Sunday

On Sunday we had a leisurely morning of donuts, reading, napping, and the spray park. It was Elias and Levi’s first time at the spray park. 

It was fun to watch Levi figure it all out. 

The big boys liked helping him too. 







We went home for lunch and quiet time/nap so we would be ready for Fr. Frantisek’s first Mass in Lincoln that afternoon. I didn’t think to take a picture during Mass. 

The reception was lovely and the boys couldn’t believe how big the sandwiches were. 

Elias brought his St. Francis statue for Father to bless.




Elias is named after Fr. Frantisek…Elias Frantisek Burda…and they enjoy seeing each other. Elias calls Father his saint and has kept the invitation to this Mass on his treasures shelf for months telling us it’s his holy card of Fr. Frantisek. 

Saturday

Logan and Augustine helped Grandma Kathleen with a mission to Falls City for most of the day. I quickly realized that the rest of us needed something fun to do so it wasn’t just another day stuck inside because of the summer weather. 

I knew lunch with Debbie would make everyone happy and we’ve only seen her once since the pandemic hit, so I made the chicken salad and she brought her bag of creativity. Right now, it’s full of crochet. Baskets, pillows, hearts, and premie baby hats. In the bag of goodies was a doll she uses for hat size, which Levi stole because it was the perfect nap buddy. Elias tried to tell her around 100 stories but never quite finished any of them. We caught up here and there in the split seconds the boys weren’t talking. 

Elias eventually moved on to lawn care (indoors because it’s SO HOT) , Levi went down for a nap, and I gave up sneaking a word in here and there. 

That left Lewis and Debbie to drift off into their world of creative, JeremyBeremy thinking. They are kindred spirits. I just sit and observe their uniqueness. He never left her side.

Almost 11

Augustine is struggling with boredom this summer. I can’t blame him. We’ve been home way too much the past year and a half. 

His favorite things to do are read a ton of books every week from the library, build with Legos, write his newsletter, teach Levi how to play fire fighters, and talk about Star Wars. 

He made his favorite chocolate muffins last week. 

He also loves gymnastics class. 

Living the Dream

Lewis had his first butterfly hatch!

We don’t really know if it’s eating. We added a fresh juicy peach today but we never saw the butterfly near it. 

Lewis was DYING to hold his butterfly so we watched a video on how to do that safely so as not to hurt the butterfly. We learned a lot from one video. Very interesting!

Lewis put sugar water on his finger and the butterfly was very happy…which makes me worried that it isn’t eating. Just what we need. A butterfly with feeding issues. Logan joked that Lewis is the butterfly’s food therapist. Too soon, Logan. 

Bugs make Lewis SO happy!

Fire Fighters

Levi has been training to be a fire fighter this week. He did not disappoint. 





Augustine was a great chief teaching him al the ins and outs of fire fighter life. 

He even cooked dinner for the team. 

The Hope Chest

My Grandpa Carlson made each of my sisters’ and I a hope chest. Logan has added special things to mine over the years, and after significant rearranging due to homeschooling being over we decided the contents of the hope chest needed to be reevaluated because that thing is HEAVY. There were a few things it was time to part with. The boys had fun looking through it and asking questions. 

We let go of the graduation gowns and hats, but kept our tassels. 





We let go of the 4-H ribbons, Logan’s UNL honors, and [judo or Taekwondo] belts. 

And lastly, the preschool profile silhouette, but not without playing a joke on Jillian with it first. There are still lots of great memories stored in the hope chest and our hearts. 

Morrill Hall

Logan, Grandpa Mike, and three of the boys adventured to the 150th anniversary party at Morrill Hall. 

The boys love it every time they visit. 







This interactive display was especially fun. The person supervising the station said that Augustine and Lewis built the tallest mountain he had seen so far that day. 

You can also make it rain on the mountain once you’ve built it. Thanks for a fun adventure idea Grandpa!