Receiving Our Lord for the first time.
Darren and Blase receiving Brown Scapulars.
Blase with Fr. Litzner
The whole family after Mass.
Blase with his cake...it was YUMMY!Monday, September 14, 2009
Blase's First Holy Communion
Receiving Our Lord for the first time. Darren and Blase receiving Brown Scapulars. Blase with Fr. Litzner The whole family after Mass.Blase with his cake...it was YUMMY!
First Day of School
August 31st was our first day of school. We usually start in July, but I am slow this year. So far things seem to be going good. The boys need a bit of encouragement to stay focused and I need an extra couple of hours a day. I hope to post a couple pictures a week of what we are working on. Oh wait - there's where the couple of extra hours a day comes into play.
More fun on Aug 12
After we visited Mount Rushmore we drove through the Black Hills, Custer State Park and onto visit the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs. Here those pictures...
the beautiful Black Hills
Pigtail Bridges (yes I took it while I was driving)
more trees
One of the tunnels we drove through. There is one tunnel that frames Mt. Rushmore just perfect, but we were going the opposite way to take a picture of it.
Blase and Stephen in the Black Hills
buffalo in Custer State Park
This one was close enough to spit on. It just stood there and didn't move.
Some of the Mammoth Site bones
more bones
listening to our tour guide
in the museum part of the tour
the beautiful Black Hills
Pigtail Bridges (yes I took it while I was driving)
more trees
One of the tunnels we drove through. There is one tunnel that frames Mt. Rushmore just perfect, but we were going the opposite way to take a picture of it.
Blase and Stephen in the Black Hills
buffalo in Custer State Park
This one was close enough to spit on. It just stood there and didn't move.
Some of the Mammoth Site bones
more bones
listening to our tour guide
in the museum part of the tourMt. Rushmore Aug. 12
While we were in South Dakota in August we visited Mt. Rushmore. Here are some pictures...
The whole gang of us that went. L to R Brech, me, Juliana (green shirt), Stephen, Christina (black shirt), Kaylene, Mauri, Rebecca, Blase and Andrew (red shirt). 
the boys and I
Kaylene, Blase and Stephen by the teepee.
They walked down and around the park a bit.
Stephen and Blase with Washington and Lincoln.
A well deserved rest in the shade!!
The whole gang of us that went. L to R Brech, me, Juliana (green shirt), Stephen, Christina (black shirt), Kaylene, Mauri, Rebecca, Blase and Andrew (red shirt). 
the boys and I
Kaylene, Blase and Stephen by the teepee.
They walked down and around the park a bit.
Stephen and Blase with Washington and Lincoln.
A well deserved rest in the shade!!Mark Park
These are some pictures from the Mark Park without any children. It had rained, so the ground is messy looking. I hear they have done more work to the front and planted some trees. How exciting!! I can't wait to see!
This is a picture of the sod farm with the Mark Park in the background.
Here is the swimming dam with the water fountain. There is also a fishing dam. I was told they dug a stream between the two dams and put a bridge across. That sounds impressive!
This is a picture of "Blase's Place". St. Blase is my little brother who died 25 years ago from SIDS. He was just a couple of months old. Mom came up with the idea of calling the little kids area Blase's Place to match the rhyme of Mark Park.
Here is the rest of the park. It has little swings, big swings, the pirate ship, teeter-totters, monkey bars off the slide play area. I am not sure what else they plan on adding later on. The grass is wonderful to walk in so the kids can play barefooted. There is blue chips around the play area, swings, teeter totter and ship. It looks like water around the pirate ship. The guys put in a "plank" to walk so you can jump from the pirate ship into the "water".
Close up of the slide/play area.
This is a picture of the sod farm with the Mark Park in the background.
Here is the swimming dam with the water fountain. There is also a fishing dam. I was told they dug a stream between the two dams and put a bridge across. That sounds impressive!
This is a picture of "Blase's Place". St. Blase is my little brother who died 25 years ago from SIDS. He was just a couple of months old. Mom came up with the idea of calling the little kids area Blase's Place to match the rhyme of Mark Park.
Here is the rest of the park. It has little swings, big swings, the pirate ship, teeter-totters, monkey bars off the slide play area. I am not sure what else they plan on adding later on. The grass is wonderful to walk in so the kids can play barefooted. There is blue chips around the play area, swings, teeter totter and ship. It looks like water around the pirate ship. The guys put in a "plank" to walk so you can jump from the pirate ship into the "water".
Close up of the slide/play area.Playing in the Park
We had a great time playing at the Mark Park back in August. Here are a few pictures the kids playing on August 11 and 13. They enjoyed the weather and the time with their aunts and uncles. They can't wait to go back again.
Rex, my brother Loman and Cormac playing in the park
Brech was TOO TIRED to play in the park.
Our friend Christina, Blase and my brother Andrew trying to take on water.
my brother Loman and Cormac
The boys playing in the little kids area.
My sister Kaylene and Rex playing in the sand
Rex on the Pirate Ship
Stephen and his sand and rock creation.Thursday, September 3, 2009
22 cups of Peppers
I thought I'd give you a quick peek into our week. I'm almost positive you haven't missed my posts, but I figured I'd let you know what I haven't posted lately.
Garden - Oh yes we have produce!! I cut and packaged 22 cups of peppers last night. That was just from 1 1/2 weeks of picking. Then there are the green beans. That is tonight's project. The tomatoes are going to all turn at the same time I have a feeling. Right now the vines are so full of tomatoes that they are falling over. The cucumbers aren't doing so hot, but I did gather enough this week to start a batch of refrigerator dill pickles. I even have just enough dill for that in the garden. The zucchini has been crazy (like always right?) so that is also a project for tonight. I haven't even had time to weed lately, but it looks ok. Some day, some how.
