Forsman Family Farm

After a While

2011-05-15T18:12:00.012-05:00

It has been a very very long time since I have even looked at this blog page; to which I am so sorry. So I will use this to kinda catch up on the last few years.

To Whom this may concern,

The Boys were in Karate for a little while last summer. They were very good at it and looked absolutely adorable in their uniforms.

This only lasted for a season though, and thus they moved on to ALERT CADETS. Where they also where uniforms and look super cute .

Some other random things that have been happening are Camille moving back over to Taiwan for the year, Stephanie living in Colorado and everything else...well is pretty normal.

This is Abby's 16th birthday. Of course, it was a Tea Party...a must in our family for girls. This is her, Hannah and MY man the Mr. Mad Hatter ;)

With Pablo at MOA....

This is a trip to Duluth with some good friends: Trevor, Abbie and Benny.

The awesome thing about having a sibling live in another state; especially one as beautiful as Colorado. Hiking baby! This is when it just doesn't get any better than having some really awesome friends to chill with :) Being awesome at Pier 1 Imports

And then just doing the randomest things....

Like building a Tree Fort with Dad...

Or other random stuff.

Anyway....that is just some randomness that I let y'all in on for today. Which, all-in-all, was not much. But gotta ove suspense right?

-H

All these things...Good Times

2008-11-19T12:20:00.028-06:00

So hey everybody. I finally was able to get the pictures. I was so proud of myself for getting them:) We have a huge amount to catch up on now. First, a while back ago actually. was Leith and Jake's wedding. I cant' remember if I updated y'all on it but it was beautiful! Here is our happy couple! And here is the Hottie I voted for this year! Ladies and Gents, may I introduce our new President-elect, Elliott William Forsman (imagine the young girls screaming and crying:)! I'm not old enough to vote, though...but I still would've voted for this guy:)HEY! or is it Hay? Well, I know "hay" is what horses eat, so this must've been what we were dealing with. Of course, this was not a recent picture, but I forgot to post all of them before, so you will get them all now. Camille and Elliott were so amazing and "buff" while working with the hay:) I mean c'mon, just look at those muscles! Would you mess with those farm kids? I don't think so! Abbi was making sure everyone kept on track. It was easy to listen to her after "the look." To which you nearly fall over because she is SO stunning! Even with all the hay:) And the hardest yet...Granola bar making! AI! Now check this out: I was tired of eating granola bars and snacking on chips all day, so I bought "Fruit Loops!" I dont think ANY of my brothers had had them before either! So they enjoyed it thoroughly! So we ate granola, fruit loops, chips and coffee (though we didn't really EAT the coffee:) Speaking of Coffee...After hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and...(well, I think you get the point:) Dad brought everyone up a Starbucks. It was pretty crazy. Here is all our tired faces, hairnets and all, giving our last smiles for the day to the camera:) haha.And I mentioned leaves, right? This fall has been BEA-utiful! It all started off with Elliotto wanting to rake leaves with me...and got better from there! Here is our "Man o'the Stump" or "Grandfather Oak-Stump." Kinda like Pocahontas, ya know..."Grandmother Willow, what is my past..." Nevermind...:PElliotto and I started the pile and were quickly joined by Abbi, Noah and Benji. We really had a blast! Paco decided to put pillows in our pile to make it soft and it really turned out wonderfully! I have never really raked a huge leaf pile before, so this was SO much fun! The pile was literally HUGE! It was even bigger than the pile of dirty/clean clothes in a pile in my room! So it would've had to be huge:) Jumping in the pile was totally the best part! You got leaves everywhere; in your hair, in your shoes, down your pants...It was SO worth it though! haha. On Halloween, our family went to the Taylor's house for an alternative Halloween party. It was very fun! We had hay rides, a hunt for candy and chili:) Here are Callie and I chillin' by the fire...literally "chillin'" because it was FREEZING out! A couple days ago, we went to see Madagascar II with some friends. Well, Meo and I had watched it the previous day and then went to see it again for Luke's birthday. Yep. Luke and Josh came...If you have EVER seen the new Madagascar movie, then you will understand just how funny it is:) After the movie, we hung out in the lobby for about an hour trying to decide if we could all fit in the picture booth...then, Troy and Gabriella showed up and we got a shot with them:) Not really, actually, Luke went snooping into rooms and found the cutouts...it pretty much felt like they were "right there" though:) Except, I wouldn't kiss Troy in real life:)

Now for the music...I played a gig with Katie Grothe last...er, Saturday? Sure, well here is our "promo shot." haha. We tried a couple...but we landed on this one:)Here is one thing that happened that freaked me out! So I had tried to do a gig at Uptown Espresso, but they were out of business so I obviously couldn't. I tried to get a hold of the owner to see if I could use his sound equipment, to which he said I could but then he never got back to me. If you know me well, you know I tend to panic...even over the littlest things! I emailed the first person I could think of who might have it: Adam Norton. Stephanie, my "manager," had the same idea and called him up. He brought it there, set it up and took it down (with help, of course). The poor guy put up with a lot, though:) He was probably very annoyed with my demandings by the end of the night...sorry sport!

I love having as many people come up and play as I am aloud time:) Lizzie and Katie got up there and played a couple songs together. I can't remember what songs they sang, but I know that some were those they had written.

I was able to sing some solo songs also...some written works (okay, one), too. Katie and I DID play together, I guess I was always moving though, because none of them came out clear, so yeah...I have no idea what I was singing here, but I look really sad. It must have been "Whiskey Lullaby" or such.

And my dear friends, three of the COOLEST guys in the world! Luke, Ben and Elliotto. Elliotto is totally the cutest out of all (sorry boys!). So that is pretty much my life now...Here is another great picture of Katie and I, except the fingers(benjamin wilson!). I am NOT moving around, so it's all good! hahaha:)

So I guess that's...NO wait! on more! This one I made such a HUGE fuss about. We had just finished playing and I wanted a picture with these guys. They wanted me to kneel in front but I really didn't want to. So finally we were able to figure things out and got the picture taken...except, well...yeah...they all look really cute:)
Well, guess that's all for now:) ttyl and love ya! Hope

From a Bagel shop In Forest Lake...

2008-10-25T13:54:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone! How are you all doing? I have no pictures to post, so I am just writing today. I have finally had the chance to visit Stephanie at her new job in Forest Lake:) She is doing an awesome job. I like to harass her while working, though, so she could probably do better without me:) lol. I am sitting here with a wonderful cup of Turtle Mocha (with extra whip) and typing away...okay, not really "away" but I am typing. I am preparing myself for our first Quiz Meet tomorrow and for granola bar making (8000) next week. oh boy. We have a quiz practice tonight for prep. I had a great time this weekend. I am pretty sure our whole family did:) We went up to our Grandma and Grandpa's house and relaxed. I was able to help her with her "decorating" of the living room...and then we did something really awesome! We made NOODLES! Yeah! really good noodles! Then we made lasagna and apple pies:) It all was sooooo wonderful! well, we are off to quizzing practice now. ttyl everyone and I will hopefully be able to update with pictures later:) BYE! Hopie:) <3<3<3

I Could Have Danced all Night...and Not Have asked for More!

