I love the farm and a quiet weekend

So the boys and I went to the farm this past week and picked 60lbs of tomatoes! I have been stewing tomatoes, freezing tomatoes and making spaghetti sauce. I tried making paste...not really in the paste consistency that I am use to but we will give it a try! Now I am off to dehydrate some. My goal, not to buy canned tomatoes from the store until March. we will see how that goes. The best part of the farm, besides getting really fresh produce for super cheap...it that the boys will pick and try things right off the vine. Peter asked if he could have cherry tomatoes in his lunch and Jamison asked for raw green beans in his!.

This past weekend was the last weekend that I will have little boys. They will become school age kids on Tuesday and there is no going back. I think they are ready...the question is...am I ready for some really tired kids that are still not use to no having their naps. We even had a practice "eat from your lunch bag" lunch today. I wanted to make sure that they could open all the containers that will be packed in there.

Pat and Peter worked on getting some of the huge logs to the dump. Peter passed on a trip to the zoo to help dad. I think he just wanted to see if dad would pay him some money.

On another note.....below is some Peter Logic

"dad, do you like fruit"

"yes"

"do you like snacks"

"oh, yes, i love snacks"

"then you must like fruit snacks"

"umm, it doesnt work that way"

WW Family camping weekend

The much anticipated WW Family camping weekend was a blast! The kids played hard, the adults chatted and smores were eaten! The campsites were nice and good times were had by all!. So this is what it would be like with quads! That is a car full of boys! We packed up the cars and headed to a beach for some fun water time. This poor boy, not in our group, made this cool building out of sand, that he was very nicely protecting from our gagle of kids. After a few reminders the kids were "helping" him fill it up with water.

Aren't the Hansen girls cute!

I dont know what there is about a large rock, but the boys wanted their picture on it. Pickles for snack! Did you know with pickles...you dont really have to use your hands! Here are the adults providing food for their children. Almost like the fair, put it on a stick...put the stick in the fire!. All the food was tasty! Women of womens weekend never skimp on the tasty food! Tim provided story hour....all of the kids was hanging on his last word! and when it was done... devoured him! 10 kids under the age of 10! and the 8 adults survived! We were going to have two more families but the were unable to make it. We missed you Eileen et all and Kristin et all. Next year! Now for the funny face picture....you always need one of those! Thanks familes for a fun weekend. We will have to do this again! On the way home we came across Pats retirement home. Look closely at the mailbox...chainsaw! And more chainsaws. And more chainsaws. I am afraid, really afraid. PLease, someone set up an intervention if he starts "collecting" chainsaws.

International Crane Foundation

For many many years we have passed the big sign for the International Crane Foundation...well today I took the boys! Here are my two budding ornithologist ready to go with their binoculars and field guides. Yikes! we were not expecting this!! Watch out boys! I had to throw the endangered black crowned crane to the hippo for exchange of my children. It was a tough trade for the hippo, he was excited for more leg meat. Look children, in the pond is the waddled crane, found in only in southern regions of Africa. The boys became friend with this guy..... the grey crowned crane. He didnt want the boys to go but they promised to come back for another visit. The whooping cranes are pretty special....they had their own large habitat. They were hiding when we first arrived, but i think they knew two boys really wanted to see them. Now for cool art! There was a series of scultures that depicted a crane taking off... I love the wings coming out of Jamison's head.THIS ONE IS FOR YOU KEIKO! The hooded crane, this one lives in Japan! His name is "Howard" Then off for some hikes around the crane foundation. So remember my Gap Kids rant about the kid crack wafting out of the store....well, the golden underware finally fits! Just like how the big kids wear it. This should be GapKids new graphics. Since we were up in the Baraboo area we stopped at the Natural Bridge State Park to find the natural bridge. It reminds me of the redrock out in Utah! Man! these boys are growing up....where did my babies go! and Kindergarten starts in a week! Finally, on our way back to the car we were playing a game of hide and seek, Jamison did a pretty good job, having that green rain jacket on. Peter and I, not so good. We were wearing bright blue. I wish there was a little more summer....We will see if we can squeeze a few more of these trips in before school.

