The Rest of June

This is what happens when you mix up your mulberry muffin batter a little too much.

Ice cream!

Some friends of ours who moved away a year or so ago came back to the area for a visit at the end of June.  We hosted a small gathering at our house for lunch one day and we were very happy to get to see them.

My friend and one of her baby boys.

Catherine with the other baby boy!

The three amigos (with photo bombers in the back).

Joseph, especially, had been missing his buddy.

Our first cucumber harvest of the year.

Peaches from one of the trees near the garden.

Ending June with more ice cream!

Miscellaneous May

One day, while Catherine and I were walking laps on our property, we found this little guy making his way down to the pond:

A tiny turtle!

After admiring it, Catherine carried it to the pond, where it quickly slid into the water.

After the end of studying The King of the Golden City, Catherine made this lovely cake:

She decorated it herself.

Luscious strawberries began to appear:

Their new location near the house helped greatly.

Oh, that looks yummy!

At the end of a semester of art class, we celebrated with doughnuts:

They were enjoying this immensely.

Anne and Catherine showed off their final art project.

We saw some cool storm clouds while driving one day:

We stopped on the side of the country road to take the picture.

All of the kids got to do Lego Club:

Anthony, Catherine, Joseph, and Dominic showed off their creations.

Anne

This was Anthony's first time participating and he was so proud to put his creation in the display case at the library!

We met friends at the playground one day:

It was a game of chase!

Full-speed ahead.

Dominic took a break with a friend.

We go to the playground and what do the boys do?  Climb trees!

Girl hug!

We had two little cousins over for a couple days:

They checked out the chickens.

They climbed the hay bales.

They went for a ride in the big, yellow wagon.

Courtesy of Anne and Anthony.

Balthaser and Anthony had a sword fight.

They did each other in.

One day, we used another set of Braum's Book Buddies rewards:

Ice cream is good, very, very good.

Celebrating the Solemnity of the Annunciation

This is what happens...

...when you try to get 5 rowdy boys...

...to take a picture.  Dog pile!

Girls are much more civilized!  :)

After pizza and playground came ice cream.

What a fun time with friends!

A Sum Up of September

Our mama cat had another litter of kittens in August, but this time just two kittens, both of whom have so far survived.  I finally got around to taking pictures in early September. 

Catherine with Smoky, Anne with Velvet.

They are awfully cute!

The twins with Smoky.

Anthony carrying Velvet in his hat.

We picked a ton of tomatoes in September:

Here are a few of them.

Dan solved our desk dilemma by custom building two desks, one for Dominic and one for Joseph.  He built them in one weekend, I might add!  Each one is mounted to the wall and has a shelf.  They love having their own space!

Dominic is proud of his new desk.

 Notice the boys are separated by a bookshelf.  That has worked wonders to minimize distractions, as has facing the wall!

Catherine still has the same desk, but is in a new location.  I don't have a picture, but Anne and Anthony now share a long table.

 Towards the end of September, my brother, a priest and chaplain in the Air Force, came to our house one evening for dinner and visiting.  He is currently stationed at an Air Force base in Germany, but came back to the United States for a Convocation with his fellow Kansas City diocesan priests.  The Convocation was held in Wichita, lucky for us! 

The kids were excited to see Uncle Father Brian.

I was glad they got to spend some time with him.

I think they wore him out!

Later that week, Catherine did a science project which involved dissection. 

Dissection of flowers!

Our mini-van hit 100,000 miles in September!

The kids got to use their free ice cream cone coupons from the summer reading program at the library.

Yummy!

My aunt and godmother died in September and I was able to make it to Kansas City for her funeral.  I will always remember the picture I saw of my Aunt Barbara standing triumphantly at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, at the age of 68!!  After the funeral I spent some time visiting with lots of relatives.

My dad, third from the left, with two of his brothers and his remaining sister.