The calendar says April 26th but

you can't tell by looking out the window.

Wikki Stix

Little Brother made a canoe. These are great. Thanks T Family.

What are you cooking Little Sister?

Mudpies. Mudcakes. Mudcookies. Fun.

Found!

I found the mud boots that Big Brother and Little Brother wore. Baby is enjoying their tractor, too. Daddy says he can't have a haircut yet.

Ride 'em cowboy!

Which way are you headed, Baby?

"Play"time

Our homeschool group went to a nearby production of "The Trial of Godlilocks". The children (and adults) enjoyed the comedy.

The Wright Brothers have nothing on my boys.

Oh, yes, except time.

Signs of Spring!

Haircuts!

Signs of Spring!

Barefeet!

Signs of Spring!

Mudboots and mud, enough said.

Signs of Spring!

Clothes on the line.

"Dinner" at about 3 pounds.

They grow so fast it almost seems as if you can watch them grow!

Our last stop

was Le Mars, IA, the Ice Cream Capital of the world. We had yummy ice cream in an old fashioned Ice Cream Parlor.

The Children and their Great Aunt M

We saw her new home, looked at photos, admired her handiwork and went out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant. She had a bag of goodies for us to take with us, including some yummy peanutbutter cookies.

Kansas

Dear Friend and her family live in Northeastern Kansas which had trees, hills and water. On our way home our plan was to travel west aways to visit Daddy's Aunt M. We soon began to see the Kansas I had expected, beautiful in a very stark way. We saw real ranchers with real cowboy boots and hats, cattle, oil rigs, windmills and a great snowman made from barb wire.

Some Field Trips in Kansas

A carousel, the Missouri River, Fort Leavenworth and the Buffalo Soldier Monument.

Fun Times!

There was swinging, legos, games, talking, giggling, cooking, eating, cleaning up. There was mud and baths. There were thrift stores. There were arguments and temper tantrums and tears. There were apologies and smiles and hugs. There were 9 children. Thank you friends for your wonderful hospitality, we look forward to our next visit!

Choosing the marbles.

Yes, there were marbles in all of those "candy jars". The store also had books and unique games. It had an old fashioned feel to it. Friend and I could have spent longer perusing the shelves. . .but with 9 children between us we headed home.

Moon Marble Factory

The children and I took a trip to Kansas to visit the T family. They are the friends from NC that moved to KS just a couple of months before we moved to MN. Daddy had some accounting work he needed to complete before April 15th. Knowing he would get more accomplished in a quiet house we headed south. It seemed a good weekend to do so too, as MN was supposed to get some snow. (They did get a couple of inches.) We joined the T family's homeschool group for a tour of a marble factory. First, the children learned a bit about the history of marbles and how to play. Then, we watched this man make a beautiful marble. Last, the children got to pick out some marbles to take home.

"Dinner" in their new home.

The meat birds have moved into the chicken coop. They are at least twice as big as the layers and nearly all feathered out. In this photo they weighed about 2 pounds each.

After looking at the carvings

we continued on the trail. We saw native prairie and restored prairie. We saw ruts from who knows how many covered wagons. We also saw a rock jutting out from the earth that bison have used for centuries to rub their itchy winter fur as they shed in the spring. The rock was as smooth as a mirror.

Petroglyphs

Baby has a rest in a tipi.

He loved the soft bison fur. The interpretive center at the Petrogylph Site was wonderful. There were many hands on displays to explain the culture and life of the North American Indians that lived in this area. There were also displays about the prarie and rock formations.

Knapping Flint

Here Little Sister makes a arrowhead by knapping flint.

Making a Parflech

These packages were made from leather and sinew by the North American Indians to hold things. Big Sister made hers from a brown paper bag and yarn.

Throwing the Atlatl

Big Brother hit the bison. The Atlatl is a wooden piece that makes the dart you throw go farther, with more power and better acuracy.

Jeffer's Petroglyphs

We visited Jeffer's Petroglyphs, a MN State Historic Site where American Indians made rock carvings. It is still considered a sacred site. We learned about "Wintercount" a picture history of a tribe. Each year the tribe chose an important event and added a picture of it to their spiral history kept on an animal hide. Here, Little Brother draws a significant event from our year to draw.

