Pictures from John’s Birthday
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John Paul turned seven August 30th. This is the cake I made for him.
One of John’s gifts was a stuffed monkey. He made a jungle gym for it outside out of scraps of wood from things that Dad has built.
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John Paul
Corn Season
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It’s that time of the year again. Corn time is very welcome at our house, both by the eaters of corn, and the peelers of corn.
Joseph made himself very useful in peeling corn, as long as we could keep him from eating the corn after he peels it. :)
Joseph is working his best to get the last piece of corn husk off.
Alex loved this new game. He was very concerned that other people were peeling corn to fast and there wouldn’t be enough for him to peel.
Many hands make light work!
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Happy Fourth of July
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Happy Birthday America!
This Fourth of July, our family went to Dad’s parent’s farm to shoot off fire works. It was a good show, and though I can never capture the brilliance of fireworks, I did get a few good pictures.
Bad picture, cute subject.
We had water balloons to play with. I got completely drenched. Everybody was aiming for our grandpa. Landon eventually got him, but every time I threw a balloon at him, they rolled off his back. I needed to throw harder.
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The Zoo
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We went to the zoo last Saturday. It was extremely fun and interesting, for the zoo had added many new animals including peacocks, meerkats, and bats.
These peacocks are lovely, aren’t they?
This snow leopard decided to check Dad out.
This tiger doesn’t look very fearsome.
Joseph found some bird poop on the fence.
He accused this bird of doing it:
Now we were in the African Savannah.
These meerkats are the foraging team.
This meerkat has been assigned the job of keeping watch for predators.
This is the regal trumpeter swan.
The camel was chewing his cud.
King vultures are grotesque looking.
The mother gibbon is nursing her baby. Can you see it?
What good posture they have!
The mother gibbon is baring her teeth at the other gibbon for getting too close to her baby.
This swan does the same things Clover and Penelope do.
They have a really nice merry-go-round at the zoo. I helped Joseph
I can remember a few years ago, this baby rhino was nursing.
This is a huge stuffed walrus in the museum.
These are stuffed wolves. They did have live wolves in the zoo, but all the pictures turned out blurry. There were even pups.
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The Keebler Two
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It was the afternoon Monday, June 16. One moment I was planting tomatoes, and the next moment I was running around the house like crazy, getting ready to go chase Mr. Wilson’s balloon. A little while later, we were in the car driving to the park in Brandon where we would soon launch the balloon. For a detailed description of the launching process see http://sarah.frederes.com/2007/11/09/the-keebler/. This post will be mostly pictures. Mr. Wilson’s children, Jacob, Adam, and Anna joined us for this launching adventure.
It’s amazing to think that the huge balloon fits into this tiny bag. Well, at least the bag is tiny for the size of the balloon.
I caught Joseph in a cute yawn.
Setting up the basket.
Landon and Adam were assigned the job of getting the balloon out of the bag.
This is the fan.
Joseph observes the goings on.
Dad and another lady are holding open the balloon for the fan to blow into.
We aren’t the only ones setting up balloons.
Jacob and I are velcro-ing the top to the rest of the balloon.
Maria is going to try to hold the balloon steady until Jacob and I are done. I am not sure how much the balloon was pulling her, but it looks like the balloon is dragging her. Anna is behind Maria
The balloon is more rowdy this time than last time. It was swinging from side to side, and Jacob and I, who were now holding the rope Maria held earlier, did our best to steady it. Easier said then done.
Dad and Adam took a ride this time. He got into the basket, and it began to lift off the ground.
If you look closely, You can make out Dad’s hand waving at us in the car.
Night is falling, and it is time to land.
Maria and Anna climbed over the fence you can see in the picture to join Mr. Wilson and Dad. Unfortunately, they had a dilemma. Anna was caught on barbed wire by the seat of her pants. Landon climbed through waist-high grass to the girls, and he freed Anna.
Afterwards, we went back to the park. Mr. Wilson had cookies, carbonated juice, and champagne for the adults. The cookies were from the Keebler brand. Mr. Wilson explained the history of the hot air balloon.
A few hundred years ago, people noticed smoke rising upwards when fire burned. They also noticed that little bits of grass and sparks would be carried upward with the smoke. They wondered if they could harness the smoke and use it to carry people. They believed that the blacker the smoke, the more weight it could carry. So they would pour dirt, tar, and other black filth into the fire, and then they caught some of the smoke in a bag attached to a basket. Because of the hot air, the basket went up. Eventually, they sent up some farm animals inside the basket. They also put a bottle of champagne in the balloon to prove that the ballon wasn’t a dangerous animal from the sky, but was actually made by men from earth. Each bottle of champagne from France included the name of the town it was made in. To this day, people still take up a bottle of champagne with them to give to farmers as a gift for using their land to land the balloon.
Just before we left the park, I am pretty sure I heard a coyote howl. We ate Taco John’s for supper. and then it was time for bed.
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Belated Pictures
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Everything has been pretty dull around here for the past few days. Aside from watching our friends dog, (post about that soon), the first mow of the season, last ballet classes of the season, and making meals for a few families we know that just had a baby, nothing has been happening. Just wait a few days, then I will have drama camp and dance recitals to post about. So, I was looking at pictures I have from a long time ago, and I found these from Dad’s Birthday on May second.
I made this fancy three layer coca-cola cake and frosting myself.
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If You Wonder Why We Need Stitches…
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Landon took these pictures so they are quite dark. If you can make them out, these pictures of Landon and John playing speak for themselves. (From the third picture on the blurry thing is a pillow.)