2008-10-09T12:15:00.026-05:00

Hey everybody:) How are you all? A couple weeks ago (i know, i know...WEEKS:) we, well it was actually Camille's plan, had a huge get together/party for Stephanie's 20th birthday:) It was so fun! We had a lot of really great friends who came. We all dressed up nice and fancy and went to the Olive Garden for dinner. I don't really know why the guys did the weird "hand thing" but it works, and at least they looked nice:) I was the one [of us three girls who were going] who was "chosen" to hold the spot for the dinner at Olive Garden. Mom was going to leave just me there to set it all up and I was a little nervous because I didn't want to get yelled at for setting someone next to someone when they wanted to sit next to another someone or such...ya'know:) Luckily, Shane and Kyle (who both looked SO handsome:) had arrived five minutes before us so they helped me set it up...along with KT and Lizzie, who arrived a couple min. after them. I never had really been to Olive Garden before, so I didn't really know what to expect. It was kind of pricey. So I got so hungry I began eating the flowers! I was caught in the act though, so I had to stop:) I did take some of these pictures, but I couldn't really figure out the camera, so I gave it to Luke instead. Obviously, I wasn't the only one who was really hungry:) lol. Here is Libby, KT, and Camille chomping on there flowers. They really seem to be enjoying them too...And here is our birthday girlie and her girlfriends, Lizzie (KT's older sister) and Jessina (I probably spelt that wrong, but if I know you, you get what I'm saying:). She has known Lizzie for years and years and Jessina for...about as long only less years:) Here are three of the handsome guys:) I must say, I have NEVER seen anyone of them so dressed up before! It was so funny...er, NICE! oh yeah, and there names are Josh, Luke and Adam. I didn't really know Adam or Josh very well, but I was able to remeet them that night and there really fun guys!Anyone for a spot of Tea? Well, I guess Camille doesn't really want to share it. If you cant notice yet, everyone has been moving from place to place through out the ordering process. I guess we were trying to get TOM (not Scott, he's waiter #4:) confused with the orders, but he did pretty well:)

And me, being sheik. Notice the *BLING* on my hand. All the girls got blingies and the guys got "incognito" shades. It was totally awesome:)

Sister time! Didn't we all look BEA-Utiful?! Not to make me sound arrogant or anything. lol:)

As usual, our "OMGOSH its Patrick Dempsey" moment...well, I think I am the only one who thinks Patrick is cute, so it's more of a "OMGOSH it's...Brad Pitt( idk, it was the first name I could think of:)!" Except, Cami looks like she's smoking or something...lol.

"I could have Danced all night, I could have Danced all night and should have asked for more..." After eating our meal that I doubt anyone actually ate fully. We headed back to Pioneer Pass to eat more food and drink more (it was punch, okay?) and dance the night away...Here you can see KT and Lizzie swinging out and Camille teaching Kyle how to swing dance. It was a great night:)

"Danc-ing...soon becomes Ro-man-cing..." Sorry Jess, I'm just getting back at Jer:)

After a MONSTER and a glass of wi...punch (who knows, it could have been wine..;) Josh was finally ready to learn how to swing dance.

He was taught by my mom. She only knows the guy part I think, because he didn't really know that it was the guy who was supposed to lead. He did pretty good though as a girl:) lol.

Then for the freakiest part in the dancing! flipping. first, Jeff demonstrated on me..I did pretty good...well, on the not dieing part! It is so creepy to be flipped over yourself! I didn't really trust him but he had done it before I guess, so it was all ok. It was hilarious watching Stephanie and Luke try it:)lol. I cant remember if she made it over, I know she fell more times than me though.

And this is what happens when you have to many MONSTER drinks in one night:) I still have no idea what Josh was doing...weirdo:) There is another picture where I am doing the same thing but he ruined my "moment of paparazzi" and jumped in behind me:( lol.Another bunch of sweet peoples...no, Abbi and Ben didn't really come to the dinner, they just came to pick us all up at Pioneer Pass. I thought this was such a cute picture of them all:)

Lets see...Oh here are "the boys." I have no clue what they were doing but it was enough to get them wound up. They're looking a little tired:)

Our "drunk" cleaning committee...Jessina, Heather, Camille, Mom, Stephanie and I. It was probably 2am, because we had gone downstairs to watch "Enchanted." lol. It was great fun cleaning, though:) Those are the cool "incognito" shades that we gave the boys, but they didn't like them!!! How horrible!
Well, that was our fun for Stephanie's birthday:) I will update again with pictures from my birthday when I get the picture from my G-ma Penny:) She got some really great ones:) I cant wait to show y'all what fun we all had:) ttyl:) Love, Hope

Granola and Sanity

2008-09-17T14:57:00.002-05:00

iTired. So, we have succeeded in making over 8000 granola bars. It was INSANE! We would make bars till 5am every morning and then would wake up at 10am to start all over again :P crazycrazycrazy! It was fun at times and horrible at times, but we got it DONE! The only bummer is thinking that we will have to do this every month! AI! I don't mind doing it, I just want to get my school work done:) I have caught up from that week, though (yes-yes, i know I'm good:). Our life here has pretty much been a granola bar...or granola...or oatmeal...oi vey. We have had time for a couple great parties, though:) Really, really awesome. Got to swing dance and dress up. I PROMISE I will have pictures! You see, my camera (Toto) died (*sniffsniff*) so we use Stephanie's camera...but, Stephanie "forgets" to give me the pictures till 5months later... and that's the truth!
One of the occasions for partying was for Stephanies 20th Birthday! That was sooooooooo much fun! A bunch of our friends all got together to celebrate it at Olive Garden. We even had an extra friend (Tom:). It was a fun and interesting time:) I say interesting because there was just so much happening that you couldn't really concentrate!) Then we all went home dancing...well, at least I did. I rode home with KT and Lizzie Grothe...THAT was interesting:) We cranked up 97.1 and sang the whole way home. We stopped to...dance in a waterfall that was in a small town and sang "The Way I Am" as loud as we could. Then KT chased us around with a shovel....creepy(for those of you who have seen the Secret Window:) We got to Pioneer Pass and "danced the night away." Quiet literally, actually:) It was soooo much fun! I never really had danced to swing dancing music, so it was new and fun!
Also, last night, we went to the (okay, I am totally going to spell this wrong...) McKeens (?) house to celebrate the homecoming of Ryan and (err...I am horrible with names...) Corrie Ann (i think?). That was fun, too. I am not much into sports, though so I was bored until Libby came and saved me! We went walking on one of there paths, which came to a dead end...so, we used our imaginations (just Libby and I, mind you) and made our own path...then we couldn't find the real path...so we walked around the weeds for about an hour or so and finally found it (thanks to my expert sense of direction:).
Now it is daddy's Birthday:) next Sat. is my 16th b-day and...well, will cross that bridge when we come to it:) Love y'all and have a great life:) *Mwah* (that was a kiss goodbye) Hopie:) <3<3<3

Tour De' Dulutho (Part 2)

2008-08-12T11:41:00.018-05:00

I promised a part two once I received all the pictures, so here it is: Getting ready to take off from the Wurdemanns house in Harris. As I said, us Forsman girls started in North Branch. But it didn't really make a difference. lol. "Hallelujah!" This is mom's pose after she finally got everything to fit into the burly. We were all very excited for her and her achievement! Now for take off. I still can't believe they made it to Duluth with those behind them...wow. Oh, I have mostly Pictures today, so I am not writing too much. First stop: Dr Pete met us in...er, I think Rush City? I cant remember. I was soooooo tempted to head back with him. We had gone 12 miles and i was dieing! blah! He brought us ice cream bars and jazz, which was nice, but then it was still hard for me...I am so grateful for Kyle's help, though! And, when we finally reached the Willard Mungar, those of us who kept up the rear. I say that I kept in back with the guys just so I'd know that everyone had made it...I mean, my loving heart would have broken if I had known someone wasn't going to make it. :) "On the road again, I just can't wait to get on the road again. My seat is sore my it's such a chore to get back on that stinkin' bike..." Did I tell you about the boys' little tent experience? Well, Shane had packed there tent, but had forgotten the poles. So, they (remember, all the boys are 16-18) set up my mom's "two/one" man tent and sleep in that! Seriously, it was SO funny! The most talented game of ultimate Frisbee took place on asphalt, in the parking lot of the main entrance, where a church service was being held. So you were catching Frisbee, catching yourself from falling eating dust, and dodging incoming/oncoming cars. It was pretty daring. I was not involved.