Slough

Webster's dictionary defines slough as, a place of deep mud or mire, a swamp. But, when I lived in the Northeast and the Southeast I never heard the word slough. We always called those places~swamps. If you have read the Little House on the Prarie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder you may recall her using the word slough. This is a picture of the slough on our property. It is a resting spot for many migrating geese and ducks. It is full of water now but when we arrived last summer it was empty. The children attempted to ice skate on it, but becasue of all the vegetation in it, it froze rather unevenly. Also, because of all the vegetation in a slough there are air pockets where one can fall through the ice. Daddy did this on a slough while hunting this fall. Thankfully he was able to climb out, go back to the truck and drive to a Farm and Fleet store for new, dry, warm clothes. Big Brother and Little Sister fell through air pockets in our slough this winter, as well. They were close enough to home for a warm shower, dry clothes and hot chocolate.

Walking back to the house from the chicken coop

we noticed that it had gotten very quiet. We looked at the slough, where had all the ducks and geese gone? We looked in the sky and we saw this Bald Eagle flying right above our home, yard and slough. After a bit, his circles grew larger and he flew out of sight. The ducks and geese came out of hiding. They must have been in the reeds around the edge of the slough.

Scout Lock In and other trivial information. . .

The big boys and Daddy are at a "Scout Lock In" tonight. By selling tickets to the annual pancake breakfast, Big Brother earned the right to stay up all night. Little Brother, as a first year scout, will only stay until midnight. They were looking forward to games in the gym, pizza, and snacks.

The girls made a tent with a card table and blankets and are sleeping in the bonus room. They were thrilled to use the jets in the tub tonight. There were so many bubbles, I couldn't see if they got all the mud off or not.

Nearly all the snow has melted AND we got some rain today. There is mud everywhere. Fortunately, it is black mud and washes well, unlike that North Carolina red clay mud that turned everything a shade of red.

When it was raining today it SMELLED like spring. I'm not going to look at the extended forecast tonight, so even if there is snow coming, I'm going to remain blissfully unaware.

After we feed the chicks Baby wants to walk, but not back to the house, to his swing! I'll have to see if I can find him some mudboots. I know Big and Little Brothers wore a tiny pair, perhaps they're in the attic. . .

Last night Daddy's volleyball team finished their season. We won't mention their win-loss record, they all had lots of fun.

Exchange Brother joined the track team and is starting to enjoy practices. He found running shoes and the largest gumball I've ever seen, last night on our shopping trip.

I need to make a bird list, this spring I've seen: Bald Eagle, Red Tailed Hawk, Canada Goose, Tundra Swan, Wild Turkey, Robin, Red Winged Blackbird, Common Loon, Wood Duck, Mallard, Pheasant and Great Blue Heron.

Tomorrow we plan to finish the renovations on the chicken coop, make some shelves in the shop, finish rounding up the paperwork for taxes and watch the Carolina basketball game.

It's "snow" April Fool's joke.

This is how we spent the morning of April 1st. By afternoon the snow had started to melt.

March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.

Except in Minnesota where we had the 50 degree F day early in the month and ended with a snowstorm. The official measurement was 5 inches, school children were sent home at 10:15 am, all evening activities were cancelled, a friend ended up in the ditch and we lost power for about 6 hours.

One flew over the

partition betweeen the fryers and the layers. Not a problem, I just relocated him. But, if they're trying their wings, I don't want them flying all over the shop, nor do I want them injuring themselves. Big Brother built this brooder cover. They are about 2 1/2 weeks old now. In one week the fryers doubled their weights. The chicks are getting their feathers. We cleaned out the chicken coop. The boys built dividers and doors to seperate the layers and the fryers. Daddy and the boys have been working on replacing the door, doorframe, threshold and stoop.

The zoo? A museum? No, it is . . .

Cabella's. Wow, what an awesome display of wildlife, waterfowl, gamebirds and fish. The boys enjoyed a quick trip into the gun library. Baby just wanted to climb under all the fences and touch the displays. Little Sister enjoyed most of the trip, she was probably pouting because I told her this store didn't have toys for children, men yes, children no.

We enjoyed a quick visit with Aunt J.

Sadly, Aunt J had to travel to visit an ill family member, but we were glad to get a chance to see her! Since we live so far apart, we (Husband and I) had not seen her for about a year and a half. And the last time she had seen the children, Big Sister was about three and I was expecting Little Sister.

Liitle Brother's last Pinewood Derby.

This fall, a large chain store gave a monetary gift to our Boy Scout council. When Little Brother was thinking about the design for his derby car he remembered this gift. The colors for his car came from the "mascot" of that store. He did everything himself except for drilling (to add weight and then take it away!).