Spring amidst the Snow

  It's been a crazy weather week. Beautiful days, with a bit of snowstorm thrown in for variation.  We've done our best to make the most of the sunshine.

Sylvia and Ephraim braved some windy weather to learn about bike maintenance at our 4-H meeting this week.

Finn, Sylvia, and Ephraim gearing up to ride.

     Saturday, we were hit with a snowstorm.  Big fluffy wet flakes covered all the spring tulips and light pink flowers on our fruit trees.  It was crazy to look out the window and see leafed-out maple trees, coated in snow.   It melted away by the time we were out of church today, making all the bright spring greenery seem even more magical.  I brought out the hammock after lunch.   Sylvia is incredibly good with Ephraim, she snuggled him and they rocked together.

Then I got the brilliant idea.. "This would be better with a chicken!"  (Because really.. most things in life are better with a chicken.)

The sun had gone behind some clouds, and it had cooled off some. Ephraim and Sylvia both appreciated snuggling down to our chicken (aptly named "Sunshine"), whose body temp is around 106 degrees.

Having Sunshine on your belly, is like having a soft hot water bottle draped over you. Sylvia found it very relaxing.

 Another fun activity for today, was baking "rock cakes".  Apparently they are a real thing, not just from Harry Potter.  (Remember when Hagrid offers the Harry and friends hard-as-rock rock cakes?)   We are trying to have a new Harry Potter treat every Sunday night this spring, while we work our way through the movies.  This is the recipe I decided to try out with this week.  (Except I decreased the chocolate chips by half, and made up for it with currants.)     They turned out like soft butter scones, filled with dried fruit. -Delicious!

Wikipedia says rock cakes were invented in WWII in Britain, because they require less sugar than ordinary cookies (due to all the dried fruit in them), so they could be made during rationing.  I think they would've made the dark time of WWII a much cozier experience.. kind of like how chocolate works for dementors.

Spring Arrives with Easter week

      One unique feature of our 171 year old house is the laundry shoot that connects the top floor, the kitchen, and the basement.   We invented a game this winter, where an old viking helmet gets tied to some string, and lowered up and down.  Secret messages are passed between floors, peanut butter sandwiches are smuggled out of the kitchen,  and most recently this week, plastic Easter eggs filled with a few pieces of candy are sent to the starving child on the upper floor.  It is one of the quirkier games the children play.

Sylvia load up the helmet with loot from the kitchen.

Ephraim posing with his most recent haul.

          Yard work.   That would sum up last week and this week.  Raking all the dead sticks and branches that fell in the winter storms, along with the leftover leaves, is a multi day task.  We cleaned the front last week, and cleared out the backyard this week.  10 bags of yard waste later, our yard looked great.  We saved a few sticks for campfires.  The first S'mores run of the season was a success!

Ephraim liked his burnt and crispy.

    Right before Ephraim ate this burnt marshmallow, he had been holding up his stick like a royal scepter with the flaming marshmallow on it.  He announced  "This is my epic Staff-of Marshmallows!  It shoots burning marshmallows into bad guys eyes."  Yes, never a dull moment with that guy around.

Sylvia and the fixings.

Sean and his famous "dragon breath" keeping the ash flaming to the end.

 Sean got the grill going, and proved he has not lost his touch with perfectly done brats.

    Saturday night, I dyed eggs with the kids, while Sean baked hot cross buns for Easter breakfast. A good holiday really begins with lots of kitchen activity.
 
    Easter morning, we had homemade hot-cross-buns and hot chocolate. Delicious!  Then we went off to church.  We heard a couple of wonderful speakers.  One sister spoke on the basic truths of the gospel found in the Intercessory Prayer .   It was really beautiful.  That isn't a set of scripture verses I think of often, because they don't contain a story that I can tell to the kids. But, they do contain the basic doctrine of a loving Heavenly Father wanting us to be glorified with him. The words are powerful and full of love.  The second speaker was Brother Reyes.  He always has the best insights.  He talked about Christ as our eternal advocate, and how He will always be there to advocate a path for us to find greater happiness than our earthly choices may limit us to.  Good talks, good music, good people.

    Then home, to a delicious dinner and Easter egg hunt.  We let Ephraim out the door first...
 

Sylvia followed a minute later, and snatched eggs up like a pro.  After 12 years, she should have this down by now.

While the kids emptied their plastic egg loot into a baggie, the Eater Bunny happened to show up inside and put a few things in the kids' baskets on the table.

Sylvia had the most fun with the chocolate whoppers that you can paint your lips with.

I have also always loved them. Here we are with our blue chocolate-whopper lipstick...

 Ephraim had the most fun with the egg full of "slime".  The kids have never played with slime before, so it was even more exciting than the chocolate candy.