The Two CUTEST four year old boys you will ever meet! Charlie O'Brien and Elliott Forsman. Aren't they the cutest things? Especially since they are drinking Caribou Coffee!

Shane, Kyle, Bailey and I had a good time just walking around Duluth. It is always so beautiful up in Duluth! I love going there with friends! It's so fun to just walk around and look at all God's beautiful creation...even though we were pretty much in man's creation, it was still beautiful! oi vey!

"Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho A Pirates life for me...and you also." To our great joy, we were able to make it p to Duluth in time for the, well, "Pirate" ships. Bailey and I kept looking around for Captain Jack, but we never did find him:) I saw a little guy who almost looked like him, but not quite.

Having fun with Bailey and Abbi on the Lake Superior beach (if you want to call it that). And since we couldn't find any pirates, Bailey and I decided to just be our own...with help from Shane and Kyle. We really had a lot of fun up there. Thank You Mrs. O for the awesome pictures and for the song. I'll sing it at my next gig. Now, Hope has only one word to give y'all. iDone.

And our Main Topic: Biking!

2008-08-06T20:44:00.013-05:00

Do I get a second chance at blogging? I love to write, but rarely ever get a chance to get on the computer...Here is our main event as of late. Yes, Camille's Open House was a main event also, but we do not have any of those pictures, so we'll just pretend this is the main. And again, yes...there are more pictures from this trip, but I don't have those either...so we'll make do with what we've got, kapeesh? Kapeesh! So, our bike trip; some 100+ miles from North Branch, MN to Duluth, MN. Lets just say, for me, I haven't had much (okay, okay: none) biking experience so it was a little (okay, A lot) hard. I was so tired, even before we passed Harris! Oi Vey! Here is our amazing biking troupe (from l to r): Mrs. Wurrdemann, Josh W, Michele, Mrs. O'Brien, Stephanie, Myself, Mom, Abbi, Kyle O and Shane O. What a great troupe....

Since most of us were girls...actually, I shouldn't say that...It was mostly the tents in the "burly"s anyway. Josh, Kyle and Shane had to pull our three, heavily packed Burlie's all the way to Duluth! They did amazing! I could barely make it by myself, and they all made it with whatever+ baggage. I had carried something on my bike (alright, it was the snacks) but, on our way to Jay Cook Park, it fell off. Shane was right behind me and did a very dramatic flip into the weeds (it wasn't my fault!). All was well after that....

As you can see, they aren't extremely happy in this shot...only because this is after our first camp out in Hinkley and they were all: "Do I REALLY have to pull this up to Duluth?!" But, hey! They made it!....Now JAY COOK! (finally!)

You can see that Stephanie was very excited about arriving at Jay Cook! They (well, a greater part of the troupe) went to the town about three miles from the Park for food. Mrs. O, Kyle and I stayed back to catch up on our sleep. It was all good though!

hmmmm...a little disturbing. Might this be the reason Shane (and Josh) acted the way they did around the camp fire? What he is doing with everything pink I really don't know! :)

Here are some of us daring enough to cross the "swinging bridge of terror." actually, I just gave it its last name, but it has a nice ring to it! It was a beautiful day right before we were about to head out for our last leg of the journey...Oh, and by the way! I would totally recommend y'all or anyone who reads this to stay at that park at least once in their lives!

Then, as were are about three miles from our rendezvous point, it broke out in rain!!! OH NO! We still made it, but I have to say: that was the longest '1mile' of my life! As you can see (surprise, surprise) we have some extra people. This is another troupe of bikers headed toward Duluth. We met them at Jay Cook and rode with them the rest of the way there! They were awesome people to bike with because they were close to our own ages! It was freezing, but we made it! Sore butts and all!

Of Course, of course...where do you think we stopped right after that invigorating bike treck? Yep. Caribou Coffee. We met up with our dads (well, us kids' dads) and our little siblings. I was so excited because I got to see Bailey again! Yeah! Here are us girls with our coffee (asyoucansee, i was the only sane one who bought hot coffee).

Awww....All four of us sisters together, looking like we actually like each other. jk! we do like each other and get along all the time! lol:) I was amazed, because we were finally in birth order, also (I usually end up after Abbi...i think it's because I'm shorter...?)!

....And then there is our mo...uh, some weird lady who looks like she just got shot out of a cannon and hit the wall of the building (this was my mother saying this, not me!). We were so surprised when we saw she had made it all the way out there! And then she went and jumped off the building too! wow! Good Job MOM!

ahem. And the guys: Dr. Pete, Josh, Shane and Kyle, jumping off the very end of the building. It was quite amusing to watch...I had to make them stand for ten minutes to get this shot because the camera wasn't working. blah!
And so end our troubles..er, trials...no wait: Triumphs on the Willard Mungar state trail. I hope you enjoyed it and, who knows, you might see more photo's soon! ~Hope <3

Love, Tears and the Whole Crazy Thing (is that plagiarism?)

2008-06-23T12:36:00.018-05:00

I am SO sorry for not blogging sooner. You see, Stephanie has the camera that actually works and had put all the pictures on HER laptop, which crashed for a little while. We were finally able to get the pictures off. :) So there is going to be lots! First, my gigs. :) I have done TWO since the beginning of this year, but i only have the pictures for the first one. I LOVED IT! I had so much fun...even though, it being my first since a while ago, I was a little nervous...okay, okay, I was A LOT nervous! But hey, It was still a great show, right?I have no idea what song's I am preforming in these pictures so I'll just make it up! :) I was singing...er...the Backyardagains "Rad Moves." lol. JUST like them, too! And the dancing...man, that was just for Jer and Joe. :)"Last Name." I'm pretty sure that's what we were doing for this. Abbi literally began to jump on the TABLES though! People got really freaked out, so I told Damian to lay off on the caffeine for Abbi from now on! :) Poor girl! lol. Okay...hmmm...lets see..."I Like to Move It, Move It." I know that has to be it! And I really think it was actually. lol. Hey, come see me again at "Uptown Espresso" in Osceola June 28, 2008. 6-930pm. You might even get to hear my song for my Taylor at Starbucks, er, Uptown:) All right, now to move on...GRADUATION!!!!!!! RAH RAH RAH! Here is the whole graduating class of 2008 through TEACH. well...almost all the grads from TEACH. We were still missing Camille. :( But, if you look at Kate Kinzer (the blonde on the right with the gorgeous smile), you will see "Flat Camille" being held for the camera. She (Flat Camille) was sitting up with all the grads during the ceremony. Even though Camille wasn't there, she had still sent something for my dad to say in her place. It was sweet. I cried for it...also for Jeff and Tim's.It's so weird to see them all grow up! Here was our performers. A Violist (Tim) and three Cellists (Kate, Luke and...some other dude). It was really nice, for being as spontaneous as it was!Tim and Jeff. Two buddies through there schooling years. Really good friends of our family. I know this sounds so much like a mom, but I'm SO PROUD of them! :)And our family...with mom holding "Flat Camille." It was a great ceremony. A great speaker...I would say her name, but I would probably slaughter it. But her first name was Michelle...and i am pretty sure I spelt that rite. :) Now for the Love... May I Introduce Nathan and Andrea WILSON!!! (finally!) Awww...I know it's a fuzzy picture, but lets just pretend you're crying because of it...? It was a very sweet and relaxed wedding. I enjoyed it, so it would HAVE to be good!

