along to the tunes with my mom - who taught me to love all things Mary Poppinsy!  (Much to the dismay of our kids sitting on the bench in front of us, trying to look cool.)

    There was a new interactive exhibit that my mom enjoyed trying out along with the kids. It was fun to end the day with fits of laughter.

    Here are my parents with Sylvia, before they headed to the airport.  It was a whirlwind trip for both sets of grandparents, but we are so glad they came!

Rockclimbing

      Thursday afternoons have been Rockclimbing Day the past couple of months.  A local climbing business gave homeschoolers discounts for climbing during school hours on Thursdays.  A van load (or two) of kids would drive into Madison each week to try this new sport.  Here are some shots of the kids in action:

 Sylvia would very carefully study out a route.

 She didn't like going too high... but enjoyed exploring the width of the walls.

 Ephraim was excited by all the ropes to try to stand up with.

 Sylvia thought he should try a wall, but I think there must be a minimum age someplace in the rules.  Maybe next year...

 Asher was great at getting to the tops of the walls, and thought adding some competitive speed challenges next time would be fun.  (The girl belaying him in this picture is an amazing climber.. and would probably waste him, but it would be fun to see them try to out do each other.)

 I was surprised that Mattias would enjoy this sport.  He did great picking out routes and trying different walls.  He is very determined.

   It was a fun building to climb in... lots of space with different options.  My kids haven't quite got the arm strength yet to do overhangs, but they had fun watching other climbers who could do them. 

      The kids had fun doing something different with their friends.  As a mom, I am thrilled to have found a good activity to burn off their energy during the long Wisconsin winters!  We look forward to starting up again next winter. 






 

Asher's 16th Birthday

     Sylvia and I attempted making "cake-balls" for Asher's birthday cake.  After seeing several tennis cakes on pintrest using cake-balls for tennis balls, I thought I'd do the same.  I watched a you tube tutorial on how to make cake-balls (coating balls of cake crumbs with dipping chocolate)  and thought "no problem".   (After seeing the  ensuing carnage, Mattias later informed me that there is a website for "pintrest fails", which made me burst out laughing.)

 Sylvia was a great sport.  She squished the dollops of frosting into the crumbs with her bare hands.  After much trial and error, we had a few balls that looked like tennis balls, if you had a good imagination, and lots of balls that were just plain ugly... and would need to be eaten quickly.  Luckily, we had other family members around to assist.

 The cake turned out ok... but I feel like the ease at which the you tube tutorial showed making the cake balls was a bit misleading.  I seem to be queen of clumpy cake balls.  (But, they did taste good.)

That afternoon, I went to Madison to pick up Asher from a tennis tournament, only to arrive just as he was being sat down at a table, with coaches huddled around him and a large wad of tissues packed against his nose and face.  Yes, he got hit in the face with a tennis racquet on his birthday, and split the skin on the bridge of his nose open enough to require stitches.

After a visit to the local hospital, where the nurses got him a cupcake from the hospital cafeteria, and signed him a card... he returned home for his long awaited party.

 It was a pretty tame party.  Friends came over to our house after the local canoe race to polish off some cake and icecream and then go wander downtown to see what festival activities were still going on.

Other than seeing clumps of giggling girls, and loud teenagers hollering.. not much was happening, so they returned back to our house and listened to their parents discuss exciting subjects such as goal setting for homeschoolers and 4-H clubs.

 Even though it may not have been the perfect 16th birthday.. we are glad to have good friends to celebrate with... and a wonderful teenage boy who can still smile at the end of a very long day.   - And we had cake balls!  What more could we ask for? 

  

Ephraim - 7 months

Ephraim is 7 months now, and ready to take on the world.  Last week he pulled up in his crib for the first time, and the look of pride and power on his face was priceless.

"I am baby - hear me roar!"

This morning, he had a good time dumping blocks all over, and scooting around on our floor. When the dog came to lay down by him, he thought it was great fun to grab the little white tip of her tail.  Luckily, we have a very tolerant dog.

This month Ephraim has had his first sled experience, just sitting... but he would rather be snug in his enclosed stroller, covered in blankets.  It was a too cold of a winter to do much outside with Ephraim.  (And yes, he is in Sylvia's old pink snowsuit.  It really confuses people when we go out places.)

Ephraim has piercing blue eyes, lots of hair, and a deep laugh.  He isn't as squeely  as Sylvia was, for which our ears are grateful.    He is very busy, curious, and opinionated  - traits I expect he will keep for life.  Here are some pictures from this past month.

It has been a busy time, but one worth it.   It has been especially  rewarding to see the older kids learn how to make him happy and notice when he needs something.  They will be great parents down the road.   Ephraim is a blessing to us all. 

Janurary Birthdays (Noel and Mattias)

We are lucky to have two kids with birthdays in January.   This helps us to have something to look forward to after the Christmas season is over.

Noel turned 17 this year.  Not only does she have the most beautiful smile, but she is also a creative artist.  Thus, her cake was a colorful palette with paint colors.

 We were glad that her friend, Dorie, was home from college to celebrate with us.

 Dorie's mom, Marla, joined us for cake and iceream as well.  I love the below photo of these three. They have been on many roadtrips and adventures all across the county together. What an adventurous crew.   Marla and Dorie have been a wonderful part of Noel's teen years.

I had a lot of fun making Noel's colorful cake.  But, when it comes to Mattias's birthday, he always looks forward to making his own.  He can remember all the cakes he has attempted in the past, with varying degrees of success.  This year he wanted to try a log cake with whipped cream filling.  I think it turned out tasty.

Mattias turned 14 this year, and has a low voice and a loud laugh.  We love having him around.  He fills our house with music and new ideas. Without him, we would know very little about air compressors, metal lathes, or sodium chloride hexahydrate.

Janurary birthdays are a wonderful excuse to enjoy tasty cakes with good friends.   It also amazes me to see the good-hearted people my kids are turning into.