 Ephraim kept doing a funny dance with a slime beard while he watched himself in a mirror.  It was really entertaining.

    The afternoon was warm. Ephraim threw on a swimsuit and played in the sprinkler.   He drew with sidewalk chalk.   I sat on the front porch with Sean, and we talked about all the wonderful things we've experienced living in Wisconsin. There have been so many great opportunities for our family.  I had such a feeling of gratitude and contentment. We have been blessed with a good life.

   The evening ended with making some "pumpkin pasties" (as mentioned in the Harry Potter books) and watching "Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets." We have a family goal to watch a HP movie each Sunday night this spring until we see them all.

      I love my family.  We have fun together.  I love that, through Christ, we can be a family... FOREVER!   -That's what Easter is all about.

Geography Fair and Sylv's first scout campout

April 14, 2019

I know it has been a LONG while since last posting. The original hinkypunks are all out of the house but  the young ones are thick in the midst of adventures.  Here are some highlights from the week:

We attended a home school geography fair. There were dozens of tables with great displays.  Everyone had a small food sample  from the country as well.  Ephraim liked the cookies from Germany and Norway best.  I liked the stuffed grape leaves from Jordan. Sylvia's favorite was poppyseed kolache form the Czech Republic (I got the recipe from the ladies great grandmother afterwards!)

Ephraim letting his inner viking shine.

Ephraim loved the life like baobab tree and map at the Madagascar table.

Sylvia and her friend, Finn, listening to a mom talk about Italy.

After the geography fair, we met with our home school 4-H group to put together hygiene kits to send overseas for refugees.  I bought out all the nail trimmers and wide tooth combs that Wal-mart had, and almost all their washcloths.  We made a dozen kits to that will likely be shipped to Europe through International Orthodox Church Charities.

Ephraim helping take combs and nail trimmers out of the packaging.

The assembly line.  Finn helped the younger kids get exactly 10 band-aids in their bags.

It was good to find a hands on project the younger kids could help with.

    After the meeting we went with some of our friends to a German/European food market "The Bavarian Sausage House".  They were picking up specialty meat for a German dish "rouladen" served with "spaetzel".   I decided to get some as well, and try making it the next day for dinner.   The rouladen are thin slices of beef, smeared with mustard, onions, pickles and bacon, then rolled up and held together with skewers while it cooks.  You make a gravy with the drippings and pour it over the spaetzel (a type of squiggly egg pasta).  It was delicious. 

Perfectly browned and then steamed "rouladen".

Now one of my favorite meals.

      Sylvia joined Scouts last month.  This weekend was her first camp out.  They did "Snooze at the Zoo" in Madison.   I was soooo nervous about her going.  It made me remember to when I would stress out about Asher and Mattias going when they were younger.  ("Drink your water!"  "Wear your hats!" "Can you repeat our phone number?")     I could always think of some bit of advice they might need to know that might save their lives.. right up to the moment I dropped them off.   It was the same with Sylvia.

Hauling the gear for the first time!

Embarrassed by mom shooting pictures of it all.. not for the last time!

She had a great time.  Zoo keepers gave them a hands on presentations about a blue skink, and then gave them a tour behind the scenes, to see where animals like goats and skunks slept at night.   The girls stayed up late giggling and whispering, then tried to get to sleep around midnight. 

Unfortunately, they were sleeping right next to the nocturnal animals (swooshing bats, sugar glider lemur with glowing eyes, and moths.)   Every time a bat would swoop down in the glass case, right by their heads, it would make hissing sound.  Still, she said it was better being on that half of the room than the side where the boys were sleeping.   The boys were set up over by the cochroaches, who often escape their containers.  They picked up 5 on the floor, along the wall before they put their sleeping bags down, and had to shake out their gear in the morning to check for more that escaped during the night.  They found found three!

Siri, Raegen, and Sylvia on the ride to Madison.

Sylvia's favorite part was eating breakfast in the Arctic Glacier Cafe. (Pancakes, sausages, etc.)   She had a window seat, and a polar bear was pacing back and forth the whole time, trying to nose in and steal their breakfast.

Raegen at breakfast, with the polar bears.

After breakfast, they did some morning rounds with a keeper. Sylvia loved the porcupines best. They had two, named Flora and Fauna.  They were very friendly and loved eating biscuits the scouts fed to them.

The friendly porcupines. No we are not getting any for pets.

 This week, I loved reading a trilogy of books this week by LDS author, Jeff Wheeler.   I love his "Wretcheds of Muirwood" series.  It made religion and the battle between good and evil seem epic. Sean says his favorite part was playing our Sherlock Holmes game at the Cinema Cafe on Main St.  downtown this weekend for our date. Of course we had some of their superb ice cream.  All in all, an epic week. 