AH! Now, for the best part! This is what I went for! And "WHOA" was the cake ever good! It wasn't weird frosting, it was actually nice! And the cake...yum! Get this, they even had COFFEE and LATTES!!!! Shazzam! Seriously, the food is the only reason I would get married! lol! just kidding, just kidding! sheesh! :P

Tim obviously thought the cake was good also! Or maybe he thought it was horribly awful and was just about to spit it out...I guess we'll never know, will we?

As you can see, the infamous Chad Christensen finally graced us with his, and his "mother to be" wife, presence. So here we all are. Chad, myself, Abbi Elrod (the Wilson's cousin who I think is amazing!), Ben Wilson and Abbi (my little sister...she's amazing, too!).

Then there were the three "dudettes." We...I mean, they were pretty much security for the place when suddenly...
"OmyGOSH! It's Patrick Dempsey..." or Brad Pitt, you chose. I'm actually just kidding. Patrick did not show up, nor did Brad (snap!), this is just our look for if they DID show up...so when they do, we'll be ready. :) Alright...I think that covers everything that has happened to the date of the wedding...Probably not...ah well, I will blog again soon! BYE!~Hopie:) <3<3<3

Cutting Tree's and Behind the Scenes

2008-06-02T14:23:00.007-05:00

Alas, it was time for a dud apple tree to meet its maker. sniff, sniff. :'( Mom had Noah and Timothy cut down our beloved Carol (the name of the tree...actually, we never really did name it, I just made that up right now!), who had been alive and springing until this spring sprung upon her to quick and she didn't yield any fruit. Alas, Alas... Tim did a lot to help with the slaughter...chopping of the tree. We got it down in pretty much no time. AI! Look at those muscle's!!! Dude, he is soooo CUTE and STRONG! And now, for the Behind the scenes look at what was happening at the Forsman's house...
If you have an idea as to what is going on, then be prepared...more pictures will be arriving very, very shortly...perhaps even later today! For Now, Hope Forsman:)

The Adventures of Ms.Draino and the Fisherboys of the Wild West

2008-05-27T11:29:00.016-05:00

We have had many adventures over the past few days. Firstly, our sink in the upstairs bathroom didn't drain and so I had to, in a daring effort to save the user from sickness, battled the sink and so one the struggle against gunk with Draino (da, da, da,da!)!Pretty heroic, don't you think? I thought so...lol:) It was a fierce battle to the death, but I...i mean, Ms. Draino prevailed again! Muahahahaha! Then, I...Ms. Draino caught up with the Fisherboys and there counterpart, M.O.M. as they went fishing in lake...well, I don't really know what lake it was because I wasn't really there, but it was at William O'Brien Park near Marine on St. Croix. Here they are looking very suspiciously into the water(^). Ben had said that there were probably Noragaiters in these waters, so no one got to close:) Noah, being the oldest and toughest, decided to try and catch one of these mystical Noragaiters...When suddenly, Elliott, the youngest and smallest of the boys, caught the monster! As you can see by the look on his face, it was an amazing find! During this episode of danger, Ben was able to hook himself a mermaid...well, not really...there was a bunch of teens there and he accidentaly hooked one:)lol! Then it was back to the trail for us girls...

Stephanie and I were the protectors of our fine mother and dear sister in the Wilderness for a Memorial Day Weekend at the O'Brien. It was really interesting...I had never dressed up like that before so it was fun and weird. Then, my pardner Bailey and I caught ourselves a couple of painted turtles for a race...which neither of us one...:)

So, after all this adventuresome ploys that have been playing out over the past few weeks, we now deserve some down time...while getting ready for graduation this weekend! Oi Vey! Pray for us! ~ Hopie:)

Some Happenings...

2008-05-26T10:48:00.007-05:00

We had a "work day" over at our house about a week ago so that we could clean up our garage for Camille's homecoming. Some of out friends came over to help us out, which helped it to get done faster. But with friends (especially the Minnesotans:), there will always a water fight of some sort. It always seems that it starts because of a Forsman...hmmm...I wonder if that is a coincidence?Then, when we thought all the fights were over, we were attacked be bandido's!! AI! It was quite interesting. ...then, we Stephanie and Ben got into a huge fight about who wanted to wipe down the grill and pulled out there shotguns!!! Oi Vey! Luckily, it ended peaceably...well, almost peaceably.

After those three fearsome battles, we were finally able to get back to business. Here is Jessica and Elliott finishing up the chairs.
After we had finished working, we went to the midnight showing of the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. It was soooooo FUN! I think you should all go and see that movie! It was very fun and we love seeing how many people we can get to come with us! CRAZY!!!!! Well, I'll blog more later! BYE! ~Hope :)

Hair Day and Cookies in May

2008-05-12T12:55:00.005-05:00

So we have been busy around our house lately. Hair cuts and grass cuts...Finlay, we have some green! All three of the boys needed a desperate hair cut, but i was only able to capture one on camera. Here is Ben getting his hair shaved off...He didn't really want to at first....But then it came to this...Which I thought looked a little to much like Alfalfa from the little rascals. :)But, not to worry, we did give him the full buzz cut. :) And here is our dear friend/adopted brother in a way Ben Wilson. We had gotten cookie dough mix (yes, i know...we didn't make this from scratch...but it was good!) and Ben, who didn't really make cookies to often, wanted to help us out by making them. Then, he got this idea to make a pizza cookie...and this is how it turned out...well, we did put frosting on it...and Ben pressed his hand into the center of it...But it was still good!
well, that's a few of the happenings at our house. All I could come up with right now. lol. I will post again very soon!!

From Weekends to Washington to Wild...

