Kansas Katzenjammers

New Year's Eve

2012-01-03T15:45:00.001-06:00

Unseasonably warm... t-shirts without jackets.

Goofing around on a giant pillow

2011-10-17T13:32:00.001-05:00

Almost home - Ellsworth rest area

2011-06-26T18:38:00.002-05:00

On top of the rock, but Mom had to help...

Tire swing

2011-06-25T18:16:00.000-05:00

At our favorite park in Burlington, Colorado.

Rainbow Curve on Trail Ridge Road

2011-06-24T18:38:00.001-05:00

Hans, Fritz, and Dad join others climbing on the rocks to get a better view of the valley. It was a nice day to be on Trail Ridge Road; not nearly as cold or windy as a few days ago.

Giant slide in Estes Park

2011-06-22T11:27:00.001-05:00

3 trips on this, then they moved up to the spiral slide.

Royal Gorge

2011-06-18T20:22:00.002-05:00

Waiting in line for the aerial tramway with Royal Gorge Bridge in background, Skycoaster ride right before we were hoisted up for the big drop, and walking across the bridge with the Skycoaster in the background.

Friends on a hammock

2011-06-15T22:05:00.001-05:00

Hans and Fritz with a friend from church.

Our favorite room in Exploration Place

2010-08-25T13:35:00.002-05:00

Not yet back to school swinging

2010-08-18T14:45:00.001-05:00

Hans and Fritz swinging with a cousin at the park. She goes back to school tomorrow. Our Not-Back-To-School party with our home schooling friends will be the week after Labor Day this year.

Sprinkler play

2010-08-04T14:40:00.001-05:00

Hans posing with cousins, taking a break from follow-the-leader thru the sprinklers.

Tree Climbing

2010-04-27T10:45:00.002-05:00

Ice cream in winter

2010-03-10T14:24:00.000-06:00

Braum's Book Buddy sweet rewards.

Pinewood Derby

2010-02-13T23:05:00.001-06:00

Hans is in Cub Scouts again this year. He is a Wolf. Each January the pack has a Pinewood Derby. Scout cars must follow specific rules, particularly a weight limit of 5 oz. The pack also has an Outlaw race in which non-Scouts may participate. Scouts may also run in the Outlaw race (with a different car, I assume). Fritz ran a car last year. This year he and I both made cars for the Outlaw race. Mine's an RV!

Multimedia message

2010-01-10T22:55:00.000-06:00

Multimedia message

2010-01-10T17:25:00.000-06:00

Grandpa's old rocker

2009-12-29T14:59:00.000-06:00

Oh Christmas Tree

2009-12-12T15:44:00.000-06:00

Fluffing the tree

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T00:09:00.001-06:00

These are pix of Hans and Fritz and their cousins, taken Thanksgiving 2009.

Sneaking up on a butterfly

2009-10-27T11:01:00.000-06:00

But it kept flying away.

Walters Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-22T10:56:00.000-05:00

Almost home!

2009-09-27T14:09:00.000-05:00

Burlington, CO playground

2009-09-25T20:44:00.001-05:00

Our favorite place to stop, play, and eat between home and our vacation spot in Colorado near Rocky Mountain National Park.

First day of fall in RMNP

2009-09-25T20:42:00.000-05:00

Yesterday it hailed and snowed on the last day of summer. Today more snow!

Annual Colorado photo

2009-09-25T20:41:00.000-05:00

Cherry Creek Mall

2009-09-25T08:54:00.001-05:00

They are both getting so tall, this was probably our last visit to the giant food playground in Denver.

Cherry Creek mall giant food

2009-09-24T17:26:00.000-05:00

Hans, taken by Fritz.

Garden of the gods

2009-09-19T16:16:00.000-05:00

Upside down is good!

2009-09-16T23:05:00.001-05:00

Testing Mom's new camera.

Friends

2009-07-29T09:32:00.003-05:00

Hans and Fritz were playing with some of their friends today, and Mrs. B got this great picture of them all together (and standing still)!

This one is closer to typical activities when they are together. Running, playing, picking each other up...

Sleep Over

2009-03-14T20:52:00.000-06:00

We had our first sleep-over Thursday night. I didn't take any pictures, but they sure looked cute on the living room floor in sleeping bags watching a movie! Hans and Fritz invited their cousins. The next day was their first day of spring break, thus the mid-week sleep-over worked out well.

I know the older of the girls (age 8) has slept at a friend's before, but I don't know if the younger (age 4) has. My boys are looking forward to their cousins reciprocating and the boys getting to sleep over at their house.

Pottery

2008-11-30T01:02:00.002-06:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to a "paint your own pottery" studio. Hans selected a star shaped bowl and chose a nice red glaze. I chose a star shaped platter to go with it. Fritz didn't want to participate at first, but he did decide to help me paint my star eventually. He also chose which stamps we put on the platter for decoration.