School - We started school this week. I had intended to post the picture of the boys on the first day. I will - soon. It has been a week and then some. Ok, so I haven't even finished the week and I'm already complaining. The one thing that does make me feel good is the subjects I "revamped" are working great and the boys love them. Its the ones that are the same old, just sit down and do it kind of work that are causing trouble. I need to rethink a few more subjects so that we can have less fights and more triumphants.
House - I have been doing a great job of keeping up on the house cleaning wise. I expect that comes from the high expectations I had for our first week of school. I am sure I will fall again and the house will be a mess sooner than later. I have also spent the afternoons (in-between vegetables) organizing our school room. I had wanted to relocate it to a bigger room and do some major changes, but I finally decided to keep it where it is. Darren doesn't have the time nor the patience to put up with my idea at the moment. SOOOooo in light of that decision I reorganized what I already have to work with. It looks great and I plan on posting pictures of my organizing project after the week is done. Darren has been building a deck on the back of the house. We had some dirt work done, now its time for a deck. I helped with the raking and sloping for a couple of nights. He's done great as last weekend there was just dirt and concrete footings. His goal is to have it finished by Saturday because.....
Family life - Because Blase will be receiving his First Holy Communion on Sunday. We are super excited and a bit scared. Yes I know its a great, holy and wonderful thing for everyone - but I can't help but be a bit afraid. Blase is our first, our baby if you will...and he's already big enough for First Communion??!!! Where did the time go?? Our job just got a bit harder - the stakes a bit higher - the joys one hundred fold!!!
Guests - It is only fitting that, for such an exciting moment, many of Blase's family will be attending. That means house guests. I'm so happy that they will be able to come. I think they will be coming in "waves". Today my sister Mauri, her boyfriend Peter, and brothers Adam and Andrew will be coming. Either tomorrow or Saturday my mom, dad, brother Loman and sisters Juliana and Kaylene will be coming. Someone had to stay home to watch the sod farm or work so my other brothers and families are not able to come. Then Darren's parents are coming on Friday, but they will be staying with Darren's sister. We are having a big party after Blase's First Holy Communion. I am lucky that our guests are bringing a lot of the food so that will be easier on us.
Well - that is a brief (yes it was brief) look into my week. Somewhere in there I had fiddle lessons, hair cuts for the boys and time to sleep. I hope to slow down next week and post pictures of our week(s).
Garden - Oh yes we have produce!! I cut and packaged 22 cups of peppers last night. That was just from 1 1/2 weeks of picking. Then there are the green beans. That is tonight's project. The tomatoes are going to all turn at the same time I have a feeling. Right now the vines are so full of tomatoes that they are falling over. The cucumbers aren't doing so hot, but I did gather enough this week to start a batch of refrigerator dill pickles. I even have just enough dill for that in the garden. The zucchini has been crazy (like always right?) so that is also a project for tonight. I haven't even had time to weed lately, but it looks ok. Some day, some how.
School - We started school this week. I had intended to post the picture of the boys on the first day. I will - soon. It has been a week and then some. Ok, so I haven't even finished the week and I'm already complaining. The one thing that does make me feel good is the subjects I "revamped" are working great and the boys love them. Its the ones that are the same old, just sit down and do it kind of work that are causing trouble. I need to rethink a few more subjects so that we can have less fights and more triumphants.
House - I have been doing a great job of keeping up on the house cleaning wise. I expect that comes from the high expectations I had for our first week of school. I am sure I will fall again and the house will be a mess sooner than later. I have also spent the afternoons (in-between vegetables) organizing our school room. I had wanted to relocate it to a bigger room and do some major changes, but I finally decided to keep it where it is. Darren doesn't have the time nor the patience to put up with my idea at the moment. SOOOooo in light of that decision I reorganized what I already have to work with. It looks great and I plan on posting pictures of my organizing project after the week is done. Darren has been building a deck on the back of the house. We had some dirt work done, now its time for a deck. I helped with the raking and sloping for a couple of nights. He's done great as last weekend there was just dirt and concrete footings. His goal is to have it finished by Saturday because.....
Family life - Because Blase will be receiving his First Holy Communion on Sunday. We are super excited and a bit scared. Yes I know its a great, holy and wonderful thing for everyone - but I can't help but be a bit afraid. Blase is our first, our baby if you will...and he's already big enough for First Communion??!!! Where did the time go?? Our job just got a bit harder - the stakes a bit higher - the joys one hundred fold!!!
Guests - It is only fitting that, for such an exciting moment, many of Blase's family will be attending. That means house guests. I'm so happy that they will be able to come. I think they will be coming in "waves". Today my sister Mauri, her boyfriend Peter, and brothers Adam and Andrew will be coming. Either tomorrow or Saturday my mom, dad, brother Loman and sisters Juliana and Kaylene will be coming. Someone had to stay home to watch the sod farm or work so my other brothers and families are not able to come. Then Darren's parents are coming on Friday, but they will be staying with Darren's sister. We are having a big party after Blase's First Holy Communion. I am lucky that our guests are bringing a lot of the food so that will be easier on us.
Well - that is a brief (yes it was brief) look into my week. Somewhere in there I had fiddle lessons, hair cuts for the boys and time to sleep. I hope to slow down next week and post pictures of our week(s).
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