Cave of the Mounds: A Excellent Adventure Day!

    There is an area about 40 minutes west of the town we live in called Cave of the Mounds.  The boys both went there when they were in cub couts.  I had always wanted to go see it, but was unwilling to pay for tickets for our entire family to go in (it is a bit expensive).  Now that just Sylvia, Ephraim and I were having our own "Adventure Days" this summer, it seemed like the perfect time to visit.  We weren't dissapointed!

   On the surface, it looks like usual Wisconsin hills and farmland.

  The caves below were accidentally discovered when a man was blasting a new shaft in his lead mine almost 200 years ago.  Now there is a small path you can take down into the caves, as a guide ponts out different features.   They are really beautiful. 

 

  It was really peaceful underground. Nice and cool for a July summer day. These were formations that looked like potatoes and gravy.

  There was one rock they allowed people to touch, to show what would happen if everybody touched the rocks.  Sylvia thought it felt a little "slimey and bumpy".

  Ephraim was happy to be snug in his sling on me for the whole trip.  He did not trust this underworld adventure in the least.

   They did a good job tucking lighs away in places you couldn't see them. It gave just enough light to appreciate the rock formations, without being over the top.  I thought it was a really peaceful and elegant place.  I'm so glad we went.

    After the underground tour, we did a self-guided walking tour of the area above the caves. We could see the sinkholes that had been pointed out while we were underground.  This is where we watched rainwater dripping in just a while earlier below the surface.

  The gift shop was a hit.  The kids had a great time running their fingers over the beautiful rocks, and marveling at all the amazing crystal items for sale.

   On the way home, we stopped at the Bavarian Sausage store, a place we had hear great things about.  The reports were true.  I found shelves and shelves of Scandinavian imported food.  We came home with a large bag of goodies.  We took this picture to show Sean when we returned home, to see if he would cry.  (Because we got to go there and he didn't).  He had a quivering lip, but somehow managed to hold off the deluge of tears. Sylvia was dissapointed in the lack of waterworks. :)

It was a great trip!  I loved seeing something new and beautiful that I had wanted to see for years. Sylvia is wonderful company.  I love having her with me on our Adventure Days!

July 4th (AKA The Epic Water Fight of 2015)

    Being away from family on the 4th of July is always tough for me.  I know they are playing in water, eating great food, and blowing up lots of things.  So, we try to recreate some of those adventures here in Wisconsin during those years we can't travel back West.  This year, the pile of squirt guns led to an epic water battle.

  It started out simple enough, loading the guns with water from the turtle swimming pool with the younger kids.

 Enter... the Big Boys.

Threats were made, guns were pointed, and things escalated quickly.

Mattias tried to use the turtle cover as a shiled, as others blocked him from gaining access to the water.

 The shield works well... but he is unable to fill his own gun with the double sided onslaught from Sean and Asher.

  He decides to take matters into his own hands.  Braving the streams of water, and using his amazing muscles, Mattias lifts the pool, and dumps the entire resevoir - instantly shutting down any attackers!

  This leaves him free to go and turn on the neighbors hose, for a distance attack, which Asher counters by turning on our hose.  At this point, mom intervenes, and bans the use of hoses.

  The water fight became more creative, as various mixing bowls were brought into play, and buckets found in the shed for furture water storage options.  Sylvia and Ephraim used this time to try out a Slip and Slide we got.

Sylvia decided it was time for her to make a statement and get into the water battle.

     She might look innocent, but she was very sneaky and accurate with her aim.  She made enemies fast.. as you can see Asher aiming a picture of water at her below.

   It ended with her antagonizing  Sean, and all the boys ganging up on her.  She didn't stand a chance.  She will have to wait until Ephraim is older and convince him to be her ally.

   Ephraim got cold and was turning blue.. so we called it quits with the water and put on some dry clothes. Asher introduced him to the world of "snaps" while Mattias started a fire.

    Mattias is the best fire starter in our family. He has amazing patience to blow on coals until they leap into a blaze.  Ephraim, of course, wanted to help as much as possible.

  The s'more lineup was impressive.  It was like a facotry production line.

Asher,  showing us how a perfect marshemellow should be roasted.

He creates his signature item, the "Double S'more".

Watching him eat it all at once ( to see if he could get it all in his mouth at the same time) was not a sight for the faint of heart.

  While waiting for s'more sticks, Sylvia showed Ephraim how to dance through the smelly clouds of smoke bombs.

    It was a lovely afternoon, complete with some very tasty hamburgers and potato salad.  Although our thoughts turned often to family back in Idaho, it was good to be with the kids.  I doubt there will be another epic water battle like this for many a year to come.  It felt wonderful to laugh together, in our soggy wet clothes.  I love these guys.