Vacation

2008-06-25T23:46:00.003-05:00

We're back from vacationing in Colorado, just outside of Rocky Mountain National Park. We didn't get to do any of the hikes we wanted because one of more of us was sick about half of the time. However, we did get to spend time in the resort swimming pool on the non-sick days. This photo is of Hans and Fritz hamming it up for a photo on our way over to the pool one day.

New Wheels!

2008-04-28T00:43:00.004-05:00

Hans turned 6 last week. We got him a bicycle today, so the tricycle was passed on to Fritz. They both had a great time in the driveway this afternoon. Hans can even stop by reverse pedalling already. It's too bad that our driveway is so slanted; it's still very difficult for Hans to go "up" the driveway. He was able to ride up the front sidewalk to show Grandpa, who got home from the care center on Hans' birthday.

New House

2008-02-27T22:41:00.001-06:00

We moved a few weeks ago. Now we have a big, smooth driveway. Today it was initiated with colored chalk. Hans and Fritz drew pictures and wrote WELCOME HOME DADDY. They also played in the sand pile from the house next door that is under construction. I decided that if "the builders" can kill our grass by not keeping the sand pile and rubble in "their" yard, then we can play with it as much as we want. It was so nice to be able to spend time outside! Today's high was close to 60; it has been in the 30s-40s for the past couple of weeks, and we have had snow and sleet also. Too bad I don't know where we packed the camera that works.

Snow

2007-12-16T23:43:00.000-06:00

This week we had our second snow of the season. It was sunny enough, without wind, for us to play outside today. Hans and Fritz made snow angels, had several snowball fight episodes, shoveled our sidewalk (sort of), cleared snow off a car, ate snow, stood under dripping icicles, "decorated" a tree for Christmas (with snowball hits), and generally had a fabulous time.

Fall

2007-11-12T16:54:00.000-06:00

We've had some really great fall weather lately. Today we went for a walk to Rocky Park to play. Hans and Fritz picked up leaves along the way, admiring their colors. Fritz has been wanting to count the leaves on our ash tree for the past several weeks when they started turning yellow and falling. While at the park today, Fritz handed me a yellow leaf and stated that it was for our leaf collection. So I held onto it. Then he handed me a red one "for our collection" also. I suggested that we find as many different colors as we could. He wanted to find a blue one. Between the park (which is actually a church playground) and the walk home, we saved 13 leaves for our collection. The only one that got intentionally dropped that I wish Fritz had kept was the "rainbow" leaf. It was a very pretty mix of green, yellow, orange, and red.

The leaves are labeled as Hans and Fritz described them to me. Left to right they are yellow, pinkish-orange, red, greenish-brown, yellowish-white, green, orange, looks like a cocoon, yellow with brown spots, brown, pink on back and yellow on front, small, biggest of all. (Color distortion is due to camera with no flash.)

More Backyard Fun

2007-09-12T23:20:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Fritz's 4th birthday by playing outside on the trampoline, playing on the neighbor's "club house", and having pizza for dinner. We had "birthday brownies" (instead of cake) with pink frosting and star sprinkles for dessert.

Hans and Fritz can both climb up the ladder to the top of the club house, and Hans can go down the pole by himself, but Fritz still needs spotting on the way down. The yellow blur in the last picture is the knotted rope (as seen in the other pics) that was swinging past Fritz as he reached for the pole and asked for my help getting down.

Powder

2007-08-25T14:54:00.000-05:00

I should know better than to leave Fritz alone in his bedroom for over 30 minutes, especially when I heard a thud and "oops". Since the rest of us were playing a table game in the dining room, just 3 feet away, and he wasn't crying, and it was a thud not a crash, no one went to check. So when we finished the game and I went to check on him, I came back to get the camera and told Daddy "laugh, don't cry, laugh, don't cry".

Trampoline

2007-08-19T15:55:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we moved our neighbor's trampoline into our backyard temporarily (we think). They are having their lawn killed and are going to reseed, so instead of dismantling it and storing it, they asked if we would let them put it in our yard for a while. Hans and Fritz really enjoyed testing it out yesterday, and we had fun this afternoon, too. To get up, they climb on a kid-sized picnic table, and to get off, they use the slide from our soon-to-be-assembled play structure.

Water Park

2007-08-15T16:20:00.000-05:00

This morning, while the temperature was still only in the 90s, we went to a park with water fountains with some of our YEA! friends.

It was the first day of public school here, so the cookies and other treats were in celebration of "not going back to school."

Indoor fun

2007-07-22T21:58:00.001-05:00

With the Kansas heat being what it is, although we haven't hit 100 yet, we have been spending more time indoors than out.

