Father's Day

So I missed Father's Day yesterday. Yah, that happens - I get busy and forget what I wanted to do. I did send Dad a gift and wish him Happy Father's Day (through Mom)...so I didn't forget completely. I'd like to share a few pictures of Dad and myself when I was just a wee thing.

Garden 2010

beans and peas

tomatoes, peppers, squash and pumpkins
onions and peas again

carrots, radishes, various other odds and ends

corn and cucumbers

strawberries

the end

Small Steps

I recently purchased the book Small Steps for Catholic Moms by Elizabeth Foss and Danielle Bean. The book is set up in a lovely format with a quote from a saint, a short pray and a suggestion for living out that quote or pray for every day of the year. Every month has a virtue to focus on. Since we are trying to practice charity this month, I skipped the June virtue of gentleness and moved right into August's virtue of charity.

It takes about 2 minutes to read each day's quote, pray and act. I am enjoying the simple, practical suggestions for acts of charity. There is also a nice variety of ideas focusing on various aspects of a Catholic mother's life.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, not just Catholic mothers. It is short, sweet and to the point. If you can spare 5 minutes a day, you will be blessed with many ideas to increase your spiritual life.

A big thank you to Mrs. Foss and Mrs. Bean! This is just what I needed to focus my day.

Bird egg

You know you are a homeschooling mother when:

on your way to the garden you notice a white bird's egg. The egg is crack and leaking out the yolk, but you still pick it up, empty it out and save it for your children.

More Family Pictures

I am finally posting the rest of the nice pictures from our family photo shoot back in November 2009. The first one is just Mom and Dad and their kids. The second is the whole famn damily.

June Prayers updated

This month's theme is Charity. I am focusing our attention towards practicing charity inside our family. I am a firm believer that you cannot practice true charity outside the home until you have attempted to master it inside the home. I am taking one aspect of charity every other day or so and teaching the boys about it. We are examining ourselves to see if we are practicing or lacking. Yesterday was "Charity with our mouths." They were required to only speak kindly about each other and to refrain from yelling at each other.

Other areas we will work on this month - charity with our minds (think kind things), charity with our hands and feet (helping each other), charity with our hearts (loving each other no matter what), charity in our prayers (praying for each other), charity with our belongings (sharing), and probably a few more days of charity with our mouths.

God's blessings to you all this June!!!

The Many Faces of Bear Butte

While I was in SD I took pictures of Bear Butte (just east of Mom & Dad's) at various times of the day and various days. This is what I managed to capture. I didn't realize how different Bear Butte could look. I hope you enjoy!

Rain in the distance.
Ummm, fog.

Not much sun.

Night, obviously. There is a light in the distance.

Snowing hard by Bear Butte.

missing the top

Lovely sunny day!

Clouds and a bit of sunshine.

Bear Butte with a hat of sorts.

Dark clouds means no fun for someone. Thank goodness we were having sun!

I love it when Bear Butte stands out.

Snow covered

Same day - snowing on half the butte.

Snowing on the other half of the butte.

The clouds were blowing up and around the top of the butte. I enjoyed watching them roll by.

Snowing by us, but not the butte this time. Yes this was all in April and May.

Bear Butte at sunset.

And finally just before sunrise.

I walked out onto the road in front of the house to get a good picture of the sun rising.

The sun just a bit higher.

This is what the butte looks like through Mom and Dad's picture window in the living room as the sun is coming up.

This is the stained glass angel that hangs in a window just above the big window.

This is what Brech and I look like when we wake up around 5 to take pictures of Bear Butte. :)

More Park Fun

Brech on one side...
and Pirate Cormac on the other side.

Stephen George - part monkey

Getting Up There

Our van has been across MN, WI, IL, IA, SD and various other places so many times that even I feel old. We bought the van used with 24,000 on it when Stephen was 3 weeks old. This is a picture of its mileage after roughly 7 years. 166,666 miles, picture taken near Quinn, SD.

Crazy Color Shirts

While we were back in South Dakota we attempted to tye dye a shirt for all the kids. We had a great time! I learned a lot about tye dye - it stains your fingers for quite awhile! The boys have worn their shirts many times since we have gotten home. I can't wait to try it again next year.

Jess and Sarah making Sarah's shirt.
Cormac wanted a green shirt with different colored spots.

Rex helping dye his shirt.

Loman and Jess working on his awesome shirt.

Twyla and Taylor created a 4th of July looking shirt for Taylor.

Stephen getting a helping hand from Jess (who was smart enough to wear gloves!).

Shelby did a great job on her shirt. She hardly needed any help.

I'm helping Shelby pick her colors. I was smart enough to wear gloves that time.

When Andrew gets a bit rowdy - we bring in the Enforcer! We were all laughing at Andrew. He had it coming!

The completed collection!