2008-05-01T11:40:00.021-05:00

Hey Y'all. That's weird, I get back from Washington [state] and I'm speaking with a Texian accent. lol. Well, some of you may know that about two weeks ago we had about 12 extra kids over at our house as there parents were up at a Home school conference, Mache. It was fun and crazy. We had all of them in our living room and this is how it looked. Here are some of them at the table eating pancakes. It was amazing how we were able to fit them all around it! I couldn't even fit them all in this picture!!! :)Since I was playing that night at a coffee shop in Osceola, we got to do our hair. Here are Grace and Molly O'Connor, our cousins, with their hair up in what we call a "Birthday Bow." And, as I mentioned, I had gone to Washington. I actually went there with my mom on business, but it was awesome!!! I have never been on an airplane before, and it was great (except when I really had to go to the bathroom on take-off and wasn't aloud to!)! We also brought "Camille" with. But it we kind of smuggled her in! :) lol.I was totally in awe of the magnificence of the land from the plane! I cant believe that God could have created all that! But he did! Wow! It is so amazing! It was cool how there were some places full of snow and some bright green! This was a small chunk of snow that I took a picture of. Some mountains from on high. I believe that these were the Cascade Mountains or somewhere near there. We landed in SeaTac, WA at 1:30 p.m. Which was very confusing given the fact we left Minneapolis at 11a.m. and it was a 3 hour flight and it would have been 3:30p.m. when we arrived there...Man, that is really confusing! It was awesome, though! We had know idea of direction when we landed so we wouldn't have known where we were going to go, though we did have a map Jessica Wilson "hand wrote" out for us. So we went to go get our rental car once we had landed, but they wouldn't let us have one!! So we had to wait for two hours for my dad, who was in Minnesota, to get everything straightened out! It got to be sooooo long! I just sat there in mental shock thinking: "Whoa, we are going to be stranded here, in the Seattle airport, with no sense of where the highway was and no way home!!!!" I was freaked... We finally did get a car, a Minnie van actually, and headed off to Squim, WA to meet the Hines family. It was an amazing drive!! Awesome views; it was amazing how the scenery can change from lush, green hills to mush, snow hills. After we spent some time at the Hines' we went out for diner at Applebees; just mom and I. I had a Margarita, which was interesting...and Camille had a Martini. lol. :) We stayed right next to the Olympic Mountains, which was SO AWESOME!! We were lucky enough to see them at night and the morning before we left. It is usually so cloudy in WA, I didn't think we would see them! But God happened to open the sky just for us! We could actually see a couple different Mountains: Mt. Angles, Mt.Pleasant, Elk Mt., Mt. Deception and a couple others. I don't really know what these ones are, but I am pretty sure one is Mt. Angles. Squim is right on the border of CANADA, so we were able to drive right to the border and see the Canadian mountains (I don't know there names).

We left Wed. morning for Seattle, which was two hours away. It is weird how many coffee shops and espresso bars there are in WA! I mean, there had to be at least 200 between Sequim and Seattle! Seriously! Not one Bar! Here is one Coffee shop we stopped at that was made from a train.

Then, we went on a Ferry for the first time! It was really cool! We got scared at first, because when mom asked some guy who worked there how long it was going to take (we had been previously told 30 min.), he said, very seriously, "oh, about 31/2 hours...depends on the tides." Mom's face paled. Our flight left at 3p.m. and it was already 11:30a.m.!!! O dear! We were wondering what to do in that split second of panic when the man laughed and said he was joking! Oi! We were scared a good one!

Since it was our fist time on the Ferry, we, of course, had to get a picture for/with Camille. :) We actually almost left her up on the deck!!! Yikes! But mom remembered in time and went up and got her!

And our beloved GPS system that we never really got...
That was our trip to Washington [state] and back...and also our trip with watching all those kids at our house> Good Times...I'll write again soon! ~Hope

SPRING! Finally...but with spring comes...

2008-04-22T20:36:00.013-05:00

Mud. That is what we now have. But I am not complaining, mind you. I am very happy about it all. That means summer will soon be here! Yippee! Well, we have already gotten stuck in the mud with our van. We were heading into the back field to get my brothers to go someplace and that's when we got in deep. :) It was almost funny, though. We should have known better than to do it in the first place. :)

We didn't get it out until the next morning, actually. When the ground had not yet thawed all the way. We woke up at 5am and pushed it out...it was crazy!!! Also funny, because we barely had to push it and it came out! :) Then we all went back to bed...

The boys stayed awake and tended the fire...very manly of them, I think. It was really cute.

And the infamous mud...Actually, this is not the real mud that we got stuck in. But this is mud none the less! So there! I am very happy that spring is finally here, and even though mud gets in more places than snow, I am loving it!

So everyone have a great summer and stay out of the mud.! :) well...you can play in it if you want, just keep your cars away! Hugs!~Hope:)

I don't have a camera...camera died

2008-04-11T13:18:00.002-05:00

Hey everybody. Sorry, but I don't have any pictures this time! I did have a camera at one point...and I still do! But it has since then died. :( So sad. Ah well, than I will have to just write what we have been up to; which I don't mind doing, actually. -
We have been busy lately. Mom is keeping the house clean and schoolwork flowing. She also manages to drive us all over the place and keep her head! Dad is getting ready for all this up and coming projects, especially with the granola bars. We are so excited! Stephanie is home for a "permanent spring break," which is nice. She already has a job at a coffee shop right here in Chisago and she is loving it! We are all getting ready for Camille's return to the states. She is going to be graduating this year, so things are really exciting over here getting ready for that and her homecoming. I am keeping busy with fixing meals, cleaning, working, homework and Bible quizzing. I am really looking forward to this last one! We quiz on all of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colosians and Philemon. I am really excited!! I am also going to be playing at a coffee shop in Osceola on the 19th. of April (starting 6pm). The place is called Uptown Espresso. Really cool place with great coffee (I am not just saying that, either!); you should all come and join me! Abbi is in Wisconsin working with our grandpa. He makes clocks out of wood, but has recently started to make wooden picture frames for this one company. He was getting a little swamped by the orders so he asked if Abbi would come and help. Cool for her! She will be up there for a week. Noah, Ben and Elliotto are just busy being boyz. They are loving the mud outside. But I must say, I don't know about the rest of Minnesota, but I am sick and tired of all of this snow! And its not even that really! More like slush, actually. Blah! I hope it rains really, really hard and just washes it all away! I am ready for flowers and grass and shorts...I am ready for SPRING!

A Few Past Photos and A Few Now...

2008-03-25T20:09:00.011-05:00

Here are some photos I found from last year around Christmas time. This is some of our carolers in front of Wal-Mart. I believe this was our third annual caroling party. It was so fun!I also have some past quizzing photos from last years Christmas party at the O'Briens. We always do a silly picture after our "Oh How Nice" smilling picture. :) hmmm...Good Times. :) This is a photo of our whole quiz team at our last quiz meet. Tim Wilson is not in this picture because he arrived to late and Marie Lawrence was not there. :(

And, as always...The Funny's!

Here is our Jr. Team...With our newest member: Shane O'Brien! We are all so excited to have him join our team!

And for our Jr/Sr teams first quiz was actually against our older Sr team!! It was really fun!
Well, I hope you enjoy! From Minnesota- Hopie :)

Okay, okay, okay...here are the REAL pictures

2008-03-05T12:56:00.005-06:00

Alright, Here is a nice picture of Tim. I am sorry for posting the weird one. :) Tonight, we will be doing Ben Wilson's hair; So I will have one more Wilson on the blog getting their hair done...;) Hopie
3/10/08: I told Jessica I would take off that picture...:) Love you Jess!

Things Have Been Happening...

2008-03-03T21:05:00.011-06:00

Hey Ya'll. Sorry that it always seems to be a month till i post. :( I have been very busy lately... but then again, i always use that excuse. Okay, here are some things that have been happening lately. So here is a quick little recap of the Forsmans life....

Earlier this month, Tim Wilson decided he wanted to get his hair highlighted. Mom, being a hairstylist, really wanted to do it. So he came over one night and this is how it turned out! JK!

The next morning, we had the whole Wilson clan over for breakfast. It was really great! We had waffles, whip cream, sausages, and pretty much everything else! YUMMY! Tim, with moms help, made the whip cream (and it didn't turn into butter!).

It was a really fun day. Later that week, Abbi and I went to our Grandparents in Wisconsin. Mom dropped us off, but spent the night before heading off the next morning. Here is a picture that Grandma had a little to much fun with. :)

lol. Well, here is another picture of Grandpa, Abbi and I...along with "Spanosa Bear." If you are wondering why I look petrified in the picture, it is because of Spanosa. Some of you might have heard the story of when we first met...yikes! I mean, C'mon! Who wouldn't be afraid of a bear that says, "I can see you...I know how you feel, I feel that way too?"

