Joseph Received His Second Sacrament

On March 11, 2015, Joseph was ready to make his First Confession.

In he went to the confessional.

He was so happy afterwards, he came out running and grinning!

He prayed his penance.

Joseph and Fr. Pat York, our pastor.

Celebration time!

Shakes to share.

What a great day!

Zoo in March

Anthony on a donkey in the Children's Farm.

Kids brought their own cameras today.  Joseph borrowed Dominic's.

Anne goes for a ride.

Boys with the pig.

It's great when you can pet the animals.

Anthony found a new friend.

Neat picture of turtles taken through glass.

Who says homeschool kids don't know how to stand in line?

Checking out the anaconda.  I'm glad it's behind glass!

The giraffe got a bite with its eyes closed!

Anne took some notes.

The boys in a rare still moment.

Caught napping.

Those girls.

Watching the work on the new elephant exhibit.

That was as interesting as the animals!

The zebra is one of Anne's favorites.

African Painted Dog.

The kids always have fun at the zoo!

Goodbye for now.

Full of February

The kids watched as Joseph made "sedimentary rock" for school.

A fun, yummy way to learn!

After one of Dominic's basketball games, we went to a nearby park to play.

The kids played tag with Daddy, among other games.

The kids and I waiting for a table at Sumo.

We were celebrating our 12th anniversary.

Onion volcano!

Anthony wanted to peel the potatoes one night for dinner and this was the result.

One weekend, we had two little cousins come to stay.

Little Balthaser had fun dressing up in all the superhero costumes.

We made snow ice cream while they were here.

Movie time!

Uncle Al bribed Joseph with two bags of candy to let him pull his two front teeth.

Basketball for Dominic

Dominic had been asking to play basketball, and we had seen him practicing outside, shooting baskets by the hour, day after day, for a long time.  So I signed him up for the winter session at the YMCA.  I was a little apprehensive for him, as he was 9, playing for the first time.  He was good at shooting baskets, but learning how to play the game is a different story. 

It was so much better than I expected.  First of all, he got put on a team with a coach who was more concerned with teaching the boys how to play and making sure they enjoyed it than he was with winning.  Secondly, the boys on his team were good kids, nice and fun to be around.  Even though they had all played together for a couple of years, they readily accepted Dominic as one of them.  One interesting thing was that there were three brothers on his team who were part of a set of quadruplets!

It took Dominic a couple of games to get the hang of it, and then he improved greatly over the course of the season.  He practiced constantly, on his own and with Daddy, and then once a week with his team.  His team won a few games, Dominic learned lots of new skills, and he had a great time.  I call the experience a success!

Ready to play, Dominic was #20 in white.

Under the basket, ready for the rebound.

Getting instruction from the coach.

Dominic in center of picture, waiting for his teammate to bring the ball down.

Dominic and his team.

January Jumble

Eating lunch at Spangles with Grandma Brungardt.

First attempt at making bagels.

No prizes for looks, but they tasted good.

One day when I was making bierocks, Anthony had to make his own little one.

Yum!

January saw Shocker Mania coming on strong at the Brungardt household.

Dan took Joseph and Dominic to a Shockers game and they were thrilled!

Boys in front of Charles Koch Arena on the WSU campus.

At the end of January, my sister-in-law took the big kids to the Young People's Concert and all the little ones stayed with me.

Joseph was the "big" kid, so he helped me watch the little ones.

The old, decrepit swing set survived another round of play.

Little Balthaser ready for action!

Fun with friends at the park.