A couple of weeks ago we had a fellow homeschool family come over to play. It was only the second time that someone besides relatives have come over to play (that I can recall). Sharing and taking turns went fairly well. The visiting older girl actually had the most difficulty, I think. I only got one picture, and it's not that good, but it was funny! Fritz decided to crawl up and through a net ball toss. His head is sticking out one of the target holes. Hans is sitting at the bottom, where the balls are supposed to come out, trying to figure out how to help his stuck brother get back out again.

We also went to Exploration Place later that week (twice, actually). Trains are serious business to these boys. They actually do smile a lot while playing, but I didn't catch them.

Other favorite activities are playing in the water and puzzles.

Slides and sand at the park

2007-06-01T23:39:00.000-05:00

Wednesday we went to a park day with our YEA! friends. Hans and Fritz enjoyed the playground (as usual), and they also enjoyed the sand (much more than usual). You can see that they are sporting their YEA! shirts and new summer haircuts.

Hair Cuts

2007-05-29T16:35:00.000-05:00

Hans and Fritz consented to hair cuts recently. Fritz was first, about 2 weeks ago. Hans was yesterday. I used scissors for Fritz and layered his hair quite a bit. Hans wanted me to use "the buzzy thing". He picked out the 1/2" guard, but I talked him into using the 1" (the longest one). Both boys got their cuts on the front porch, shirtless, so clean up consisted of me blowing the loose hair off of them. That's much easier than cleaning up the kitchen floor. At first I thought Hans looked so young in his new cut, now I think he looks a little older. A friend at the park today said he looks older, too.

Riverfest Fun

2007-05-18T11:14:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we experienced Riverfest for the fourth time in six days. There were inflatable bouncy things that Hans and Fritz enjoyed Saturday, Sunday, and Thursday.

We watched toy trains and the boys rode kid-sized riding tractors on Saturday and Sunday. Monday we went to the Ottaway carnival that isn't technically part of Riverfest, therefore the rides cost extra instead of being included with the price of the Riverfest admission button. Daddy took each boy on the giant slide, and I took them on the really big ferris wheel.

Yesterday they rode the "big swing" twice, once as parent-child pairs, then Hans and Fritz rode together, without us.

Hans repeatedly stuck his arms up, out (like a plane), and made faces at us with his thumbs in his ears and wiggling his fingers. Fritz was holding on for dear life, but he had a huge grin on his face and was laughing some.

Saturday, after lots of bouncing and time in the sun, we stopped for lunch. Hans and Fritz shared a giant lemonade. We had one again last night, so I got the opportunity to take a photo of them drinking it together. I didn't pose them, really!

Mud Puddles

2007-05-12T00:32:00.000-05:00

Hans & Fritz played in puddles today at a park during a birthday party play date. First they were fully dressed splashing in a large dirty water puddle in the shelter, then they were barefoot in the same puddle, then I enticed them to try out the mud puddle to feel it squoosh between their toes. Hans was first to enjoy the mud; he would squish it then go back to the big puddle on the concrete to "wash" his feet. That progressed to sticking hands in the mud puddle then going back to the water puddle to wash. They also found a short thick stick, played with it in the mud, then climbed up on a picnic table and dropped it into the water puddle to make a splash then wash the stick off.

After 3 other boys (birthday boy & his brothers) joined them, they decided to lay on their tummies and be an alligators in the dirty water puddle. I think Fritz came up with that one because he was the one I saw prone first. They also went through the puddle in a skiing / sliding motion.

I was so proud! (Am I strange, or what?) Daddy would have flipped out. Before we left the park Hans needed a toilet break, so he changed out of muddy clothes into his spare underwear. I stripped Fritz and gave him a dry diaper. They rode home practically naked. It was a blast! Too bad I forgot my camera. D'oh.

(The mom of the other 3 boys took these pics for me early in the adventure. Thanks D!)

Down the air return vent

2007-05-03T11:41:00.000-05:00

Hans won a "Connect 4" type game at Bible Bingo last night. It was a small, cheap (in both senses of the word) game with 30 disks less than 1/2" diameter. After playing the game twice, Hans and Fritz decided it would be fun to drop them down the air return vent in the hall. We live in a 95 year old house. The main air return is a 1' x 2' conduit that drops down from the hallway floor, to almost the basement floor. We've lost a comb and a few other things down there accidentally, but this is the first intentional, fun, dropping incident that I have witnessed. Too bad I wasn't fast enough with the camera.

Introducing...

2007-05-02T14:54:00.000-05:00

Hans and Fritz. In honor of my dad and his boyhood friend, who were often known as Hans and Fritz, I have chosen the name of this blog and the aliases for my sons. They love you Grandpa!