Lewis’ First Communion

Happy First Communion Lewis!









It’s been a few years since we’ve seen (God) Father Michael!

Living the Dream

It’s everything he hoped it would be, and we haven’t even taken it outside yet. 

Important Work

If I had to guess, I’d say we were caulking all the cracks. But I can’t be sure.  





Mission accomplished...I think...he seemed to approve. 

Famous Nonsense

E: Mom why does it go 7, 8, 9, 10?

Me: Because that’s the order. 

E: Because God put it that way. Do you want me to do some of my famous nonsense?

Me: your famous nonsense? I think you’re already doing your famous nonsense. 

E: {cracks up} yes. I’m famous. 

A Little More Birthday Fun

I was less than happy about covid messing up my original plan for celebrating my 40th, so Kim surprised me with an IKEA day! Logan kept the boys all day so I could have the day off.

When I got in the car, Kim gave me a bag of cards to read as we drove. They were birthday greetings from the ladies in our bible study. Such a fun gift! Then we got six hours (SIX HOURS!) of uninterrupted conversation. 

Between being pregnant and nursing, I hadn’t been to IKEA in years. It’s still my happy place. My parents gave me an IKEA gift card for my birthday so it was super fun picking out which project(s) to focus on. 

We spent five hours at IKEA organizing Kim’s new house, decorating my living room, dreaming about future projects, finding affordable OT equipment, choosing new dishes, snagging cheap art supplies, and eating meatballs. ‘Twas lovely. 

I’ve mastered the IKEA run. You go to IKEA for a day and pick up the small, easy to handle stuff. If you need large, heavy furniture then you call Dale at Omaha Modern and have him bring that stuff to your front door. It’s pure magic. 

I got the pleasure of going on Kim’s first IKEA run with her, and she got the pleasure of introducing me to The Great Wall of Chocolate. Lewis has yet to rank this dessert and I’m very curious what the ranking will be. 

Back at home daddy rocked Saturday with the boys. They ran errands, budgeted, went to the library, played, napped, watched a movie with Grandma Kathleen, probably did more stuff, and...

had a car picnic at the lake! It’s one of our favorite covid times things to do. 

Way to go Daddy!

Rain

We’ve had a lot of rain lately. I restocked the mud room with goulashes. We go through goulashes like water...heh. 

Levi has figured out how to unlock and open the back door. It’s going to be a long summer. 



Cars are Levi’s favorite work right now. He recently discovered this set that all the boys have liked. 

Yep. They played a card game together. Can you believe it?

Retreat weekend

Logan was on retreat for the weekend. His team sent me flowers, which was so thoughtful!

Kim and I went on an adventure to collect wood so we can make a hopping path in our backyards, and a I’m making table/chairs for the mud area. 

We worked on our last few pieces of art. Time to start wrapping up and getting all the art labeled for the show. 

Elias’ 5th Birthday

Elias turned five! Legos are a great way to start your birthday, unless you’re missing the last piece and it brings you to tears. 

Elias: {crying at the table}

Me: what’s going on Elias?

Elias: I can’t find the last piece to my fire truck and I’ve looked in my bin and Augustine has looked in my bin and it’s not in there and it’s lost forever and my birthday is ruined! 

Me: Even though you can’t find your last piece and that makes you feel sad, you’re ok and your birthday is not ruined. 

Elias: it’s not?!

Me: nope. You’ll still turn five. And I’ll go check your bin for the last piece. 

Elias: you won’t find it. Augustine and I already looked. 

Me: Hold my beer. I bet I can find it. 

(I totally found it.)

Thanks Aunt Beth!

Elias decided to have a robot birthday. 







Thanks to Deb’s amazing creativity, Elias got a Panda small world from us. 



Grandma Susan and Elias made the cake...cute and delicious!

G&G and Grandma Kathleen fulfilled a dream of Elias’ by getting him the lawn service truck he’s been wanting. He will be very busy this summer caring for our lawn. He can’t wait for the rain to stop so he can load up his equipment and get to work!

Happy Birthday Elias! We love you!

40th

I was a little worried that covid would make for another disappointing birthday, but I was wrong. My birthday was a lovely day! So many thoughtful gifts and visitors!

It was a perfect sunny, chilly day. Just the way I prefer the weather. The Stevens brought me the best gift...a GIANT coffee and they stayed to porch sit for a while! It was the best. 

The Suddarth’s sent a hilarious video. 

Elias: Are Grant and Regina adults or kids?

Logan: They’re adults. Why?

Elias: That’s good because it looked like they were drinking alcohol and kids shouldn’t do that yet

Voni dropped of a GIANT treat from my favorite bakery, which spurred one of those Lewis ideas that are always surprising. 

Lewis: let me see that dessert!

Me: {very skeptical of his motives} Why?

Lewis: I want to see what kind of dessert it is. 

Me: it’s a cinnamon roll. 

Lewis: no, I want to see how many days it is. 

Me: okaaaaay....

Lewis: woah. That’s huge. That’s a three day dessert, mom. 

Me: you now rank desserts based on how many days they will last?

Lewis: yeah. My longest dessert is four days. 

Me: I love that Lewis. 

Levi had never seen balloons so he was making happy sounds all day long. 

This is where gorgeous flowers end up because Logan and I have terrible allergies. I can still see them through the door and window though. 

Logan told me he was ordering dinner for he and I, and that he would cook for the boys. What he didn’t tell me was that Beth was bringing the dinner!!! It was a great sursprise!

The boys were over the moon to have Beth back after barely seeing her for the past year due to covid. 

She gave me a mug that makes us both giggle.