All we got is this picture!

Luckily Niles took a snapshot of his foot at the vet's office.  We had quite an adventurous morning, and I did not take a single picture.  Niles managed to snap this beauty. Words will have to paint the pictures.  

1. Garbage Day....one of the kid's favorite so Niles was very excited to see the garbage and recycling cans outside.
2. On the way to the Veterinarian we were lucky enough to get stuck by a train going back and forth across Johnson St near Tenney Park.  This lasted 7 minutes and the kids loved it.
3. When we got to the vet's office we saw some cats and dogs and the kids combine weight was 77.1 lbs.
4. When we went in to get our cat Ernie checked out Niles managed to snap this picture with my phone.  He was using my phone as a baby-distracter and it worked for a few minutes.  The Vet told us that some x-rays and other stuff was needed and suggested we wait in the waiting room.  I said we would go out for a walk and be back in 20 minutes.
5. When we got outside the adventure began.  We were able to get 2 garbage trucks, a semi-truck, and a flat-bed tow truck to honk their horn.  If you were only a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old you would realize how cool this was.  They were pretty jazzed.
6. So we walked down East Wash and ended up at EVP.  After we ordered a pumpkin scone and bear claw Jonas said "This is crazy, they have the same stuff they do at EVP."  I pointed out that he was correct and we just usually go to the more local EVP shops.
7. I meet up with a retired teacher I taught with who lives in Lodi but comes in for EVP coffee and we sat with him and his coffee club and chatted about fishing.
8. Tracy, the owner of EVP, was there and invited us to check out the roaster.  Jonas and Niles loved it.   We saw the raw beans from all the farmers she knows from different parts of the world being transformed.  The flame was huge high above 580 degrees and the howl and extraction at the end of the process was something Jonas was talking about all the way home.
9. When we got back to the Vet Jonas got a chance to see and hold the x-rays of Ernie's foot.  It turns out he didn't break anything, so that was good news. 
10. We got home just in time to see the recycling and garbage trucks pick up our bins.  I added a little excitement after the garbage truck went by across the street I raced around the house looking for garbage, picked it up, and raced outside just in time to put it in the bin before the truck came by; during all this the kids were cheering while looking out the window.

Bottom line...for not having anything 'exciting' planned...it tuned out to be pretty exciting.  You never know what you might uncover as the minutes go by in life.

WinterFest 2012

Grandma stopped over yesterday, and as you can see Jonas was enjoying getting a lot of books read to him.  Niles actually slept in quite a bit, but woke up and nestled his way in to get in on the book reading action.  We meet up with Cory and Ben and enjoyed WinterFest.  I wished I would have taken some pictures of some of the ice and snow sculptures, but was busy 'yelling' at Jonas not to touch the ice sculptures instead of taking pictures.  We had a team from Memorial HS making a beautiful snow sculpture with a bunch of good kids getting a chance to do some public artwork to enrich the lives of others, thanks for that.  Great event.

Polka at Overture Center's 'Kids in the Rotunda"

We have been going to Overture Center's 'Kids in the Rotunda" for over 4 and a half years.  We have seen many great performances, but none as show stopping as shy Jonas sorta dancing around to a polka version of 'If you are happy and you know it".  The last 4 or 5 times we have gone Jonas has been holding his hand up high wanting to volunteer to help out with the show.  Today the group "Pint Size Polka' gave him his chance and he really had fun doing it.  

We also got a chance to see some of Sara's students doing the Polar Plunge at Lake Monona.  This weekend is Winterfest and the kids not only watched the costumed polar plungers, but sailboats on the ice, bikes on the ice, kites on the ice, ice-fisherman, etc.  We plan to go to down to the Capitol tomorrow and watch some of the ski races in the streets around the Capitol.

Timber..Chickens ahead

Well its official.  It was a nice day so we decided to get going on a spring project even though it is quite a bit off in the horizon.  We are preparing the site for chickens.  We have gone through this once before.  At out first house we put an amazing 120 sq ft. chicken palace together; copper roof, 12 inch thick concrete floors, loft space, front porch, etc.. But what we did not do was get chickens.  As we were in the process of putting finishing touches on the chicken palace we decided to get up and move to the house we live in now.  So hopefully this time we will create a chicken palace at no cost (all craigslist and repurposed/recycled materials) and actually get some laying hens in there this time.  Anyway there was a birch tree that was nearing the end of its life that had to be removed so that the chicken shack foundation can be put in.  Jonas and Niles were great helpers.  Jonas captured this video of one of the limbs coming down.  No gasoline was used, only a rusty trim say and a bow saw.

VDay

A lot of sweetheart action on Valentines Day.  Of course the pets got some love and snuggles; Mom got a visit with a unique creation, and Jonas created some very unique valentine cards that we delivered to special valentine recipients around Madison today.  The kids loved their cards from the grandmas and can't wait to see if there will be more valentines in the mailbox in the future.

Baby Calorie Burner

They did take a snack break, which was good because an I.V. would probably have been necassary with all the energy that was expended during the 2 plus hour romp around the gymnastics gym.  The kids built forts, swung, jump, rolled, wrestled, laughed, etc.  Evidently Molly told her dad that she was not getting married to a boy at school and that she would consider Jonas or Max.  I have not followed up to see how that went.  Planting the seed early.  Its always nice to lose yourself a little in watching the world through the eyes of kids that are just cranking it out and having fun.

Jonas Climber

It was a cold day at Garner Park so the boys figured they would climb the trees to cut out the wind.   Ben  is looking up at a squirrel high in the tree...no wait is that a squirrel?

Actually it turned out to be Jonas (follow the tree up to see him up there). He climbed up, hung out, and came back down.  Who needs monkey bars?

Mom's 30 something Bday

Mom opening some presents

The Boys made a couple of picture windows.  Jonas digitally created all the pictures.

It was a little chilly, but we enjoyed a hike at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center.

Fresh off blowing out the candles...you can clearly see that Mom is thirty-something.  You  have to add the small candles to the 'big 30' candle.

Jonas and Niles have been working on a birthday celebration video for their Mom.  Usually we don't put these up on the blog, but Jonas wanted to share it.  It's a beast, around 10 minutes...but if it is your birthday it is a pretty enjoyable 10 minutes.