Weekend with Aunts and Uncles and a bbq

Uncle Culley and Aunt Donna were in town from New Hampshire. They had not met the boys yet so we had to make a trip up to GmaGpa's for the weekend. Aunt Meri and Uncle Gary came for the fun...and let me tell you there was fun to be had!. Frog hunting was the major activity for the boys. This time they were slopping around in the muck and ooweegoowie lake goodness to catch them. I dont think I will ever get that smell out of their crocs. AND they were experts in catching and handling them. Those are my boys! They smelled just like the lake...which ment they needed to be stripped naked and sent up to the house for showers. That ment they got to go on a nake pug ride! (we covered for the picture)We also spent some time fishing (Peter catching dinner!) and Kayaking. Jamison did a great job balancing and using the paddles. Maybe there will be an Olympic sport that combines riding a bike and kayaking... watch out world in 2024!We were discouraging the use of squirt guns because the adults were not so interested in getting super wet so Peter decided that it was a great to suck the water out. He drank a lot (and peed a lot also). For dinner one night we had our own personal fry chef! We found everything we could, dipped it in batter and fried it....boy was it good! (Thanks Gary!) Mushrooms, cheese curds, pickles, greenbeans, onions potatos, homemade corndogs mmmmmmm. SO then you ask yourself "What are you going to do with 5 gallons of cooking oil... remember we are a bunch of Cullens...... Yup....burn it. We had the hottest fire you could probably melted glass! It was great to see you Culley and Donna! (and Meri and Gary...but we see them more often :) We hope to make it out east next spring!On sunday we had to rush home to co-host a progressive neighborhood BBQ! We were the first course...appetizers. A lot of the neighbors came and had a great time. Some of them I actually met for the first time. The kids had a blast together...poor Anna is the only girl in the sea of boys! but she can hold her own! Neighbor Joe started with slingshot water balloons....that led to a full out water fight! They look pretty dry here..... not here. I think we will have to do this more often!!

Events of the week

It has been a slow week for picture taking. We had our first soccer game and "Man! was that yellow team good!" says Jamison. The final score was 0-1 but we did not highlight that to the boys. I think the boys did a good job. Peter had a break-a-way attempt at a goal and missed by inches and Jamison had a great defensive move that stopped another yellow goal. We will see how we do this week against the red team.

Swim lessons started up again and the boys were soooo excited that they had Lance again for their instructor. If you listen to the boys you would think that this kid could walk on water!. We have made great progress in Level 1. Peter has been bobbing up and down like a fish (although negative side affect is that he is not listening all that well. he cant! his head is under water) and Jamison has also put his whole head in the water! I am going to get swimmers out of them both!

This past weekend I was a productive member of society...i worked the LandsEnd warehouse sale, mainly to earn a little cash for my trip to India. Sadly..there were such great deals I think I spent my whole paycheck on product. BUT it was product that I needed for my trip (raincoat, lightweight pants, shoes and real nice dufflebag) and some things for the Pat and the boys (needed pants and school clothes). You got to love LE!

In preparation for the trip to India I went and got Typhoid, Polio and HepatitisA.....I mean I got shots for Typhoid, Polio and HepA, and now I cant raise my arms. I also have a slurry of pills for other random food-borne and mosquito born illnesses. The only thing that scares me yet is Schistosomiasis, which can penetrate your skin in 30 seconds, and although treatable, the thought of something crawling in my skin is well, creepy. I guess I wont be wading in any fresh water....not too much of a problem i guess. The boys were fascinated with the shots...esp since they were not getting any. Their eyes were the size of silver dollars when i got them. They got a sucker...i did not :(

Camping with the girlfriends

For our annual joint birthday party with the ladies we chose to go camping! In Black River Falls. 4Kids, 4parents, 1 dog and loads of fun! Jamison and Lucy hit it off, they spent a lot of time making special desserts for everyone. One of the ingredients of this one was an alligator eggs. A birthday celebration has to have cake! This one was provided by Shelby! How cute are these! (that would be a teddy graham in a gummy ring with an umbrella) bummer I forgot the candles. They still tasted de-lish! Happy Birthday kiddos! Peter sure knows how to liven up a party! "woohoo! Look at me, I can put 3 umbrella's in my mouth!"Cool Mom Stacey, like grandma, have special prividleges. Only they can buy super soaker squirt gun! How unfortunate we have to wait until we get home to try these out. The boys are soooo excited to try these out! Thanks SSLL!Not sure who's idea was this but heavy duty baths will be inorder after this weekend.We were unable to find a doggy sitter for the weekend so Wini came with. It was her first weekend camping...and I was a little nervous. 4kids, lots of food, chipmunks and many other dogs, animals etc. All things that would not make Wini a good camping dog. But, she did awesome! No howling at night, no stealing hotdogs and only an occasional loud greeting with another passing dog. Shelby even treated the princess to a comfortable blanket to lay on. Will we take her camping again?.....only if we have to. On Sunday, we took to the trails for a cool walk in to woods. There were loads loads of cool rocks to climb on...and loads of cool photo opps for some super cute kids. Hey, look...another photo! This one with funny faces. And one more at our final destination...a tall outlook that we had to climb some crazy stairs to get to the top. I am telling you, Jamison and Lucy are so sute together! And when we got home....we had to try those super soakers out!. Thanks Lily Lucy Stacey and Shelby for a super fun weekend!