Pictures From Dominic and Anne's Birthday

Nine years old!

Anne with her horse cake.

Dominic chose a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, with chocolate sprinkles and chocolate and white chips on top.

Cake after a Pad Thai lunch.

Anne with her much longed-for unicorn Dream Lite.

Dominic got a new watch.

New binoculars to go bird-watching.

A helmet for backyard baseball.

A sewing kit of her very own!

Remote-control helicopter, just what he always wanted.

Friendship bracelet-making kit.

Baseball pitchback net.

Anne got right to work sewing up a hole in one of her stuffed animals.

Grandma with the twins.

Grandma and Uncle Joe were here for the weekend, so they got to join in on the birthday fun.

In the afternoon, Daddy took the twins to ride Go-Karts.

Dominic on blue, Anne on green.

This time Dom on green, Anne behind.

They loved it.

Then came some fun at the arcade.  They had a great birthday!

A Graduation Party

Dan's niece and goddaughter, Faith, graduated from high school in May, and we went to her graduation party one Saturday afternoon.

Faith and her godparents, Dan and Laurie.

Aloysius, Joseph, and Dominic chow down.

Fr. Sam Pinkerton, Dan, and Anthony.

Brenda, my sister-in-law, decorated the place beautifully.  The picture is of Faith graduating from kindergarten.  (Anthony had swiped the missing cupcake.)

Freddie's Frozen Yogurt was there.  Yum!

Anthony and Grandma.

Faith with parents and godparents.

Outside fun.

Michael, Kayden, and Evelyn.

Trouble times four!  (They told me later they were looking at a toad.)

Catherine and Daddy.

A Wedding and a Party

Two days after Christmas, we went to the wedding of Dan's cousin's daughter.  Dan and his cousin are actually double cousins: their moms, sisters, their dads, brothers.  His cousin and family attend the same church as we do, so we see them frequently and it was his oldest daughter, Sarah, who got married.  I actually knew Sarah and her family before I even knew Dan, as her father is a doctor, and I got involved in the Catholic doctors' group he ran when I first came to Wichita for the second half of medical school. 

Sarah, the beautiful bride, processed in on the arm of her father.

Sarah's new husband, Alex, is in the Air Force. He met my brother, Fr. Brian, when they both were deployed in the middle east. 

Party time!

Anthony and Aloysius, double trouble.

Isabella tried to get Catherine to come dance with her.

The day after the wedding, we had a get-together at our house before the travellers went back home.

Dan and his brothers, Al, Chuck, and Joe.

Grandma Brungardt and her sons.

Grandma with our kids and Al's kids.

We gave our little goddaughter, Evelyn, a Christmas gift.  Faith, on her right, got one from Dan, her godfather.

Catherine got a gift from her godfather, Uncle Al.

Evelyn made a very cute ballerina!

Early December

The annual take the nativity scene to the front yard ride.

At the right spot.

Biscuit came to check it out.

The kids were all invited to a birthday party at Pump It Up.  Needless to say, they were thrilled.

Anne and Catherine paused for a picture.

Heading up the big slide.

All the party kids.

With the very sweet birthday girl.

A picture of two of our Advent traditions, one old, one new.  We have had the magnetic Advent calendar for a long time.  Each day you open a door and add a piece to the nativity scene.  As you can see, one of the kids has put a shepherd up on top of the roof.  The two items in front were something new for 2013.  I've been wanting to have a manger to which the kids add a straw every time they do a good deed/make a sacrifice.  I mentioned this to the kids and the girls took the idea and ran with it, covering a shoe box in brown paper and cutting many lengths of yarn for hay.  And boy did I like it, even though it does not look fancy at all.  I had kids asking me many times, "What can I do for you, Mommy?"  I could use a box like this all year!

We celebrated St. Nicholas' feast day with little gifts and chocolate coins.

Chocolate coins, oh yeah!

Each child got a set of St. Therese sacrifice beads that they can clip onto their pants.

Anthony dug right into the chocolate, of course.

Coin eyes!

A picture of some of the potato pancakes I made, using up our Thanksgiving mashed potatoes:

Yummy!