We also went shopping in Eau Claire with Grandma. It was really, really fun!! Abbi and I got some really great stuff and I even got to try on some prom dresses!!! That was really a highlight for me!

We also got to play at the Nursing Home Grandma works at. It was really a lot of fun. I loved the room we played in. It had a very good sound; especially for the instruments. We also had a great mike holder. :) Grandpa held the mike for me as I sang, which was really great! Thanks Grandpa! There were some times I played solo...

And Abbi would join in playing Fiddle and Mandolin (not at the same time, of course!). It really was a lot of fun and we are hoping to go back and play for them again soon!
So we have had a really busy month. Abbi has also. I think she will be blogging soon to tell you all what she has been up to. I will blog again soon, though! Bye! ~Hopie :)

STORYBOOK LODGE!

2008-02-05T14:03:00.000-06:00

Last weekend we went up to Storybook Lodge. We go up there every year with our TEACH homeschooling group. It was very fun and, suprisingly, very warm! Last year there was a onehundered degree difenrence from outside to the dining hall! There was, roughly, 20 families that came.

Here is a picture of everyone how came. This was right next to the Gym and dorms. Storybook is absolutly gorgeous! It has little houses that look like a shoe or a pumkin, or a small shack to represent the seven dwarves' house. The people who run the lodge do it completely on donations and faith.

This is the dining hall. The cooks are so dedicated in what they do and the food is always great. They have Bible study time before every meal and bless the food.

Here are some of the tables of people who wanted to say "Hi" to Camille and Stephanie. On the table above are Christian W, Mrs Walburg, Jessica W, Mrs Wilson, and Mr Walburg.

"Hi Camille and Stephanie!" Jessica S, Josie L, Kate K, Mr McKeen, Mrs. Kinzer, Marie L, Alissa and Amy S.

Here is Mr McKeen and Jono Newhoues playing "Are my Ears on Straight?" for the young children that had come. It was so cute!

Here are Abbi, Libby, Alissa, Amy and Jessica on the lake. It was so fun! We got to walk across the lake and got to some of the islands. It was so beautiful! Some people were even daring enough to sleep on the ice at night!

Here are all the quizzers that came up. From left to right, Tim W, Marie L, Me (Hope), Abbi, Ben W, Chris W, Leith W, and Libby N. Jeff was there also, but he didn't make it in time for the picture.

"AH! Its a BANANNA!!" I don't actually know what she was thinking for this picture, but I thought Libby looked cute.
On our way Home, we (meaning myself, mom, Abbi, Tim and Ben Wilson) stopped in Duluth. It was so gorgeous there! The waves from the lake had blown ice in thin layers on top of each other and the rocks surrounding the lake were incased in the ice! It was a very fun trip adn I am already looking forward to going again next year. -Hope :)

2008-01-28T15:22:00.001-06:00

It had been a long time since I have updated people on how are family is doing; to which I am sorry. I have been very busy lately and have not found any time to get online. Here are some things That have been going on. I have recently started working at Makers Healthy Market in Lindstrom. It is going very well and I am enjoying it. Stephanie went back to school at the beginning of this month. She is getting back into the mode of things quickly.We have also just returned from our Bible Quiz tournament in Lacrosse, Wisc. It went very well, but I am sad to say, due to a series of unfortunate events, my camera was left behind. So, now I have to wait until I can get the pictures of the trip from my fellow quizzers so that I can post more on that. Here, also, are some of the books we have been studying lately. 'Garfield,' 'Close to Home,' and 'Calvin and Hobbes.' lol. :) Not really, of course! We were all sitting on our couch reading them and mom took the picture. We have also been busy painting. Here, we have set up different kinds of jars. The boys had lots of fun painting them, since they have so many different shapes and designs. On the right is a painting Elliott did of the jars. Are they not beautiful?

Ben, I am sure, will be a professional artist when he grows up. Aren't you Benji?

Then, Abbi and I went on a Safari and saw two lions attacking a...It looked like a cow, except with weird horns. jk! We actually went to Cabella's in Rogers, MN. It was a very amazing place; if you like hunting.

And here is Jessica and I. Jess had just gotten her hair cut and 'styled' by my mom. She enjoyed the hair-cutting but not as much so on the hair-styling. ;) I hope she doesn't mind me saying that!

The boys were excited that Ben came over with Jess. So excited, they decided to style their hair! Things can get pretty crazy at our house when the Wilson's are here. For instance, this very night, after the boys were put to bed, our sewage pipe burst! YIKES! Luckily for us, the Wilson's are great at cleaning! :) Well, we got the mess cleaned up and, over all, had a wonderful time!

Well, that is some of the things we have been up to lately. I will hopefully be posting on the Lacrosse quiz soon. ~Hope :)

Merry Christmas!!!

2007-12-25T09:57:00.000-06:00

This season is definitely filled with a whole bunch of love! Since Christ showed His love to us we are to show it to others. These cousins seem to be doing a great job on passing on the cheer!

Our 3rd Annual Christmas Caroling gathering was very fun! We stopped by Walmart, Cub, Starbucks and a Nursing home.

Grandpa made the boys swords for Christmas. Therefore, we have nothing to fear because we have all of these little knights running around.

One of the cutest couples this season. - Dad and Mom.

All the Forsman kids had a great time making a gingerbread house. By the time it was finished, there was so much candy on the roof that it collapsed. oops! Who's idea was that Stephanie?

The cousins played an intense game of Apples to Apples on Christmas Eve.

Hailey, Hope, and Casey smiling beautifully. Do they look related?

Stephanie looking festive with her hat.

Hope entertained the relatives with her charming singing and guitar playing.

The Forman Family adult siblings and couples.

Elliott was thrilled to find a bike waiting for him on Christmas morning !

All the boys were so excited! They woke up the house this morning at 6am sharp.

Hope got a stylish coat and gloves for Christmas.

Everyone had a great Christmas! Stephanie is enjoying being home for the holidays and Camille is missed dearly in Taiwan. Camille called early Christmas morning to wish us all Merry Christmas and the family was able to talk to her for awhile. We miss you Camille!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas is coming...and we have snow!

2007-12-15T15:07:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas to everyone and anyone! We have finally finished the last of the Christmas Cards. Yeah! Here is our "Assembly line" in getting the cards done.

Here is Stephanie and mom doing the writing out of the addresses and stuffing of the envelopes. We actually wrote a newsletter this year, which was very exciting for myself (Hope) who loves to write.

Abbi was the "sticker girl." She would put the christmasy stickers on the outside of the envelopes. Hope would put on stamps and put on our address. I was excited, because this year, we actually had stickers and so I didn't have to do it all by hand!

Here are Noah, Ben and Elliott doing puzzles as we finished the cards. Noah and Ben were getting quite frustrated with a certain turtle puzzle we have because they could not get all of the pieces to match (the puzzle is similar to a Rubik's cube). They finally gave up when they could smell the pizza dad was making.Dad was the Chef of the night. He made pizza while we did the cards and also cheered us on from the sidelines. :) It has also been snowing really hard up here in the warm state of Minnesota. We have about a foot of snow now, but will probably get more nearing Christmas.
Noah, and the rest of they boys, are building a snow tunnel in the big pile of snow that the plow made in our driveway. Noah was digging a downward tunnel when I took his picture.

