Quarintined

Ug.  Nicholas got a very impressive case of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease.  He had spots EVERYWHERE but especially concentrated on his feet and hands.  It lasts 7-10 days and you're contagious for two years but it doesn't make you feel very sick.  He ran a fever one day and didn't sleep for two nights and then he felt fine but we had to stay home anyway.  Okay, maybe you're not contagious for two years but for up to three weeks after the spots go away or some such nonsense.  So don't hug and kiss him till he's five, just to be safe.

The big kids had it five years ago so thankfully they were immune.

Summer Time!!!

We started some projects!  I'm teaching those little two hour classes again this summer so we're trying out some of the things I have planned.  Thank goodness we tried the dinosaur hat Philip is wearing!  Super cool finished product but even Julia struggled to complete it independently.  Guess it's getting taken out of the plans for the class that includes 4 year olds!

Pelicans at the lake!  We took our binoculars and enjoyed a walk across the break water dam.

In my quest to teach each of my children at least a week's worth of home made meals I've decided that this summer, twice a week, one kid is in charge of dinner.  That means they will have about two turns a month.  (Nick doesn't get his own night but he did proudly make his famous fruit salad one night when I made dinner.  He's our fruititarian.  What else would you expect him to make?)  I have a planning chart for them to fill out so they can decide what they want to make and so that we have the right groceries and I'll help where necessary but overall they are in charge.

Julia was first and she made ham and cheese sliders.  We make them on regular size buns because we have a lot of hungry boys.

 Philip chose to make cheeseburgers.

Both meals were very tasty and even though I helped quite a bit, it was really great all day not to have to think about what I was making for dinner.  It's kind of like have two nights off!  Samuel and Thomas are on deck for this week.

Samuel's Last Day

Samuel had a week more of school than the rest of the kids.  I think it's because junior high is required by the state to have more hours than elementary.  Anyway, Samuel is lobbying to add two minutes to each class period everyday so they can be done the same time as elementary.  Good luck buddy.

First Day of 7th grade.

Last Day of 7th grade.

Nope.  I changed my mind.  I don't like this set of comparison pictures!  If I delete them he won't have grown up so much, right?

Cleveland

Jeremy and I took a trip to Cleveland. Why Cleveland?  There's a headache clinic there we visited.  The doctor had a couple ideas for Jeremy to try for his face pain.  Why did no one in Nebraska think of these ideas?  I don't know.  But we made the most of it and had some fun too.

We took a dinner cruise on Lake Erie.  It was a beautiful night.  80 degrees so perfect on the water.

This lifting bridge was cool and had to go up for us.

We saw the botanical gardens.

 This chandelier was just a block up from where we stayed.

 We flew home through a storm so it was a bit bumpy.  Glad I took my Dramamine!

We did some other stuff too but didn't take many pictures.

First Day and Last Day

Julia first day/last day

Philip  first day/last day

  Thomas first day/last day

 Nicholas  first day/last day

No, I didn't forget Sam.  He's not done until tomorrow.

Last Day!

May 11th for Nicholas.

May 12th for Thomas, Julia and Philip.  Julia, Philip and Nicholas did our traditional crepe paper trail and found silly string which they'd never experienced before.

Thomas skipped the paper trail and did this instead.  It was his idea.  He ate his bread sticks from his field trip to the bakery, drank some root beer he had from Easter and sat in the yard with this sign.

Here comes summer!

Spring Concerts

I missed Nicholas's 15 minute end of year program by accidentally scheduling my CCD end of the year Mass at the same time.  Apparently I didn't miss much of him singing, he mostly just stood there.

And here's Samuel's vocal concert.  They sang about 5 minutes at the beginning of an hour and a half program.  And it didn't start until 7:30.  Then it started 10 minutes late.  And we brought all the kids.  Really, what are we, rookie parents?  Never again.

Thank goodness Thomas doesn't play a fingered instrument.  He started playing again the week before the concert and was very happy.

Samuel's junior high band sounded nice too.  And we brought two cars.

They were all very nice concerts.  Good job boys!

Not What I Imagined

I always wanted my kids to write a string of letters and then tell me what it said.  Nicholas is the first to do it.  And this is what he wrote and told me.

Boys.

Field Trips

I went with both Julia and Philip on their spring field trips.

Julia came in first in bowling!

Philip was super excited to climb this wall.  I don't have a picture of him at the top because I was taking a video.

We had lots of fun!

Confirmation Party

Since Confirmation was on a Monday night we saved the party for the next weekend. 

We got Samuel a book about his saint, St. Junipero Serra and a cross from one of the California missions my family and I visited when I was younger.  Since St. Junipero started most of the California missions I assume it's from one he founded but don't remember for sure.

Thomas got a statue of his saint, St. Christopher and a daily prayer book from us.

Congratulations Samuel Joseph Junipero Serra!
Congratulations Thomas Leonard Christopher!

Confirmation

Samuel and Thomas were confirmed May 1st.  Which was cool because we count May 1st, feast of St. Joseph the Worker, as Sam's feast day.   (St. Joseph also has a feast day on March 19th which is Jeremy's birthday so Jeremy gets that day.)

Our church hall is a crappy place to take pictures.  

 Samuel chose St. Junipero Serra as his saint and our friend Dave as his sponsor.  I found a surprising amount of stuff about St. Junipero even though he isn't a well known saint.  He evangelized California.  I forget all the reasons Samuel chose him; you'll have to ask him next time you see him.

Thomas chose St. Christopher for his saint and Uncle Logan as his sponsor.   St. Christopher is really well known but is so ancient that not a lot is known about his life.  Thomas liked what we do know about him though, especially that he wanted to serve the strongest person he could find and ended up deciding that was God.  There's more to the story so you can ask Thomas about it when you're done learning about St. Junipero.

Congratulations boys!  We pray you will use the gifts of the Holy Spirit to do what God plans for your lives and that you will always serve Him joyfully!
We love you!

Cat Love

This was prior to the cat's run in with a skunk.

We're avoiding him and airing out his house now.

DARE

Thomas graduated from Dare.  Yep, it's still around.

Spring Program

The kids put on a nice spring music concert as usual.

Thomas received a Superior for a trombone solo he played at the junior high music contest.  He received his award at the program.

Each group sang a different genre of music and dressed for that genre as well.  Julia's group was supposed to be in beach attire, what music genre does that match with?  I forget.

 Philip was supposed to wear bright colors to go with reggae.

And Thomas went as country western as he could.

Nice singing kiddos!

The Lake is Always Pretty

We enjoyed the non-rainy weather with a walk at the lake.

I think I told them to frown first but I don't really remember.