Grandpa Mike’s New Adventure

Grandma Susan gave Grandpa Mike a ukulele for his birthday, and he’s been taking lessons! He knows quite a few chords now. We hadn’t seen him play yet so the boys were very interested. It was fun to watch him explain all the little details...where his fingers go for each chord, different types of picks, and his cool tuner. 

Happy Pentecost

Biggest & the Smallest

Levi hadn’t seen this game before.  

He found it very fun, and Augustine found it very fun to watch Levi enjoy the game. 



His hands went up every time Augustine got a point. 

Workshop

It may be time to have our last fan of Bob the Builder...

House Update

A friend of ours is having a garage sale this weekend so I’m selling a few things on it. I pulled a few things upstairs in preparation and of course the boys are going to town playing with the toys going out. 

We’re done with the little playhouse, but before it goes Elias gave it new security system, which is the piano keys on the door. Very high tech. 

Then he got to work building a wall around it. 

Once the wall was up he gave it new shingles...on the wall. 

Then he “cemented the wall” and built a deck on the front. 

With that many improvements, we should get top dollar for it!

The Weekend

Saturday always brings a new load of library books and everyone stays busy reading. 

A friend of ours introduced us to her new boyfriend and we’ve been filling their orders of date night envelopes. 

If you want a nap you may have to be ok with a five year old on your head. How does one fall asleep during Free Willy though?! It’s still a great movie 28 years later. Levi LOVED it. 

Elias really wanted to go help the neighbor when the rescue trucks arrived. I convinced him that Bill & Mary had all the help they needed. 

Levi likes Elias’ backpack leaf blower. Always dress to impress, even in lawn care. 

Every once in a while Lewis pulls out the spectacular marble run Deb found for us and wows us with his engineering abilities. 
I especially like when he builds with the xylophone pieces. 

More Rainbow Fun

He had a lot of fun knocking down that tower. 

Levi got the building boards add-on from Grandpa Burda for his birthday!

He didn’t waste any time...

being very two years old. He fell into the corner of the front door. 

Day 1 took us to the doctor due to the swelling. He did get his very first sucker out of the deal. No reaction to the corn syrup thank goodness.
Day 2:

Day 3:



Day 4:

As long as the swelling goes down within a week we won’t have to X-ray it. 

Preschool Thoughts

Me: did you see that?!

Elias: see what?

Me: that trailer had three riding lawnmowers and four weed whackers on it!

Elias: three riding lawnmowers and for weed whackers?! They. Must. Be. Rich.

Me: I think they are a lawn service.

Elias: when I grow up I want to be a lawn service worker. Because I’m really good at mopping and mowing.

———

Elias: Nebraska is a packed place.

Me: how so?

Elias: there must be at least a million cars in nebraska. 

Me: you think so?

Elias: yes. It has to be in the hundreds. Or maybe the 152s. 

Me: wow. 

Elias: it would take me so long to count them all. Like five days or maybe even weeks. 

Me: it would take a while but you could do it. 

———

Lewis and Levi were in the bathtub playing with five empty soap bottles. 

Me: we have so many bottles. We could imagine we’re a bottling company. 

Lewis: yeah. 

Me: what should we bottle at our company?

Lewis: farts. 

Me: 🙄

———

Elias:  Mom is having an IKEA birthday.  I'm having a robot birthday.  I think a robot birthday is a little better. 

———

Elias: Augustine should start wearing 100s.

Me: how do you wear 100s?

Elias: you get a 100 and you put it on your foot.

Me: what number should I wear?

Elias: nothing

Me: I should wear a zero? Do I put it on my foot?

Lewis: there’s no such thing as zeros.

Me: how do you know?

Elias: because Lewis is smart. 

———

Me: today is May Day!

Lewis: Elias do you know what May Day is?

Elias: no. 

Lewis: On May Day people come up to your door and if you catch them you pinch them and then...um...I don’t know what happens but they leave treats on your porch.

———

Elias’ dream: All the missionaries came to watch a movie but we didn’t have to mask or distance because Covid was over. Levi and me were jumping all over dad. He was in a weird chair. He liked it. 

———

E: is it going to thunderstorm today?

Me: no. Just last night. 

E: good. 

Me: did you hear the storm last night?

E: yes. 

Me: but you fell asleep anyway?

E: yes. I’m glad the clouds are done rumbling their tummies. 

Me: maybe they finally ate some breakfast. 

E: yeah. 

The 3rd Annual Burda Art Show

We had so much art This year due to being home so much. Whenever we were looking for something to do we would pull out an art project. It took me a week to label everything and sort it all. 

This year we studied eight different artists and tried a simplified version of their technique.

These flowers were by far the most popular!

Our Picassos turned out quite creepy.

These are my favorites.







Lewis made a lot of sculptures this year.

Canvas paintings are also very popular. I think next year we will focus on canvas painting and a new set of artists.



Of course, Logan tucked away his gems among the art. See if you can spot any others in the photos.







These were our favorite to work on. First, you make a random pattern with dark glue and let it dry. Then you use water color to paint all the nooks and crannies. Once you’re done you decide what it looks like and  name it. Turns out it’s very relaxing and we made a ton!



Lucia graced us with her lovely harp music again this year. We are so grateful she likes to spend the afternoon with us!







Augustine held a caption contest during the art show. The contest was to come up with the best caption for the picture you see on the tablet. 















Grandpa Mike came up with the best caption and won! His caption was {I need to ask grandpa because I can’t remember}.