The First Half of November

Can you believe I made fresh salsa from garden ingredients on Nov. 3rd?

I took Anne, Catherine, Dominic, and their cousins to the Young People's Concert.

Not long after, cousins came for a sleepover!

On a nice Monday in November, we had a picnic lunch after school.

Joseph sips his fruit drink, a special treat.

Catherine enjoying the day.

Anthony found something funny.

One of Dominic's famous faces.

Twins!

Cool mileage on the old mini-van.

I found a new recipe for pizza bread sticks and boy, were they good!

One Saturday night we went to Krispy Kreme.

Scarfing down doughnuts!

Anthony heard the music and started to dance.

This 36-second video of Anthony putting on a show cracks me up.  It starts a little blurry, but gets better after a couple of seconds.

Pizza Picnic Party!

One weekend evening in mid-August, we had an impromptu pizza picnic out by the clubhouse. 

Dominic and Anne liked this idea.

The kids all went up on top of the clubhouse to eat their pizza.

Except for Anne.  She hung out on the hammock.

Biscuit, the dog, had to be chained up during this time.

Anthony comforted her.

Boy and his dog.

Then he went off to climb.

Anthony is a very good climber.

Then we went off to the "tree house."

Their tree house is a small clearing in the midst of a bunch of trees and bushes growing close together.

It is hard for adults to go in and out, hence the great appeal.

Time to trim a few trees, so the path is clear.

Catherine

Joseph

Lego Club, Picnic, and Playtime

One late afternoon at the end of April, I took the kids to Lego Club at the library.  While the big kids built their creations, Anthony and I hung out in the library. 

He got the computer all to himself.

After a while, we went to check on the big kids.  The theme of the day was Space Stations.

Anne with her creation.

Joseph worked on finding just the right pieces.

Catherine and Dominic built one together.

When Lego Club was over, I took the kids across to the picnic area so we could eat our picnic dinner.  They had swimming lessons an hour and a half later, so I wanted to just stay in town.  The kids loved eating dinner at the park.

Chicken pasta salad in a cup!

Then we had some time at the playground:

The big spider web contraption is very popular.

Anthony got the hang of it.

He was very proud of himself.

Big enough for everyone.

Upside down Anne.

March Happenings

Dan got the kids a bow and arrow set in March and set up a target for them to shoot at.  Of course, there were some safety rules set!  We've got a couple kids getting rather good at shooting arrows. 

Anne collected arrows, while Catherine helped keep Anthony away.  The girls also took turns shooting arrows.

Ready!

Aim!

Fire!

One day in March, I made a cranberry apple pie, using fresh berries.  It was delicious, and almost tasted like apple and cherry.

The girls have been learning how to do plastic canvas work in their faith formation class held once a month, and in March I helped all of the girls work on making crosses (I'm one of their teachers).  Here is one that Catherine made:

One evening in March, it was so nice out, that rather than interrupt the fun times outside, we had a dinner picnic on the deck. The first picnic dinner of the year!

Leftover homemade pizza and salad.

We got a stack of trays from Dan's brother (thanks!).  They used to belong to a school, and will now be very handy for eating outside!

In late March, my sister and her family came for an overnight visit.  My nephew, William, had won first place at the Greater Kansas City Science Fair, so he got to go to the State Science Fair, which was held in Wichita.  He takes after his aunt, of course! :)  Part of the science fair was on a Friday evening, and the rest on Saturday morning.  

Three of my sister's kids stayed to play Saturday morning, while their big brothers and parents went to the science fair.

It was Clara's third birthday, so we made some cupcakes.  All the kids helped put on the frosting.

Anthony likes cupcakes.

The two three year olds, born two weeks apart.

 We all had a fun visit.  It was great to see all of the cousins playing together!