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Not How I Planned on Spending the Evening
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May 1st was Ascension Thursday, so there was going to be a Mass at the Cathedral. It was sort of rainy and a little windy, but the last thing I expected was stormy weather. Landon was going to be an altar server, so he had to be at the church early. Because of this, Mom left to take him to the Cathedral as the rest of us were finishing supper. My job was to get the little ones cleaned up, and find their shoes and coats and put them on. In other words, they had to be ready to go to mass before Mom got back.
Shortly after Mom left, it started to pour. Torrents of rain fell down from the sky. A few minutes later, it stopped, instantly and completely. Thunder and lightening began to rumble and flash. Alexander was nervous and began to complain about ‘dee funder.’ Maria moaned, “I wish that there wasn’t going to be this really bad storm on the way to Mass.” I responded, “Oh Maria, This isn’t a bad storm. Really bad storms have big winds and hail and tornadoes. This is just a little shower that will help the plants grow.” “I know.” Maria whined, not convinced.
Mom would be home at any minute so I had to hurry I made sure everyone’s shoes were on, their coats found, and done with last-minute drinks and bathroom breaks. In no time, Mom had pulled up and everyone ran out to the car. I ran out last, only to turn around and run inside for Alex, who had had panicked halfway to the car and ran back into the house. I couldn’t convince him to walk with me to the car, so I picked him up and ran to the car, and we were on our way.
Halfway to Mass, my heart leaped as the tornado sirens began to wail. I bean to pray Hail Mary’s with Maria and Johnathan while Mom turned on the radio. We heard that the tornado was close to Harrisburg, a small town not far from Sioux Falls. It didn’t make me feel better that we were on the side of Sioux Falls closest to Harrisburg. Mom kept driving, but I half wondered if we should pull over, find a ditch, and lay down. It was a small comfort that we weren’t the only ones on the road at the time, and the cars next to us weren’t turning around and driving away at top speed.
After a few minutes, we reached the church. Mom called Dad on her cell phone, and he told her that Mass had been canceled and everyone was in the church basement. Mom told us to go inside and go to the basement, so I grabbed Alexander and ran to the door. Maria and Johnathan followed me. Maria was carrying Joseph, who was much to big for her to hold. When I got to the door, it was locked. That was not fun. It was raining, there was a tornado somewhere around, I was hearing a vacuum cleaner-like noise, (now I think it was the sound of a train or another siren being distorted by the wind,) and the door was locked. Mom caught up with us. When I told her the door was locked, she called Dad on the phone to ask him to come up and unlock the door from the inside. She couldn’t get a hold of him, so we ran to another door. Thank goodness it wasn’t locked.
We went down to the basement and saw Dad and all the other people that had come for Mass. My friend Isabel was there, and so we got to talk together. It was a lot harder to be scared in the basement of the cathedral than in the car. There was a little hail, but it didn’t last long. I hoped that it hadn’t hurt my tulips that were about to bloom at home. After a while, the storm passed and we went home. I was happy that the tornado sirens hadn’t gone off when I was at home alone with the kids.
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Those Suckers
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Easter Morning
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Here are some pictures from Easter of the boys showing off their gifts.
Going into the splits there Alexander?
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My Cake
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Mom had to go shopping, Joseph was asleep, Landon was in the bathtub, and the other kids were outside. I was all alone. On the spur of the moment, I decided to bake a cake. I went onto the internet, got a recipe, checked whether we had all the ingredients, and set to work. We had just enough cocoa powder for a chocolate cake. I set to work. When the kids came inside, Johnathan commented, “I smell hot chocolate.” Then he put on the face that to him says, ‘You’re hiding something, and I know what it is.’ “Did you make hot chocolate?” He asked. “You have a goofy nose.” I giggled. “Being in the cold must have made your nose smell things.” With a little more persuasion, I got them to go downstairs, and I finished baking the cake. When Mom came home, she declared, “Something smells good.” I then presented the cake to her. That night everyone had some. Everyone, including Dad, thought it was excellent, even without frosting! It is the first good homemade cake I have ever made, and it won’t be my last.
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One of My Favorite Pictures
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More Pictures of Clover
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Clover is warming up a bit to the family. She hasn’t bitten anyone hard yet, and she hasn’t made much noise. She still makes quite a fuss about being brought out of the cage though. We have fed her apple, orange, celery, grapes and raisins, and she really like orange and apple. In the pictures, you can see her gorgeous green back that shines in the light, one reason we named her Clover. She sits well on fingers, but if she feels like she is going to fall she tries to fly off. When you hold Clover to your chest, she likes to climb up your shirt and onto your shoulder and sit facing backwards. She doesn’t like sitting facing forward for some reason. She likes to climb into hoods, pockets, and under arms. We are trying to teach her to say, ‘You’re my favorite.’ by repeating it often to her. I like Clover, she is turning out to be a good little bird.
John Paul is always calling Clover by different names. Even though when we named Clover he said, “I love the name Clover!” he won’t call her by her name. He has called Clover Daniel, Popeye, Tarzan, and probably a couple other names I either haven’t heard, or can’t remember. Oh, John Paul.
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Stations of the Cross
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We got this kit for making the stations of the cross last year. Landon, Maria, John, and I never finished making them. Also, in the storing, the got a little broken. So a few days before Lent, I got them out, fixed them, and finished them. Now they are sitting on the mantle above the fireplace.
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