Here is Elliott peeking through one of their finished tunnels. It was a very impressive tunnel, even though I didn't personally go in it.

After a really beautiful snowfall, I went for a walk and took some pictures of the snow. Here is a picture of a tree from our field.
I hope God will Bless you all through this joyful Holiday season celebrating His son's birth. Merry Christmas! ~Hope

Winter Wonderland!

2007-12-12T21:41:00.001-06:00

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening -

In the lane, snow is glistening -

A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight -

Walking in a Winter Wonderland!

Kost Church Family Gathering

2007-12-11T10:25:00.000-06:00

A night at church to celebrate the Christmas season!

Hope sang "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". Her voice has really come out of its shell and is being used for God's glory.

The Forsman Kids playing and singing "Away in a Manger". Ben did a wonderful job at singing his solo!

Hope and Abby have been gifted with a wonderful musical talent to bless others!

The Wurdemann Family singing "Go Tell it in the Mountain"

The Wilson family - including the recently engaged Nathan and Andrea :)

"Christmas Tree Fun"

2007-12-05T21:07:00.001-06:00

Brrr! It didn't take long to decide on the perfect Christmas tree in below zero weather.

Some of us were not as adventurous and did not brave the cold.

Everyone liked decorating the tree.

Ta-da! Magnificent! We didn't even have to cut a hole in the ceiling!

It was a blast! We had Christmas music and hot cocoa too, which added the final touch to the beginning to a great Christmas.

Thanksgiving Memories ~

2007-11-29T22:27:00.000-06:00

We had a great Thanksgiving this year! Lots of friends and family!

Stephanie came home from school in Indianapolis and Camille called us from Taiwan.

The Wurdemanns and Foley Forsmans joined us for Thanksgiving!

There was a whole bunch of food and plenty to spare afterwards. The Wurdemanns brought over "raw" food to add a variety to our flavorful Thanksgiving meal. We also had a large turkey, which was not raw. :) Dad thought it would be better to cook the turkey.

Hope and Hailey.

Abby and Hannah.

The Best part of the meal was the pies afterwards! Mom baked a pumpkin pie, Abby baked a apple pie, and Stephanie baked a harvest pie.

They all tasted great!

Look at all these hungry boys! However, by the end of the day they were full.

Bible Quizzing: Galatians 1-6

2007-11-06T11:14:00.000-06:00

Hi peoples! We have just recently finished our first quiz of the year. It was on Galatians 1 through 6. We had a really great time. We have three different teams for our church: Juniors, JR/Seniors, and Senior. This first quiz was at Chisago Lakes ev. free church in Lindstrom/Chisago. Here is my team, the JR/Seniors, praying before we begin our quiz. We always pray before we quiz against a team. The team we quizzed against first was Maple Grove (we won!). Here, again, is my team. We are still quizzing against Maple Grove. We actually have six people on our team this year, but Chris "quizzed out (the good way)" and so we had five people left. Our team consists of Chris W, Josie O, Marie L (new), Amanda L(new), Josh W, and Myself. And here is our pretty much Sr. Senior team. Everyone who is on this team is either graduating this year or next year. This team consists of Jeff W (sr.), Tim W(sr.), Libby N, Beth L, and Kyle O (new).

Here is our Junior team! Don't they look great? This team consists of a lot of new people. Maggie S, Baily O (new), Abbi F (new), Ben R (relatively new), and Ben W (new). Ben wasn't their because he had boys choir practice with the MN orchestra. Hopefully he will be able to join us next time.

The Juniors take quizzing extremely seriously; especially the girls...

We Seniors tend to take things a little more tensely, since we know what were doing...

Okay...well, maybe quizzing isn't all seriousness, or tenseness for that matter. Well, that's quizzing for you. Our next quiz is on November 17th, at Grace ev. free church in Fridley.

*Thanks Bob (or was it Bill) who took all of these pictures and sent them to me! Great job!

Anyone for Coffee?

2007-10-24T21:07:00.000-05:00

~Sacred Grounds Espresso Cafe~ Hey everyone! I have recently finished a doing a gig with Josie Olson and my sister Abbi. Josie and I have done it before, but I must say that this was the totally funnest one ever! First off, Abbi got to play with us on a couple songs...Abbi was really amazing. She pretty much had a week to practice and she did incredibly awesome! Josie and I played for the rest of the gig. We had loads of fun and the funny thing was: I wasn't nervous! I really enjoyed playing for all those people!

And then we began to take special guests. Abbi and I were just going to play a couple jigs, because Josie and I felt we were running out of "planned" songs, when Nathan Wilson comes in. I randomly invited him to come up and play mandolin with us and he did! It was really fun and Abbi did really well for a "first-time-right-on-the-spot" playing.

Josie also sang one of her own songs she recently wrote called: "And I." It is a very pretty song and i was excited by the fact that I had a mandolin to do a little back grounding in her song.

Josie also played with a friend of hers, Dan. They did really well for not have practiced. It was really great to be able to play for people and have them actually enjoy the music. We played various songs. From Howie Day's "Collide", to Carrie Underwood's "So Small;" it was a big variety of songs. We had a lot of fun playing and will hopefully be doing it again this Christmas. I will be updating soon with other things also, so be prepared. ~Hope :)

Things to Do...

2007-10-16T22:29:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. A lot of things have been going on this week. First off, we made cookies for Elva Kaffe at our church. It is a kind of festival for Scandinavian people in the area. Here is a picture of Grandpa and Abbi doing some cookies. And here are Noah and Ben decorating cookies. Mom kind of got in the picture (oops!) and I forgot to crop it before I downloaded it. Noah and Ben did a great job.

Elliott was a great help also. He is a great cookie decorator, even though he prefers eating them over decorating. :)

And, as always, there was a frosting fight. This one was pretty much between Grandpa and Abbi, though. I was spared because I had the Camera. Lucky me!

I will be blogging pictures of the actual Elva Kaffe soon. So keep looking! ~Hope

Fun at the Forsman's

2007-10-10T10:28:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. This is a picture of Ben, who has lost his two front teeth. He actually lost them a week ago, but I haven't really been on lately. (oops)

And here is Abby with her chocolate bar. I couldn't resist taking a picture of her like this! And yeas, the chocolate did come off!

Elliott loves chocolate, too! It got kind of messy in the car, but it was so worth the moment! This happened on the way home from REI in Minneapolis.

Look at Elliotto's big lips!! Wow. Goofing around at the Forsman's during school can get pretty interesting.

And now, for another Birthday!!! We can never have to many of those, right?

Happy Birthday Mom! Here she sits with Daddy and Elliott opening her gifts. Dad was able to take her out later that night for dinner while I watched the kid's. She had a great day.

Well, hopefully I will be able to blog again soon! Next time it will probably be for quizzing.

School Days and A Birthday

2007-10-04T12:16:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! So, here are some things that we have been doing lately.

Mom and the boys have recently finished a Hosta garden. They had to go into the back field and get ceder chips in the truck. The boys were a big help.

Here is a picture of the host garden. No, this is not all they did. They made a really nice one that took a lot of hard, dedicated work to get done. I remember this summer, all of us kids had to move rocks up our sledding hill (phew)! And they were big rocks, too!

Noah has also been busy with things. He has been a little chef in the kitchen. Here he is with some of his Jelly's. I am pretty sure they were from Chestnut Crabs that we got from Applecrest. It is really good jelly; especially if you put in on his home-made bread!

And here is Noah climbing the rocks at REI in Minneapolis, MN. We had a lot of fun there. Benji also climbed the rocks but mom accidental pushed "record" instead of "automatic." oops! I will try to get a picture of him next time!

Now for those who don't know, my birthday is today. I turned 15. Here is a picture of me with my "Shakespeare" and some of my gifts...Notice the new mandolin strap that is "leather" and not "hay twine." Mom and Dad got me a new strap for my mandolin. I was pretty excited about that. I also got some very cool gifts from my siblings. They are all so great!

And here is a card that I got from my cousins. I think it is the best birthday card I have ever received! It is also the biggest card. They all wrote me a little something. They are so sweet!
It has been a really great day and tomorrow we are having a party over here. No, its not for me. We are having a guest speaker, Hank Thompson, come over and talk. He is a missionary to Thailand and does street witnessing in St. Cloud when he is in Minnesota. He is a very amazing speaker and I am looking forward to his talk. I will blog about that later, though. Bye! ~Hope

Working at Applecrest Orchard

2007-09-24T11:13:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! Mom, Abbi and I (Hope) have started a job

at an apple orchard. It has been good so far. I usually work

in the store while mom and Abbi bag apples. We have a lot

of fun working there and some great people to work with.

Here is a picture of some "Haralson" apples.
The orchard has over 20 different varieties

of apples, so it's hard to remember which one is which.

Each one has a different taste from another. My favorite's are
"Sweet Sixteen" and "Honeycrisp."

Here is a picture of me and Emily. She is a very brilliant girl and I love working with her! She is amazing at math and a great help when it comes to big orders. This is our boss, Dave Gratezer. He is really great and helps us out if we get stuck. Here he is using the "apple-wash."This is Amanda Gratzer and her little girl Sylvia. Sylvie has so much hair. She is the cutest little baby! Amanda is a big help. She will make sure we have everything we need for work.

Here is Abbi and I playing our instruments during our break. And yes, Abbi is playing my guitar ("Grandpa") and I am playing my new, Savannah mandolin ("Shakespeare"). I have only been playing for less than a week and here we played for people. Someone actually did a jig while we played! It was pretty exciting.

I will be updating again very soon! I have to finish off my homework now. ~Hope :)

Quizzing has started!

2007-09-21T13:03:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, now that school has started, quizzing has now begun, too! This is my favorite time in school year. You not only get to see all of your great friends that you don't see during the summer, but we also get to study God's word. This year we are doing five books. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. It could get interesting this year. Here is Mrs. Wilson asking us all some questions.

And here is Jeff Walburg, being all studious. He actually doesn't study like this (though I wouldn't be surprised), I just had him pose for me. :)

And here is Josh W. and Chris Walburg. They were conferring on either how many questions they got right or how many mistakes I made in the quiz test. oops!

This was Ben Wilson's first year at quizzing. He did pretty good the first night. I guess he really likes taking on the roll of Jessica and Tim(our hero's of quizzing:) He is somewhat shy and so he hid behind his book (I will get a better picture of him later).

We also have some really new quizzer's. Kyle and Bailey O'Brien. It is so much fun to have new people on the team! Then they get to continue quizzing even when we senior quizzer's graduate! I am sure that this will be a great quiz year and that we will all learn a lot from God's word. ~Hope :)

School Is Back...

2007-09-15T20:40:00.000-05:00

So school is back...well, it has actually been going on for

Two weeks here. But it is back. Here are some things we

have been up to...

Here are the boys eating the rest of the honey in the bucket. We were studying honey last week and found that if you bother bee's to much they might sting. ouch. But the honey was still very good.

Here is Benny Bear, being a studios little bear and doing his report on bee's. He is drawing a beautiful picture of a bee in this picture. It turned out very well.

This is Noah and Ben playing farm with a farm set I haven't seen for a while. They were having so much fun I just had to go and take a picture of them.

And here is our teacher and mother, posing next to her cool sunflower's. They kind of wacked out this summer, and now they make a cool shape. As you can see, coconut loved getting hie picture taken too, so thats why he's there:)

I am sorry for not blogging sooner. I tried, but I accidently deleted it all! So after I got over the shock of that, I have now done it succefully. I will write again soon, though. ~Hope :)

"Tour de Duluth"

2007-08-28T16:45:00.000-05:00

Seven Bikers - 95 miles - One Big Adventure

We couldn't have done it without the guys. They were such troopers in hauling all the luggage.

It was a perfect weekend! Willard Munger trail is a well kept, enjoyable trail with beautiful scenery.

Jay Cooke State Park was a beautiful camping spot.

There's nothing like a good pair of comfy shoes. However, after being in the sun, I now have tan stripes on my feet. :)

It was nice to take off our shoes and dip our toes in the water.

This may seem unbelievable, but these signs aren't just to laugh at. Josh was actually hit by a deer! - seriously.

The rest of our families met us up in Duluth, where we had a lovely time walking the lake shore.

The guys (including dads) had a blast jumping into Lake Superior. It was not only cool to watch, but "cool" doing it. In fact, they said afterwards that it was freezing. :)

Here goes Dad and Dr. Pete!

And here is their cheering squad...

Nothing ends a busy weekend better than a couple of pizzas -

We are going to make this an annual bike trip. It was so much fun and a great way to end the summer!

Lazy Rainy Days...

2007-08-21T09:26:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it's nice just to take a nap,

with a nice cup of chai tea.

And do the dishes with Hope : )

Along with having a cup or two of Caribou coffee!

What We've Been Up To...

2007-08-16T21:47:00.000-05:00

Sorry that it has taken so long to update! My camera broke! :(

However, that has not stopped us from having fun...

Our new favorite swimming hangout is the St. Croix River.

Indian weekend with the cousins was a blast!

Everyone loved the cooked food over the fire.

Us foreigners were pretty scared of these little warriors.

Big Kid Triathlon!!!

2007-07-29T13:39:00.000-05:00

7am sharp - 1,300 triathletes

Our relay time: 2hours 12minutes

Mom is cruising on the bike trail.

Stephanie comes in strong crossing the finish line...

Libby is going all out...

Dr. Pete is steadily running with Josh only yards behind...

How do we feel after the event? - GREAT!

Kids Triathlon!!!

2007-07-28T12:57:00.000-05:00

And they're off...

Athletic Abbigale has been waiting a whole year for this event!

A final burst of energy before crossing the finish line.

Noah is coming out fast from the swim...

Go Noah!!!

He's a quick runner!

Look at Ben go!

Biking Ben...

A battle to the finish line!

What a workout! Phew!

Abbigale and Ben both received 2nd place in their age categories!!! Congratulations!

Way to go team!

"Girls Seminar"

2007-07-21T06:47:00.000-05:00

Jeanie and I were matching leaders on team seven : )

This team had a lot of energy, especially since Hope & Abby were on it.

Afterwards the staff celebrated Amy's 25th birthday with a surprise party!

"Life on a Farm"

2007-07-20T09:49:00.000-05:00

Having fun bottle feeding the calf's.

Our new friend from Moldova.

Look at these tandem riders.

Our farm is under high security with these tough guys.

Bedtime Story

2007-07-16T08:56:00.000-05:00

Reading around the fire.

While getting a massage.

Moo!

2007-07-11T00:31:00.000-05:00

We have 3 new additions!

Aren't they cute...

They are called Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

Haying in the Heat...

2007-07-09T10:54:00.000-05:00

Up, up, and away!

Wow! Hope's even sweating!

Look at those muscles after 500 bales.

There's nothing like a good swim after a hard days work.